Xbox 720 To Feature Console DRM?

Hey look, more next-gen rumours. Can’t Sony just announce the PS4 now so we can start making a clear distinction between the lies and truth although at a safe distance it all looks the same anyway. Why I am even talking about PS4? We’re here to focus on the Xbox 720 or NextBox or YBox or pretty much whatever name you want to call it really. Let’s call the next Xbox Genevieve.

Sources speaking to Edge, sources close to Microsoft reported several alleged details regarding Genevieve. The sources claim that the new console will require an always-on internet connection similar to the DRM system employed in games and in addition to this, a new version of Xbox Live will be integral to the console. Microsoft will still produce your games on discs despite being ”absolutely committed” to online functionality. Most of us gamers trade games with friends, sell old games to fund new games and generally don’t keep all our games but Microsoft seems to be fostering hoarding by including activation codes with each game which render them useless beyond initial use. These codes will likely be tied to your Xbox and so you can replay the game but nobody can borrow it. However, that sounds highly unlikely and chances are it’s a farce.

As expected, Genevieve is supposedly going to feature a Blu-Ray drive which takes the maximum size of games up to 50GB. The console will also ship with a new version of Kinect which is said to have improved functionality, feature four-player full body tracking, allows players to sit down while using Kinect and adjusts to your living room dimension so furniture need not be cleared for optimal experience.

That all sounds very interesting but barring the rumours of Kinect v2.0, the rest seems like utter BS whipped by a collection of PlayStation fanboys or some very perverse Xbox fanboys. Regardless, console DRM and killing off second-hand games/game lending sounds too totalitarian to me. Microsoft has yet to even officially announce Genevieve to the public.