I am more concerned at the fighting game front.

Areas in SoCal have a bunch of 360s/PS3s for tournaments and they are not connected online. When I have sessions at a friends house I take my 360 so that we have more stations to play at. If always onliine is true, then I cannot do this anymore.

Fuck that mess, even Steam had an offline mode. When my internet was out for a few hours,I was still able to play games Fallout New Vegas.

I'm hoping the reported rumours are wrong. A world without a competitor as strong as the Xbox just leaves the market open for shit.

Get a PS4 instead. Problem solved.

Well that is the thing; it has been proven time and time again that Capcom 2D fighters are superior on 360 because of lag time. What if the outcome is similar in the future? To the average Joe, people won't see the difference. This has been proven true though through video documentation.

I got people in Mexico that do not have internet access and they love Xbox. What about them? They are paying customers too. They can't play the next Gears of War or Halo

All I know is y'all crazeh fooz better not ever rail on fans of anything else when you're legitimately defending always-online DRM on a home console.

I get what you're saying, but in your first scenario either:

1.) The 'always-on' functionality functions just like Xbox LIVE does right now anyway. That is, you'd still continue playing in your laggy match.

2.) It kicks you out at the slightest hint of a troubled connection as you say, and everyone else playing doesn't have to deal with someone else's shitty connection.

Either way will work, and I have a feeling it will be the former rather than the latter. If it is the latter, hey, it just isn't for people with bad net set-ups or spotty ISPs, but at least everyone else doesn't have to deal with a laggy match (or long painful string of matches) due to one bad egg.

We'll see when it happens. Believe me, if it is the latter and my connection isn't up to snuff, I'll be the first person to follow my own advice and just say, "Oh well, not for me at this time, I guess." and seek out my gaming elsewhere. Like I said though, I have a feeling it'll be the way it is currently: It takes a fucking TERRIBLE connection for it to actually sign you off of Xbox LIVE.

Hell if they want to get even smarter about it, have it so the net connection is only required to boot the game. That way if internet in that area is THAT atrocious, it won't sign you out and drop your progress in the middle of a single player session.

As for the question of "what happens after the console cycle", I have no idea. Either the platform becomes entirely useless and obsolete. Everything you purchased for it is rendered entirely useless, or if it's the way I stated earlier where all that is required is a quick authentication for the game to boot perhaps they're wise enough to maintain the minimal server power that would be required to keep the phased out consoles active? That will be something we'd have to find out more about later. It wouldn't be so much about having full servers for online play, so much as it would be connecting your Gold/Silver Membership Gamertag (tied to your Microsoft account) connecting to Microsoft servers (any of them) to verify. In that scenario, unless Microsoft ends up with ZERO servers for ALL of that stuff that's tied to your Microsoft Account (Outlook, Skydrive, Video/Music, Skype, etc.), you'd be fine.

As for the final bit.

1.) Your network setup is poor, and should either be upgraded or just plain fixed.

2.) If it's your ISP that is the shitty thing, then you shouldn't've bought the console.


If anything, I see it as "ISPs and various regions need to get their shit together and actually do something about their net infrastructure before this console would be viable for me." rather than "This console is bullshit because other things suck."

I'll wait until full details and specs are actually announced before I start asking any various questions I may still have that aren't answered at that time. If it turns out that it won't fly with my net connection, oh well, I won't get it.

Homes, I get it. I know what choo sayin bro. Baso, if they don't like it, don't buy the console.

But, in your opinion, what do you feel about people who have a shitty connection to the net who don't feel that the NextBox is right for them, but have purchased plenty of online games and racked up loads of achievements on the current gen? Yes, they could keep their old console and have their leap to next gen just be a PS4, I know it's not a HUGE issue, but it kinda sucks to me to think that I'd have to change my first next gen console to a different one, otherwise I have to stay with a console that's last gen. I mean this doesn't apply to me because I'm pretty much down the middle with PS3 and 360 anyway (I like to think)
I just mean this will apply to some people.

Also, you say people should get a new router or change ISP or whatever, as quoted above, some people get back interference when it rains heavily or gets too cold. Mine does here in Scotland, when it's too cold anyway. For some reason the cold snow doesn't do the Exchange-to-House co-ax cables any good and I find myself without a connection.

Yeah you say not to blame the console on the shitty state of the net? Well that shitty state of the net is not shitty yet, it's just not at it's target. That's technology at the moment. Always online connected consoles are not. I feel it's not so much that the net is behind as all over the world, people seldom have connections that are THAT stable. I feel this console (if all these rumours are true) is asking way too much of current technology.

As I said before, I agree with the always-online method...just not until shit improves.

Also bro, when we next Forza'ing?