Microsoft’s Xbox One...eighty: DRM out, used games back in

Microsoft has performed a massive turn around following a huge post-E3 public back-lash, removing all of the DRM restrictions for the upcoming Xbox One console. Contrary to Microsoft’s original announcement, the console will no longer require a once-per-day internet check-in and physical game disks can be shared and resold with complete impunity. Region locks have also been totally dropped, meaning gamers can buy game discs from overseas, and downloaded games will no longer require an active internet connection once they have installed.

But now what do I do?

It’s true that this news is going to come as a massive relief to a lot of Xbox fans, but it also creates a problem. I personally preferred Xbox to PlayStation, and while I have enjoyed a great number of hours gaming on the PS3, I’ve always ended up spending more time on my 360. But that was last generation. Yesterday, the choice for console gamers was clear; Microsoft is evil, buy a PS4. Today, I’m once again presented with two heavily powered gaming platforms with close to equal levels of appeal. The ever-present camera of the Xbox still creeps me the hell out, but I really do hate PlayStation controllers. I’m also more of a multiplayer person and where PS excels as single-player titles, Xbox has always come through for me in the more competitive arenas.

Microsoft is still watching you

One ever-so-minor detail that many are glossing over after this announcement is that MSFT didn’t mention anything about the creepy, constant gaze of the always-on Kinect camera and microphone. Where in the past I would have shaken off any fears regarding surreptitious monitoring as pure paranoia, the recent news regarding the US’s huge levels of private surveillance adds a new element. The PS4, of course, has The Eye; PlayStation’s equivalent of the Kinect that is sold separately from the console itself. The potential is there for The Eye to be used for similarly nefarious purposes, but less has been said so far about Sony’s camera continuously scanning your living room or man-cave. I’ve little doubt that all this talk of foreign government surveillance in my lounge room will likely turn out to be the product of an over active imagination, but it is odd that one of the three major concerns regarding the Xbox One has been forgotten just because the other two have suddenly been attended to. Microsoft’s full announcement can be found here.