Xbox 720 To Block Used Games Through an Always On Connection?

When Sony filed its patent for a technology to block used games, our commenters and readers revolted. "We're switching to Xbox or PC they cried," while I assured them that Microsoft will probably be following suit with the Xbox 720. If these rumors are in any way accurate, I can't say I'm not at least a little bit proud at being proven entirely correct. According to the controversial Edge report, it has been said that the next Xbox will require an internet connection to play games for the purposes of running a DRM protocol. In large part this means all your used games you used to get on Gamestop and Ebay will no longer function on your system without some kind of hack.

What do I think of all this? To be honest I'm not surprised. As I have said in other editorials, in a lot of ways developers tend to look at used games as a sort of legalized piracy. This is because a game can be bought and resold any number of times while all the while a developer sees absolutely none of the money from those subsequent sales. I'm a big fan of getting good games cheap, which means I totally understand why so many people love it. At the same time though I very much understand where such tech to block used games comes from. For all of you that say you'll "switch to PC," it might be important to remind you that PC has been using CD keys and DRM long before consoles started doing it. In a sense this is just consoles catching up to that established logic. In an ideal universe, more new game sales could also mean lower overall prices, but I obviously won't say that for sure. My stance is I may not like the prospects, but I think the developers do deserve a little more control over their content regardless.

Rather than talk of next-gen, let's take a look at Pachter's predictions for the newest current console on the market!

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