Don't be fooled: The Xbox One is still DRM-locked

"Hey man, I'm gonna bring my Xbox over tonight."

"Cool! Your 360?"

"No, the Xbox One."

"Awesome, we can play Halo 2 then."

"No I mean the Xbox ONE."

"...Yeah. We heard you. So we'll plan for some Halo 2 tonight."

"NO. I MEAN THE XBOX ONE. AS IN NOT THE FIRST XBOX BUT THE NEW XBOX ONE."

"...Huh?"

Well the next Xbox has finally been revealed, and joking about its naming conventions aside, already fans holding out for good news against the onslaught of always online accusations have quickly jumped to Microsoft's defense, claiming "victory" over the naysayers now that the always online requirement has been officially shot down.

Unfortunately while it may be true that the always online mandate is dead in the water, the system is still far from DRM-free, contrary to what many may think. That is, assuming the initial reports coming from Microsoft employees remain true until its expected launch date later this year. According to several sources that have spoken with Microsoft now including Wired and IGN, it has been revealed that used games will likely require an additional fee in order to unlock and play on your console once you have purchased them. One Destructoid article reports that, "Xbox One games will come with a unique redeemable code which will require Internet access to activate and as part of this setup, the software you purchase will be installed from the disc to your system's hard drive. While the redemption process links the titles to your Xbox Live account, anyone playing on the same Xbox One as you won't have to pay for a second copy."

Why thank you Microsoft, that's so reassuring. Thank heavens we can all breathe a sigh of relief now because we don't need to buy a second copy. Never mind the fact that I'm still required to connect to the Internet to access single player offline content. It's only a top-down draconian DRM policy that has thus far been unheard of in the console market. No big deal. This is the near-equivalent of Origin/Uplay/Steam DRM now brought to your home console, and while for some this may seem like only a minor inconvenience currently, I refer you to my previous blog entries discussing why you should still be concerned about this form of DRM. I would also like to take this time to call out any Xbox fans supporting this who previously criticized Steam and PC gaming for having the same faults. If you are among these people I strongly urge you to reevaluate your position on the issue to be more consistent.

I guess calling it Xbox One makes sense, seeing as it is 359 steps backward for gaming.

The Destructoid article also reports in its conversation with Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer that when asked how this would impact single player titles, Spencer said he believes "the user would need to go online with their console at least once per day."

Well, this just keeps getting better and better. So, it's not really always online; it's just as close as you can get to always online without actually having to admit to it. Clever Microsoft, very clever. Either way though, players still need to be connected to the Internet pretty much every day on their Xbox in order to get any decent functionality out of it. But don't worry, because see! It's not "always online"! Everything is going to be OK! We've got you covered!

No you don't. This is still anti-consumer tap dancing, and no one should tolerate it. If this is the future of gaming, it is a very depressing one.