Re: $500 for the Xbox One
I'll be getting a XBOX One, but they are very similar.
I don't mind allowing the publishers to not allow used games (it is up to the publisher, not Microsoft) because 1) I don't but used games and 2) More money to the publishers from less used games and piracy means more and better games released.
I also really like not having to worry about moving disks around. We have two xbox 360s and it is pain to move the disks around. Being able to log in at a friends house and play your games there even if you don't have the disk there (and he/she hasn't bought the game) has to be a little appealing don't you think? (Unlike what the video linked here says that you can ONLY play the game on the system where it was installed... which is NOT correct... in fact there are lot of things incorrect in the video) Also... I don't know how many disks my kids have scratched and they stopped working. Won't be a worry soon (unless you have PS4). You can also transfer rights to someone else to give them the game, and I think there is a loaning feature also.
Internet connection doesn't bother me... seriously... who doesn't have an internet connection? It isn't like if your internet stops for an hour all your games do... and almost all the games I play multi player anyway... lol. Again, it is done to cut down piracy which I think is a great thing.
Privacy doesn't bother me either. Well, it does, but I don't expect privacy when I am talking in an *online* game. It is like talking in public. Microsoft has spent a lot of time putting effort into safe guarding privacy, and compare that to Sony which basically left the entire playstation network unsecured because they didn't think anyone would bother to hack it (if you call it a hack when you access unsecured info that oh... happens to contain credit cards).
I like the fact you don't even have to sign in (face recognition) and you can swap positions on the couch or change controllers and it knows where you are (because the control itself knows where it is, and the Kinect know where you are.)
The TV integration could be interesting too... I hate navigating set top box menus. Wished they allowed DVR capability though... but maybe they will add that later)
I think it is a good thing that Sony is going to charge for playstation network because it will cut down on the riff raff, which was part of their problem I think. For one paying for it cuts a certain element out of the picture, and the service can also be cut off if you violate policies.
I don't but that gamers are getting screwed by use game markets. Honestly I am not entirely sure it was legal to begin with... though obviously no one wanted to fight that fight. You don't own software like a car or something like that. I am all for more money going to the people who make the games and less to people who don't (sorry gamestop). If a publisher makes the same game on the XBOX One and PS4, and they start seeing they make a lot more money on the XBOX One system because people are not buying used games for 5 or 10 dollars less from gamestop, where do you think they are going to focus their development efforts? It won't be on the one that makes them less money.
Both the systems look very very similar, and I don't think anyone is wrong with going with either. The hardware being similar to PC's is going to be positive for everyone.
