It's blowing up on twitter...started as rumor...now it's confirmed...

http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update

It will only need to be online once...for an initial setup...then you can play any disc based game offline.

You will also be able to do whatever you want with used games...

Mad props to parody account "Fauxtaku" for the Xbox 180 quip...

Initial thoughts:

I'm guessing few will actually be excited by this announcement. Most will use it to point and laugh at Microsoft. My question is will games played offline be nerfed? After all, one of the buzzwords during the E3 conference was "cloud" and how games would use cloud computing...so if the game isn't plugged in, does it run poorly compared to someone playing the game plugged in?

So, all the whining and predictions of death were a big waste of time.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

My man is back!

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Nah...I'm with you that it really isn't a big deal for us, but this is a huge PR disaster. No doubt they did right by the gamers, but it would have been so much better to have just gone this route to begin with...it's not like it was any secret that people were going to be up in arms about DRM and always online.

Well, I think Microsoft had stated that about 90% of people who owned a 360 had a broadband connection and I expect that to increase come the next gen. I don't think it will be a huge deal. MS itself stated that the "cloud" will be used for non-latency sensitive calculations and other stuff that isn't rendered per frame, if that's true then it won't effect the performance of said game.

I'm glad they are allowing physical media to played from disc.

Now if you install the game and play it from the HD will you have to check in? Same goes for the pretty sweet sharing plan, if you have games on that, will you have to check in?

Looks like this all comes at a cost...you won't be able to play games without the disc now...that's pretty shitty...

Also, the family 10 person sharing thing got nixed...not sure I really give a damn about that...

This whole thing is a mess.

This isn't a mess if they actually stay on message and make it a coherent and clear one. There is still TGS and GamesCon coming up so I'm sure it will be laid out in further detail.

The sharing plan is/was pretty sweet, it was really was an open library for sharing between 10 people. Not bad at all. But without online check ins and such it wouldn't of worked as intended, i.e. it would have been completely abused.

And the disc thing, well, can you play your game in a PS4 w/o the disc being in?

Sigh, I was actually looking forward to digital consumption, guess we'll have to wait about 2 more years.

Tokyo Games Show...Microsoft...

L. O. L.

Yeah, it's a mess...they got their ass kicked at E3 over this shit.

The disc question about PS4 is weaksauce. That's the whole reason this sucks...it was one of the few features the XboxOne was going to have that the PS4 didn't.

I know this is tough for you, buddy, but you have to realize that this is the end of Microsoft as you know it. Soon they'll be bought out by Atari.