Next XBox Will Sport Blu-Ray, Kinect 2
The rumor mill is turning rapidly, churning out a few choice details of the still unannounced XBox 720 (1080?), some good, some absolutely terrifying.
The first rumor probably goes without saying. According to Kotaku industry sources. This isn’t a surprise, considering that Sony’s Blu-Ray decimated the HD-DVD format, and Microsoft’s XBox has been at a disadvantage for not having one ever since. Oh, and there will be a Kinect 2. Which won’t come as a surprise to anyone.
What is a surprise, and, frankly, quite terrifying, is that some sources mentioned the 720 featuring an anti-used game technology, that makes it impossible to play second-hand games. Since this is a leak, there isn’t much information on how it would work, but the implications are a little disturbing.
As game prices have soared, used game sales have followed suit. Many game publishers are sick of seeing so much of their profit go into used games, and EA even implemented a system that charged people wanting to play a used game online $10.00. But implementing this at the console-level is (I think) a bad idea.
I can’t imagine that such a move would be good for the game industry. You will likely see less purchases overall, and a decrease in interest. Or perhaps even see a retreat to other services that do a similar thing (Onlive/PC gaming immediately comes to mind).
The last rumor that got detailed is that the 720 is supposed to be 6 times more powerful than the XBox 360. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number turned out to be an understatement. Technology has come quite far since the 360 was released in 2005.
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