Well, here we are again. I have been noticing the vitriolic (I love that word) response on message boards about the Xbox One reveal. Nothing they revealed was really that shocking (considering general trends). So here are some of my thought - some may not be so nice. Some of these may be about the industry as a whole.
* "Consumer Rights" angle - There are people out there complaining that the Xbox One somehow infringes upon their rights as consumers. I think they are kind of full of it (and grossly overstating what little rights they do have).
Video games are software. Software is not owned, but licensed (a limited license). You are not allowed to resell your copy of Office, so why should you be able to do so with Madden? Have you ever read the end user agreement in video game manuals? Apparently you accept it if when you play/install the game.
From the Skyrim manual: "Title and ownership of the Package, including the Product (and all parts thereof, the documentation, and patents, trademarks, copyrights and all other intellectual properties and other property rights applicable thereto, shall at all times remain solely and exclusively with Licensors..."
In other words, by accessing the game you agree that you only license the game and have no real ownership (even of the disk and packaging). Game companies have been looking the other way for a long time, because they had no real way to deal with it. Now they do, and might be able to take a little piece of the used games market (that they really should be entitled to).
* The Xbox One may be the first real download only console. I know that sounds weird, but I think it is true. From what I understand, the disk is basically just for install with a single license. This is essentially a retail sold download. 3-5 years after the launch of the Xbox One, i'm sure that digital download will supplant disks for some of the games. In other words, I see the Blu-Ray game disk as a substitute (one step between) for downloading games that may eventually be changed.
* Always, sometimes, daily, whatever online: If you think of this as a download console with install disks, it make a lot more sense. License holders need to protect their IP, unobtrusive rights database checks are necessary to insure nobody is gaming the system. All kind of products do this (it used to be bigger in the MP3 space). It sucks when your internet goes down, maybe it should be a weekly test (daily seems a bit much).
* Online Rentals: this may or may not be on the way (I hope it is). Basically, I don't see why they couldn't have expiring downloads (maybe revert to demo) on the console in the future. Say something like $5 for 48 hours. If they could figure out how to do this via the cloud (with minimal download), that would be better
* 500 GB hard drive: that seems a little small considering some of these games might be nearing 50GB. I wonder if there is a way they can significantly reduce the file sizes on these installs.
* The TV stuff: I like the concept of watching TV on my video game console (not a day or so later like Hulu). However, it seems like Microsoft's current implementation is not where it needs to be. IPTV is one thing (especially if you had a choice in channels), but what they are talking about is interfacing through a HDMI cable with the cable box. Maybe this is the best they can do (I think it currently is). The ultimate for me would be to enable the Xbox One to be used as a wireless cable box and a DVR (with external drive).
* US "Biased" Console: from what I understand Europe has nightmare hoops to go through to do some media streaming stuff. The US is easy for MSFT: it is probably their biggest Xbox territory and there is a national proximity to many of the providers of content (and not a nightmare list of strange laws).
As for it seemingly being biased toward the US, that is unfortunate - but i'm in the US.
* Xbox 8 Apps on Xbox One: it is a shame, this is one I would have really liked to have. It looks doubtful at the moment. It would have been awesome to have Windows 8 apps (mostly some game type stuff) available for download and play across Windows 8/RT and Xbox for one price. Kind of like Play Anywhere actually realized. I thought this would be kind of a cool XBLA version 2.0.
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