I'm more than a little wary about rumors regarding the next generation Xbox (which we're calling the Xbox 720) given the hoax that (x-)surfaced in recent days—one which pranked a number of major sites, mind you.
That being said, I wouldn't be a very diligent reporter if I didn't report on what seemed at least somewhat credible given where it originated—Kotaku. According to Kotaku's mystery sources, the next-generation Xbox may prevent customers from playing used games through some form of anti-used-game DRM. Stephen Totilo, who penned the report, admits that it's not clear how Microsoft or the system intend to prevent customers from running used games.
"My source wasn't sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine," he wrote.
The same source suggested that the console will introduce the Kinect 2 when it is announced, and sport a Blu-Ray player capable of reading discs up to 50GB in size.
It makes sense, of course, that Microsoft—like Sony and other publishers—would want to bring an end to used game sales, which eats up a large margin of their profits and serves to provide retailers like GameStop with revenue which publishers believe belongs to them, and not retailers.
"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" "No," says the man at GameStop, "It belongs to the retailers!"
