Internal Microsoft emails revealed to Ars Technica have shown that the next Xbox, due to be unveiled on May 21st, will not require a constant internet connection in order to play games contrary to persistent rumours that this would be the case.
"Durango (the console's codename within Microsoft) is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's internet," says an email sent to all full time Microsoft employees working on the system. "There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to, playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game."
If true, the email confirms that the console will indeed ship with a Blu-ray drive and a HDMI input for watching TV.
It's unclear how far the offline capabilities of the Xbox 720 will extend and it has been rumoured that Microsoft has left the decision to use DRM up to individual publishers and developers.
According to reports games will come on Blu-ray but be installed unto the Xbox's hard drive rendering the discs useless, and also eliminating the pre-owned game market. While installing games might be something you'd expect could be done offline a more Steam-like approach would be consistent with speculation concerning the console.
While a block on trade-ins may put off some gamers it seems concerns over the system's internet requirements have been exaggerated.
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