For a while there, many of us were faced with various rumors regarding Microsoft's follow-up to the Xbox 360. Many of them seemed simply silly, even insane, yet one by one, they have become fact.
Many figured that MS would try to one-up Sony and their non-backwards compatible PS4, but rumors of the Xbox 720, now known as the Xbox One, being itself non-backwards compatible turned out to be true.
Next is whether or not the new system would disallow the playing of used games. This is where things get a bit trickier to figure out. MS brass has stated that, yes, game discs will be tied to consoles, though they would not go into details.
But more recently, an Xbox support Twitter account claimed otherwise, so we're definitely getting conflicting info. Though, until someone at the very top clarifies the situation, consider another wacky rumor to be validated.
So what's next? Time for one last rumor to either be squashed or come true, that being the matter of the Xbox One needing to always be on. And, the answer is both yes and no it would seem.
Kotaku points out that, according to the Xbox One's press site, the matter is tackled by stating that the new system does not always need to be connected to the internet, but an internet connection is absolutely required.
When asked for clarification, Phil Harrsion had this to say:
"There are many devices in your life that require the Internet to function… Xbox One is no different in that it requires, at some point in the beginning and at various times through its on state, to connect to our cloud and to our Internet. That is to deliver Xbox Live functionality, that is to deliver download content to you, that is to deliver some of the innovations around TV and entertainment that we showed today. But it doesn’t require it to be online all the time."
When given specific scenarios, like when playing a single player game, Harrsion explained that you don't need to be online, but the console needs to connect with the internet at least once every 24 hours. No real reason was stated, though it is assumed that MS HQ needs to make sure that everything is on the up and up.
Though Kotaku also reports that the answer they gave Polygon is slightly different. Basically, a Microsoft representative told them that Harrsion basically described a potential scenario. In the end, one hand does not know what the other is doing. Much like the example above, or top brass saying one thing and a rep on Twitter saying the other.
