- Required internet connection: First and foremost, I'm a game collector. I love to play games, but I also love having shelves full of old games that I can pull out and play at any time. The Xbox One is not designed for people like me. The fact that you have to connect to Xbox Live once a day to authenticate, or else your games won't work, means that at any time Microsoft decides to shut down the Xbox One's servers all the games you spent all that money on, the entire system itself for that matter, all become useless. All that money, gone. Now, I know Major Nelson has said they won't do that, they'll change it at the end of the generation so the games will still be playable. Of course he said that. What else would he say? I'm sorry, but Microsoft has given me no reason to trust that that will be true. From a business standpoint it makes much more sense for them to say, "Nope, can't play those games anymore. You should buy our new system! We'll be offering downloadable versions of all the old games there. You'll just have to pay for them again!" Kind of like what Sony is doing with the PS4. The big difference is that my PSX, PS2, and PS3 will still work.
- Used game blocking: This is not just a video game issue, but an issue for all consumers. If I buy a game and decide some time later that I'm done with it, I should be able to sell that game. Whether it's to a major retailer, an independent retailer, on an internet auction site, or just to a friend, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. Now, I'm a collector, so I don't sell my stuff, ever, so this isn't a big problem to me personally, but it's the principle of the matter. There's also the fact that I buy a lot of my games used, and I like to do it from independent retailers. It's my understanding that I won't be able to do that on Xbox One. Only major retailers that sign up with Microsoft's program will be able to carry used games. Not cool.
- Kinect integration: It's always on, it's always watching, always listening. You can't disconnect it or your system will stop working. Why? Oh, because Microsoft wants to collect large amounts of personal data on you and your family, that's why! The new Kinect can see in the dark, can read the emotions on your face, can even tell how fast your heart is beating! Did that new Call of Duty ad get you excited? Kinect can tell, and it's going to send that data off to Activision. Then there's the whole PRISM scandal. Look, it's not my intention to get all political on this blog. If you want to know more about that you can look it up for yourself. Suffice it to say that any kind of camera that's always on and always connected to the internet I don't want in my house. Yes, I know they said you can turn it off, but it still has to listen for voice commands, and you still can't actually disconnect it from the system. If you could do that I'd probably be okay with it.
I'd love to hear what you think! If you're all for the Xbox One, tell me why. Post in the comments below. Of course, if you agree with me I'd like to hear that too. Tell me what system or systems you plan to get this generation. And don't forget to follow me on Twitter @RevLink_GI. Thanks for reading!
