Those tricky devils at ArsTechnica just got their hands on an internal email sent to all full time Microsoft employees working on the next Xbox. We’ve all been worried that whatever Microsoft calls its next Xbox, it’ll force everyone to stay permanently connected to enjoy our games. It looks like that fear is squashed for now. From the email:
“Durango is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today’s Internet. 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.”
Now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some archaic way of authenticating our games to enable offline play. This is Microsoft we’re talking about. And if this is Microsoft’s game, what’s stopping folks from getting a PC? If console manufacturers are instating absolute control over everything their consumers touch, why wouldn’t that same consumer jump ship and get something that plays games better, lets the user choose their hardware, allows modding, and encourages a diverse selection of games?
via ArsTechnica