So what will happen with the next xbox?

[Shiny Pidgey]

i dont get this stupid statement, i keep reading it and i think you are all being sheep about it. i know you will buy the next xbox. how many time do you switch on your xbox and log OUT of xbox gold account.. i will tell you. never.. logging into you XBL gold account means you are connected to the internet. id say most of the xbox's that are not modded are on the internet 100% of the time anyway.. i just dont understand these idiots minds,

The majority of Xbox 360 users actually don't use Xbox Live, gold or otherwise, and an extremely significant chunk of consoles have never connected to the service even once.

Consider this: As of February 2013, 76 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold, and only 46 million Xbox Live accounts exist.

Now consider how many Xbox Live accounts are rarely or even never used - ever go searching for the perfect XBL Gamertag only to find that it's in use by someone who created it five years ago and never logged in a single time? I have - and so have hundred of others just from what I've seen posting around the internet. Consider also how many people have multiple Gamertags, how many people abandoned a Gamertag and eventually created a new one, and so on and so forth.

In fact, beyond these stats, only around 70% of households in the US have access to broadband internet, and that's not taking in to consideration that not all of those who have access have the means to pay for it. Then when you consider that Microsoft's userbase is much more far-reaching than only the US, and that in many other countries access to broadband internet is much more restricted, well...

You think everyone who owns a 360 connects it to the internet and has a gold account because those are the people you communicate with. Some quick searching for statistics and a teensy bit of logical thinking is all that's required to realize how incorrect that is. You call others idiots without researching your own facts. In my book, that makes you the idiot, sir.

[LALLY]

i dont get this stupid statement, i keep reading it and i think you are all being sheep about it. i know you will buy the next xbox. how many time do you switch on your xbox and log OUT of xbox gold account.. i will tell you. never.. logging into you XBL gold account means you are connected to the internet. id say most of the xbox's that are not modded are on the internet 100% of the time anyway.. i just dont understand these idiots minds,

theres no need to call people idiots, like the last poster said if u look at the stats its a different story, what happens if we do have a 'always online' system and they stop supporting it? u wont be able to play it again? so basically instead of owning a console, u have just rented it from Microsoft......I know people who live at home still whos parents refuse to get internet, what happens to these people? they cant play anymore, personally I can live with a connected console but I wouldn't purchase one just because I don't feel its right.

[duction]

Think your all worrying about nothing, can you show me the Microsoft statement saying the next xbox is going to be an online only console? No? Didn't think so

[LALLY]

Think your all worrying about nothing, can you show me the Microsoft statement saying the next xbox is going to be an online only console? No? Didn't think so

yeh theres no proof, people are just discussing the possibility ,for people who ARE worrying, ur correct, theres not a chance in hell the next xbox will be always connected.

[Kayler Brodie]

Think your all worrying about nothing, can you show me the Microsoft statement saying the next xbox is going to be an online only console? No? Didn't think so

Only a twitter feed by a Marketing Director.

[GrampaMurkedU]

Only a twitter feed by a Marketing Director.

Must be true then. Nothing on twit live is ever false

Lol

[Shiny Pidgey]

The always-on connection isn't even really pertinent to the original topic. If you plan on playing Defiance on it, you're going to have to be online in the first place due to the nature of the game. If you're worried that the 360 XBL infrastructure will be taken down, you've got several years at the least of breathing room either way.

The real questions are:

* Will the next Microsoft console be backwards compatible?

Rumors suggest not. Rumors are, of course, just rumors, but consider that the PS4 specs that were floating around for almost a month prior to the announcement were completely accurate except for the type of RAM used. Most people don't understand how BC works. You need to either have the same environment - the EXACT same environment, not 'an upgraded version of that' - or you have to emulate the original software. Early PS3's and Wiis went the route of having the same environment, they actually had separate hardware on board for doing this work. Open up a BC PS3 and you'll find that there's all the PS3 hardware and what amounts to a PS2 thrown in there. Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 opted for emulation, and the results of that were that only certain titles were supported, some of them didn't run well, almost all of the 360's features were disabled while playing older games, and a partition on your hard drive was required.

* Will Defiance have a separate next-gen version?

It's Trion's call. Again, people underestimate the work involved to port to another console. You can't just release the same game on another system. Consoles have different hardware architecture and thus require adjustments to be made. It would cost a fair amount of money to release next-gen versions of the game, so it's up to Trion whether they feel the revenue they'd get would be worth the money and effort. Also keep in mind that this is an MMO, and console versions were already a bit of a gamble on their end.

* If a next-gen version IS released, will our characters carry over? Will the servers be separate, etc?
It's definitely possible to carry this stuff over or run on the same servers on different consoles, but it's easier to separate them (with the exception that this requires additional servers which would cost additional money to run).

Overall, I'd say it looks pretty grim as far as playing the game on the next Xbox. However, there's nothing keeping you from playing the game well beyond the next generation console's release on your current console.

[Kayler Brodie]

Must be true then. Nothing on twit live is ever false

Lol

Maybe I should have started with <snarky> </snarky> He put the #DealWithIt. I worked at MS for a long time, they were always trying to do the always online thing, but with (just guessing now since I don't know the latest number) 35% of people still on dial-up it just isn't worth it.

EDIT:
Ok way off, it's something like 6%

[Hazel]

I hadn't really thought about the long run.

Man I shoulda just sucked it up and dealt with having 8-10 fps on my PC. At least eventually I could've replaced that and still kept everything.

[The Tinka]

Speculation is pointless so why even bother. Yall get yourself all worked up like a bunch of lil old ladies.

This guy talks sense.