More evidence that Xbox 720 will be always online

Despite the horrible beating EA and Maxis have gotten for the recent gaff with the new Sim City, it looks like they aren't the only companies considering the idea of always on systems. Microsoft could very well be pushing for it with the next Xbox and this could lead to used games being blocked too.

We heard recently that Sony wouldn't be blocking used games on the PS4, something that gamers were pleased to hear. It was generally considered that the fears of a next-gen being dominated by new games only was a publisher's pipe dream, but perhaps not. New screenshots of a Microsoft software development kit show features that look to be related to always on systems.

While there's much to digest in the screengrab, the bits that are drawing the most attention are “The console will be ready instantly when users want to play and will always maintain a network connection.” “With this, always on, “always connected,” design” and, “every Durango console will be sold with a new high fidelity Kinect sensor, which will be required for the system to operate.”

So not only will the console potentially need to be online in order to play anything, but you'll have to have a glorified web cam staring at you the whole time while you play.

Other suggestions from the documents are that games will have to be installed onto the local hard drive in order to play, but they will be playable during installation.

KitGuru Says: So what do you guys think of these rumours? Gotta say, if the Xbox 720 needs an internet connection in order to play the games I paid for, that'll be a deal breaker for me.

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