Whatever it is going to be called, the Next Xbox is coming. That is one thing we can all look forward to this fall, that's for sure. However, a new report has come out today, one that has shocked many game news outlets and consumers alike, and while it is still a rumor, it is one that many hope is not true, myself included. The Next Xbox will have games that ship with "activation codes that have no value beyond the intial user." In other words, used games for the next Xbox are non-existent.
This is not the first time that this has been rumored, as it was last fall as well. Honestly, I'm taking a "I'll believe it when I see it approach" to the whole idea of this. For one thing, there is a whole consumer base that depends on used games. Then you have a company like GameStop, who would be dead in the water if a console like this were to ship. Not to mention: what if your console breaks? What if that infamous "red ring" follows us into the next generation of consoles? Then what do you do? There are just too many factors that make me believe the idea and concept of blocking used games is all smoke and mirrors at this point.
The other major rumor on this report is that the new console will only be functional online. That's right, it is possible that the only time you would ever be able to use your next Xbox would be if you have an internet connection. Again, this is also all just rumor and speculation, but I also have to take that same "I'll believe it when I see it approach" to this one, even though this seems more valid then blocking used games.
Beyond those two big rumors, we have more system specs that sound real but again, are just rumors. Xbox 720's specifications will include an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800 MHz graphics solution, and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. To add to that, the system is rumored to use 50GB blu-ray discs, something I'm personally ok with as I would love to have an Xbox that plays blu-rays.
Will this new console block used games? Who knows. Should it? Well, sound off in the comments below.
