"It's in the name." But they're too stupid to communicate something like this, instead they let EA tell you something like "You're going to love D.R.M. It's in your game!" Which couldn't possibly sound shittier, more arrogant or more out of touch to a bunch of gamers who detest the letters DRM. So after piecing together the broken message and pieces of the puzzle Microsoft's PR department has spurged all over the internet I have come to the realization that when you put together their digital gaming strategy along with the inherent capabilities and technology of the console they created, the name may just turn out be never more fitting. But they even failed to explain that.

"There's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand," says Mehdi.
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Yes Mr. Mehdi you do, and while you monkeys try to figure out how to do that let me give it a shot. For one maybe you should start looking and reading games forums if you are interested in good PR marketing people rather than going to your closest Armani dealer and having a chat with your tailor about it.

Digital Distribution and Digital Rights Management. As it turns out, according to Microsoft's Mr. Yusuf Mehdi over here, who has been doing a decent job over the past 2 days delivering a better message than the other Microsoft PR mouthpieces, Microsoft's initial intentions was to simply do away with physical media all together. But due to the current climate in the market, they figured it was better if they designed a console that could actually deliver both...for the time being. Like the rest of their system it appears to me Microsoft designed an inclusive solution, in this case, 2 separate models which they fail to explain coherently, in order to transition the videogame industry to its inevitable, digital distribution era.

1. On one hand you still have the physical disc. While it may seem like a restriction on used sales, or the way you normally handle your game media, the DRM restrictions were put in place mainly for their vision of a digital only distribution market. They believe that over the next decade, most, if not all, of your videogames will be digital downloads. Yes Xbox fans who are jumping ship! Sony fans who are declaring this game over. Slow your roll. Most of your PS4 games will also end up the same way too! You can't escape, except temporarily. Because that's what your game makers want to do. And Sony already has this in place for them. They're just going to drag it out longer while Microsoft wants to get a head start and incentivize developers. The problem is Sony doesn't yet have a plan for you, the consumer, when it comes to this. They will leave you at the mercy of each publisher. Hopefully they will just copy Microsoft like they have been doing since the Xbox entered the market with every single service or hardware advancement Microsoft introduced first, and you will be ok too!

As such, and if this is the case, you cannot have a digital distribution service without some form of DRM, otherwise everyone would just be copying everybody else's media. It's not that Microsoft is trying to crawl up your ass, it's because they plan on offering some perks with this digital distribution service which makes things like a 24 hour or 1 hour check-in necessary in order for people not copy each others games.

In short the the physical model is basically this:

-You can purchase and sell your physical games used to a retailer just like you always could.

-For private parties, it's restricted to people on your friends list for 30 days. For now it looks like Ebay and Craiglist are out of the picture. (The reason for this I have yet to figure out, and it may or may not be just a crappy restriction imposed in order for you to buy digital or perhaps has to do with a restriction for the sharing plan.)

-Because the games can be installed, they become digital products. At this point the only way to keep them from being copied all over the place is to install some sort of authorization or DRM feature.

2. The digital distribution method. It should be no surprize that Killer Instinct, one of the games clamored by so many hardcore gamers for over a decade is only available as a digital download. Because Microsoft apparently created a digital distribution service that can be very beneficial to the smart and savvy hardcore gamers. No, they don't want to just screw you over.

-It's simple. According to Medhi, at least Microsoft's first party games will be shareable across the internet with any 10 friends in your region that you designate as part of your friends and family circle(think cell phone plans of old). In addition each copy will be playable by 2 people simultaneously, you and the person currently sharing your game who doesn't actually own it. This is a huge advantage over physical media. If he wants to buy it for himself, he has to buy it just like with physical media. The reason he may have to pay full price, and this is where it gets murky and seems unfair, is because unlike physical it is now considered a digital product. If you want to buy a copy of a digital only game you have to pay whatever the going price is at that time. There is no such thing as a used digital game. There's only old. And yes according to Mr. Mehdi he did hint at discounts or at least different pricing tiers. Again, it may seem unfair at first, because of what we are used to, but if the videogame was initially digital from the start, and you downloaded the game from some online store, this would be no different. If you wanted a copy of it you'd have to pay full price. Eventually this is all that they will have. Digital only.

-This sharing service is not available at launch because they want publishers who support the console with launch games to sell as many copies as possible when the user base is at its smallest.

-They may also put some basic restrictions just like they do on rental stores(maybe that's what the 30 days thing is for) in order to incentivize you to buy new.

-They will also give publisher an option to opt out of this program. This is so that very linear experience like Tomb Raider, might not get abused. But perhaps this is also where that 30 day restriction comes into play to offer gamers an incentive to buy it new. No different than a rental store having to wait before getting their rental copies. However, by giving publisher an option it puts the entire thing back on the publishers. It also puts pressure on the publishers to support it because hardcore gamers are going to like those guys who lets them share their games freely a lot more than the ones who only give them a cumbersome DRM system. We're going to buy their games more.

-With time, Microsoft's Yufi Mehdi hinted at plans of introducing different tier pricing models, yes much like Steam, as well as toying with the possibilities of digital rental services like Netflix or Gamefly. 

But why would Microsoft or publishers allow me to share my games? Because this is no different than Microsoft or publishers allowing a rental store to rent you a game over and over again. Or a store selling you a used game. They've been doing this all your life haven't they? But with that model they get nothing beyond the initial sale. In this case there are many opportunities for them to snag additional sales from you. And no they probably won't care if you abuse it! Go for it! Work the system a little. Plan out your game purchases with your circle of friends. I know it's shocking to hear this because of how "draconian" we believe them to be, but seriously, much like Sony's UltraViolet movie sharing service, it turns out this could be a very lucrative business model just like F2P for publishers and for Microsoft. That's why they won't care. Because it will end up making them money. It's more advantageous to let you share your games and encourage your friends to keep adding games to your library, keep buying and adding new games, then to let Blockbuser or Gamefly rent you a game where they have no contact with their customers. If you're online, you're in reach. So is your credit card. And it's at the touch of an impulse buying gamer's finger tips.

The digital perk: This is in all aspects a superior way of sharing and lending games than you could possibly do with a physical disc. A major advantage. And a huge selling point.

What's up with this 24-hour or 1-hour check-in bullcrap?

Well if you start trying to look for loopholes in their sharing plan, you will come to the realization the 24-hour and 1-hour check in were designed for this sharing service to prevent abuse. Without it, 10 friends that have access to your library would be able to log on, access one of your games, sign off for 24 hours and beat the game. Thereby 1 copy would be playable by 10 different people simultaneously. Because any of the 10 people you give access to anywhere in the country can have access to your library, they must be online or at least check in once every hour to make sure more than 2 people are not playing the same copy. It's that simple.

The Tech. Developers will be very happy with Microsoft's system. It's not Microsoft's job to make you happy for the software you buy. It's their job to provide the platform so that video game developers to make you happy. The Xbox One is that platform. By including a next generation gaming controller in the form of an improved Xbox 360 controller with advanced rumbling added in, expanded its functionality by Kinect, which offers full body gesture and voice recognition, cloud computing which allows for additional processing power and storage outside the box and is fully scalable, as well as 3 operating systems to seamlessly integrate everything together, the Xbox One can deliver an out of the box experience that simply cannot be matched by the Playstation 4. It has the most advanced, all-inclusive, controlling mechanism and online technology of any console ever designed. This is a fact and an unmatched capability by the Playstation 4. Oh sure, the PS4 is supposed to have 50% more theoretical GPU power out of the box. Did you notice it? I sure as heck did notice that none of the games shown on Sony's press conference matched the variety and control mechanisms of games like Spark, Crimson Dragon, Quantum Break, Ryse and features like Forza's A.I. controlled drivers by the cloud. That's because it simply can't do them out of the box. 

The games. Developers will love making games for it because with its all in one out of the box controlling options, they can create any type of experience including core gamers, hardcore games, motion controls, online games, cloud games, casual games to online multiplayer games. Games ranging from TitanFall to Kinect Sports Riders to Fantasia to Final Fantasy XV to Halo to Quantum Break to Forza, Kingdom Hearts, Ryse, Crimson Dragon and back to Spark and that funky looking Zoo game, any developer can create any type of game with a very seamless, and intuitive control mechanism that is standard and out of the box day 1. And you can still do Yoga and shake your booty too! At no extra cost beyond the entry price. You just can't do that with the PS4. That's what some of you missed and failed to notice on that E3 reel at Microsoft's press conference: the sheer variety of gaming experiences possible with just one gaming box. That sheer variety can ONLY be achieved on the Xbox One out of the box and it's because it's included that developers will feel safe and comfortable in dedicating resources to support it.

Me? I'm looking forward to telling my marine in Halo 5 to get the hell out of my jeep, cause I'm driving. And he'll actually do it cause he can understand me. Thanks to Kinect's voice recognition. And if the A.I. messes up, and doesn't get out of my jeep, it would be nice if the developers lets me reach out with my hand grab him by the throat and yell in that pansy's face! "GET OUT OF MY JEEP MARINE!" Before I push him back with a simple hand gesture. This is what the Xbox One experience is all about! 

Who's cutting out who?

While the X1 cuts people out of the loop who don't have broadband internet, the PS4 cuts everyone other than old school hardcore gamers out of the loop. 

The PS4 cuts out the gamers who bought a Wii and Nintendo bewilderly failed to recapture with the Wii U and handed over to Microsoft's Kinect. It cuts anyone out of the loop who wants a more casual TV experience. It cuts out anyone out of the loop who wants to play gesture and voice controlled games. It cuts anyone out of the loop who wants to play Yoga and dancing games. It even cuts out hardcore gamers like myself who wants the newest tech like cloud technology and want additional fresh experiences that extend beyond the current offerings. It cuts out developers who want to move beyond just using your standard controller. It cuts out developers who want to create a game that appeals to a unified game crowd: the hardcore, the core, the casual, and yes even those weird folks that want to use it for its TV, Netflix and Skype features. All those people will be available and fully reachable to any developer and any game maker on Xbox 1, day 1.

The Xbox One will appeal to a much wider variety of customers as well as a much wider variety of game makers. The PS4 is not a gamer's console. It's a hardcore gamer's console. Or let's be more accurate and call them what they really are. Old school hardcore gamers without a vision for the future, without a need to ever play anything different than the same old games they've been playing since the arrival of 3D gaming. I'm a hardcore gamer too, and personally, I'm ready to move beyond a single input mechanism, which is that of touch, and start experimenting with sight and speach as well. Without having to give up anything at all. You really don't have to put down the controller to have instant access to Kinect's voice recognition as well as basic arm gestures while never getting up off that comfortable couch or gaming chair.

The Xbox One is not just an all in one entertainment device. More importantly for gamers, it's an all in one gaming machine. The Xbox One doesn't cut out the hardcore gamer either. It will offer him or her all the great games they know and love, plus new twists and new experiences they haven't even envisioned. The PS4, in its curent form is not and cannot do that. Not out of the box. It's cutting out a whole lot more games and gaming experiences and possibilities than the Xbox One. Sony failed to announce a bundled Move with the PS4 or develop a good enough answer. It's a cumbersome accessory, and will be treated as such. Even the EyeToy itself doesn't match Kinect. This fight has already been fought and lost by Sony last generation. And Sony's cloud offerings will come at some point in the future and mainly be used for backwards compatibility. The Xbox one is already using it for next generation gaming such as the A.I. in Forza 5. The difference between the Xbox One's control mechanism which includes touch, voice and gestures, out of the box, and the PS4's offerings is greater than just the difference between analog sticks of the N64 and the PSX's original controller ever was. It's a grand canyon. No doubt analog sticks are better for controlling characters in 3D virtual space. No doubt the Xbox One will be better for controlling and creating all of your next generation games.

Final thoughts. The last time a manufacturerdesigned a console for game developers, it was called the Playstation by a company named Sony. It absolutely obliterated the competition because of the advantage of the medium of that era, the CD, offered both game developers and gamers. It allowed for games that wasn't possible before like Final Fantasy 7 as well as price saving for developers on the cd versus the cartridge, that were not available before. That's what the Xbox One is designed to do. So shut up hardcore gamer because you believe it wasn't designed for you. Even if that was true, which is clearly not, you loved that one, didn't you? I know I did. The last time a console was designed for hardcore gamers was by a company named Microsoft who created the original Xbox. Well we know who won that war. Before that it was Sega who made the Dreamcast and the Sega Saturn. We know what happened to Sega. And at the same time as Sony's PSX it was Nintendo who refused to listen to developers and game makers to take advantage of the medium present at that time. It was the beginning of Nintendo's great fall. Sony went for the bigger market. Nintendo shrunk. 

It cannot be underestimated how important is the promise of Microsoft's game sharing plan and future Steam-like pricing tiers as well as rental services. I'm a serial renter. I only find 10 or so games a generation that I find enough value in to spend $60 on. I'm picky. The rest I rent or buy used. It wouldn't have done me much good to have all this tech and variety in gaming if Microsoft's used and rental practices would have restricted me from having access to cheap gaming.Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be the case. Thankfully the answers appear to be coming and some are a very pleasant surprize. Now I'm ready to move on. I'm ready for the digital age.

That's what Microsoft should have told you. As such they failed to deliver this message. But don't judge a console by their PR department. You remember Sony's and Nintendo's when they could barely speak English up on stage? That's not what matters. Not to mention, would you really want them to stand up on stage at E3 and read off to you everything above, and what will amount to as the fine print of a cell phone contract? That's incredibly short sighted. And yes, it's a very long message that will need to eventually be said as something as simple as this "it's not Xbox 1, Xbox One, or Xbone. It's Xbox won you fools!"