Sure it does. Nintendo upgrades firmware while MS and Sony are light years ahead in terms of technology. No amount of firmware is going to fix the hardware.
It doesn't have to be always on...........unless you want to play games. I guarantee you'll need to activate your games via the internet like Steam and if it's used then you have to pay a fee.
Foxconn factory aka Chinese labor camps where trampolines and nets are outside the building to prevent people from committing suicide. The good news is that the console won't cost too much, unless MS wants it to.
Honestly, not to just bash on Nintendo but I wouldn't pay $50 for this. The basic version of 8gig should not even exist. It's like buying a pc with 100 megabytes hard drive that you can't upgrade. Nintendo needs to discontinue this version and try to sell it off as quickly as possible. Then they need to hire thousands of programmers from China and Russia, ie. cheap labor, to make their IP games which is the only reason to buy a Nintendo console, otherwise more and more third party developers are going to drop them.
plm3d_basic's comments