Microsoft Xbox Next to Be Incompatible with Pre-Owned Games

From X-bit Labs: As expected, Microsoft Corp. will not rely on digital downloads only for its next-generation Xbox game console and will distribute titles for the system on Blu-ray discs with up to 50GB capacity. Thanks to the new game activation system, purchased games will be available for download at any time. Unfortunately, this potentially eliminates ability to share game discs with friends or buy pre-owned titles.

The next-gen Xbox from Microsoft will require active Internet connection to function as the console will heavily rely on Xbox Live and similar services. While the games will be distributed on Blu-ray discs, they will ship with activation codes, and will have no value beyond the initial user. A good news is that with every purchase of a physical media Microsoft will activate a copy on its servers that can be downloaded at any time should the disc be damaged or destroyed. A bad news is that second-hand games will simply not work on Xbox Next as they will require a new code, reports Edge Online web-site.

Used games is something that both platform holders and game developers have been trying to eliminate for many years now. It appears, that with the new-generation Microsoft Xbox “Durango” and Sony PlayStation 4 “Orbis” the market of pre-owned games will finally cease to exist. To make the matters even worse, it will be unable to borrow games from friends or relatives anymore.

Considering the fact that many modern games cost $50 and more for various special editions, an inability to give such a title to play to a friend or relative will likely decrease appeal to purchase it for the full price.

Microsoft Xbox Next is presumably based on microprocessor and graphics processing technologies developed by Advanced Micro Devices. The console is projected to feature system-on-chip with eight general-purpose Jaguar x86 cores as well as custom AMD Radeon HD graphics processing unit with GCN architecture and 768 stream processors. The Xbox Next system is expected to be released later this year and cost between $350 and $400.

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