In a much-needed change of pace, some positive news regarding Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 720 leaked this week. Specifically, the console's "always on" DRM protection might not be as oppressive as initially suspected.
In an email sent out earlier this week to full-time Microsoft employees who are part of Project Durango (i.e. Xbox 720), Redmond states that it does in fact believe certain features on the next-generation console should "just work."
"Durango [the codename for the next Xbox] is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet," read a memo sent out to Microsoft employees and obtained by Ars Technica. "There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should 'just work' regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game."
Obviously, Microsoft has not confirmed the authenticity of the leaked memo.
The specific wording of the memo is telling. Whatever DRM protection the Xbox 720 eventually utilizes, it seems that Microsoft will be making distinctions between the types of games a user is trying to play. You can play "a single player game" without any connectivity. What about a multiplayer game that has a single-player mode?
Furthermore, allowing users to play single-player games without an Internet connection does not mean Microsoft intended to let them install the games without an Internet connection. This would mirror the Steam model and would almost certainly mean that secondhand games will be blocked on the Xbox 720.
