Gaming News: Microsoft Up, Sony Down [Update]

While I mostly want to just post interesting facts on this blog, this day could turn out to be a good PR day for Microsoft.

Microsoft has announced the the Xbox One is changing its game policies with the following:

• No more always online requirement
• The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
• All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
• An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
• All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
• No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
• Region locks have been dropped

This news has crashed the official Xbox website and is vital news in the upcoming console war. On top of that, today Sony released a new firmware update for the Playstation 3, but has since taken it down. Why you ask? The update is bricking some systems using non-OEM hard drives and there are some reports of it bricking systems with official HDDs. Maybe Sony shouldn't have taken so many easy stabs as the Xbox One's DRM policy, eh?

Update: The official article can be seen here. Sadly, this means that there will be no game sharing like originally planned, which to me, seemed like it would have been a great feature. This makes sense, since if you can trade in a game, you shouldn't still be able to play it effortlessly from any console. I think people blew the DRM out of proportion, as many complainers on discussion boards did not even consider gamesharing as a perk. Still, being able to rent from Redbox and now being region free is a nice perk.