According to a report from VGLeaks, the Xbox 720 is backwards compatible if you buy an Xbox 360 add-on device. It also mentions you CAN play the device offline.
The add-on device is called the “Xbox Mini” and is actually a stand alone product. It can play Xbox 360 games digitally if you purchased them via Games on Demand. This applies to music and movies you’ve downloaded too.
The best part of the “Xbox Mini” is that when it’s attached to the Xbox 720, you can play your old Xbox 360 games. This includes both “disc based and On Demand games”. Best of all, is that you can play the games “locally and not through the cloud”.
The report also suggests the Xbox 720 has an always online feature in mind, but this shouldn’t prevent people from playing their games offline. It also suggests it will not prevent you from playing used games either.
This is a complete 360 (excuse the pun) compared to all of the negative rumors about the Xbox 720 blocking used games and needing to be online all of the time. Maybe Microsoft listened to all of the negative feedback and decided to make the console more consumer friendly?
Hopefully all of the information is revealed officially by Microsoft when they are set to reveal the Xbox 720 for the first time in May.
They didn’t back track anything, people just can’t freaking read. The entire rumor started from VGleaks in the first place.
“After carefully reading the hardware overview published by Vgleaks, which was previously responsible for revealing Durango’s specs, it seems that some people are just being paranoid or unrealistic about Microsoft’s plans. Here’s the relevant “always connected” bit and the context in which it’s mentioned:
Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this “Always On, Always Connected” design, users will easily and quickly enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.
In other words, “always on, always connected” is a feature rather than a requirement to play games. It’s not necessarily meant to do DRM checks every few minutes to make sure you are not running pirate or second hand games, and it certainly doesn’t mean that games will stop working if you lose your connection. Instead, it’s about downloading stuff like game or social network updates in the background so they’re ready when you need them.
If any of that sounds familiar is because the PlayStation 4’s “network standby” will do the same thing.”
Oh and
“Now VGLeaks is clarifying that Durango will indeed be always online “like any other device”, but it will not be a requirement to play local content and it will not prevent playing used games. In other words, this is meant for downloading stuff like game or social network updates in the background when a net connections is available, but you will still be able to play Xbox games if your broadband is down or you take your console elsewhere.”