Creative Director at Microsoft Studios Adam Orth has gone on twitter to defend the always online requirement that the Xbox 720 console is rumored to feature.
He tweeted earlier today:
“Sorry, I don’t get the drama around having an “always on” console. Every device now is “always on”. That’s the world we live in. #dealwithit”
When someone asked him about people without the internet, he just simply replied for those people to “get with the times and get the internet“. He also mentioned it shouldn’t be a problem if internet drops since electricity drops too.
I do think there is a bit of arrogance and ignorance to his opinion. Some people cannot afford the internet, but may still want to play games. There may be people out there that might move house and want to play games until they get their internet reconnected. They won’t be able to play games at all if they need to be connected all of the time. Simply “getting with the times and getting internet” is a luxury some people cannot afford right now especially in this economy.
I also feel he lives in an area of the USA that has a fast and reliable internet connection. I live in New Zealand and my internet is slow and drops off very often. Not to mention there are some countries in the world that are worse off than New Zealand when it comes to internet accessibility.
Hopefully Microsoft does not implement an “always online” feature for the Xbox 720. One has to look at EA and its launch of SimCity to know that it might be a disastrous and risky move to take.
