Already been posted a few times, but still highly relevant in this context.

Seriously, how the fuck do people argue that it is such a problem to swap out your discs or even go out and buy games from a real store? I think the fact that some people see this as such an inconvenience is more indicative of the person than the console.

I have a mate with one leg (amputated from the knee down due to cancer of the knee for those who may be curious) with whom I sometimes have a round on his PS3. He'll quite happily jump off the couch, hop towards the PS3 and change the disc without so much as a sigh. If a one-legged man can do this without much effort, well...
That's actually fairly indicative of the way I see things going. If the PS4 turns out to be the same, I can see either everyone flocking to the Wii U or the market just crashing in spectacular style. I can see a real revival in outdoor sports coming up.

Right. People have to realize that they don't want anything from console manufacturers, publishers and developers, but they really want something from you: your money. If they're doing stupid shit you don't like, just don't give them your money, and they're fucked.
What are they gonna do?
Best case scenario: They either change their strategy, or other, more clever people take over.
Worst case scenario: They gonna stop making games entirely, which finally gives you time to go working on that backlog of yours.

That or just get into movies and buy classic games I never played before like Vagrant Story and Wizardry.

Well, I'm already a movie fan with a huge collection of films, so the loss of gaming as a hobby wouldn't be a major one. And if I'm honest, the shenanigans of the various publishers and platform holders have already caused gaming in my book to be relegated to a second-class hobby. I do more with archery and films these days. I sold most of my PC stuff last year, including the hardware, and kept only the games I wanted to play alongside the stuff that was account-bound anyway.

I usually only play on PS3, Vita, Wii U and my retro consoles now. I did a quick check a few days ago and I actually spent over 80% less on games in the first five months of this year than I did last year.

They MUST have something similar. You simply cannot enable users to buy games from the stores and simply have them streamed to their consoles without some system implemented to check which user is authenticated for that streaming and which user is not.
Not sure if serious.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/24/wii-u-sales-jump-on-amazon-uk-following-xbox-one-reveal/

Why wouldn't I be?

It does seem MS asked only the (biggest) game publishers what kind of console they'd like MS to make. The end-users and indie game developers can go fck themselves. :)

It is the same as the failed Circuit City DIVX movie player device that was supposed to dethrone VHS and DVD, it was completely made with the mindset "What do the movie studios want from the unit?" instead of "What do the end-users want from the device?".

People were this upset when Steam was announced... most people will grumble and then pay them money anyway.

Yeah, and many of those people are sat there on gaming forums actually fucking defending Steam, vehemently denying that there is any correlation between the Xbox One model and Steam. Before the announcement was made, these same Steam fanboys were sat there defending the possibility that Xbox One may be doing this, as if criticism of online DRM on a console was automatically an attack on Steam. Just shows how pathetic many of them are.

Seriously, how stupid do you get?

That being said, I do believe that online DRM on a console is going to be placed more closely under the watchful eye of legislators. There are signs that the German government at the very least may take action against it, and there may be EU activity as well.

Steam is more flexible than everything the xbone except that the games are not transferrable. It does not need to call home more than once a month, and the limitations of it are countered because the games are ludicrously cheap on the platform.
The games are not going to be ludicrously cheap on the xbone. Single use game licenses (for the most part, since Steam does have a bunch of DRM-free titles) for 2-10 bucks versus full price releases? The cheapness goes a long way to sweeten the pill.

Best of luck. I fear that in the U.S. the government will fund and support companies to keep them "safe" from all of us criminals that keep giving them money ... :/

Oh gawd, here we go again...

The fact that the games are transferable automatically makes it more flexible. Not by much, mind you, and the Xbone's approach is still unacceptable.

Phoning home is still phoning home.

No they're not.

Most likely not, but there's no way to know at this point.

How many AAA titles can you get for 2-10 bucks that aren't more than a year old? The vast majority of 2-10 buck games are indie titles and represent one-day sales. The standard prices are still well above retail.

But congratulations on towing the Hammer Legion line.

Now I really want to move to Europe...

For me, only worst so far.
Always connected games / consoles, impossibility to buy used games, no major game anouncement (no game i really want on either).
I'll probably wait 3 years+ before buying one, if i ever do.

An interesting read:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/xbox_one_internet_required_after_all/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/prism_plan_for_nsa_surveillance_of_internet_companies/