I really don't understand the negative hype about the kinect. All the talk about it being used to possibly spy on you is mere speculation as far as I know and if you're really worried about that, you can always unplug your console whenever you aren't using it (no power -> no working cam).

That left aside ... nowadays everyone 's being spyed on anyways whenever they go online. Just looke at Facebook, Google or Amazon and those only being a few examples.

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Regarding the DRM itself ... I'm not happy about it's removal. People are always talking about how bad it is/was and it's negative sides, but it also had some major positive aspects.

Let's just look at some of the aspects of the DRM:

"I can't share my games with my friends anymore" - This isn't quite true. The DRM was supposed to have a "Share Plan" which would have allowed you to share your games with up to 10 people worldwide(!) by adding their Accounts to your hub ... How many people do you know in your neighborhood you're actually lending games to? (Note: If I can share my games with ten others, wouldn't that mean, if each one buys 1 game, all of them would end up with 10 for the price of 1 game? - Just a thought.)

Other than that ... and this is sole speculation from my side ... the system, with all the charging for used games, etc. could have been the base for Steam-like environment incl. a possible drop in game prices and better offers, than we were used to get on the 360. (I'm aware that there are pros AND cons ... but actually how much different is the DRM from Steam, really?)

All in all I think the DRM was better than what they have now. It had it's flaws, sure. But it also had really good aspects and attempted to do something new.

But yeah, those are my two cents on the topic.

I think the way Microsoft brought the idea across made many people lead to reacting in the way they did. Also I think that if I own the disk to the game I should be free to give it to whoever I want, with no restrictions. Whether that be by giving my neighbour the disk or a friend in Canada a digital version. I'm sure there is a way to allow both to work.

Also on the who being like steam, I don't think it's a good idea for the consol simply because steam have a large variety of competition online! With consoles you get restricted to buying from there market place and paying there prices.

Also on the whole spying thing, I think that people realised with the Kinnect being plugged in 24/7 and connected to the Internet that it could happen, along with what's in the news about the USA government listening to all coms! I thinks that the majority of people that post stuff on social media etc don't realise that what they put on there will be stored in a database for years to come.

I'm not saying the DRM 's flawless and I agree that their marketing strategy was more than lacking.

About the sharing ... once you add the neighbor to the share-hub you could still give him disk OR he could get the digital version (actually a positive for me, the disk could stay with me, no risk of scratches etc.). While the limitation does leave a bad taste in one's mouth, some sort of regulation IS required, or people would start sharing the digital version limitless, crippling the industry majorly (Btw, this is one of the reasons they this weird 24h online requirement, because of people messing around with offline accounts). But yeah, there might have been a better way to handles this.

The market place. As I said, mere speculation. And the lack of competition is a really good point, I admit. Then again, it might not work out exactly like steam, but look at the alternative we have right now -> Online Passes ... They ain't much better, 10-20$ just use that online mode, if you bought it second hand. I think it's rushed if you condemn that system without knowing how the final pricing would have looked like. I personally don't see a problem with investing another 5 bucks for 2nd hand game if it's meant to finance server maintaining and the like for a game.

It always comes down to personal opinions and in mine the DRM had potential and it's pros outweight it's cons by far - again, my opinion.

Recent events are definitly one of the reasons that incited the outscream against M$. I also agree that most people are simply not aware what stuff they reveal on social media etc ... (regarding that I only say "Always read a contract before you sign it - Accepting TOS is signing a contract) ... I just think it's kind of a double-sided mentality.

I understand how it could work out great in the future but I think that right now with the use of physical media still a big part of everything it's too early and the world as a whole doesn't have the infrastructure to accolade a fully online system. For people that don't live in a big city and are stuck with terrible Internet, they will be stuck downloading a game all day and may have problems streaming it from cloud because there isn't enough bandwidth.

Maybe when we are at the point of everyone having super fast Internet through fibre optic or through new wireless technology that allows for 100mbp/s speed, will people really go for this idea that you don't need a physical copy of the game.

That's my thought on the whole situation . I mean people are happy with not owning physical copies of apps on there mobile devices and PC gamers are using the system to there advantage for cheaper games. But I think the idea of a
Consol and being able to take a game to a friends house and play is still there even though its not done as much as it was in the past

Xbox is trying to fix their boo boo.