A Simple Guide To The Xbox One.
Industry News
Xbox One Questions Answered.
There is a lot of confusion out on the interwebs regarding the Xbox One’s features and policies. Mainly due to the slow release of information from Microsoft. So we have done our best to track down the answers and break it down in simple terms. (Some of these policies may change before release date)
Can I trade in my games? Yes. The Xbox one allows you to trade in games at stores that accept trade ins.
Can I buy used games? Yes. You can buy used games from stores that sell them. Microsoft do not charge a fee for this, but the store will (it is a business after all) and it is up to the third party publishers to decide if they want to charge a fee (similar to how an Online Pass works right now).
Can I give my friend my game once I’m finished with it? Yes. The Xbox One allows you to “gift” a game to your friend. This moves the license from your machine to your friends. This should only be done if you are completely finished with a game as you can only gift a game once, and you must have been friends with that person for at least 30 days. This gifting is free but is different from loaning a game to your friend.
Can I share my games with my friends and family without gifting them away As I want to keep playing it? Yes you can and this is one of the best features on the Xbox One. Microsoft has set up the “Xbox Family” option for just this reason. Ten members of your “Xbox Family” can play any of your games from your shared game library on their own Xbox One, they don’t even need a disk. You can also continue to play your games on your own Xbox One. The only restriction is that only one of your friends can be in your library at any one time. This does not impact your access to your own games. In short ten people can access your games, but only one of your friends can play one of your games at a time. You can play them all the time.
Do Xbox family members have to be in my actual family? No. The Xbox family is made up of your closest Xbox friends. They don’t have to be in the same family, house or even city. You add ten of them to your list and that is your “Xbox family”.
What about my real family can they play my games? Yes they can play your games even your DLC on your Xbox One, and you don’t even need to be signed in.
Does the Kinect 2 need to be always turned on? No. The Xbox One uses a lot of voice commands and gestures. The Kinect 2 is used to monitor those commands. So if you want to use any of the voice activated options and if you want to use any gestures to control your Xbox One then you need the Kinect 2 turned on. If you don’t want it on, simply turn it off.
Does the Kinect 2 spy on me? No. The Kinect does not record you or listen in to your conversations. It listens for voice commands. When it is idle it only listens out for the command “Xbox On”. It does not record or upload your conversations and Microsoft is not listening in. If you are playing an online game and using the Kinect to interact with others don’t expect privacy.
Do I need to be online all the time? No. You need to check in once every 24 hours. This can be done from your phone and takes a few seconds and a few kb of data.
Why do I need to check in every 24 hours? Well Microsoft is making the push to digital, as such they are moving the DRM from disk to cloud. So rather than you needing to put your disk in to console like you do with your Xbox360 to play your games, you just need to check in online.
If my internet is out will I be able to play games I own? This is a little trickier. You can play for 24 hours without issue, after this you must check in online. For this you can use your broadband connection but if that is not working you can use your mobile phone’s internet connection.
If you don’t have a phone with a mobile internet connection then your games will not work after the 24 hour check in is missed. Yes this sucks but it is the tradeoff for the huge benefits for having your games on the cloud. It is possible that Microsoft will allow you to use your disk to replace the 24 hour check in, in the same way your 360 currently works. (We have no confirmation of this, it is just a very simple solution for a small problem).
Why did they decide on this online check in? Well only Microsoft really know but we think it is quite simple. As you don’t need your disk to verify that you own the game (this is done online) you could technically install that disk on a whole bunch of consoles at once. Also as they don’t use the disk in the console to play the game people would be able to install the game then trade in their games and continue playing it from the hard drive. The console needs to check in online to ensure the licenses you have belong to you.
Is any of this likely to change? Yes. Remember this is a console launching with many new features being implemented. Some will work and people will really enjoy them, other features won’t and they will need to be scrapped. Some will need to be tweaked a little, it is very possible that many of these features will evolve once the console launches.
Disclaimer : We have done our best to track down the information above, it has not always been easy to find and often worded in a way that it is open to interpretation. We have done our best to interpret that information and outline everything in a way we think is correct but if you see anything that is wrong let us know straight away.
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