Despite rumors and poor interactions with its customers, Microsoft’s next Xbox will not require an Internet connection for all functionality, according to an internal Microsoft email reportedly obtained by Ars Technica. Traditional “offline” activities, such as watching live TV, playing a Blu-ray movie, and playing a single player game, will not require an Internet connection, the memo states.
Durango [the codename for the next Xbox] is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today’s Internet… There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should ‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game.
As Ars Technica points out, it’s not yet clear if games will work completely in the absence on an Internet connection, as they do on current-generation consoles, or if games will require a “Steam-like” one-time activation upon installation, regardless of single- or multi-player status.
Still, the news will come as a relief to many gamers anxious for Microsoft’s next console. The thought of a truly “always-on” connection requirement ruffled the feathers of gamers who live in areas without broadband connections, or those using ISPs with onerous data caps. Internet connections are also not yet as reliable as other utilities, resulting in occasional downtime that would leave gamers without a way to use their console.
If the memo obtained by Ars Technica is accurate, however, it appears as if most of these fears will be made moot. Microsoft is set to reveal the details of its next Xbox console on Tuesday, May 21, at 1:00 p.m. EST (10:00 a.m. PST). Those unable to make it to Redmond can watch a live stream of the event from Xbox LIVE on their consoles, Xbox.com on their computers, or Spike TV in the U.S. and Canada.
