The next-generation Xbox will not require an always-on internet connection for functions that you would expect to work in an offline environment - including single-player gaming.
"Durango is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today's Internet," read the memo, according to Ars Technica.
"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."
This comes in contrast to the persistent and controversial rumour that Microsoft's new console will strictly require an always-on internet connection to function at all.
But it also backs up more recent reports that Durango's requirement of an internet connection is not as stringent as earlier reports had indicated.
If genuine, the memo additionally corroborates with rumours that the new console will feature a blu-ray drive, and be capable of receiving (via a HDMI input) and relaying a TV video feed with its own UI and functionality layered over that of your existing set-top box.
Microsoft will reveal its next-generation console at a special event on May 21.
Comments
42 comments so far...
OfWolfAndBiggs on 6 May '13 said:
Shock, horror!!
Paradaz - UK on 6 May '13 said:
Based on some people's previous posts, this is obviously going to come as a shock lol
Also, some people will also look like complete f**kwits now - I'm sure some people vowed not to go near nextbox because of the old rumours that lacked any common-sense whatsoever. #standbyforbacktracking
Clusks on 6 May '13 said:
I can't wait for this bloody reveal event just to stop these back and forth rumour articles...
flyfletch on 6 May '13 said:
Again, this is only a rumour as well. Though it is a positive one, and one thats going to leave quite a few red faced people. You know who you are lol
shev on 6 May '13 said:
People wonder why Microsoft don't deny it already, but why would they? It keeps people talking about the Xbox and that's the only thing that matters.
KMakawa on 6 May '13 said:
The likely reason that it had been delayed so long is for them to rework the always-online thing..
However, rumour is only rumour and people who are making it their life-goal to attack a console based on rumour is just petite.. Ill be awaiting the conference.
Gemini40 on 6 May '13 said:
Still nothing concrete. I do find the stance of "negative rumour so must be dubious" vs "positive rumour, must be definitely true!" quite amusing though.
Two Pennys Worth on 6 May '13 said:
I couldn't see them implementing an always online console if Sony never, it just would have been commercial suicide. MS may be many things but they're not stupid. They got a hell of a lot of things right this gen and i expect the nextbox to be a fantastic console just like the 360.
I think the majority of people who were slating the nextbox were never going to buy it anyway. You know who you are.
ricflair on 6 May '13 said:
I thought the majority of the comments on the previous articles seemed to say the complete opposite!
Jigster1 on 6 May '13 said:
I agree with this!
Its all been like a game of Chinese Whispers, these rumours have been twisted and people assumed on that it would be online only! I really don't know why "sources" don't just say "it's going to be exactly like the 360, you can play offline but there will be some online only features!"
gmcb007 on 6 May '13 said:
Agreed. I'm sick of every faint wiff of gossip being turned into a news article. Just wait until we hear the offical new before getting all defensive or excited.
Gameoholic007 on 6 May '13 said:
Yeah, now that M$ got negative feedback, and a ton of flack about the previous rumor, they probly changed their minds lol
.Thats a good thing though if true, I just might have the new Xbox in my living room down the road, just not on launch day, that day is for PS4. It all depends what is said and shown on the 21st. 
richomack360 on 6 May '13 said:
Not too sure about that - remember MS pulled a stat out of thin air claiming the majority of Xbox users were online anyway - plus how many people actually vented their anger on the net, versus the amount of people that actually bought an Xbox
I think their reveal was always going to be delayed - possibly for hype or possibly because they still haven't found a valid use for Kinect 2 ?
Fr33Kye on 6 May '13 said:
Depends on who you're rooting for
Paradaz - UK on 6 May '13 said:
Hardly........Microsoft don't need to make any announcements if people are doing their advertising/marketing for them. On top of that if a lot of circulating rumours are bad press then it only serves to make them much look better when they can make the announcements and confirm that it is all a load of b*****ks.
I very much doubt that they even have time for reworking any online components, hardware or software in the time frames that people are talking about. Not only that, last minute changes when the release schedule is already tight would mean a huge loss and wasted resources. I don't know why people have to make all these excuses up regarding these companies....it's not like it's the first time they have released anything, it's not like they haven't got a clue what they're doing.
Fr33Kye on 6 May '13 said:
I'm really excited for the xbox reveal. I've been thinking that of they have a respawn exclusive, a project gotham racer, that rumored pixar like game, and at least some way of showing off the kinect 2 in a way that makes it seem futuristic and exciting, combined with the marketing blitz could blow sony away early on. Then again there's no way of knowing what games will be there or what ps4 games will connect with the audience or blahblahblah should be fun.
Fr33Kye on 6 May '13 said:
Not really. You're the one kind of making excuses. Didnt this rumor supposedly come from an internal memo? Why the memp if nothing changed and everyone was on the same page?
And yes, it's very possible for them to change that feature. They wouldnt really be able to change architecture, but this is a change they can make. Sony revealed before they did and they dont even have a final form ready.
Two Pennys Worth on 6 May '13 said:
Two emotions some people will be feeling from this story lol.
Shadmeister on 6 May '13 said:
Hi,
Whether a person made positive or negative statements on a rumour is not wrong - they were merely stating an opinion on a statement made by the CVG article.
If someone said that they would not buy the next Xbox based on a rumour, and that rumour is not true,, why were they wrong for commenting ?. They were just stating their decision to buy the Next XBOX or not, based on current information.
They cannot be held accountable for a CVG post providing information, which all they did, was comment upon.
Regards,
Shadmeister.
diablomaster000 on 6 May '13 said:
toaplan on 6 May '13 said:
So far, there's been a fair amount of "reports" / speculation on CVG about the Next Xbox being "always-online" (whatever that means in practice):
Feb 6, 2013:
Edge sources: Next-gen Xbox games 'will require online connection'
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/38 ... onnection/
March 20, 2013:
Next-gen Xbox dev kit points to 'always online'
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/39 ... ys-online/
April 4, 2013:
New 'sources' back always-online next-gen Xbox rumour
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/39 ... ox-rumour/
April 26, 2013:
Next Xbox's always-on connection can be used for DRM, report claims
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/40 ... rt-claims/
Still, these "reports" i.e. rumours are obviously not always accurate. Not that some of them aren't though - such as the reported PS4 specs, which in the end turned out to be exactly the same as revealed in the PS4 presentation.
Apart from muppets, hardly anyone takes these reports / rumours as gospel, although it's fun to speculate on different possible scenarios. It's still 2 weeks until the IlluminatiBox 720 is revealed - so as usual, patience is a virtue.
richomack360 on 6 May '13 said:
http://pokerknave.com/files/2009/05/muppets-computer-sm.jpg
You singling us out ?
The_KFD_Case on 6 May '13 said:
Well, *if* this turns out to be factual, then great! However, I still have a concern that both Sony and MS will pass the always-online/first-time-install-online-registration buck to the publishers and developers. If they do that, then we're not out of the woods yet, folks.
My take on this remains largely unchanged: I still categorically refuse to purchase a console that requires constant online connectivity, or that requires online registration for every new console game. If that's how the gaming powers that be are going to play it, then I'll simply explore the vast and established backlog of games for the current-gen consoles, and invest in a brand new gaming PC. If that is how things turn out, then it will require years' worth of significant price cuts and bargain basement prices on some games that may interest before I'd reconsider getting back aboard the console train.
As things stand currently, the PS4 still looks to be the more powerful gaming console technologically speaking and Sony's apparent strong focus on gamer-centric experiences appeals greatly to me. MS seems to me to be sending out a far more casual-media-entertainment-center vibe which does not thrill me much. Roll on E3 and full reveals from all sides!
P.S. The Next Xbox still looks like a cookie tin can in my opinion.
TheLastDodo on 6 May '13 said:
The email is worded very strangely.
1. Why would everyone working on the nextbox need an email to tell them what the nextbox is capable of? Unless this email is like a year or so old then surely they should know by now what the nextbox's big features are?
2. Why is it worded like an advert? and why is always online even mentioned? Never mind that it's talked about like it's a headline grabbing feature.
This is clearly a deliberate leak, dressed up as an email that has been accidentally leaked.
The_KFD_Case on 6 May '13 said:
We have little proof that it is thus, yet what you describe was one of the first things to cross my mind also.
Gameoholic007 on 6 May '13 said:
M$ is good at busting out claims from thin air, they have a bad reputation of doing that. What they say compared to what is are two different things. When comparing people who own X boxes, it doesn't matter, everyone who plays video games on consoles have the right to voice themselves if they are not crazy about a certain feature that may be on a console that either they are planning on buying, or considering. So in turn, out of all the web sites I've been on since these rumors started getting heavy, I've read mostly bad responses about this rumor itself reguardless what console their supporting, over there in the UK, and also here in the States. So in conclution, not only is a huge majority of the gaming community not too happy about it, neither is a good chunck of the gaming industry. So, I know M$ had to hear the cries, and see some of the result of what could happen, if they FORCE this feature down everyones throat, if any of these rumors are true of course.
I think M$ delayed because of the software issues, that they were caught off guard from Sonys announcement from 2/20, and I also read that the OS isn't fully developed for the nextbox either (speculated report).
StonecoldMC on 6 May '13 said:
We will know soon enough, then the fun really can begin.
Fr33Kye on 6 May '13 said:
Weird right? If the memo is recent the only reason they would need it is if something recently changed and/or they want everyone on the same page. The memo does seem worded oddly but have any of us read an internal microsoft memo before? This could be standard lol.
Two Pennys Worth on 6 May '13 said:
It did cross my mind too why would they send an email to people already working on it but i remembered an article, think it was the one where MS was locking down the XBOX development side of their campus where it was stated that even the people who were working on the nextbox didn't know the full extent of the xbox only the part that they were working on. It went on to say that employees even had to make up excuses to their supervisor when they had to go off and work on a specific part of the nextbox because MS were so nervous about leaks.
EDIT: I'm not saying that is the reason but it might explain why they would send it
Barca Azul on 6 May '13 said:
Not a big shock, would have been terrible.
richomack360 on 7 May '13 said:
Correct, but how many people actually do complain via the internet as opposed to those that own the consoles?
Majority ? Nope. We on the forums are not the majority - we are the noisy minority. Don't get the two confused.
Nah, as some of the lads above have noticed this seems like a fishy leak at best.
flyfletch on 7 May '13 said:
I dont think they delayed for the online thing, i personally think it never was always online and MS have successfully pulled off one of the best advertising trick ever lol I also believe they had a plan B ready depending on what Sony revealed, for example i would say the next box has went from 8 GIG of DDR 3 to at least 8 GIG of DDR 5, possible more!
So what i mean is they would have had a few versions ready for production depending what was revealed by Sony. Something quite a few companies do now.
I do point out this is all my own opinion and should not be taken as truth by all you rumour mongers lol
Queen Skillage on 7 May '13 said:
Then what of the games that would have been worked on for months or years on the old spec dev kits? They can't just upgrade those overnight. So if your theory is true that would mean a lot of the launch games won't be up to par and you wouldn't start seeing games that use the new taped on power for a while.
And if they did have different spec versions ready for any announcement of what the other had that would mean different versions of games would have needed to be made to run on each.
flyfletch on 7 May '13 said:
Its possible though, its not like the games running on DDR 3 would be crap? As long as MS/Sony put a systems at LEAST as powerful as the dev kits then no one will have issue. Do you think that the systems have not been changed multiple times even though the dev kits have been out there with developers for a while now?
Its what happens, they send out the dev kits saying this is the min spec we will go with, please make some games. Then they probably overhaul it many times, as and when they need to.
Queen Skillage on 7 May '13 said:
They wouldn't be crap, but it seems like a hassle instead of just deciding on a finalised spec and saying get on with it. Basically telling everybody making early games for it "Just start on them now but don't do much, we want to see what our competition has before we decide what we'll do" wouldn't be professional.
And the DDR 3 was just yet another rumour anyway. Odds are on it being wrong so they wouldn't need to be playing spec roulette in the first place.
Because while having multiple different powered machines ready up until a few months ago on the off chance the competition showed something more powerful is likely, so is a unicorn s**tting on my lawn. But I don't expect it'll happen anytime soon.
El Mag on 7 May '13 said:
I've just stuck a ASUS GTX Titan onto my Dreamcast with some Blu Tack I found down the back of my sofa. Hopefully it'll finally run Crysis.
flyfletch on 7 May '13 said:
I do understand what you mean, just thought that it was a possible scenario. One that i also though Sony would probably have been using as well.
I also think your right about the DDR 3, probably wasnt the case at all!
flyfletch on 7 May '13 said:
Let me know how that goes, ill have a go myself if it turns out ok
Gameoholic007 on 7 May '13 said:
(off first quote) Your asking a question that has no answer. Thats like asking how many fish swim in the sea? How many grains of sand make up the beach of the West Coast? How much does the earth weigh? None of that can be answered, because it's simply impossible. (2nd) So you speak for everyone here? Interesting, at the same time, insulting and not surprising. Lol, I never mentioned anything about these forums, nor this website. The number of UK gamers go beyond the number of members of CVG, nice try though. (3nd) If you didn't notice, thats why I said rumors, and speculated. You seem like a person that just believes whatever makes you feel good, and makes you sleep at night, but you have the right just like anyone else. You must get stunned when reality smacks you in the forehead once in a while.
Good day. 
flyfletch on 7 May '13 said:
^ Earth weighs 5.972E24 kg, its on Google
lol
Gameoholic007 on 7 May '13 said:
LOL! Yeah, so is bigfoot!
richomack360 on 7 May '13 said:
Wrong, you said :
The internet is not the huge majority, I was merely stating that MS have the "stats" and that not everyone that owns an Xbox was screaming from their virtual roof tops at an always online option (in rebuke to your comment)....trying to trivialize that by suggesting my retort is an open ended question is not quite right and still your original comment doesn't hold up, unless you can produce tangible evidence to suggest that the majority of Xbox owners (51% and above) are angry and have voiced legible feedback to MS about the always online option. Otherwise that comment is bumpf.
Sadly it just sounds like someone who believes the internet is all powerful...possibly in changing the ending to a sci-fi game that pretty much died on its backside in its third installment, but not for the internal workings and operational capabilities of a next generation gaming / entertainment device.
Nope, was asking where you got the above nugget of wisdom from ? I speak only for Richomack360 and Barry Chuckle who is locked in my basement.
Ahhhhhh, I see - MS must be wrong, I mean they are the ones with the data and know what is best for MS surely ? Or are the usual turgid nonsense echoing throughout the internet more accurate ?. All hail the stat gathering capabilities of the noisy peeps on the forums ! Yay for knee jerking
...and where did I mention the CVG forums also ?
Oh dear. For a minute there I thought you were going to have a good, sensible debate...but thats cool
anyway get back to the Wolfenstein game thread - something worth discussing with a fellow fan of the series !