: In fairness, a lot of this information did in fact come from Microsoft so
: it's not unreasonable people took it as fact (though obviously some hasn't
: been read properly, since it was clearly stated that once a game was
: activated on a console, any user could then play it on that console, much
: like how Arcade games and DLC works on the current 360).

: For MS to then come out and say some of the information is inaccurate is not
: exactly a good thing in itself though.

This is a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don't situation brought about by the need in today's market to announce products so far in advance of their release that all the decisions haven't been made yet.

They try and stay vague about things they haven't nailed down internally, and people immediately draw conclusions based on what they DIDN'T say. So they decide to clarify, and only make things worse.

MS isn't the first company to fall into this hole, and it won't be the last, and the whole cycle disgusts me. I understand that some people want to know as early as possible about upcoming items, and sometimes it's even for solid reasons ("my 360 is on its way out; should I replace it, or is what's coming next going to be good enough for my needs that holding off and purchasing that makes more sense?") - but usually, even THAT isn't really solid thinking. (Anyone who is SO much of a gamer that they can't go a little while without a console, but SO broke that a couple of hundred extra bucks makes the difference between, say, paying rent and not paying rent, has no business buying a brand new console in the first place - remember, you won't have any games to play on it when you first buy it.)

Almost all of us, broke or not broke, game fanatic or casual take-it-or-leave-it gamer, would likely benefit from knowing ALL the details before making a decision. And since the details change right up until launch... what's the point of getting worked up now?

If someone tells me that a new product will make it impossible to do the things I'm used to doing (and ENJOY doing)... I probably won't buy that product. However, if I find out later that the information I had was incorrect, I'm not going to say "nope, still not buying it, I had bad info about this already."

Whatever. I'm not even the right demographic to be discussing this. I won't buy a next-gen console until there's something ON the next-gen console I absolutely have to have. (Destiny might fit that bill - or it might not, depending on how good it looks/plays on my 360.) At that point, I will look at my options, and I will pick the console that fills the most needs while providing the fewest annoyances. And I will buy it.

That's probably a year from now. I have enough trouble getting through the week - why should I be adding stress from worrying about what might or might not happen a year from now?