I think that the always-on requirement gives incentives to developers to make games with the knowledge that 100% of the potential audience is online, and the always-on requirement gives publishers ways to skirt the used market and promote digital sales which (as we've seen with Steam) makes for better sale prices for…

Just to keep the non-outraged perspective present in the comments, I have never taken advantage of backwards compatibility, and I've never not had my modern console constantly connected. I know other people have situations that don't allow for, or desire, that, but speaking for myself, I have no problem with either of…

I don't really see how gender-neutral adorable cuteness is any less of a pervasive aesthetic in gaming than the Halo and Gears aesthetic - the mobile, browser, and children's game areas are drenched in that, and it's Nintendo's go-to look (Lego, and Disney, and others, too). It's every bit as purposeful as marketing…

Let's all remember this next time we're freaking out about Google Glass.

It's a weird thing - all the gaming media has been talking about the death and non-viability of consoles in the wake of iOS while Kotaku readers, at least, seem to all be totally up for another generation of consoles with just a fps and resolution upgrade. I'm guessing publishers, devs and hardware makers are all…

It'd be a bit of an upset after all the work MS has put into XBLA to have Sony beat them on the comprehensive-digital-download store. Whoever does it best, that's the console I'm going with.

I mean, the Xbox does run some variation on Windows - I think the idea is here is that this (like the Steam Box) is going to be a PC-style gaming experience with the lower-hassle interface and hardware benefits of a traditional console.

I can agree with that - I droned on forever above before seeing this comment, and I would just add that as popular music got incredibly awful at the end of the decade, the really good stuff started cropping up in the underground again, in a nicely inverse relationship. I think things really started looking up 1997-ish…

I suppose it was on my mind as I'd just finally finished listening to the 1600 SXSW songs of showcase artists they released last month and was exhausted from all the 90s rehashing. Perhaps this was not the appropriate place for it, admittedly. I wasn't looking to provoke an angry response, I mostly meant it pretty…

I'm optimistic that next-gen digital game stores will see Steam-like deep sales on slightly older titles. I completely agree with you about the always-on panic.

That does seem to be the question - I thought this was an even more revealing part of the Gamestop interview: "We've been spending a lot of time with Microsoft..." On what?

I actually think it's probably going to suck - they've gotten worse and worse with invasive dashboard ads, and the Kinect requirement is annoying, mostly because that tech seems like a dead end and an insignificant improvement over the last barely-functioning one. I think there' a lot of potential for always-on games…

Ha! Well, yeah, that crap, too.

Sort of. I think there's room for it to be different, too - using recordings of single player action from other people, rather than real time interaction, for example. I'm sure actual game designers can come up with interesting ways to use it.

At least you're not 'trolling,' though, right?

I suck at trying to talk to jerks? Duly noted.

Remember when I pointed sweeping generalizations at you? Oh, Right. Even directing them at the music of the 90s, I tried to explain it and support my position, but, no, let's just go with the most laziest, and overused-to-the-point-of-meaninglessness minimizations of 'hipster/pitchfork/trendy' and 'troll' like those…

I didn't intend to get into this all this - I just said I thought the 90s were the worst, and I think people are being big babies about the 'always-on' thing. Obviously, people feel really strongly about both of those things. If disagreeing and defending my point is trolling, then so be it, I suppose? I'd call it a…

Yeah, but it's publishers of all sorts pushing for this - MS profits by making EA, Activision and Ubisoft happy.

Yeah, but all that stuff happened in the late 80s.