I meet this news with mixed reaction, on the one hand it is a blessing for those who enjoy a more 'open' console gaming experience, let us not forget that not everyone is made of money when it comes to buying video games, so its easy to see why that was a big issue, and not everyone has a half decent internet connection although that may be hard to believe for those who do. On the flip side of the coin however, developers need paying for their hard work and there is no doubt used games take money out of developers / publishers pockets. Also I really can see the benefit of a more connected box, games can leverage the power of cloud computing, more frequent updates enriching the experience etc. Here's hoping MS can merge the best of both worlds to everybody's satisfaction ;)

Its true Apple pose a big threat to the console racket since the 'core gaming' market is shrinking, although us core gamers would like to think that isn't the case, you cannot get away from the fact more people carry and use mobile devices than consoles. That said, I feel the decline in console and video game sales has dramatically declined over the 2012 - 2013 period due the abnormally long console life cycle and with the new consoles on their way its sure to boost the 'core' video game market no end, and I see big sales of retail and digital video games in the not to distant future.