I have no problem with any of it. Here's why: "Always Watching" -The Kinect is a fun feature, not a spy cam. You can turn it off. Microsoft has stated that their main concern is to avoid privacy issues. Besides, if the NSA wants to waste their time watching me play Destiny, I don't give a flip, their time wasted. "Always Online" -I'm usually logged in online anyway, but really you only have to connect every 24 hours for a few seconds. Stay off the Xbox a few days? Not a problem. I'm not playing, there's no need for it to be connected, the Xbox stays off. Turn it back on, sign-in for a little bit, then go offline (if I want). If I'm in a place where I can't get wifi for a few days, there's probably something else I could be doing (i.e. spending time with family at this Internet-less vacation destination, go outside and exercise a little, etc.). A few days off the Box won't kill me. Or anyone. "No trading games with friends" -This is one of the most undersold points of the X1 at this juncture: family sharing. It doesn't have to be blood relatives, and I can share with 10 people. TEN! My whole gaming library, combined with theirs. I can play games for free from my friends. Mixed reviews on whether or not the original owner AND one friend can play at same time (confirmed only one friend can access a single game at a time, while the other titles are open to my nine other buddies), but even if they can't this still works great for me. (More on this below) "No Trading In Used Games" -Ah, but you can. For your physical copies of the game at least, you can return the game to GameStop, get some cash for it, and they'll sell it. This is why they have the "online every 24 hours" thing in effect; GameStop, and similar companies, will disable the game from your library. You don't need the disc after installation for this very reason, it's all installed on your system. But to allow for trading in old games, you have to give up your disc. Giving up your disc gives up your license to that game. You can't play it. Just like you can't play the game now if you give your disc to GameStop. Microsoft says that devs have the option on any additional charges for resale of the product, but Sony actually has this in effect too. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't have games installed on your system and then sell the game. Then no one would make money. One person would buy the game, install it, pass it to their friend, and they'd repeat the process. With the online, you don't have to fiddle with discs, but you do have to sign in to verify you haven't sold your game back to GameStop. "But I rely on used games and borrowing from friends!" -For me, this isn't really an issue. For many, they're overthinking it. Say I'm on the fence about buying the new Gears of Halo Theft Auto 7 game. My friend has it in his library. I play it, I like it. If he's not really playing it that much, I can play it FOR FREE as long as my heart desires (this assuming only one person can access the game at a time, no matter if it's host and one friend trying to play or two friends). He starts playing it too much and you wanna play multiplayer with your host buddy, or just wanna keep playing campaign of this awesome hit series, it's time to make a gutcheck. Do I love this game enough that I have to play all the time? If so, go buy it at GameStop. If no, just play it when he's not (he won't always be on). Keep in mind, the value of games will still depreciate over time, naturally, and used games will probably still be a little cheaper than buying new. But emphasizing the sharing feature: There's lots of games you'll get to play for free from this system. TL;DR: Microsoft is going towards the future, which is more digitally based. It's got some new features to get acclimated to, but they're going to have their perks.

Well, the online connection is really my only problem. If they get off their asses with that and change it then, I'll probably end up getting it.

[quote]always on internet connection[/quote]A few minutes every 24hrs is hardly "always online".[quote]Kinect always on, always watching & listening[/quote]It can be turned off.