Citing "sources familiar with the system," Polygon reports that the Xbox One will not require a fee to play used games. Instead, the console will perform regular online checks to verify disc authenticity and ownership.
Polygon's sources note that used game sales will continue, as Xbox One game ownership is determined by an on-disc encryption code. Once a game has been sold, traded, or otherwise activated by another console, access to the previous owner's installed content is revoked and transferred to its new owner.
Microsoft's Major Nelson addressed recent speculation regarding the upcoming console's ability to play used games in a statement released earlier today. "Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games," Major Nelson said. "Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future."
Polygon additionally reports that Xbox One voice chat and party chat will be powered by Skype, according to an unnamed Microsoft representative. Recent rumors suggest that Skype will also enable remote play sessions.
"Skype technologies are used in Xbox One which improves voice quality during multiplayer game sessions," Microsoft's representative wrote in a statement to Polygon. "Skype can also be used to call any of your Skype contacts for voice or video chat exclusively or while playing a game. Additionally, we have improved the Kinect hardware, from microphone configuration to dedicated audio processing, which contributes to providing a high-quality voice experience whether you are chatting in a game or through Skype."
Maybe you've heard the entirety of Daft Punk's latest, Random Access Memories. But I'm guessing you haven't heard the album in an 8-bit style, as a single song. Thankfully, Joe Jeremiah can indulge you there, with this here video.
A Minnesota man working on a fixer-upper tore down a wall and found, among the newspapers stuffed inside to insulate it, a copy of Action Comics No. 1. That's right, Superman's first appearance. The birth of superhero comics. It'll go for at least $100,000—but it could have sold for a lot more.
In a gobsmacking story by the Star Tribune of Minneapolis earlier this week, David Gonzalez tells of how he found the comic book, showed it to one of his in-laws, and in a heated argument that followed, tore its back cover—a defect that lopped $75,000 off its potential value, in one appraiser's view.
Gonzalez's Action #1 currently has a bid of $107,333, in an auction being run by a New York auction house through June 11. That's still more than 10 times than the price he paid for the home where he found it, which had a torn roof and was scheduled to be demolished until he picked it up for $10,100.
Go read the story, it's dumbfounding that someone could still find an edition of the most valuable comic book in the world—even one graded at 1.5 out of 10 in condition—in this way, and tragic that his in-laws damaged it.
