A new horror

So, Microsoft announced that the Xbox One was going to have not-quite-as-severe-but-PC-esque restrictions on game sharing, and requirements for near-constant internet access. Everyone threw a hissy fit. Microsoft backtracked, saying that now game sharing will be unrestricted as with the Xbox 360, and an internet connection will only be necessary for system updates and internet-specific features.

Cool, right?

After weeks of listening to everyone and their mother whine and moan about XBone restrictions, the announcement was a huge relief. Now, when people started ranting about how Microsoft wanted to take all their money and murder their pets, instead of going into a long spiel about how game trading will be allowed under limited circumstances that I don't fully understand, I could just sigh and say "No. All of that is false. They changed their mind."

What I didn't count on was the fact that apparently, no one knows the difference between "able to play second-hand games" and "backwards compatible."

"So, will the Xbox One be able to play Xbox 360 games?" asked an otherwise innocuous customer one day.

"No, it can't," I said.

"Microsoft said it could," he pressed.

"No, they didn't," I said, confused. Despite their total abortion of a press release, no one affiliated with Microsoft has ever even suggested that the Xbox One would ever be able to Xbox 360 discs.

"Yeah, originally it couldn't, but then they went back on it and said you could play old games," he said.

Oh. Oh, no.

"They're allowing used games," I said. "The system still isn't going to be backwards compatible."

"Yeah, so I can play my used 360 games," he said.

"No. You can play used Xbox One games. The system isn't backwards compatible with games designed on the 360."

"So- wait, what does that mean?"

"You can only play Xbox One games on an Xbox One."

I've been having identical versions of this conversation with all sorts of people since Microsoft's announcement. I'm in a new circle of torture. Why is it so difficult to grasp the concept that the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One have completely different hardware? Is it because they both read discs? Do you have any idea how many different kinds of discs there are?

The Xbox 360 isn't backwards compatible, either, so why would the Xbox One be? Sony abandoned making their systems backwards compatible years ago, and it doesn't seem to have affected their sales. If you want backwards compatibility, then buy a Nintendo console.

No, seriously. I love my Wii U more than anything in the world.

MAKIN' A TAG FOR IT.