I hate being right all the time... (not really), part deus.

So now Microsoft have shown their hand we'll take a look back at the predictions I made back in December last year.

Firstly, I was right about Microsoft's utter disinterest in backwards compatibility. That said, even I was surprised that the company actually seems overtly hostile to the idea this time around, with Don Mattick being quoted as saying 'If you're backwards compatible, you're really backwards" when confronted on the issue. Microsoft's stance is, as I also predicted, equally anti-consumer when it comes to used games - although they'll work in some shape or form when I predicted they may not at all, rumours and vague statements that dance around the issue given by Microsoft elite suggest there's to be some kind of huge and deliberately off putting caveat to their use, such as the rumoured license fee payable by either retailer or consumer to make second hand software usable again.  More worryingly still, a Kinect 2.0 (which's confirmed existence surprised noone) -related patent describes a scenario whereby the camera could be used to determine if too many people are in your living room watching content they haven't paid for and refuse to play it as a result. This 1984 style draconian approach to DRM is the console's biggest turn off. 

I was wrong about the lack of a Blu-Ray drive, the console is packing one. Microsoft has left the world under no illusion as to its intention that the Xbox One be the centre of the living room, and such an ambition necessitates the inclusion of Blu-Ray. I was kind of right about the name, as I commented on rumours that suggested Microsoft was considering calling the console simply 'Xbox'. I know they decided to add a 'One' onto that, but I'd say this was only by means of differentiation between the new console and the company's first offering.  I feel they purposely steered away from anything too adventurous, keen that it this latest incarnation remain in the urban lexicon as simply 'the Xbox' as has been the case with the Xbox 360 despite its nonsensical suffix. Also, it's coming this year as I said it would, which is good news if you just can't to have a box of plastic and transistors chastise you like a naughty child if you have one too many friends around for movie night.

As for the possibility of different SKUs or a Halo-related launch game, we'll find out at E3. Stay tuned.