If any of y'all, are like..ya know...for internet privacy.

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Although it seems inevitable that the gaming market will end up there, what are your opinions on the "rumor" of the next XBOX being always online and the statement from Ubisoft saying that their audience is ready for always online? As a guy who lives in the boondocks whose internet can go out for an hour if a squirrel sneezes to hours during a rainstorm, I find it a rather harsh reality to swallow. At the same time it is hard to imagine the industry evolving in any other way.

Some would suggest that it's a necessary step to keep gaming on the cutting edge, providing more to the game than they previously could before. And then it will be a neverending race to upgrade and provide better services along side better graphics from generation to generation. Content that makes use of the always online is an easier win for developers though because it isn't based on hardware limitations like graphics.

But I think it's more than just about providing better and more for the gamers. Among the rumor of no used game playing on the new XBOX is what I plainly call the worst case scenario of data-mining their is. While it's no secret that companies have tracked your online habits for quite some time now supposedly Microsoft will not only know your gaming and web habits but how many people are in the room anytime the system is on, if they are male or female, among other data. When does "useful services" turn into invasion of privacy?

I may sound paranoid but I think that Microsoft exec who told us to "deal with it" may be speaking for much of the industry as a whole. Using it's power to bully us into accepting how they want to run things. And the saddest part is we all pretty much deal with it because it's about the only way we get to play games.

What are your thoughts? Is it a necessity? Is there some other direction the industry can go? Is privacy that big of an issue?