[sasquash1984]

As previously rumoured, the Xbox One will include technology designed to prevent a disc being used on more than one console without payment. This DRM is required, Microsoft argues, because the Xbox One allows games to be installed to the hard drive and played without the disc while the Xbox 360 required the game disc to be in the drive at all times; without DRM, there would be nothing to stop someone buying a game, installing it and then selling the game on or giving it away while still keeping his or her installed copy.

The good news is that Microsoft has confirmed that gamers will still be able to sell their games second-hand, trading them in for credit or cash as before. The bad news is that this only applies to an as-yet unreleased list of pre-approved retailers, which will not include smaller, independent gaming shops. These retailers will have to participate in a Microsoft programme for second-hand sales, and while the company states it won't be charging a fee it will require the retailers to have a system in place for deauthorising a traded-in game from a user's original console to make it ready for resale to the next user.

For those who borrow or lend games from or to their friends, there's more good news: Microsoft says that you will be able to give your disc-based games to friends without having to pay a fee, having deauthorised the game from your Xbox One console yourself. Sadly, there's also the bad news: this transfer of ownership can happen only once per game. Once you've ceded ownership of the title to a friend, that game is then locked to their console forever and cannot be transferred again. Games can also only be transferred to people on your Xbox Live Friends List, and then only to gamers who have been in your list for at least 30 days.

Microsoft has offered some carrot to go with its DRM stick, however. The Xbox One game library will be shared between up to ten family members, with family able to play from a central reserve of installed Xbox One games on any console regardless of location. As with the Xbox 360, all Xbox One games installed on a console are also accessible to all users of that console - even if they don't sign in to Xbox Live.

With Microsoft clarifying its stance on second-hand gaming, it only remains for Sony, which has been the focus of a protest on Twitter regarding its own plans for the market, to issue a statement of its own.