Upcoming action RPG Ascend: New Gods, which is due out on Xbox 360, will require players to always stay connected to the internet to play the game. It's a new discovery that certainly adds some validity to the recent Xbox 720 rumor that speculates the next Xbox console will also require constant internet connection as well.
In an IGN interview with Signal Studios founder and president DR Albright confirmed that the free-to-play XBLA game will require an active internet connection at all times, even when playing just the single-player move. Albright defended this is because “almost everything is hooked into some kind of database that we can just save and export without changing the executable, even content we’re running off of title manage servers."
According to Albright, Signal Studios “can’t authenticate a user without [a connection].” Furthermore, the always-on internet requirement is also related to the use of a single in-game currency, known as Souls. “Ultimately what happens is that you’ve got to connect and collect souls. You may or may not have spent money on those, because we don’t track if you earned them or spent money on them.” Local saves make the system "very easily hackable."
Back in August of last year, it was announced that Ascend: New Gods will be completely free-to-play on Xbox LIVE Arcade if you have a Gold membership. Albright said it will be up to Microsoft to determine whether or not an Xbox LIVE Gold membership will be required to even play the game.
Keep in mind this doesn't necessarily mean the earlier rumor with the next Xbox is true, but it certainly does make a future of always-on DRM more foreseeable. Is Microsoft testing out their next-gen system on the Xbox 360? Better yet, are you open to the idea of an always-on console game?
