It's Official: Xbox One Game Rentals Not Possible, Fees Nixed, 24 Hour Check-In Confirmed

[Update: Microsoft has confirmed that they have removed all the Xbox One DRM measures mentioned in this article]

Microsoft has officially cleared up all their consumer policies for the Xbox One ahead of launch: There will not be to be any fees charged to retailers, gamers or publishers for using the Azure service to activate or deactivate game licenses from a user account. Game rentals are not possible on the Xbox One. The mandatory 24 hour check-in has been confirmed.

That's the basic gist of the new policies that Microsoft has made public on the official Xbox license page, their privacy page concerning Kinect and on their official Xbox online policy page. The information was made available for further clarification after a massive public outrage occurred when Microsoft executives originally spoke openly about the Xbox One policies.

You will not be able to loan or rent games out given that game licenses are attached to profiles. You will be able to let friends play the game if you allow them to log in on your account, or they can play a single game if they have been on your friends list for more than 30 days. Alternatively they must pay for a separate game license. You can also deactivate the license on your account and allow someone to activate the license on their account, but there are restrictions to this and a DRM system is in place so that you cannot frequently activate and deactivate a single license on your account.

As mentioned in our previous article, anyone attached to a master Xbox Live Gold account in the family plan will be able to access games from any Xbox One console.

Used games will be administered and available through Microsoft-approved retailer locations. You will not be able to trade games on eBay, mom and pop outlets or Amazon anymore.

Kinect is always-on and cannot be shut off if you want to use certain game or system features. The system requires Kinect in order to function properly but an "Xbox Off" voice command will pause Kinect. You can play offline for up to 24 hours, afterward the system must be logged online in order to function and allow you access to your content.

Much like the PS4, digital downloads will be available day and date with physical copies of game releases.

Microsoft will not be further clarifying these policies and have closed off all roundtable discussions and interviews at E3.

This is it folks, you either take the Xbox One with those policies above or leave it. The policies are almost the complete opposite of Sony's policies for the PlayStation 4. I'm guessing the shills will be out in full force on gaming boards to calm the rage.