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PS4 appearance on Jimmy Fallon highlights Microsoft's struggle to explain Xbox One policies

PS4 appearance on Jimmy Fallon highlights Microsoft's struggle to explain Xbox One policies

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As part of Late Night's "Video Game Week," Jimmy Fallon has had the opportunity to play with both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. But while Monday night's Xbox One demo ran through the console's multimedia features and showed off Killer Instinct and Forza, Sony Tuesday night also took the opportunity to highlight its competitor's complex online and used game policies.

"The big story that everyone's talking about is that this system is the only one where you can still play used games," Fallon said, pointing to the PlayStation 4. Sony's Mark Cerny replied, "We support used games, we don't require an internet connection," before Fallon noted that the distinction was "pretty major" to rapturous applause from the audience.

Fallon's proclamations aren't entirely accurate: Microsoft does allow the transfer and selling of used games under certain conditions, Sony is leaving it up to publishers to decide if they want to enforce DRM that would make playing used games difficult, and both companies are focusing heavily on non-transferable online purchases with this generation.

How accurate they are isn't that important, however. The fact that the used game issue was addressed on national TV in this way must be a worry to Microsoft. With Xbox One, the company needs to tackle these issues head-on by properly articulating its policies to the general public. It's not off to the best start.