Rumors surrounding the next Xbox suggest that the game console may require a constantly running broadband connection to function -- in addition to banning used games. Leaked screenshots of an Xbox Development Kit (XDK) for Microsoft's next-generation console (currently code-named "Durago") strongly suggest that game installations to the hard drive will be mandatory, after which "play from the optical drive will not be supported."

The last few round of rumors have collectively suggested that Microsoft could be cooking up some incredibly dumb new ideas for their new console:The shift to more secure digital downloads (and Microsoft's gatekeeper dominance of that distribution) is well underway. But prematurely forcing the issue when their console still has an optical disc drive could easily be brand suicide for Microsoft. Their current Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console for 26 consecutive months, yet Microsoft's greed at the promise of curtailing used games and pirates may result in them throwing all of that hard-won success into the toilet.

You can ask owners of Diablo 3 or SimCity (or freshly "resigned" EA CEO John Riccitiello) just how well the persistent online requirement works when launching popular new titles. Meanwhile, banning used game sales as new games consistently soar in price to $60-$70 would simply be a punch in the stomach of gamers. Such stupidity could be a huge opening for Sony's Playstation 4 (Sony has hinted they won't ban used games) as well as the flurry of upcoming living room devices ranging from Android-powered consoles like Ouya, to the numerous devices that will be running Steam's big screen mode.

Microsoft so far is refusing to comment on this, but they might want to get ahead of the issue before it becomes a massive shit storm at this year's E3 in May.

Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Google; there have been no limit of companies eager to disrupt the pay TV ecosystem, though every one of them have run face first into licensing restrictions imposed by a pay TV sector that very much doesn't want to be disrupted. That doesn't seem to stop the tech press from getting blindly bubbly and enthusiastic every time another company says they're going to try.

Nintendo's launch of their new Wii U game console this week was marred somewhat by the fact that new users were greeted with a 1 GB firmware update right out of the box. Worse, if interrupted, some users are reporting that an interrupted firmware update can result in a bricked (inoperable) game console.

Time Warner Cable's "six strikes" anti-piracy measures won't include the filtering of any websites, Broadband Reports has learned. The six strikes plan, scheduled to launch later this year, will vary from ISP to ISP -- with Verizon last week acknowledging they'll be throttling repeat offenders to an as-yet-unspecified speed.

In addition to the suite of changes coming to Google TV, Google now says that GoogleTV embedded LG televisions will also come with embedded OnLive gaming functionality. According to an announcement, this is the first time the software has been embedded in televisions, allowing users to stream top-shelf games without a physical console. From the press release:Granted this may not be such a big deal when you consider that that recent data shows that around 50% of connected TVs aren't connected -- in large part because users just want their TVs to be TVs, with more-easily replaceable DVRs, game consoles, and Roku-esque devices doing the heavy lifting. There's also the question of how long OnLive will survive after their recent fishy smelling financial chicanery, which resulted in most of the staff being fired without severance (though some were rehired).

Cox, AT&T and Time Warner Cable are all cooking up plans to stream games directly to televisions, anonymous sources tell Bloomberg News. Trials of these services are expected to begin later this year for possible deployment sometime in 2013 or 2014, and from the report the types of offerings could vary greatly, from casual game experiences to services intended to rival game consoles. The move is particularly of note for AT&T and Time Warner Cable given both companies desire to charge by the byte, something that gets very expensive for the consumer when talking about HD game streams. AT&T was an investor in recently-imploded game streaming company OnLive.

While it may have had a bumpy beginning, Valve Software's Steam platform revolutionized the video game industry, and now offers users a huge catalog of (frequently on sale) titles available via broadband to a huge community of dedicated fans. Though they initially denied such a project, every indication is that the company is now considering a push into video game hardware.

Earlier this month streaming game service OnLive suddenly and mysteriously imploded, with the majority of the company's staff released. Later explanations stated the company had been acquired by a newly-formed company, though the restructuring plan under an "Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors" involved them being unable to retain employees or stock (about half of the employees were hired back).

With services like Onlive, the recent announcement of Sony buying cloud gaming firm GaiKai and Microsoft’s apparent commitment to a could gaming future from an internal leaked slideshow, could we be headed for a cloud gaming future? A better question, however, is will that future satisfy us as gamers. The answer in my opinion would be not yet, but we are close.

Last Friday we noted that broadband streaming game service OnLive mysteriously and suddenly fired all of their employees with no notice or severance package. Significant additional detail has surfaced since then, with the company announcing that OnLive and all assets have been acquired by a newly formed company, with VC firm Lauder Partners being the new company's"first investor." About half of the fired employees will be hired back, with some additional employees brought in on a consultant basis.

Both Mashable and The Verge are reporting that broadband game streaming company OnLive is shutting down. Employees were informed today that the company is closing its doors, and that the entire staff is being let go.

• Will Apple or Google Buy Sprint to Break Into the Wireless Network Biz? [ecommercetimes.com]
• Canadian banks issue landmark NFC payments guidelines that focus on open mobile wallets and consumer data protection [nfcworld.com]
• Nationwide wireless emergency text alert system launching this month [ubergizmo.com]
• Why is UK ISP TalkTalk’s year-old porn filter suddenly big news? [pcpro.co.uk]
• New Report Lists Top 10 Legitimate Sites Blocked by UK Adult Content Filters [ispreview.co.uk]
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• LightSquared’s bankruptcy is Washington’s failure too [gigaom.com]
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• Clearwire: Our LTE Advanced network will be able to hit 168 Mbps [fiercewireless.com]
• FBI Sounds Alarm on Hotel WiFi Caper [technewsworld.com]
• Why Anonymous ‘might well be the most powerful organization on Earth’ [nationalpost.com]

• Cable vs. Tellco: Verizon-Cable industry stop competing, forced to collude [broadbandconvergent.com]
• MPAA chief: SOPA and Protect IP back from the grave? [cnet.com]
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• TWC Kansas City: We Have DOCSIS 3 - We're Ready For Google Fiber [multichannel.com]
• Google tablet delayed until July, is Wi-Fi-only [CNet UK]
• Sprint set to offer cure for poor wireless voice quality [computerworld.com]
• New 'Scoreboard' ranks top 20 global operator groups by mobile connections [fiercewireless.com]
• Political expedience on 700 MHz trumps physics, revenue and consumer interests [fiercewireless.com]
• The limitless possibilities of Bluetooth 4.0 [cnet.com]

• With LTE on deck, India primes to leapfrog U.S. in mobile broadband rankings [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• Are Broadband Markets Stagnating? [forbes.com]
• A quarter of the world's households now have Wi-Fi [macworld.com]
• T-Mobile: We use spectrum 50% more efficiently than Verizon in top markets [fiercewireless.com]
• Verizon challenges other carriers' network speeds in '4G throw down' [fiercewireless.com]
• AT&T’s Wi-Fi experiment: Watch ads, get access [gigaom.com]
• Viacom's anti-Google copyright case rises from the dead [theregister.co.uk]
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• Clearwire, NetZero 4G and the coverage quandary [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• Dish hoping to receive FCC go-ahead by summer's end [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]
• New York State Attorney General Announces Purge of Sex Offenders From Online Games [forbes.com]
• Comcast, TWC Still Bullish On Interactive TV [multichannel.com]

• Hadopi Accused Of 'Massaging' The Numbers To Make Anti-Piracy Activity Look Better [techdirt.com]
• Falcone mulls voluntary bankruptcy for LightSquared [reuters.com]
• T-Mobile, Verizon Spar Over Spectrum [lightreading.com]
• Canada’s telecoms regulator weighing whether to develop a national code for wireless services [theglobeandmail.com]
• Comcast Sizes Up All-IP Set-Top [lightreading.com]
• Spanish ‘SOPA’: 79 Site Takedown Requests in First Month [torrentfreak.com]
• Google Begins Testing Its Augmented-Reality Glasses [nytimes.com]
• Google Fiber Goes 100 Miles & Counting [lightreading.com]
• iPhone 4S goes rural with regional US carriers on April 20 [arstechnica.com]
• AT&T Microcell Disassembly; Security Flaws Exposed [fail0verflow.com]
• French operators launch triple and quad-play packages to combat Free [fiercewireless.com]

• Comcast blaming Wells Fargo Bank for accidentally double billing Xfinity subscribers, then charging customers $25 to correct the mistake [fiercecable.com]
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• Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Apple, Foursquare and 13 other social media firms hit with lawsuit accusing them of supplying mobile apps that invade users' privacy [theregister.co.uk]
• Epic Fail: The newly-found Microsoft RDP flaw attack code appears to have been leaked by Microsoft itself (or one of its partners) [theregister.co.uk]
• Indian Court Orders SOPA-style Blackout of 100+ Music Sites [torrentfreak.com]
• Why does team Obama want to kill LightSquared? [foxnews.com]
• Competitive service providers launch Broadband Coalition advocacy group [fierecetelecom.com]
• NCTA: U.S. Shouldn't Regulate Cable Set-Top Power Usage [multichannel.com]
• Rumor: Google Is Getting Ready To Release A $150 Answer To The Kindle Fire [businessinsider.com]
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• MVNOs will increasingly focus on offering data services [gomonews.com]
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• Google in New Privacy Probes [Wall Street Journal]
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• CIA Chief: We’ll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher [wired.com]

• Which Countries Top the List of ‘Enemies of the Internet?’ [mashable.com]
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• Megaupload boss: Site popular among US government users, may be tempted to name names in Justice, Senate [theregister.co.uk]
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• Friskies cat food debuted thefirst-ever interspecies game; app pits kitteh against its human [buzzfeed.com]

• Dish closes two purchases key to broadband plans [khon2.com]
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• Intel Developing Web-Based TV Service [Wall Street Journal]
• The Damning Backstory Behind ‘Homeless Hotspots’ at SXSW [wired.com]
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• Walmart To Charge $2-$4 Per DVD To Convert Movies To UltraViolet Cloud [streamingmedia.com]
• Epic Games thinks Apple could take on game consoles with iPad, Apple TV & controller [appleinsider.com]
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• iPhone user sues Apple over Siri's lack of understanding and knowledge [Wall Street Journal]
• Wikia passes IGN to become the largest gaming site on the web [venturebeat.com]

• How Charter fights dirty to kill community competition [muninetworks.org]
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• US seeks more on Verizon,cable marketing deals, extends deadline to March 26th [reuters.com]
• U.K. Extends ‘White Space’Trial For Rural Broadband [Wall Street Journal]
• FCC fires back at Senator after being accused of stonewalling probe over wireless startup LightSquared [thehill.com]
• Colorado legislation could reduce consumer fees, extend service to remore parts of state [examiner.com]
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• How Anonymous plans to use DNS as a weapon [arstechnica.com]
• Next Xbox to lose the disc drive, says MCV [mcvuk.com]
• Apple Downplays Role Of ‘Kindle Threat’ In Alleged e-Book Conspiracy [paidcontent.org]