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Rumours that the next version of Microsoft's Xbox gaming console could mean that gamers must always be connected to the internet have sparked anger

This would mean that the game is tied to the console it is activated on, and to the Xbox Live account activating it, making it impossible to sell on old games.

An activation system would check that you are the registered user of the game each time you start it up - you wouldn't even be able to lend it to a friend.

The rumoured specs for the new version of the venerable Xbox, which first launched in 2001, include support for Blu-ray disks.

Ubisoft, publisher of the forthcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist game, last year abandoned its system for requiring players to be online to verify their use of games

Sources say that new games will ship on these high-definition 50GB disks.

Moving to the Blu-ray format could also push up the cost of games, which at present retail for between £40 and £50 on DVDs.

However, the move to an always-on connection raises the possibility of games embracing other pricing models such as those seen on portable devices including smartphones and tablets.

With an always-on connection, games could be very cheap, or even free, but make their profits through in-game purchases of better equipment.

Games could also be offered very cheaply or free, but display ads in the games.

Or they could require a subscription to keep playing or to access multiplayer features.

Retailers who sell physical copies of games won't be happy if the news is true.

Unlike new games, where retailers make little or no profit, second-hand games offer much better returns for shops.

The big console-makers have already started flirting with alternative payment models.

Last year Microsoft ran a trial in the US, offering consumers an Xbox 360 console for just $99, provided they took out a two-year subscription to its Xbox Live Gold Service.

And Sony has already launched its PlayStation Plus service, which costs £39.99.

Users can download up to 65 games a year, and the service also offers discounts and early access to game demos and public betas - early versions released to a limited audience ahead of the launch of a final product.

But is it true? While Edge cites impeccable-sounding sources, the official Xbox 360 magazine pours cold water on the rumours.

'Take all this with a pinch of salt, as ever. From where we're sitting, walling-out pre-owned and insisting on a broadband connection would be madness - broadband penetration isn't nearly comprehensive enough to justify such a move, and 'requiring' consumers to do anything is a fine way to ensure they take their custom elsewhere,' says the magazine.

It points out that the new Xbox will almost certainly launch at the same time as its greatest rival, the next-generation Sony PlayStation.

'These consoles are going to be sat next to each other in stores, next to each other in extremely expensive TV spots, and jockeying for any possible advantage in a marketplace that will still be marked by austerity.

'The next Xbox needs to be amazing, and affordable, and something that you want to love and hold possibly forever - the ultimate living-room device from which all entertainment springs.

'To do that, it needs to appeal to absolutely everybody - gamers in the first instance, but kids and grandparents as well.

'And always-online and no second-hand would be poison to that.'

Attempts by other games publishers to enforce always-on anti-piracy measures have ended badly.

Ubisoft, publisher of  the forthcoming Splinter Cell: Blacklist game gave up on it last year, saying it now only requires a one-off activation.

And hackers have always been able to get around that kind of restriction, with Dead Space 3 players just the latest to find a way to avoid paying for extra weapons and items in the game after a reviewer branded the game's microtransaction model as 'greedy'.

The rumoured specs for the next-generation Xbox include an improved version of the Kinect motion-sensing control system