It's official. Microsoft's next-gen Xbox One console is pretty much a PS4 as it was announced at the E3 conference. From subverting how many policies now, and retaining pretty much two things from its original list of restrictions: the bundled Kinect and the $499 price tag.

It seems like every bad comment about a specific feature with Microsoft ends up in a policy reversal some time after, which can go two ways for the Xbox One. The first is that it ends up being a copycat to the PS4. From the get-go, Sony has had the following after a standing ovation for being touted as the next-gen console that listens to its consumers, while keeping gaming as unrestricted as possible.

On the other hand, it can be seen as Microsoft's way of accommodating the people's needs and adjusting their consoles as seen fit. But the gaping hole in this argument is that, if Sony had already thought of these features, why wasn't Microsoft able to comprehend these needs before announcing its list of no-no's?

Or is it because it didn't plan on doing so, until the heavy backlash occurred? And now the latest is its reversal of the indie policy, barely a week after Oddworld Inhabitants boss Lorne Lanning gave his two cents' worth on the restriction.

Joystiq reports that other game developers are also divided in their reception of the reversal. Some are supposedly optimistic enough due to the reversal, but also wary that the details may be the ones packing the defeating punch.

"Ideally, this news could have been broadcast more proudly and loudly months ago, giving indies more time to prepare strategies for upcoming games," said John Warren, CEO and founder of Minicore Studios, to Joystiq.

"But I supposed they don't owe anyone that courtesy. We know now, so now we can prepare for life with a Microsoft console, which is something I wouldn't have said yesterday."

Others are just plain happy that it expands the reach of their game in terms of audience. "This is great news, and Vlambeer is happy to hear that," said co-founder of Vlambeer Rami Ismail in the interview. "To see them following Sony's lead in an open indie strategy is great for the industry. Anything is better than nothing."

However, there are also those who feel that the reversal was only a reactive action due to both the developers' and gamers' voiced out concerns, and not a genuine move on the part of the console maker.

"Policies are one thing, but developer relations are another. It's important to me that consumers don't see things as black and white," said Brian Provinciano, developer of Retro City Rampage. "There are still strings attached to this policy change."

Would you say that Microsoft's policy reversal is something to rejoice about, or a display of only trying to keep up with a market that is dominated by the competitor?

Don't worry too much about Xbox One's Achievements

With the introduction of a new next-gen console, some of the worries that veteran gamers had were the transfer of Achievements, which they have collected during their long run with the Xbox 360.

After clearing up that the Xbox 360 Gamerscore is transferable to the Xbox One, eyes turned to the new achievements system that Microsoft will be introducing come the Xbox One.

There have been many propositions for these Challenges, such as a time-based challenge, challenges spanning multiple titles, and challenges that require a community to accomplish, as it is humanely possible to do so for one person.

Because of the premise of this kind of new Achievements, some have voiced out concerns, but CVG reports that Microsoft has already created policies to prevent game developers from doling out excessive Gamerscore.

"We still have policies for developers to make sure that things don't get out of control. Like, we do not want a game offering 10,000 Gamerscore every day," said Chad Gibson, principle program manager for Xbox Live, in an interview reported by CVG.

"With a lot of games today, three updates later it's a nice evolution of that game-it's a different game that's been modified and adjusted based on what people are enjoying and having fun with."

You can check out the entire list of details and coverage of the new Xbox One Achievements System on Major Nelson's blog.

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