I was at a local GameStop today and I casually asked the clerk what he thought of the X-Box One. He said he didn't know, but his dismayed expression was telling. "Wait for E3," he said.
Granted, it's pretty early to be drawing conclusions, but I personally have never witnessed such ambivalence toward a new platform from a retailer, to say nothing of all the rants on the Internet - even from respected bloggers. At this point, Microsoft's biggest problem has less to do with the X-Box One itself than in the company's reputation and business practices. Everyone, rightly or wrongly, is expecting the worst of the X-Box One, and this is a serious problem for Microsoft. The upcoming E3 will be seeing both Sony and Microsoft attempting to wow us with the capabilities of their machines and the kinds of games we can expect to see in the coming years, but with Microsoft this E3 will be more about damage-control and clarification of points that should have been made at this week's reveal than about the games. Sony, by contrast, can focus on their games and perhaps reveal more details about their hardware to excite the crowd even further. To be sure, Sony could still mess things up. Big companies seem amazingly adept at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But I don't think that will happen here.
Ironically, Microsoft's trump card might be their "major announcement" for the X-Box 360 rather than the X-Box One. Gamers are upset about the lack of backward compatibility with the XO, among other things, and are decrying the increasing lack of value in Microsoft's business model of the future. But the X-Box 360 is a well-established brand with enviable market penetration that should be going down in price once generation 8 begins this winter. It is the Playstation 2 of this generation. Making the 360 a centerpiece of their E3 presentation can show the world that Microsoft still cares about gamers and acknowledges their desire for value. A cheap 360 and a pledge of continued support for the platform can somewhat mollify the XO's lack of backward compatibility. This might be a weak hand compared with what Sony has to offer, but Microsoft can survive on it for the short term. At least until they can make up their minds on what the X-Box One is supposed to do.
@PSPhoenix13 I think my 360's longevity is due to me installing games on the hard drive instead of playing them off the disc. That way the system runs cooler and you don't have to worry about the disc drive wearing out from overuse. I started playing that way when the RRoD crisis was at its peak.
@PSPhoenix13 You make a valid point. That's not just limited to Microsoft, though. All disc-based consoles are notoriously short-lived compared to their cartridge predecessors. I'm on my third PS1. I recently bought a third PS2 because my second has an unhealthy-sounding disc drive. And who knows how long my first 360 will last? (By some miracle it hasn't gotten a RRoD, despite it being an old console, but I know it's in the statistical minority.)
By comparison, my first NES lasted nearly ten years, and my Sega Genesis - bought in 1989 - has never failed me. My Super Nintendo has also never had a major problem. Chalk that up to much cooler operations and no moving parts. Unless you abuse them, those old consoles just don't die.
@KelpsterD It's a question of value. Most of us bought the 360 as a gaming console, and it turned into a multimedia outlet more or less by accident. I think Microsoft was as surprised by that as we were, as the 360 architecture isn't ideal for that kind of functionality. The issue with the XO is that it's being designed from the ground up as a multimedia outlet, and we're being forced to pay for what was for the 360 an unexpected - and inexpensive - bonus. Believe me, if Microsoft was offering all these bells and whistles for under $400 we'd all be doing backflips. I don't see how they can sell this box so cheap, and no one else can either. Plus, don't forget that there will be a lot of extra charges associated with this console, what with the new policy towards used games and such. None of us hate new tech, we just hate the fact we're not getting as much value for our dollar.
@GSJones1994 Three million for XO? Only a fanboy would accept that number. I'm a natural pessimist, and I cannot imagine any situation short of the end of civilization that would make Microsoft perform that poorly with the resources they have.
One billion consoles sold is a ridiculous number. You're talking about one-seventh of the entire human population. Does one-seventh of the world's population live so well that they can drop hundreds of dollars on the latest generation console? I think they would be thankful if they even had enough to put dinner on their plates, and the number of people living in poverty will only grow with the continued increase in world population. Remember that the great majority of the human population live in squalid conditions, and in countries where increasing one's station is exceedingly difficult if born poor.
@malokevi @camverge I agree that the X-Box One generation (or generation 8) will last about ten years. Who will ultimately win that contest is anyone's guess.
As a prospective all-in-one device, I'd have been surprised if the system didn't have a Siri-like intelligence.
I'll admit to being concerned about the potential applications of the Kinect recognition feature, such as a new type of DRM, but reading reports like this help put my mind at ease. I'm willing to give the XO a chance if the price and the business model are right.
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