First, let's take a few moments to shit all over Microsoft's latest disaster, the XBOX ONE...
1.) NO BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY FOR YOU!!!
I don't know what M$ was thinking with this 'No backard compatibility for you!' policy on their new console. Did they think that people would stop buying/playing XBOX 360 games once the new console was available? Ha! Try telling that to Nintendo, a company that routinely keeps old consoles on the market for as long as they still make money rather than just simply kill them. For that matter, take a look at Atari and SEGA too. They both kept their most famous systems (2600 and Genesis, respectively) on the market long past their prime simply because they were still popular and profitable.
While the system is still on the market, I try to buy new copies of games. However, I don't stop buying games/controllers/accessories for the console once it's left the market. That's usually when I start buying lots of stuff for the console and add to my massive game collection. Hell, MOST of the games/systems I own were purchased used from second-hand stores, garage sales and friends looking for quick cash.
2.) I'M NOT EVEN SURE WHAT THE GAMES WILL BE LIKE YET. THAT'S BAD SINCE THIS CONSOLE IS SUPPOSED TO BE AVAILABLE WITHIN A FEW MONTHS FROM NOW...
I'll use a game advertised at E3 called Sunset Overdrive for this talking point. In that game, we have...
1.) A game that features a 1972 Buick Riviera, which to me is NOT a trivial detail since I love the Buick Riviera. :)
2.) Lots of zombie-monster killing (Always a plus...)
and
3.) Oddly satisfying cel-shaded
kid-friendly graphics that give the game a very 'bizzare-yet-cool' vibe.
Too bad it's an exclusive to the new XBOX ONE console. Now I'll
probably never get to play it... Assuming it's any good anyway... Early E3
previews are infamous for being nothing like the actual game. (The recent Aliens: Colonial Marines game comes to mind... and makes me very sad.) I don't even know what kind of game it is yet! Is it a zombie-slaying adventure like Resident Evil? Is it a first-person shooter? Is that video just a cut-scene for an on-rails shooter like House of the Dead? I just don't know! Aren't these things supposed to be obvious when you advertise the product?!
3.) STRONG-ARMING THE RETAILERS IN THE MARKET NEVER WORKED FOR ANYONE ELSE. WHY DO YOU THINK IT WILL WORK FOR YOU?
Personally, I think they killed a LOT of their
market appeal in an effort to kill retailers like GameStop, who make
most of their profits from used games. If they still had balls (and they
certainly did when SEGA started screwing around with the Saturn),
retailers like GameStop are likely to return the favor in kind by NOT
carrying the new M$ console in their stores. If I were them, I wouldn't
be selling the products of a corporation that has decided to destroy my
business.
GameStop can still make plenty of money by selling PC
games, Nintendo products, Apple products, Plug'N'Play devices,
Android-enabled devices, tablet PC's and perhaps even the new PS4. They don't really need Microsoft very much. Microsoft needed them in order to get their proverbial foot in the door and become a gaming industry titan. GameStop, Wal-Mart and the rest can shut Microsoft down and out of games forever simply by NOT stocking the new console in their stores. Online retailers like Amazon and Overstock.com can do the same on their end without it significantly affecting them at all.
After all, GameStop (or, as it was known back then, FuncoLand) had no
trouble dropping Atari and SEGA like a bad habit when they screwed up
with the Jaguar and Saturn. (Yes, I know GameStop carried the Dreamcast
but, they were one of the few that did forgive SEGA for its mistakes
with the Saturn. All the toy companies and many big box retailers told
SEGA to piss off.) The writing was on the proverbial wall for Atari when Wal-Mart quickly dropped support for the Jaguar only a few months into its system life for poor sales. There were times when Atari and SEGA were just as big (or bigger) in the game business as Microsoft is now.
Simply put, all M$ has really done is create opportunities
for Sony, Nintendo and perhaps a few other companies looking for a
niche to steal their market share away from them. There
are several 3rd party software companies that I think can (and should)
make their own consoles... like Atari, SEGA, Konami, Capcom and Namco.
(Especially Namco...)
4.) ENOUGH WITH THE NUMEROUS EXTRA FEATURES. FOCUS ON THE GAMES!!!
Why
do I want to use your device to subscribe to Netflix? Why do I want a
game console to control my cable TV like a set top box from the cable
company or like Apple TV? Why do I want a game console to be the central
hub of every entertainment device in my home? Why do you assume
that I need/want a central hub? I would imagine that the people who
would want something like that already have it in the form of a computer
acting as a dedicated server. (And it probably ain't runnin' Windows,
either.)
The company's presentation treated games like an
after-thought. That does not encourage me to want to buy this machine to
play games, which I'm told is the whole reason that it exists at all.
5.) WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Well,
quite a lot, if you want to avoid confusion. Until recently, the term
'XBOX ONE' probably would have made me think of the original XBOX, which
I thoroughly enjoyed. Microsoft always has kinda sucked at picking
exciting names (Windows, Office, Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, Bob,
et al.) but, now they have created another confusing mess for anyone
trying to keep track of the product history. You'd think they didn't
learn from when they made that mistake with their OS & Productivity
software...
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with naming them XBOX,
XBOX 2, XBOX 3 and so forth. It works well enough for the PlayStation.
Yes, I do know how and why M$ picked these goofy names for their game
consoles and software packages over the years. I simply just don't care.
You do NOT want me to feel confused about ANYTHING you are trying to
sell me, Microsoft. You don't dominate games like you do Operating
Systems and Productivity Software. You never will, either. No one has
ever been able to monopolize an entertainment business. There is always
some kind of competition, even if it's another form of entertainment.
Either keep the names in some kind of numerical sequence (PS1, PS2, PS3,
et al.) or unique names so
that each console has its own identity, (NES, Super NES, N64 GameCube, Wii, WiiU) in addition to me not being
confused. It really is just that simple.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I thought Nintendo's naming for the Wii and WiiU console was strange too. However, I forgave them because the names were at least VERY unique and the consoles are fun.
[/Rant concluded for now...]
- Lord Publius
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