XBoned

(NOTE: Based on time elapsed since the posting of this entry, the BS-o-meter calculates this is 14.472% likely to be something that Ferrett now regrets.)

I’m sort of astonished at how poorly Microsoft is handling all of this PR over its new console.  None of the choices they’ve made have been indefensible – they just need to make an argument for them.  Which they haven’t.
Take the “always-connected” issue.  Sure, it’s an inconvenience.  But if Microsoft had been aggressive, saying, “Look, the Internet is the way of the future, and being always-connected lets us do some really cool things for you.  [List the cool things.]  Smartphones are always connected to the Internet, and look how useful they are!  Truth is, at some point all devices will be connected 24/7 – we’re just ahead of the curve.”
Instead, they took the opportunity to insult their user base, implying that only cornpone hicks aren’t connected.  Which makes the argument be entirely about the inconveniences of continual connection.
(Which, don’t get me wrong, as someone who fucking hated it how he couldn’t play 9/10ths of his Rock Band song collection when the Internet crashed, I’m wildly against needing a constant connection.  But there are arguments to be made for it, and you’d think Microsoft wouldn’t have been so astonished that people didn’t like the idea that they had no plan for it.)
Likewise, the whole “not reselling games” thing could have been promoted as a new and bold ecosystems.  Talk about the publisher’s complaints of not making any money from three-quarters of the sales of their games, how reselling is secretly stifling innovation, how once this happens games can be cheaper and more piracy-free and this will be better for everybody.  But once again, Microsoft seemed to have their heads so far up their asses that they didn’t recognize that most people like lending games to buddies and getting money back.
Then the XBox One is $100 more than Sony.  It’s like, wow, has anyone been this far behind in the console wars this early?  I’m not counting them out, as it’s all going to come down to the games that are available – but how the hell did Microsoft not look at these as the liabilities they were?  What culture is going on inside Microsoft that they didn’t marshall their PR people to start spinning this from before the first announcement?

4 Comments

  1. Skennedy
    Jun 14, 2013
  2. Marc
    Jun 14, 2013

    So do you plan on joining us on the Sony side of the gamerverse? 😉

    • TheFerrett
      Jun 14, 2013

      Depends on the games, man. If there are really good games on the PS4, then definitely. But it has to be good enough to drag me over.

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