Klaw117 said:
The reason I'm asking is because the PlayStation 2 was weaker than the original Xbox, but it still sold the most and no one made such a big deal out of it (or was there a big deal that I was too young to keep track of at the time?). However, the new Xbox (I refuse to use Microsoft's stupid name for it) is weaker, yet everyone is making such a huge deal about it. Why is that? I'm not understanding why there's so much reaction over the Xbox being weaker...or is the leftover anger from the DRM, Kinect, and pricing bull making everyone intent on hating the new Xbox? Or perhaps the technological disparity is greater than I'm comprehending at the moment?
You forget 4 major reasons the PS2 sold more than the Xbox.
1: It had backwards compatibility.
THis essentially allowed Sony's new console to have an instant library filled with several classics right out of the gate.
2: It had a DVD drive.
Many people also got it to use its DVD drive exclusively and provided another bullet point for getting one for gamers.
3: It came out before the Xbox.
As in several months before, enough time to build up a massive market share.
4: Microsoft were newcomers.
MS was known for spreadsheets, while Sony already had the first Playstation under its belt establishing that it knew how to build a console.
As the the reasons why the Xbone being weaker is bad news:
1: It's more expensive.
Normally you'll expect the cheaper console to be less powerful but now you get more graphical bang for less bucks buying the PS4.
2: The reason for it being so expensive is rather situational and no longer unique.
The Kinect and TV integration for the Xbone sounds an awful lot like the DVD for the PS2 right?
No.
For one the TV is rather heavily slanted towards American audiences and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing, the rest of the world is rapidly gaining the buying power necessary that the American market isn't the biggest and a company could fail in its US launch but still be rolling in bank thanks to sales in Europe, Asia, etc.
The TV integration also requires an external set-top box, leaving people with internal decoders little reason to buy it.
The Kinect is beginning to have competition, with Samsung newest Smart TV's having integrated voice and motion controls.
On top of that, the Xbone isn't SDTV capable, meaning that people who wouldn't shell out for one of those aforementioned Smart TV's couldn't use a Xbone to prolong their older TVs's and provide some more modern functionality.
3: It could hold back progress.
Developers create games with the lowest common denominator, for last generation it was the 360 with its bigger install base for most of its life and its ease of coding compared to the PS3's CELL processor. Admittedly this isn't as much of an issue with both consoles using x86 architecture and the PS4 beating the Xbone in terms of sales but its still there.
4: This is the Next Generation.
1080p has now become the standard format for TV's with 4k on the horizon (as in there are a few horrendously expensive 4k TV out on the market). A console that can't reach it isn't going to be looked upon with kindness, especially when:
5: Microsoft had been pushing the GRAPHICS! card.
Microsoft really pushed the graphics are everything card, as did past console manufacturers did during the bit wars and all this news about it being weaker has really bit MS in the arse with portions of console gamers expecting MOAR POWER and following it instead.
So yes, the all this news is bad... For Microsoft executives.
