Poll: MS may be pricks but maybe they aren't complete morons.

[mokes310]

I think they know exactly what they're doing, and I think they're going to make a metric fuck-ton of money doing it. That being said, I'm 100% against absolutely everything they're doing with the XBOX One, and will not be purchasing one.

 

[Smiley Face]

They're idiots. Even if your premise is correct, that they lose money on consoles sold to offline players, they're losing their online players too, because their PR is a NIGHTMARE. It has been ever since they announced the Xbone, and it shows no signs of stopping. At this rate, many XBL Gold users are abandoning ship (myself included). These are all inconveniences, which while probably not relevant to me, I see no reason to invite this nonsense into my life - and Microsoft's not giving me any reason to, they're just cockily dismissing criticism left and right.

"Microsoft has a console for offline gamers - the Xbox 360, hnyah", "If you're backwards compatible, you're just backwards, hnyah". These comments aren't saying why the Xbone is good, no one is seeing these and saying "You know, I was on the fence about getting the Xbone, but now that I know that I can't lend my games to a friend without filling out forms in triplicate, I'm sold!" All Microsoft's PR is doing is alienating more and more of their customer base, and NOTHING they have done has appealed to their alleged "target market" of XBL-Gold users, at all. If they were trying to alienate everyone but those guys, we'd see things UNIQUE to the Xbone that appeal very specifically to the online multiplayer crowd, but we're not - we just hear the same hilarious stream of nonsense.

 

[FalloutJack]

If they knew what they were doing, they would show us that they know. After a while, we'd be turned off out of spite to the point where we don't care if their system channels the Ark of the Covenant. And by that time, they're the ones exploding or melting, not us.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I think they underestimated the impact of their stupid features. Admittedly, during normal operation, I wouldn't go 24 hours without internet. But in special circumstances I'm fucked for no reason. Having games rely on the 'cloud' is more DRM making sure the consumer has as little control of the game as possible. Leaving used games up to the publisher and killing the market where it is allowed is a blatant move to get publishers on their side, possibly expecting Sony to do the same. Mandatory Kinect must not have seemed like a big deal to them. I think they honestly expected to ride the wave of people just buying the next consoles because it's the logical thing to do and slipping all their silly or anti-consumer features in without anyone noticing.

Although to be honest, I'm not sure about the mandatory Kinect. It's the one thing that seems to not accomplish anything. Why not let people only control with their controller if they want? The one thing I can think of is to ensure that games that want to put Kinect in as part of the gameplay have the widest audience possible. Well...that makes a little sense. But people who don't buy Kinect-based games probably don't care to play them with the Kinect...?

And actually, the checkins. What's that meant to accomplish? Why?

 

[TheCommanders]

Microsoft has simply realized that all the discussions and marketing and debates are pointless. The kind of people with the most buying power are the same people who didn't know that Sarah Palin wasn't Obama's running mate...

You mean she wasn't?! Oh damn...I guess that explains old ramblin' Joe Biden. I thought he just got the job after Palin was called back to Alaska to defend against a pending invasion of renegade Russian circus bears.

Ha. Seriously though, some news people did a sort of informal poll thingy in Chicago and a few other cities with random people, and a large number of them knew next to nothing about the candidate they were planning to vote for, including the fact that Palin was the republican vice presidential candidate, not the democratic one. American Democracy! Giving weight to the opinions of idiots since 1766(ish).

 

[Revolutionary]

I think they know what they're doing, they're just so out of touch they didn't realise how badly people would react to their DRM. unfortunately I have to admit I'll probably end up getting one just because of some of the exclusives I've seen at E3.

 

[Something Amyss]

The 360 never had a 50% defect rate.

The reason Microsoft got away with a high defect rate is that they launched first and were literally the only game in town for a year.

It didn't, as you seem so enlightened tell us what the rate was? This should be good since Micro$oft has been asked directly many times and their reps never answer the question. The range asked about goes from 16% to 32% to 50% and above Micro$oft never confirmed or denied any of them thinking that the better option, guess it worked cause they kept buying them even multiple consoles after warranties expired. The reason they had a high defect rate, whatever the number is was because they launched early, running to the finish line before Sony or Nintendo could get there, cutting corners along the way, what Micro$oft does best.

Oh goody, more people substituting an S for a dollar sign.

So your argument in defense of a completely unsubstantiated defect rate is "well, you can't prove otherwise."

Gotcha. Nothing disingenuous there.

 

[TheWanderingFish]

At least Microsoft is being upfront with us. There is literally nothing they could say now that could make people more upset with them, unless they announced the Kinect exposed you to Gamma radiation every 30 seconds to test your resistence to nuclear fallout.

There is no way that Sony is going to let this slide though. I cannot convince myself that they will not take advantage of this and introduce their own DRM in some capacity. Unless they are a more honest corporation than I give them credit for, I can't help but feel there is something they have neglected to mention to us.

 

[BeerTent]

Remember, their three last product releases were "the new version of office with the loathed ribbon UI", Windows 8, and the "Surface" tablet (with keyboard!). They have not had a consumer success since Gates left. It's like someone is pumping a steady vocabulary of "creative destruction" and similar bullshit business speak up their collective corporate asses without having any real clue. In short MS is no longer run by engineers and developers. It is run by the marketing people. And they share a certain similarity with the XBox's core target market. (A company run by drunken foul mouthed frat marketing to drunken foul mouthed frat boys... It's a niche.)

I thought people were over the ribbon by now? The thing with a lot of things MS has done that draws largely pointless ire has, again, been largely resolved when people actually use it, you know, use it enough to wrap their minds around instead of going "CHANG! NNGGHH~" have gotten quite positive. Most people I know who use MSO prefer the ribbon over the older interface, and those with a technical background just took the shortcuts I made for the Win8 Start Screen. (We don't need a shortcut to the CP anymore, as we've got the tools menu now. Infinitely better than going through 8 categories/30 icons to find one of 5 things.) 8 is better. Neckbeards made you think otherwise. The XPerience is over, let it die, you're making my job harder![/itnerdrant]

On topic.

With all that out there though, Most gaming articles I see on this is anti DRM. I see why they've made these moves. Their business is dealing with other businesses. (EA, what would you like us to do with our console?) They're doing a pretty good job in that area. But, now... With that said, I still don't know what their plan is. It doesn't take long poking around Reddit to see some of the things they've said, like... Region locking in the US and saying "If your country doesn't have [good internet], stick with the 360." How's that for ass-backwards?

MS doesn't seem to understand that, yeah... Winning the game companies over is pretty good... But it's not going to do anything if you can't win over the gamers, because those companies will leave your shitty little console in the dust if nobody's gonna buy it.

Of course, I could be wrong too, and this could all go back to my previous theory. Gamers will whine, and there will be big boycott groups, and when it's released, people will buy it in droves. Your choice, as it makes no difference to me. At least you're not complaining about things every PC user was happy with.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Obvious powergrab is obvious.

If their system breaks down because of their bullshit, then Sony stands to gain control of the primary console market uncontested regardless of how many people buy an Xbone initially. Why? If the Xbone service shits itself, the system is useless except as a 500 dollar blu ray player.