Something Weird I've Noticed Since the Xbone Reveal

[The Grim Ace]

Listen, I'm not excited for the new Xbox at all after that reveal. That said, if someone was excited for it (and no matter how much you yell about it, some people will be, which is completely fine), I think it's pretty understandable that they'd be a little perturbed by the constant circle-jerk of Xbox bashing.

Because that's what it is, at this point. You all know all the bad decisions Microsoft has made. The new threads and posts aren't revealing new information the vast majority of the time. They made bad decisions, and so people are enjoying everyone joining them in laughing and pointing fingers.

For a forum that has a collective meltdown when some of their "sacred pillars" are insulted, it seems a bit hypocritical to take it beyond "Microsoft did X. That is dumb, for reasons Y and Z."

EDIT: Oh, and it looks ridiculous to assume that someone holding a certain opinion is likely a spambot or paid employee because no sane person would think that.

It's not so much "I can't agree therefor spam" but "literally every post these new accounts make are in defense of the Xbone." That's where it looks like spambots or people being paid. If you want the Xbone that's your thing.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

No. They're probably not Microsoft moles. They have a right to defend it iF they want, as long as they do it in a polite way. The XBONE looks a bit shit, but lets not turn this into a MS witch hunt. They don't tend to end in reasonable debate. I'm holding out to judge it at the moment, no need to be so cynical about it.
That said, those who choose to act like the rabid hounds of Microsoft, and feel the need to shout down opposition should get rightly fu**ed in the knee.

With an arrow no doubt.

Heh heh, but seriously, it's nothing unusual for companies to hire people to do just that or more likely that have their PR department do that. Why not? Honestly I think MS is making some crazy decisions. I mean the XBONE-d has all the drawbacks of PC game and none of the benefits.

By contrast PC games have been getting pretty user friendly. and no I don't care about the specs much since as a rule they'll go on and on about the hyper graphics opti-digiflex 9x blast-tier processors; we've actually reached the point in gaming where graphics aren't a big pull any more. if you've seen one muddy grey poorly lit shooter you've seen them all, I want fun games dang it!

I haven't seen any of these guys though, can anyone tell me what they are saying? because it's not likely their PR guys will act like rampant fanboys.
If someone could show me a couple quotes or examples I might agree with you.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I HAVE noticed, actually. There's a guy called "Staycalmandhatexbox" who I keep seeing. He seems to think he can defend the new Xbox by insulting people who disagree with what we've learnt so far. Worst part is, he seems to go after people who aren't even insulting the Xbox but are just talking about the bad stuff.

I agree, we don't know everything. But first impressions count for a lot and Microsoft are not winning any points with me.

Yea, I've seen that guy, how dare that guy suggest that gamers are at fault for DRM, or that losing your mind over backwards compatibility is silly! F that guy!

I reported him every time I see him, that way he'll get suspended and I won't have to be confronted with a differing opinion. Cry to the mods first to win on escapist forums, works every time.

That's a lot of sarcasm for one post. You ARE that guy, aren't you? did you get suspended, then?

You may not be that guy, I don't care. Point is you're currently attacking my opinion because you think it's wrong. That blows your sarcasm apart. I never said people shouldn't look forward to the xbox I said I'M not. Something Staycalmandhatexbox failed to realise is that people are allowed to state their opinions, just as you and/or Staycalm is allowed to insult people who disagree with you. You just have to put up with the mods calling you out. If you/he had offered reasonable and calm discussion instead of sarcastic insults, that would be one thing. But Staycalm insulted people, called them idiots.

Thats not behavior I condone. But I don't remember him calling anyone an idiot, care to link that? I think I saw him refer to gamers as whiners, and spoiled, but I dont remember him calling an one person an idiot. I agree you that his methods left much to be desired, but I agree with him that its a little early to be getting out the coffin nails on the XBone.

I didn't quote you, man. I'm not sure if you called anybody an idiot using that specific word. But you insulted them, implied they were idiots and, as you say, called them "whiners."

Gasp, thats way worse than being told you're an idiot for waiting for more information before jumping on the ill-informed hate bandwagon..

And this is why you keep getting suspended. Try having a reasonable debate-

I'm feeding the troll... You're not here to defend anything, you just want to insult.

I've never been suspended.

And I think you have an odd definition of insulting. I think you feel like i've just insulted you... and I havent. I'm just questioning why its ok for everyone and thier mother to post how stupid anyone who would want one of these is, but its not ok to poke holes in reasons why people dont want it.

You're not poking holes in anything, besides your own credibility. I welcome anyone to defend the Xbox with logic and good points. Who's going to listen to sarcastic insults, though?

Maybe you're not Staycalm. You are, but maybe you're not. But you're not brining up any other points. You're just saying people who want something from a gaming console are entitled and whiney. I've already said we don't know everything and can't make a final judgement yet. But not everybody is sayingh we should burn Microsoft to the grounjd. Microsoft have confirmed that you have to be online once a day. They've confirmed there's no BC and that anybody who would want BC is "backwards." This is why people are jumping on the hate train. It's why I do not like the Xbone right now. If E3 changes things, great. I don't think it will but it'd be nice if it did.

 

[Tanakh]

You.. I like you.

Funny thing, I know no one cares and they don't give a shit about posting BS, but:

XXX Mr Delta

 

[tardcore]

With the Xbox One reveal this week, I've been monitoring more than a few threads on it since Microsoft's many blunders with their new machine has been entertaining like a train wreck. While going through the forums I can't help but notice an uptick in relatively new posters who comment almost exclusively in defense of the Xbox One. Now, of course, it could just be that there is an amount of people who are so impressed with this upcoming piece of hardware that they had to make accounts on the Escapist and get defending or people are getting paid to defend it.

Anyone else noticing this or am I just misinterpreting?

[small]I wouldn't put it past me, I just don't see the appeal to that thing other than what games it will probably have as exclusives...[/small]

Not sure about the motivations behind the defense posts but they are most certainly there. It seems many of the same individuals like to imply in these defense posts that people are attacking the Xbone based on misinformation or are just the kind of forum goers that ***** about anything, so their criticisms can be safely discounted.

While its always possible there could be some kind of cloak and dagger positive PR spin going on, I think its mostly just fans who can't stand to see someone else pick apart their "Precious."

Though I do have to say they are welcome to their opinion, mine is still to run as far away from Microsoft's Orwellian nightmare machine as fast as my legs can carry me.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

-The hardware specs are WORSE than the PS4

I didn't think Microsoft or PS4 had released tech specs for their consoles.

Not fully, but most of the specs are known/leaked/can be logically inferred. This website breaks it down and they tell you whats mostly speculation and what's 100% confirmed:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6972/xbox-one-hardware-compared-to-playstation-4/2

I doubt the performance difference will be huge, but assuming both consoles have the same price, with the ps4 you'll be paying for better specs and with XB1 you might be paying for the Kinect and features. I don't find the kinect unappealing at all though. It depends on what you want

 

[KaZuYa]

It most likely Console Warrior Xbox fanboi's and/or people who can't afford both PS4 and Xbone so they will just pretend if they believe hard enough their chosen console will magically not suck.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I'm not really defending microsoft, they handled the reveal and answering questions so terribly...

That's the biggest thing that bugs me about the new Xbox. They were just so dishonest and evasive about their own product, both during the presentation and after (from what I hear the only people clapping where the Microsoft employees at the back of the room >.>). I don't want to buy a console and be involved with a company that's blatantly twisting the truth and so out of touch with their own consumer base.

This was supposed to be their pitch, this was their moment to show people what they wanted to see. And they showed shit. Everyone on that stage looked like they were giving a high school presentation and would rather be somewhere else. You can argue that they might show some good things later at E3, but keep this in mind: this was what Microsoft apparently wanted us consumers to see! This crap!

In that regard Sony did so much better. Even with things like the Diablo III anticlimax and Square Enix showing year-old footage.

 

[aivalera]

As this whole Xbone vs PS4 thing is happening I'm picturing Nintendo watching the slugfest while twirling champagne in their hands.

The Xbox One feature set seems to be a list of things I (and I assume a lot of you too) would never want. For example:

-Internet connections are mandatory at least some of the time.
-You MUST USE the Kinect (a device that I personally consider stupid and worthless).
-Used games are restricted by licensing somehow.
-Games MUST be installed
-They're marketing it as a device that does everything... even games. To gamers that's insulting.
-I think it's ugly (but you might disagree).

Frankly, I don't think there are many gamers that are happy about the Xbox One.

I like this list because it's inarguable, if thats a word, and people who defend the Xbone need to ask themselves the following.

1)Internet connections are mandatory at least some of the time:
Why does the Xbone even have this feature? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it's not for our benefit. I can't even think of a plausible reason for this to exist except Microsoft sees us as theiving jerks who are only out to screw them over.

2)You MUST USE the Kinect:
Kinect's quality is questionable at times. For example, when I was watching the Xbone reveal my Kinect kept thinking I was talking to it and kept kicking me out and sending me to the beginning. Delicious irony.

3)Used games are restricted by licensing somehow:
Read 1. The greed here is so blatently obvious that it's sickening. What's worse to me is that I'm the 'gamer' in my huge family, so I lend my games out to my wide-eyed cousins and tussle their hair and send them along then I turn around and Microsoft punches me in the face and calls me a theiving asshole and I should force them to be buying toys from them instead of sharing.

4)Games MUST be installed:
I already install everygame I get, so I was ready to dismiss this when I remembered that my 360 only has 8 gigs left. This is the biggest Hard Drive available for the 360. And since next-gen games are probably having triple the bytes then it quickly becomes clear that time deleting, installing, and reinstalling is to the point of hampering.

5)They're marketing it as a device that does everything... even games. To gamers that's insulting.
Yeah that is insulting, but so is everything else. I'm more worried about the fact that in trying to do everything it becomes the greater of nothing. "Watch TV, talk to your friends, surf the internet" You're a game console...why are you hiding the game console part? What do they not want to show us?

6)I think it's ugly:
It's funny you said that because I saw a documentary for the 360 saying that it was specifically designed by Microsoft to avoid being blocky since slender is the way of the future. Now that that's over with their going back to blocky.

And that's my post of the day

 

[FoolKiller]

There are people who are legitimately pro-Xbone. I should know. I've seen them getting quite upset over the fact that nobody else likes it and complaining about how they feel "attacked" for being excited about the console everyone else is making fun of.

Even though nobody is attacking them.

I have a friend. He hates everything about the "details" about the console that we assume to be true. He then states that he's going to get one because it will have Halo and Gears.

I can't argue with that type of logic.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

You can't be serious. Microsoft would not pay random people to defend the Xbone on forums. If anything it could be Microsoft employees creating accounts, but even then I'm leaning towards people just having been attracted to the internet in the wake of the announcement and looking for facts. Although I haven't necessarily seen too many users, let alone new users (well maybe a few), defending the Xbone. There is another site I go to somewhat, with a smaller userbase, where people seem to out of the blue support the Xbone, but these are already active users. It's just a heated topic.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

No more than I've seen new accounts cropping up to outright attack the new console or Microsoft in general. This sort of trend tends to surround any new/controversial thing to appear on the forums, and it's not limited to the Escapist either. Go to any given thread about Mass Effect 3, Pro/Anti-Piracy, Anita Sarkeesian, new consoles, PC vs. Consoles, fanboyism, Fallout 3 vs. Fallout: New Vegas, bronies or MLP: FiM in general, politics, certain Escapist contributors and other internet "celebrities", drugs, gun control, the police, the band The Police, N.W.A.'s opinion on the police, the new Star Wars and Star Trek movies, Joss Whedon, TGWTG and Spoonygate, EA, Diablo III, The Big Bang Theory, Twilight, Steam vs. Origin, DRM, Metroid: Other M, relationships and the "friend zone", Pro/Anti-Skub, applesauce package labeling, and (for the sake of invoking Godwin's Law) Nazis and Hitler and I'm sure you'll find a few within the first 3 pages. They all mysteriously pop up while the debate starts heating up, with no post history outside of the thread in question, then mysteriously disappear when the discussion dies down or they are banned.

Could they be alts for established users to voice unpopular opinions without fear of reprisal? Perhaps. Could they be new users that, by coincidence, joined at that very moment and decided to jump into the first hot topic thread they saw and then lost interest immediately afterward? Absolutely. Could they be employees of the company being discussed or people outside the forums that heard about the thread and wish to say their own two cents? Sure. I wouldn't rightly know.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

Contrarian attitudes on the Escapist are not uncommon, here are a bunch of examples off the top of my head.

-Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, tons of people making threads on either side, we still get threads on it now and then.
-The week of Skyrim being released, at least a few threads saying they didn't get the hype or were GASP uninstalling the game.
-Diablo III and Sim City always-online announcements ( atdifferent dates), people rushing to question why these are a big deal or defend the companies behind them.
-A couple weeks ago we got one thread by a person who didn't understand why people respected Valve and another thread by a person who said he hated Valve.

So now with the Xbox One getting flamed, and it (along with the PS4) not having Backwards Compatibility, people are rushing to the "But here's what I have to say! And it's contrary to your opinion!" train.

You can't be serious. Microsoft would not pay random people to defend the Xbone on forums.

What makes you say that? I mean; I don't think that's the case here, but you need to back that up with something. It is a thing that some companies do.

 

[Ickorus]

I've noticed something else, I've noticed an increase in people asking for help to build gaming PCs.

I might just be making connections where there are none to be made, anyone else noticed it or am I just crazy?

 

[Saxnot]

I agree you that his methods left much to be desired, but I agree with him that its a little early to be getting out the coffin nails on the XBone.

Just out of curiosity, why do you care? Not trying to be cynical here, honest question. i can understand wanting to complain about something, but why do you feel you should defend the Xbox from some random persons complaints?

 

[triggrhappy94]

Can you tell if the accounts have been made recently? And do their names sound fake--like something generic then some numbers?

I know there's a lot of people who lurk on this site, so a console announcement might just be bring people out who normally just sit on the sidelines.