Xbox turning into a childish plaything?

[Jaded Scribe]

Um... get over it?

-snip-

rainbows and unicorns instead of blood and guns.

..stuff...

What about unicorns with guns that shoot rainbows?

I think adult swim has that game already.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

Gamer does not have to mean that 80% of your game collection is made up of M rated games.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

First of all, I do believe the word "games" in the term "video games" implies some sort of childish entertainment. As much as we claim that video games are a serious medium and an art (a view that I hold), we got to remember that they still are playthings. Don't get too worked up about it.

 

[Space Spoons]

What we're witnessing now is Microsoft's attempt to snag a bit of Nintendo's marketshare. I think the Xbox is a great console, but Microsoft's always been in the business primarily for the money, and with the numbers Nintendo was pulling in with the Wii, it would have been stupid for them not to pursue that particular market.

The problem with this strategy is that they're a little late to the game. Everyone who's interested in the family-friendly image they're pushing already has a Wii, and probably isn't terribly interested in buying another expensive system.

Long story short: It's a phase, they'll probably shift back away from it once they see that the casual market cash cow has already been milked dry. I fully expect Microsoft's theme at E3 2012 (if not 2011, but that's a bit of a stretch) to be "back to our roots" or something similar.

 

[Brenden Walter]

Let me break down how this stuff works Company microsoft and Sony, saw Company Nintendo making 200x what they do in a year, in a week with the wii, thus, we now have this motion control stuff going from a gimic on a very family and kid oriented system, to everyone so they can try and make money. They don't care about the demographics of "Real" gamers, they care about the demographic that makes them the most money, I.e. EVERYONE ELSE

 

[AstylahAthrys]

They're expanding their market. I don't have a problem with it. If you don't like the Kinect and the kid-friendly games, don't buy them. Boot right to your games and operate from the in-game dashboard if you hate the avatars so much. It's not like we're not getting "hardcore" games this year. There are still plenty of releases for us. I'm not concerned about Microsoft becoming too out of touch with us. So long as we keep on supporting the games we want Microsoft will keep making them. Money talks.

 

[Bang25]

I like the avatars. I like turning on my Xbox and seeing a little mini-me wave at me than pull out an electric guitar and start jamming. I only see it for a few seconds anyway, so why complain? Does the Avatar take away from the games?

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Gaming is an artform that is moving on to new horizons.

Do I miss the classic "kill everything" Xbox style? yeah a bit, but this is good for everyone as we'll have a wide range of genres instead of our classic "hardcore" ones.

EDIT: not to say we won't still have that old style.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I'm thinking OP is a MASSIVE troll and all you people are getting modded for it. I'd have thought you guys woulda realised that by now.

 

[MercurySteam]

Please, please don't let this product turn into a Bieber box, keep it as an X-box.

One you start up the game in your disc tray does it really matter what the fuck you dashboard looks like?

In the end it's the games us gamers look forward to and that will never change. Stop focusing on the insignificant and start focusing on things like Dead Space 2, Dragon age 2, BulletStorm, Gears of War 3 and Brink. More importantly stop complaining about things that were never a problem to begin with.

 

[blankedboy]

Overly harsh mod?
In YOUR Escapist thread?
It's more likely than you think.

Who really cares? If a childish side has been introduced, adapt to it or just leave it alone. It's not hard.

 

[RicoADF]

The people running about spewing the title of 'GAMER' as something of a title of superiority aren't exactly helping anything. Your last sentence, "Bieber box" only further supports the idiocy behind your sentiment.

The system is trying to appeal to a wider audience to rake in the dough. The Wii had a great success, so the other systems are trying to emulate that. Don't worry, you can still get your UBER HARDCORE GAMER GAMES, but a wider audience will also be drawn in.

What he said. And besides, Core gamers are still a huge-ass audience. Publishers would have to hate money to brush all those potential sales aside.

Plus, the xbox wasn't built for gamers. The last gaming console built for gamers was the Dreamcast. After that, consoles turned into multimedia devices.

And yes, gamers made the industry. And now the industry is making games for all kinds of gamers. A gamer is someone who plays a game, end of story. To imply that a gamer is different completely contradicts the whole "gamers are normal people" thing. There isn't a special name for people who watch movies, or listen to music, or read books, so why the fuck should there be one for people who play games?

If by "multimedia devices", you mean stuff that does anything more than play games? Yeah, the Gamecube would have been the last one of those.

I was talking about the last console made, marketed, and had games made for, "gamers". As in the last console for "the hardcore".

Wouldn't it have been the PS2/xbox, yes they had dvd playing ability but they were made and marketed to be gaming consoles first, the movie thing was an extra feature since they had the DVD drives already in there.

 

[Roxor]

Directed at the original poster:

*slaps him across the face*

Pull yourself together, man!

This is a GOOD THING. More kids playing means more games, and even with Sturgeon's Law in effect, more total games means more good games. Even if only ten percent of games are good, ten percent of a thousand is still more than ten percent of a hundred.

Now go and play something cute.

 

[Irridium]

The people running about spewing the title of 'GAMER' as something of a title of superiority aren't exactly helping anything. Your last sentence, "Bieber box" only further supports the idiocy behind your sentiment.

The system is trying to appeal to a wider audience to rake in the dough. The Wii had a great success, so the other systems are trying to emulate that. Don't worry, you can still get your UBER HARDCORE GAMER GAMES, but a wider audience will also be drawn in.

What he said. And besides, Core gamers are still a huge-ass audience. Publishers would have to hate money to brush all those potential sales aside.

Plus, the xbox wasn't built for gamers. The last gaming console built for gamers was the Dreamcast. After that, consoles turned into multimedia devices.

And yes, gamers made the industry. And now the industry is making games for all kinds of gamers. A gamer is someone who plays a game, end of story. To imply that a gamer is different completely contradicts the whole "gamers are normal people" thing. There isn't a special name for people who watch movies, or listen to music, or read books, so why the fuck should there be one for people who play games?

If by "multimedia devices", you mean stuff that does anything more than play games? Yeah, the Gamecube would have been the last one of those.

I was talking about the last console made, marketed, and had games made for, "gamers". As in the last console for "the hardcore".

Wouldn't it have been the PS2/xbox, yes they had dvd playing ability but they were made and marketed to be gaming consoles first, the movie thing was an extra feature since they had the DVD drives already in there.

Xbox could have been. Then Microsoft added the DVD functionality to it. If a console does anything other then play games, its a multimedia device.

However this isn't a bad thing. Not at all. I'd say its good actually.

 

[lostzombies.com]

Frankly, I'm also somewhat disappointed by what is happening to games these days.

I can understand why it's happening: it can appeal to a much wider audience and large gaming corporations' #1 goal is making money.

It's just a little sad on that front though, because ultimately my desire in life is to live comfortably and play fun, interesting games, so when I see rich gaming companies start making generic games to appeal to children and bored housewives I wonder if they consider themselves above games or simply have no interest in them other than a tool to make money.

Exactly, thats the issue. The huge companies will still pump out Halo and COD regardless, and they will still be jsut as bland as ever. However the smaller devs that previously made the interesting and break out hits will be/are being encouraged to instead make the latest movie tie in/kinnect game/theme of the moment (twlight) game.

So instead of the market being:

Big games (Halo/COD) + smaller niche games like manhunt/soldier of fortune

it will be

Big games (Halo/COD) + movie tie ins, kinnect novelty games, hannah montana adventures

People who cant see the start of this happening already are ignorant to the games industry and how it is/has changed

The answer also isn't to 'hey dont buy them and the market will react' because is Microsoft succeed in its number game, then the majority of users will be the Wii/family crowd/

 

[F'Angus]

Best way to go is PC... Hard to ruin that by making it a family console..especially if we all have our own in the house.

 

[KEM10]

Bieber-Box? Really?

Look, you're not forced to interact with those kids. You're not forced to buy the stuff that appeals to them either. Just go on your merry way and ignore the rest. The avatars might be a bit silly, but really, they're not that big of a deal now are they? Just, once again, ignore them.

It's not the kids who are the issue, it's the games that developers are being encourages to pump out.

I started gaming as a hobby with doom and I must have been about 7. I was a kid but didn't play the latest lion king game etc.

it's the fact that developers are being encouraged to make kid games to cash in on the horde of people that kinnect is bringing. I fear in a few years the only gaming choices will be:

-driving games
-COD
-generic sports game
-movie tie in games
-motion/family games

where are the dooms, the duke nukems and soldier of fortunes? Because they have a smaller market (compared to the legions of kids/familes the M$ are targetting) devs will just not make the games.

I agree with this guy, niche games are getting much, much harder to come by nowadays.

If these niche games where to disappear completely however, then their's no hope for originality in video games.

You can tell, because of all the safe sequels and me too titles that most devs are putting out now. They may make the most money, but they are in no way beneficial to gaming.

I do fear for the future of gaming sometimes.

BRINK
Rage
Bulletstorm
Homefront

All new IPs that have (varying) levels of maturity and gritty realism. I just named 4 without thinking. And if you want sequels: Duke Nukem, Killzone, Dead Space...need I continue? Besides, everyone knows that only mature games can be considered fun and anything rated Teen is questionable at best.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am off to continue my ace runs in LittleBigPlanet2. My sackboy looks like Ziggy Stardust. JUMP MR. STARDUST, JUMP!

 

[GraveyardTricks]

I think that the Kinect has made the Xbox seem more child friendly, but I know I have been playing games since my early childhood. I remember Duke Nukem very well, and what? I was maybe 7 years old!

The Xbox is becoming more child friendly as technology progresses, but that's not neccesarily a bad thing. It has to cater for the next generation of us!

 

[ryai458]

Yes a game where you put glass into someones mouth then punch them repeatedly is definitely targeted towards family friendly, also never mind the fact that it sold 10s of million of copies. The average family or younger kid won't pick up a new game every month or more, while a "gamer" will pick up more titles.

 

[Eggsnham]

Aaaand. That's why I have a PS3.

.>

OT: Who cares? Everybody and their grandma is able to play whatever they choose, so why wouldn't Microsoft aim at different age groups?