Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The New Xbox: Another One Bites the Dust


After carefully and painstakingly analyzing reactions over the Xbox One press conference today, I can sum it all up in one word: disappointment. Bitter, piss-flavored disappointment. It's a sad day for gamers. Let me recap Microsoft's epic failure.

1. The Xbox One plays TV shows and other premium TV services on your TV. If you wanted a new machine for watching TV shows on your TV then the future is here.

2. A once every 24 check of your Internet connection means you are basically renting a license for your games. Note: people without constant Internet connections will not be able to play their own games. This sucks for men and women of the US Armed Forces in places like Afghanistan, where Internet is a luxury. Seems like they will lose a huge customer base, as every soldier I know loves Xbox.

3. Fees for used games are just an added way of reminding customers, they do not truly own anything for the Xbox One.

4. Xbox One's Kinect is not optional. Also the camera and microphone are always on in your living room. Welcome to 1984, your new overlord, Bill Gates anticipates your obedience.

5. None of your purchases will transfer from the 360 except media content. So all those games you play online like Street Fighter 3 and X-Men will be useless when the 360's online service ends.

6. No backwards compatibility ensures that you will not be playing the classics from this gen via disc, but I'm sure they will resell them like PSN's PS2 archives.

7. The system looks like an old VCR, not exactly the sleek design that 2013 calls for, but maybe it will be appeal to my mom or dad.

8. Boring game reveals...oh a new Call of Duty...yawn..."cool dude." They say wait to E3, but I just don't care at this point.

I will not buy this system unless Microsoft somehow sees fit to listen to the gamers that have supported them from the beginning. The casual market will buy this crap, but I hope enough of the gaming community votes with their dollars and shows that this new business strategy is outrageous. It will be like SimCity 4 on a massive scale, and no one wants to see that mess happen again.

I personally think it's time for Sega to come back, guns blazin'. Dreamcast 2 powered by Steam...launch games, Shenmue 3 and Phantasy Star 5.

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