The XBox Thread - Page 184

With Microsoft and what has been occurring, there is no 'inquire more'. It ends up being the case that one is simply not able to ask certain questions (which is often the case for mainstream media during events) or we are given generalized explanations to be written off as, to be answered later. I would also point out that although there were 'worst-case scenarios' being used, but also realistic scenarios as well. Although I will not go so far as to say the wording almost belittles the argument, but it does clump the arguments in such a manner to merely dismiss them. Which is what I have seen been happening for those that do try to defend Microsoft's decisions; there will be claims made or a certain side being painted in such a way that everyone is clumped together to invalidate their point.

As an example, what about those in the military? That is not the worst case scenario and is a real issue. Even a Navy magazine discussed the Box and its negative impact on servicemen and women. I am not saying you are using it in such a manner but it does come off as somewhat dismissive of those looking to what may very well happen. And this was not even about what for the full story, we already had the full information on the checking.

To be fair, pretty much any decision made by the company or companies in general have justifications for their actions. What matters is not that it is justified, but whether it is deemed a worth while investment. Do the positives outweigh the negatives; are the rights or abilities of the consumer being stripped to a degree worth the potential gain? These are the questions that have been asked and Microsoft has done a piss job of explaining them. The Box is a kinect bundle, sell us why that is a worth wild investment. The whole point of bringing up Tv was not the way to win people over. It is first and foremost a gaming console, prove to us why that is the case. And since they were in essentially a catch 22 with regard to the kinect and publishers making game with the kinect in mind, Microsoft had to force their hand and make it required.

Plus, it was not that people simply ignored what was being told. It was that Microsoft was too restrictive or reserved in explaining the matters. Their conference was an utter joke and it showed how potentially out of touch they are with the gaming community. I mean when will Microsoft learn that the whole scripted "cool" presentation is pathetic. Just look at killiner instinct, that was so much fail. The point is, the "well-informed" were not actually all that informed to begin with. I followed nearly every bit of news there could be, I followed the tweets, the interviews, etc. and even after all of that, it felt like near useless banter.

Entitlement with regard to consumerism is a difficult topic because although entitlement is thought of as rather negative, it is the consumer that pays for the product. It is not one or the other, more like entitlement to a degree but still limited. The one issue I do ahve with your comment is the resistance to new ideas. Not sure how much you pay attention to the general forums on the topic but from my end, people were happy with new changes. Playstation 4 to a degree was looked at as being too slow in their development for the future. But what happened is that there were issues with the types of changes. For example, the idea of family sharing and disc-less play was actually encouraged. Microsoft went about it in too restrictive of a way with the region locking, the non-lenient time-frame of their checks, even the way it was implemented. For example, why not the implementation of family sharing where one can use a disc or if sharing the library, then it requires the internet. But if simply playing on your own, the check is not required. Granted, there are probably 20 billion flaws with the idea but that is beside the point. What needs to be done is avoid restricting people completely and instead, they should give the consumers a choice. And not merely, "if no internet, buy the 360" which was a deplorable and disgusting comment. Instead, give people the choice of how to use their console.

The way Microsoft handled this whole debacle is absurd. They had a knee-jerk reaction and simply took everything away almost as if throwing a tantrum. What they should have done was sit down with the press (and not resort to a stupid blog post) and talk to people as gamers. Try to relate to us gamers, we do not bite (well sometimes we do). But sit down and tell us that they heard us, they want to appeal to all gamers and as inclusive as possible (and not their previous exclusive mindset). Tell us that gaming is important to them so they will be dropping the restrictions which due to the sheer change, it will mean eliminating the family sharing and digital aspect. But, reassure us that they will continue to work to give us the best experience possible and continue to work toward the future, for this was a mere stepping stone. Instead of what we got which was a, "we heard you, we reverse the policy and now have taken away all the other goodies".