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 On 05/24/2013 at 03:40 AM by Raised_on_Nintendo See More From This User » |
I'm not an Xbox fan, didn't watch the reveal, and have no intention of upgrading to the next gen of consoles (for a while). That doesn't mean I'm not interested.
In my opinion, what we are witnessing with the Xbox One (Singular) is the next step towards singularity - not necessarily the ultimate prophesying man/machine matrix that is supposed to bring immortality, whathaveyou, but the singularity of entertainment technology.
Tech is maturing so fast that it's hard to keep track of what machine is apt for a person's needs. Take, for instance, my G4 iPod touch. I'm sorry, but this thing is friggin' amazing. For those who aren't aware, it's basically an iPhone bereft of phone tech and service, and a few other minimal features. Think of it as a tiny iPad. It does enough to almost render my PC obsolete. I once video chatted with my Mom on her birthday from my car in the parking lot of a Wifi hotspot using my iPod. Are you kidding me? A casual internet user could easily meet all their needs with this simple handheld device.
I'm strictly a console gamer, so I'll admit deep naivity when it comes to PC and tablet gaming, but I'm not ignorant of the power those platforms pack. And yes, as many have stated, I agree that the Xbox One is basically a PC box branded as a console. Here's the kicker, though: all consoles have always been just that.
It wasn't until the past 10 years or so that this could be proven quite evidentally. Crafty hackers have unlocked various consoles, demonstrating this in action. In 2006, when I bought this PC on which I now type, I did so for the secondary purpose of connecting it to my TV to view media. Now, it's its own remote media center streaming content to two hacked Wii's connected to different TV's in my home. My PS3 does this, too, on a third TV, but that feature was *included*, which I guess means it's *okay*.
The reason these features must be unlocked on consoles that don't include them is brand control. These companies -- Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony -- close-source these badboys for the purpose of controlling their brand image. As we can see, the Wii sold well enough without media manipulation capabilities, but that doesn't mean consumers wouldn't have appreciated it. I can only guess as to why they imposed such limits, but they did. It's a shame, because I use these features a lot, and they add value to an already budget-friendly device.
As the push for entertainment singularity continues, we will see the unravelling of everything we are familiar with in game console technology. The reason for this is us gamers who've been around a while have been conditioned to recognize consoles as something other than computers, even though we know at their core they house similar components, if not the exact some ones found in common PC's. And that, my friends, is successful branding... of the mind.
I'll finish with one more story to prove this theory true: The very first time I saw a hacked console was some 20 years ago when I met a guy who had a NES rigged in his car as a functioning radar of some sort. It blew my mind, and taught me that what I perceive as console tech is indeed all in my head. Maybe consoles never existed to begin with? Maybe we were led to believe they did?
Image link: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110521135350/kidvskat/images/6/67/51-2_-_It's_All_In_Your_Head.png
good blog. A NES as a CB radio? crazy.
I think the Xbox is okay, but I have my suspicions about Kinect, which kind of sucked in its original incarnation. I just wish there had been more focus on games. But I get what they're trying to do, it just doesn't appeal to me so much.
For me the "all in my head part" was never tech, as I was totally ignorant of that until recently, it was consoles = fun and games, PCs = work, school, ocassionally games I found boring, personally (or just didn't care for because I was only playing them due to my mom being a computer teacher and constantly having to stay late with her), like Wolfenstein (what? I didn't like it at the time), Gizmos and Gadgets, Lemmings, Myst, Oregon Trail, Vector Shooter, etc.
So personally I welcome how blatantly these new consoles are like PCs, but will be boxes you just plug straight into the TV, so there won't be that mental divide for me. And yes, I could just buy an XBOX controller and plug my PC into the TV, but for very dumb, emotional reasons brought on by classical conditioning, it's just not the same at all.
Wasn't a cb, I corrected that. It was a long time ago, but I think it was some type of radar scanner or something. It was in a van that had a cb, but upon deeper reflection, I dont remember what it did specifically. I was impressed, though by the entire van. He explained to me how the Nes was rigged, to an antenna, but I don't remember.
What Microsoft showed was nothing new or that all impressive. They are refining what their intention was all along. My expectation of what they planned was what I saw when it came to merging entertainment media together looked easier but its also a sham to think you need a cable box to have that all-in-one experience. If it was a stand alone that actually worked as ONE device than in that regard, I would have been more impressed.
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