PixlBit

This console war is turning just as bloody as the Stanly Cup.

(sorry if you are sick of seeing "XBOne" and "M$")

We all know why even the most die-hard Xbots turned their backs on Microsoft over their policies concerning DRM for used games and connectivity. So now M$ caved in to the pressure from ALL of us and reconsidered the amount of control they will have over us in our living room. 

The "hardcore" group we consider ourselves is still a small, but vastly growing piece of the game buying masses. Most players don't read journalist reviews or blog about games or sift through news sites or even consider themselves “gamers". Most people see an ad on TV or online about a big upcoming game, or hear word of mouth from friends and if they have enough disposable income they check it out. These people are also probably not so keen on keeping track of all the different electronics needed to stay up to date with entertainment tech. These are the people M$ was targeting; the custie masses. I understand why, its a BIG piece of pie.

But us dedicated gamers have thrown a wrench in the Works on Microsoft, we are the ones that see and hear the new stuff first, and we are the ones that will shout with anger or sing the praises. And shout we did, and while the majority of gamers may not be the first to hear the news, they DO listen to what we have to say. Gamers like us are no longer passed over as weird dwellers of moms basement. Geek is chic. As annoying as Big Bang Thoery is, it explained in a Cliffs Notes fashion what kind of people we are. Average people are amazed by today’s games and they want a part of it. They also know we know what we are talking about when it comes to them. When we talk, they listen, and we’ve been heard. 

An example to this point; after E3 I went into Gamestop just to see what the buzz in the store was like. For the first time in my life I actually saw Gamestop employees bad mouthing an upcoming major console release. They were LAUGHING at XB One and singing the praises of the PS4. A 10 year old kid came in with his mom, they started looking around at the used 360 games. The kid started mumbling something about Xbox and the impatient mom said "WHAT? WHATS THE PROBLEM? Your Xbox plays these, right? So whats the PROBLEM?" He mumbled out "The new Xbox wont play used games." She replied "You aren't getting that one, REMEMBER?" She pointed to a picture of the PS4. "THATS the one you are getting, RIGHT?" "Yes" he replied. "OK so your Xbox NOW plays all these game, RIGHT?" "yes."

You could go on and on about all the magical things the Xbox One can do by just he sound of your voice. NONE of it matters. The kid knows Mom only buys used games for him, the kid told Mom you can't buy used games on Xbox One. Mom does not buy Xbox One.

Then there is the paranoia that surrounds the unit, An always watching and listening device connected to the internet in your living room? If mom hears that this device can record her children in the living room so hackers can take a peek, does she want this in her house? Probably not. Is this threat credible? Probably not. Can we convince the kids Mom of this fact? Probably not.  

 I had a feeling all along that M$ would have to back down with all their restrictions. Some people said no way and compared it to how people reacted when we heard the original Xbox would only have a broadband connection. They said we kicked and screamed about that, too, but now its no big deal. This is different, the broadband connection wasn't about CONTROL over the players spending habits, it was a necessary component to the kind of online gaming they were trying to achieve. If there were selfish reasons MS wanted a broadband connection, it wasn't as blatantly obvious and insulting as this. The broadband connection didn’t make you feel like a criminal in your own home.

There is one more thing about this that makes me nervous about XBOne. I've talked about this before regarding MS's design choices as of late. The original XBox (I can't call it Xbox 1 anymore) was a beast of a machine. It was big, heavy, and awkward. Its controller felt like holding a Whopper from Burger King. There was plenty of feedback from gamers crying that the controller to their giant Halo adapter was rather unweildly. The brains at MS got together, did some research, and came out with the first iteration of what has eventually been regarded as one of the best controller designs of all time. The Controller S was smaller and the button layout more intuitive. One stroke of brilliance in the button layout would define it; the offset analog sticks. This is an example of fixing something that 'aint broke that actually works. NOBODY complained about Sonys lateral sticks, NOBODY said "hey the left stick should be higher than the right stick". Yet someone had the idea and I'm sure it was tested with positive results. This was a stroke of brilliant ingenuity in the design of the user experience.

Now lets fast forward about 10 years or so. The Xbox 360 wisely keeps the basic design of the Controller S and adds some needed buttons and flawless wireless capability. Fine. Then comes the Xbox 360 SLIM. This unit was better built and had wireless internet connectivity out of the box. Great! Now one thing that still boggles my mind is the design of the eject and power button. The eject button is so sensitive it can activate with just a brush of your clothing. Sure it looked cool and the touch sensitive button is a neat new future-trick that makes the unit more future-y. But in function its a joke. Now whoever decided on this design obviously never had their dog or little brother bump up against their NES and abruptly shut the game off on them. Its a sign that the money wranglers are making the big decisions and not the creators. Now who is making the design choices of the XBOne? Is it folks like the ingenuitive designers of the Controller S, or the parlor trick focused eject button guys? Considering what we've seen so far, its the latter.

The beautiful thing in all this is the people spoke up with their wallets and demonstated their unhappiness with MS. I know a lot of what MS wants to do will be the way are all going anyway, its just too soon and people want to feel like they are making the choice to do so, not being forcefully dragged into it. There are some very positive aspects ot what Microsoft wanted to accomplish to their policies. Being always online lets everyones on-line experience be on par with each other, and greatly reduces bootlegging and hacking. This is especially helpful with online multiplayer. keeping it fair is key for everyone to enjoy the game.

I think Microsoft will slowly re-integrate these connectivity features, they will just do so more tactifully and give a better trade off, we need a GOOD REASON to submit to this, Microsoft failed at that. So Sony is still the good guys in all this despite bricking PS3's with their stupid update. But at least they have gamers in mind with no DRM and great support for Indie Games. You listening, Mircosoft?