It's funny how history can find a way to repeat and still put a twist on things. The newest consoles aren't even out, and yet delusions and misinformation and FUD abound from fanboys and media alike. Ridiculous features are being promoted, people are ignoring straight answers when they are given and asking for clarification, and the age old arguments resume. I've already seen this gen's tech promises and "no games" accusations and the consoles aren't even out.
The worst part of the ongoing war between diehards on all sides is the stupidity of the media and their contribution to the sensationalism and flamebaiting. Starting with the PS4 in February when Sony were very clear about their stance on used games and their DRM, you had the small time bloggers all the way up to "respected" media people like Adam Sessler all saying Sony needed to clarify their straight answer. Why? Because Microsoft did something, so obviously Sony were going to do it too right? Well, a lot of crow was eaten at E3 when Sony restated what they said in February.
Then you have the tech promises. Xbox One is made of magic and wishes and Azure is going to make games beyond perfect. Let's ignore all the data that proves the "power of the cloud" is smoke and mirrors because if we believe fact, then the Xbox One continues to look bad and that just can't happen after E3. Anyone remember Ken Kutaragi saying the PS3 was capable of 4D, 120FPS, 1080p games? Where are those exactly? Oh, so now tech promises are real because Microsoft are saying so? Since when does dedicated servers = new, all powerful cloud technology? 300,000 servers? I'm sure Microsoft literally have that many physical servers laying around somewhere right? An entire multi-floored building or buildings filled with nothing but servers just for cloud power right? Yeah, how much you wanna bet that 300,000 servers translates to mostly virtual servers?
Probably the best example of the repetition of history though is the "exclusives" argument. After E3, enough people have said that Microsoft somehow has "better" and "more" exclusives than Sony. This is completely reminiscent of Xbox 360 vs. PS3 and it's humorous how the arguments always change. With the Xbox 360, exclusives didn't matter because of multiplats, but with the Xbox One exclusives matter over multiplats. Gotta love the flip flopping.
This new generation is already turning out poorly in terms of public relations. Media taking quotes and turning them into 5 stories with flamebait titles and misconstrued words. Executives showing the immense disconnect they have with the fans who still stick up for them even after they were nearly screwed over. Justifications made for every bad decision. It's clear that, at the moment, gaming isn't about playing video games. It's about trying to get consumers to swallow the pills of corporate bullsh*t, lofty promises, and ignoring complete arrogance.
Yeah, this blog is chiefly about Microsoft's incredibly poor showing thus far. I really don't care if people want to attach labels because of it, but thinking that a company like Microsoft can do any good for gaming when they have already successfully changed what people should be focused on in a negative way is naive. Microsoft is the only company out there, with a console of any kind, whose staff that handle that aspect of their business is not made up of any gamers and instead is filled with suits, so tell me how someone who doesn't know the first thing about gaming is somehow catering to gamers?
Delusion is how. Delusion everywhere.
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"It's clear that, at the moment, gaming isn't about playing video games. It's about trying to get consumers to swallow the pills of corporate bullsh*t, lofty promises, and ignoring complete arrogance."
That's what happens when visionaries are set aside for businessmen. It's happened with Hollywood as well.But that's the industry we need to deal with and, at the very least, the whole fiasco with Microsoft's poor handling of Xbox One shows that even businessmen can be swayed if the angry voices are loud enough (or if your product gets jabbed at on the Jimmy Fallon show).
I wouldn't call all of the defense "delusional." Some people are just happy the DRM and always-online aspects are no longer a factor, myself included. Doesn't change the fact that Microsoft is sleazy as hell and definitely still deserve the consumer apathy and mistrust they are currently dealing with. They have their awful handling and PR to thank for that.
For me, well and above all the spec BS that's going around, I'm hoping and waiting for divergence from "real-world" COD-cloneage. For something like a successor to Panzer Dragoon to more than just the promotional remnant for motion control.
And I really can't stop thinking about how Bill Gates once threatened to use a Halo release against the launch of the PS3 and how that likely would have compromised the quality of the game. What that said about his and MS's priorities towards gaming.
Well written article
You are trying way too hard to make this about Sony versus Xbox. The real war is ownership versus renting. People can defend whatever company however they want and dress it and spin it to make one sound better than the other all day long. It's not going to matter.
What is going to matter to me, and long time gamers that have been gaming since Atari 2600 and the Odyssey 2 console wars, is if I will be able to play this stuff 20 years down the road.
MS and Sony are perfectly happy with all this flame war crap because it just makes for more press and more hype all while suckering us into buying a box that lets us rent games for a few years until the next cycle of hardware comes along.
You have to look at the big picture.