Analysis: Is Microsoft falling behind the competition?
With the recent announcement of XBL's Play to Earn program, Marc Lynch wonders if Microsoft is reaching out just a little too late.
(Industry, Microsoft, PS4, Sony, Xbox One)
Great article that fleshes out my own thoughts on Microsoft. As an indie fan with many indie dev friends I've heard repeatedly how difficult it is in dealing with XBLA.
In terms of patching I know of a few games that are great but lack in updates on XBLA. Take Dungeon Defenders for example, on PC is WAY better than on XLBA in terms of updates. Isn't this because it is so costly to patch/update on XBLA. One free one, right?
Too little too late. I'm already sold on the PS4 in terms of next gen consoles.
The Indie scene is where you will see some great ideas come to life. I play a ton of Steam games that don't get the marketing like Bioshock: Infinite does but they are a lot of fun.
Microsoft will have to be more open and want a better relationship with the Indie development. There's a lot of talent and innovation coming from them. They should also offer greater benefits for being a Gold member instead of having everything behind a pay-wall.
We really dont know what MS is planning to do. all that has been outed is speculation. some believe that the sources of that speculation are genuine and others don't.
So when Ms does come forward and state here it is and this is what it can do....are people going to just overlook that and still believe the speculation because they trust the source more than MS?
As for them falling behind...that all depends on what competition is leading. If MS were taking a more serious stance in the mobility market to gain market share from the likes of ios and droid devices then so be it.
I mean did anyone see that market as a threat to traditional gaming before such apps like angry birds and temple run? Probably not because they were more focused on what traditional gaming is.
Gaming isnt about consoles or handhelds or PC its about entertainment. There are way more people playing simple time wasting games now than there ever was before. Mainly because of accessibility. Its far easier to play a game on things we already have at our disposal than before.
We know what sony is doing. We know what nintendo is doing. We really dont know what MS is doing but we like to guess. All the guessing will come to an end once they make an official statement about the direction they are taking their entertainment division.
Until then, its probably a good idea to just play the games we have and maybe even revisit some we havent played in a long time. Nostalgia has a way of making things all better, even if for a little while.
I don't know why you're obtaining a lot of disagrees. What Heavy is saying is completely true. First and foremost, their 1st Party developers suck unless you count out 343 Industries (which they're barely doing well). Secondly they lost their major developer which is Bungie, and now they're developing games for MS rival (Sony). Thirdly, they're catering towards the casual audience with Kinect while ignoring their hardcore fanbase...and I'm betting their future will be pretty disasterous. Fourthly, NO FRIGGIN ORIGINAL GAMES. What happened during 2006-2008 when you guys were pumping out exclusives after exclusives Microsoft? Gears of War series, Fable, Mass Effect, Viva Pinata, and plenty others! Now you guys are just focusing on Kinect...which doesn't regulate as decent exclusives. Fourthly, for some reason MS LOVE TIMED EXCLUSIVES. For me, I don't want timed exclusive crap which will eventually be ported to Sony and maybe Nintendo's consoles. Hell, I'll bet Minecraft will be announced for the PS3/PS4 in Sony's E3 2013 conference. And lastly, monthly subscriptions. I mean come on, you guys have little original content on your game consoles now MS. I can watch Netflix, CNN, football (which I personally hate but I'm just suggesting) ON MY COMPUTER rather than on an Xbox360. Is it worth paying cash monthly for this stuff while I can carry my laptop, walk to a nearby Starbucks with FREE WIFI, and watch these contents there? NO! Sorry for the long post, I just had to get the steam out of my head.
I actually see the complete opposite, as MS strategy continues where the Xbox 360 succeeded.
Let's face it, I use my Xbox 360 more now than ever, thanks to all these apps. It has pretty much replaced my HTPC.
The vast majority of consumers don't just play games, but they listen to music, watch movies and play games. On top of that, to really break a console out of the bedroom it needs to cater to other family members too. MS is doing all that.
It might not be what n4g readers want, because they are the hardcore of the hardcore that care mainly about gaming, but even then over 90% of the games released is going on the next Xbox.
That's assuming of course that MS doesn't have anything else cooking themselves or partnered up like they did last generation.
I remember when the PS Vita was praised to high heavens as the hardcore device, and the 3DS being to casual and had a gimicky 3D feature. Fast forward and 3DS is a huge success, while the PS Vita is pretty much sinking like a rock.
So if multi-billion dollar companies listen to n4g, then will likely only sell to the niche group of n4g!
Most consoles are closed system... this cost for patches isn't a MS specific problem... in fact this generation MS was very open to indy devs (till they hid the indy section deep inside the store and made it hard to find).
Sony has shown their hand for the PS4, where MS hasn't announce how XBL and the next Xbox will be handled, so its hard to really comment on MS's behavior.
Edit:
just to be clear, when I said MS was more open to Indy's this generation than the competition I was talking about how for FREE i got access to the development environment for the Xbox and could start making my game and for 99 dollars a year publish games. I couldn't do that with Sony or Nintendo. I as a student found this incredibly interesting to be able to dev for the xbox the same way I could iPhone.
Great comment, bubble up for you. Microsoft isn't the only one with a closed system, you have to be careful about who you let into your infrastructure and Microsoft is a software company at heart. I don't blame them for being a bit more closed off, they have lightened up more recently and hopefully they will offer some decent indie games on the next Xbox.
At this point, we know absolutely nothing about what the next Xbox will bring to the table, it doesn't really make sense to speculate.
Nice to seem them support their loyal customers, but overall I'm not impressed with the offerings. It has a long way to go before it rivals what PS+ gives their gamers.
How can anyone disagree with this? I signed up to PS+ for the first time last week and had access to so many free games.. if someone took every game offered, stuck it in a bundle and said you could get all these for just 11.99 for three months, people would think Christmas came early.
What has XBL gold given me in the last six or so years I've subscribed to it? Absolutely nothing I can't get for free elsewhere. Only reason I'm still signed up to that and not moved over fully to ps3 is because all my friends play over XBL. Microsoft HAVE to step it up with the nextbox especially if they think they can justify charging people on their current level of service.
How can anyone disagree with this? They must not have a PlayStation, or haven't subscribed to PS+ yet. Once they do, then they'll understand what is so great about PS+.
I find it funny that not too long ago Microsoft dumped their XNA/Indie support for XBox 360, which although brought some very dull games, was still a great way for Indie Devs to get their games on Xbox Live Arcade and play them on the TV with the 360 controller.
Now all-of-a-sudden, with Sony's next-gen surge to core gamers and indie gamers combined, seems Microsoft are now playing catch-up, and seeing if there's anyway to get indie devs back on Xbox.
dumped? They stopped development on the tools that is all... it's likely they are getting ready to launch the next generation tools and they learned a TON from this generation... that dirty crap that was pulled on the Fortress Craft developer really showed how ugly some indie devs are and to think the reason they did it was to gain time to release their own game... dirty dirty dirty... XBLI is still the most open platform on consoles
XBLI/XNA "was" the most open platform for Indie's on consoles, but since Microsoft have stopped the development tools and have taken the XNA project off of Xbox 360's everywhere, where can I play indie games on my Xbox 360 as of right now?? You can't, unless the devs go through Microsoft first and they publish your game to Xbox Live Arcade, but that takes away the whole concept of an open-platform and having their games being accessed by anyone without going through an approval process.
But we know how Microsoft feels towards the Indie Community anyways, just ask Jonathon Blow.
I am not blind, Microsoft always were behind the competition (Sony and Nintendo).
Think about it. They released the original Xbox really late in the generation. Then they totally dropped support just a couple years later to release the 360 early as possible to try to stay ahead of the competition. As of right now it's not looking good and the "720" is the only hope now. Kinect probably drop the ball for them the most even though it was a commercial success.
The original Xbox was losing money on every one sold, also the chip needed for that Xbox was stopping production. Both of those things forced the 360 to come out earlier than they wanted and it also meant they had to drop support on it. I don't think they will drop support of the Xbox 360, it's been marketed to a different group of people now and they will be able to continue using the 360 for various other options, and 3rd party games of course.
Even though they were late with the original Xbox, it was the first console to have a high speed modem built in, HDD built in, HD ready out of the box, first analog triggers, and they did a great job setting up Xbox Live a year into it's life cycle.
where have you been the last 3 years? Support from MS is almost gone for (i dont count kinect as support) outside the the usual gears, halo, forza title.
MS has never had a strong first party (though now they have like 30 internal studios working on various things). So to call MS out on that is a little unfair. the Xbox has always been a 3rd party machine and has done a good job of it.
while exclusives are few and far between, 360 owners still have a huge selection of great games coming out every year. This generation everyone won. the 3rd party games totally blew 1st party games out of the water. few other games got to the level of awesome that DeadSpace did when it first game out, and most recently Bioshock really shined and made everyone one regardless of which system is your favorite a winner.
I do most of my gaming on PC and see this little console war as idiotic, but I cant say anyone has had their support "dry-up".
the fact that you feel like that is exactly why I have finally decided to leave this site. too many fanboys like yourself that have pledge allegiance to a console instead of just being a fan of games.
I guess I thought you were talking "exclusives." And the fact that most of the "BIG" 3rd party games were unappealing to me. AssCreed, I hate it's auto play it's self mechanics. Bioshock was monotonous; never played 2. Infinite looks good, but kinda samey. CoD is way not my style. GTA 4 got boring real quick; like 10th mission quick. Thought Fallout was Meh... Same with Skyrim.
I do like MGs4/MGO, Ratchet&Clank, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Demon's Souls, Heavenly Sword & Heavy Rain, but those are 3rd party. Tack on a 1st party list of great games and you'll see why I laughed.
@ xabmol
LOL, dune your bias motivations are showing. So only PS3 exclusives right? Not that any of the games you named are bad, but 3D Dot Game Heroes and Heavenly Sword over Bioshock, Fallout, and Skyrim? Really? To each his own.
Lmao another ridiculous thread fall behind like how. Everone is going off those stupid specs released by vgleaks from an 18 month old durango xdk nothing hasnt been finalised as of yet. Once mS shows off the Next xbox it will be Sony playing catch up by then it will be too late. ...keep an eye on a MS/AMD partnership.
I've had both PS3 and 360 this gen and all MS did was leave a bad taist in my mouth with constant nickel and diming.
Not providing basic online MP without charging has pretty much made me disregard future MS consoles. I paid too much money for Live, now my 360 just collects dust.
i read an article saying that Sony computer division has a 49% percent chance of going bankrupt in the next 2 years...no way in hell am i jumping on a sinking ship. Microsoft on the other hand is posting record profits.
Microsoft is posting record profits? Maybe as a company overall, but their Entertainment and Devices division recorded a 11% drop in revenue last quarter and cited a 25% increase in R&D costs.
"IThe original Xbox was losing money on every one sold, also the chip needed for that Xbox was stopping production. Both of those things forced the 360 to come out earlier than they wanted and it also meant they had to drop support on it" WE DON'T CARE WHY. The point is, they dropped support. 'They' didn't tell us why THEN. So why would i care to know in 2013? Fool me once ...
Didn't tell you why? It was EVERYWHERE about how Nvidia wouldn't renegotiate a better deal for Microsoft and the cost was to prohibitive to continue building the systems.
Well...nobody can advise you on that matter, because there is nothing to tell...yet. If you really want to be a fair judge on which console to get, you shouldn't count something out before it has even been unveiled.
I agree with you, I'm just so mad at what they have been doing for the past years that I don't think they deserve my support. Halo 4 was great, but that was one of their only gaming highlights since like 2010:/
I'm not ready to call anything until we see what they show.
As of now however, the only noteworthy exclusive they released so far this year is Gears, that's it.
Notice how on this site, Sony and Nintendo take up most of the traffic, NOT Microsoft. They aren't even part of many gaming discussions now. Says a lot about their focus.
I hope they bring something at least, I still like Halo.
MS has so many ip's from the original xbox. If they can just align them with competent devs who care for those ip's, well...that'd be great.
Banjo Kazooie needs to go back to its platforming origins, not that mech and bolts aspect. And they should reboot the perfect dark franchise and place additional focus on the mp aspect. And killer instinct!
Hopefully, ms has the balls and commitment to pump these titles out for the next xbox.
Hoping Ms address these so i can justify owning their system alongside a ps4. 1 a free online option. Dont see why i need to pay a charge when i hardly play online and can get all of their other stuff on my PC for free. But paying a fee to try something i have already paid for is taking the mick. 2. Drop the proprietary hard drives. Its no use to me when the console has gone yet i would pay more for it. 3. Show me new IPs, you didnt get me with numerous Halos, Gears, Forzas so Halo Combat re evolved 5 and a half aint gonna do it either. Give us something new that i wont ever get anywhere else. 4. Drop the MS points. Im an Adult, I use cash. Your points dont make me think something is cheaper,
This is a BS circle jerk article. You can tell from the opening where he states how MS hasnt said anything and we dont know anything about it.... but it doesnt look good?!?!
What doesnt look good..... the nothing that we know.
I expect MS to dominate next gen when I look at all the attention MS gets for the stupidest stuff. So imagine how much attention they will get when they start showing some good stuff.
This article was suppose to read about how well Ps4 looks for indie devs and talking about all the features and strides they have made to make it possible. Instead we are talking about the way MS handled the 360 and online like it tells us how they are going to handle it in the future. Which is a shady way to set up an argument but then they only associate it negatively.
If you love real videogames for adults,with the best controller and best graphics for a console then you go with SONY.
If you like more kiddie games any the same regurgitated games for decades, @ a low price you go w/ Nintendo.
If you like getting nickle and dimed for you internet connection you already pay for, want to move your furniture around to see Justin Beebers and Han Solo dance, then you game Microsoft.
The writing was on the wall 2 years ago. Now it's in stone and ppl are still not getting it. Off to finish GoW Ascention.
Just get rid of your xbox. You know that feeling you have when you finally get to the toilet after having to hold it in because you couldn't crap while driving?? Well I felt like took a big dump and I felt relieved when I got rid of my xbox. That thing was big, loud, cheap, and expensive as hell. I don't have money to spend on a disposable imitation of game console. I want the real thing. PlayStation family has always taken care of my gaming needs and beyond.
Microsoft has a lot to prove when they announce their next console. With all the positive buzz around the PS4, if the MS offering falls short in any field, it will be a catastrophic shift in the market next generation.
This article hits all the right points where MS is already not on the ball.
So MS is moving to a more casual, more profitable segment of the market. I hope they do well, but I hope they don't do as well as Sony because I think hardcore gaming is being threatened ):
Xbox 360 online is great, but better is the Sony service: Playstation Plus, because It's a nice deal for the player. I bought Plus and I have free games like: Bioshock, Demon Souls, Street Fighter, Infamous, Borderlands, Tekken 6, Disgaea, Spec Ops, Uncharted, Gravity Rush, Wipeout, Ninja Gaiden. For an anual subscription of 50 USD you can obtain 300 or more in games or discounts. Not only Sony did a great job with PLUS, indie games like Journey and exclusive IP's like Uncharted make of PS3 a great choice.
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In terms of patching I know of a few games that are great but lack in updates on XBLA. Take Dungeon Defenders for example, on PC is WAY better than on XLBA in terms of updates. Isn't this because it is so costly to patch/update on XBLA. One free one, right?
Too little too late. I'm already sold on the PS4 in terms of next gen consoles.
Microsoft will have to be more open and want a better relationship with the Indie development. There's a lot of talent and innovation coming from them. They should also offer greater benefits for being a Gold member instead of having everything behind a pay-wall.
what MS is planning to do. all that has been outed is speculation. some believe that the sources of that speculation are genuine and others don't.
So when Ms does come forward and state here it is and this is what it can do....are people going to just overlook that and still believe the speculation because they trust the source more than MS?
As for them falling behind...that all depends on what competition is leading. If MS were taking a more serious stance in the mobility market to gain market share from the likes of ios and droid devices then so be it.
I mean did anyone see that market as a threat to traditional gaming before such apps like angry birds and temple run? Probably not because they were more focused on what traditional gaming is.
Gaming isnt about consoles or handhelds or PC its about entertainment. There are way more people playing simple time wasting games now than there ever was before. Mainly because of accessibility. Its far easier to play a game on things we already have at our disposal than before.
We know what sony is doing. We know what nintendo is doing. We really dont know what MS is doing but we like to guess. All the guessing will come to an end once they make an official statement about the direction they are taking their entertainment division.
Until then, its probably a good idea to just play the games we have and maybe even revisit some we havent played in a long time. Nostalgia has a way of making things all better, even if for a little while.
Apparently nobody does on this site.
First and foremost, their 1st Party developers suck unless you count out 343 Industries (which they're barely doing well).
Secondly they lost their major developer which is Bungie, and now they're developing games for MS rival (Sony).
Thirdly, they're catering towards the casual audience with Kinect while ignoring their hardcore fanbase...and I'm betting their future will be pretty disasterous.
Fourthly, NO FRIGGIN ORIGINAL GAMES. What happened during 2006-2008 when you guys were pumping out exclusives after exclusives Microsoft? Gears of War series, Fable, Mass Effect, Viva Pinata, and plenty others! Now you guys are just focusing on Kinect...which doesn't regulate as decent exclusives.
Fourthly, for some reason MS LOVE TIMED EXCLUSIVES. For me, I don't want timed exclusive crap which will eventually be ported to Sony and maybe Nintendo's consoles. Hell, I'll bet Minecraft will be announced for the PS3/PS4 in Sony's E3 2013 conference.
And lastly, monthly subscriptions. I mean come on, you guys have little original content on your game consoles now MS. I can watch Netflix, CNN, football (which I personally hate but I'm just suggesting) ON MY COMPUTER rather than on an Xbox360. Is it worth paying cash monthly for this stuff while I can carry my laptop, walk to a nearby Starbucks with FREE WIFI, and watch these contents there? NO!
Sorry for the long post, I just had to get the steam out of my head.
Let's face it, I use my Xbox 360 more now than ever, thanks to all these apps. It has pretty much replaced my HTPC.
The vast majority of consumers don't just play games, but they listen to music, watch movies and play games. On top of that, to really break a console out of the bedroom it needs to cater to other family members too. MS is doing all that.
It might not be what n4g readers want, because they are the hardcore of the hardcore that care mainly about gaming, but even then over 90% of the games released is going on the next Xbox.
That's assuming of course that MS doesn't have anything else cooking themselves or partnered up like they did last generation.
I remember when the PS Vita was praised to high heavens as the hardcore device, and the 3DS being to casual and had a gimicky 3D feature. Fast forward and 3DS is a huge success, while the PS Vita is pretty much sinking like a rock.
So if multi-billion dollar companies listen to n4g, then will likely only sell to the niche group of n4g!
Are you kidding me? MS has tons of loyal fans who will buy their next device regardless.
With their grip on north America MS is in a great position to generate huge profits for themselves over the next ten years.
With Xbox core gamers satisfied with multi's and the profits from Live they will print money next gen.
That is a huge win for MS.
Sony has shown their hand for the PS4, where MS hasn't announce how XBL and the next Xbox will be handled, so its hard to really comment on MS's behavior.
Edit:
just to be clear, when I said MS was more open to Indy's this generation than the competition I was talking about how for FREE i got access to the development environment for the Xbox and could start making my game and for 99 dollars a year publish games. I couldn't do that with Sony or Nintendo. I as a student found this incredibly interesting to be able to dev for the xbox the same way I could iPhone.
At this point, we know absolutely nothing about what the next Xbox will bring to the table, it doesn't really make sense to speculate.
Devts are relying too much on patching now.
What has XBL gold given me in the last six or so years I've subscribed to it? Absolutely nothing I can't get for free elsewhere. Only reason I'm still signed up to that and not moved over fully to ps3 is because all my friends play over XBL. Microsoft HAVE to step it up with the nextbox especially if they think they can justify charging people on their current level of service.
Now all-of-a-sudden, with Sony's next-gen surge to core gamers and indie gamers combined, seems Microsoft are now playing catch-up, and seeing if there's anyway to get indie devs back on Xbox.
But we know how Microsoft feels towards the Indie Community anyways, just ask Jonathon Blow.
Think about it. They released the original Xbox really late in the generation. Then they totally dropped support just a couple years later to release the 360 early as possible to try to stay ahead of the competition. As of right now it's not looking good and the "720" is the only hope now. Kinect probably drop the ball for them the most even though it was a commercial success.
Even though they were late with the original Xbox, it was the first console to have a high speed modem built in, HDD built in, HD ready out of the box, first analog triggers, and they did a great job setting up Xbox Live a year into it's life cycle.
MS has never had a strong first party (though now they have like 30 internal studios working on various things). So to call MS out on that is a little unfair. the Xbox has always been a 3rd party machine and has done a good job of it.
while exclusives are few and far between, 360 owners still have a huge selection of great games coming out every year. This generation everyone won. the 3rd party games totally blew 1st party games out of the water. few other games got to the level of awesome that DeadSpace did when it first game out, and most recently Bioshock really shined and made everyone one regardless of which system is your favorite a winner.
I do most of my gaming on PC and see this little console war as idiotic, but I cant say anyone has had their support "dry-up".
"the 3rd party games totally blew 1st party games out of the water"
Lol, you funny.
the fact that you feel like that is exactly why I have finally decided to leave this site. too many fanboys like yourself that have pledge allegiance to a console instead of just being a fan of games.
And the fact that most of the "BIG" 3rd party games were unappealing to me. AssCreed, I hate it's auto play it's self mechanics. Bioshock was monotonous; never played 2. Infinite looks good, but kinda samey. CoD is way not my style. GTA 4 got boring real quick; like 10th mission quick. Thought Fallout was Meh... Same with Skyrim.
I do like MGs4/MGO, Ratchet&Clank, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Demon's Souls, Heavenly Sword & Heavy Rain, but those are 3rd party. Tack on a 1st party list of great games and you'll see why I laughed.
LOL, dune your bias motivations are showing. So only PS3 exclusives right? Not that any of the games you named are bad, but 3D Dot Game Heroes and Heavenly Sword over Bioshock, Fallout, and Skyrim? Really? To each his own.
I'm sorry I only own a PS3? /s
Besides where do I exclude another systems 1st party games?
And yes; I'll pick 3D Dot/Heavenly Sword over BioShock/Skyrim any day. Heck I'd rather play Megaman Zero on the GBA, than Fallout.
The PS4 is an already legendary system.
the kinectbox is gonna get steamrolled by the kaz train
Not providing basic online MP without charging has pretty much made me disregard future MS consoles. I paid too much money for Live, now my 360 just collects dust.
/your logic
http://press2reset.com/2013...
You want profits.
P.S. There is no good reason.
If you really want to be a fair judge on which console to get, you shouldn't count something out before it has even been unveiled.
As of now however, the only noteworthy exclusive they released so far this year is Gears, that's it.
Notice how on this site, Sony and Nintendo take up most of the traffic, NOT Microsoft. They aren't even part of many gaming discussions now. Says a lot about their focus.
I hope they bring something at least, I still like Halo.
If they can just align them with competent devs who care for those ip's, well...that'd be great.
Banjo Kazooie needs to go back to its platforming origins, not that mech and bolts aspect. And they should reboot the perfect dark franchise and place additional focus on the mp aspect. And killer instinct!
Hopefully, ms has the balls and commitment to pump these titles out for the next xbox.
1 a free online option. Dont see why i need to pay a charge when i hardly play online and can get all of their other stuff on my PC for free. But paying a fee to try something i have already paid for is taking the mick.
2. Drop the proprietary hard drives. Its no use to me when the console has gone yet i would pay more for it.
3. Show me new IPs, you didnt get me with numerous Halos, Gears, Forzas so Halo Combat re evolved 5 and a half aint gonna do it either. Give us something new that i wont ever get anywhere else.
4. Drop the MS points. Im an Adult, I use cash. Your points dont make me think something is cheaper,
What doesnt look good..... the nothing that we know.
I expect MS to dominate next gen when I look at all the attention MS gets for the stupidest stuff. So imagine how much attention they will get when they start showing some good stuff.
This article was suppose to read about how well Ps4 looks for indie devs and talking about all the features and strides they have made to make it possible. Instead we are talking about the way MS handled the 360 and online like it tells us how they are going to handle it in the future. Which is a shady way to set up an argument but then they only associate it negatively.
Sites like this is poison.
If you love real videogames for adults,with the best controller and best graphics for a console then you go with SONY.
If you like more kiddie games any the same regurgitated games for decades, @ a low price you go w/ Nintendo.
If you like getting nickle and dimed for you internet connection you already pay for, want to move your furniture around to see Justin Beebers and Han Solo dance, then you game Microsoft.
The writing was on the wall 2 years ago. Now it's in stone and ppl are still not getting it. Off to finish GoW Ascention.
Then the choice is simple for you. Go with ps4 and stop harping on it. I'm sure xbox will do just fine.
This article hits all the right points where MS is already not on the ball.
Also, spin piece and wishful fanboy thinking.