Edwin Evans:
"Late last year, while I was still deputy editor at Official Xbox Magazine, Microsoft rounded out one of its Xbox sizzle reels with a quote from Rocky Balboa. The key line: "It's not about how hard you can hit—it's about how hard you can get hit and keep on coming."
Nice bit of self-referentiality there, right? It's almost as though they're talking about the Xbox One's dismal showing against Sony's PlayStation 4, which has outsold it by millions of units thanks to a lower launch price, sturdier graphics capabilities, and an unconflicted marketing focus on video games, rather than vaunted "broad entertainment" features."
Mark from WellPlayed writes about five game launches that were impacted by unfortunate scheduling.
Zero Dawn sold really well so I’m not sure this belongs. The second game released next to a big game again and it hurt it some I forget what it was though, oh yeah Elden Ring .
But a good game is a good game to me I don’t care when they release personally but they do have to think about it when you want to get more people to buy it.
In Halo 4, 5, and Infinite, Master Chief became a more nuanced, human character.
In spite of the Halo series’ struggles, 343 deserves praise for adding nuance and characterisation to the ever-beating heart of Halo - The Master Chief. Playing through Infinite, it's abundantly clear that the events of the current and previous trilogies have irrevocably changed the iconic hero. He’s no longer the ‘blank slate’ that was previously presented by Bungie. He’s a fatigued, damaged and fallible protagonist, and one who is meandering through currents of grief, while reveling in his newfound agency. Giving the Chief a compelling and meaningful voice was no small feat, and 343 should be proud of that victory.
This article completely misses part of the appeal of the original iteration of character in the original game trilogy. It was the Chief and Cortana vs an entire alien collective. The blank slate Bungie displayed in their games was genius, he was an mysterious hero a wide audience could identify with because he wasn't as clearly defined as most characters.
The books added a lot of lore and backstory but most Halo players just want a fun game with exposition that doesn't get in the way of gameplay, it's why the Cortana level in Halo 3 was derided.
Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty.
A lot of people give the 343 version of Master Chief a lot of slack.
But Fundamentally he is still the same character, he just has a couple more dialogues. He has not changed in terms of attitude.
"Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty."
And that's what he has done at the end of the day, he did his duty. Watch his partner die, and was ready to destroy the weapon in Halo infinite....he is still the same soilder that everyone remembers
Halo Infintes one was a nice balance between both.
The 343i Master Chief has is based on the books. However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion.
"However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion."
Which is awesome! I love how Master Chief become more John and less soldier.
Windowscentral writes: "HoloLens, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality are all but dead at Microsoft."
Lol resupply breaks would become reformat breaks. Plus windows updates mid combat.
I also can’t imagine wearing a Hololens or any other headset for hours like that. Especially when you’re already carrying all the other equipment our soldiers carry today.
I would suck to go in to war and get... a blue screen of death.... literally.
I want this to be the most down voted comment. Sorry for my dark sense of humor.
Damn orchard, you almost had some form of virtual to praise to the high mountains about , least for the time being you can continue to down psvr2
'Headaches and nausea'
I get those symptoms using Microsoft Edge.
Darn thing locked up my laptop a few times and threw a no signal bug at my external or internal screen when it tries to load certain websites.
It's so bloated and frustrating to use. Always spamming me with pop up dialogues and stuff.
I don't use my laptop much, but yesterday made the time to set Chrome as my default.
It mentions that in the article, confused slightly as to whole divisions being laid off as The Verge article makes it seem that there is a 1.2 version of the headsets in testing and MSoft have received 165 Mill to carry on with them.
That's a different product, actually, not HoloLens. It is poorly written, but the 1.2 version they're going with is a different product they have also been testing.
Well there you have it folks Microsoft officially buried its room temperature foliage on a form of VR😢.
The good news for the team they might get a job at Sony or meta for their vr departments
I feel sorry for the hardcore Xbox fans that was holding up the wish of something coming out of mixed reality/HoloLens.
Not super surprising given how poorly VR and AR and all the metaverse stuff have taken off really.
Also outside of the military, you barely see or hear anything about Hololens these days.
I remember them talking about hololens back in the day. Showing that Minecraft with it to maybe compete with VR and now it's dead like everything else.
Yep lol, also the thing was like $5000. I wouldn’t pay $500 nevermind $5000 to play Minecraft in VR/AR.
AR is growing. Already used in cellphones. VR is growing everywhere else. It's just taking longer to integrate it in a pair of glasses.
Microsoft tried to use Hololens at E3 against VR and failed with that little window nonsense. Then, they played like they weren't pushing it for gaming when they actually were displaying games like Minecraft in it. Then, sold the tech against employee wishes to the military and failed because it's nauseating and having lights on a battlefield will get you killed. I had night vision in the army and could tell when an enemy inhaled on a cigarette. You could pop them right there. It's a good science fiction idea. But nothing replaces real battlefield awareness with your own eyes and ears in training or real war.
You're saying it failed because Microsoft is failing with Hololens. They partnered with 7 or so PC manufacturers to put out Windows VR headsets. But just like on console, they made NO GAMES for their headsets and expected others to pick up the slack. All those headsets hit fire sales and were discontinued. Microsoft's fault again for no Halo VR, no Forza VR, etc.
They failed again by not making good with their promise of high fidelity VR on Xbox One. When they have 2 TRILLION worth. Billions to buy up publishers. But not release VR because they want gamers on subscriptions and are buying up franchises to get them on game pass. But Sony is going to DELIVER high fidelity VR that Microsoft isn't.
PSVR sold at profit DAY ONE. Sony made millions in revenue on games and accessories proving that money can be made in VR and grow the market and platform. There are developers like Beat Games or even an indie making gorilla tag, can make money in VR. Sony are releasing their second one with even more potential to make more money that proves Microsoft wrong again.
Saying VR or AR is failing as a whole is FALSE. Education, automotive and building construction, real estate sales, music entertainment, medicine for PTSD help or cancer patients wanting to see things other than hospital walls, job instruction for places like Walmart... And GAMING, means they are not failing. Only in your mind.
The growth is real. You're just trying to deny it because of Microsoft. This isn't 3D TV or Wii waggle or your daddy's Kinect. VR and AR is here to stay.
“This isn't 3D TV or Wii waggle or your daddy's Kinect.”
That awkward moment when the failed products you’re using to defend another product had far higher attach rate and sales than the one you’re trying to defend 👀💀
“Not super surprising given how poorly VR and AR and all the metaverse stuff have taken off really for Microsoft”
Thought I’d fix that for you.
So where is the VR and metaverse success story? Quest 2?
Facebooks metaverse is dead too.
Replies(1)Sony seems to have gotten VR right. Wouldn’t you agree?
Meta Quest is doing fairly well too.
Now I agree that MS was right in letting it go because they weren’t having much success themselves.
No one has gotten it right yet, if by right you mean made it popular. The attach rate for PSVR is too low to call it that.
Quest is a little harder to judge since it's not attached to any device we can reasonably measure like PSVR is.
But until a good amount of gamers care, and/or it's considered mainstream, I would say VR hasn't landed.
As for MS, at the time it seemed like a risky bet, but in hindsight, they made the right decision if you look at where VR is today.
So Orchard you wouldn't consider VR a success unless it has a high attach rate to a parent device?
Bollocks
I consider VR a success if it gives you a good experience, an experience to can't get in any other format, and a decent amount of people use it and are happy with it regardless of attach rates.
Porsche doesn't consider themselves a failure because Toyota sell 100 times more cars.
If there's demand for a product and it makes profit then it's a viable business so get over your hangups.
And as for Microsoft making the right decision sitting back and watching because it's risky, well all that proves is they are participants in this industry, not leaders. If they had done VR and it was half-decent I can't help but think you would have a totally different opinion about it.
"So Orchard you wouldn't consider VR a success unless it has a high attach rate to a parent device?"
Correct. a 4% attach rate, for a gaming accessory on a parent device that is dedicated to gaming is unsuccessful. Kinect had a higher attach rate than that, and it was considered a failure too.
"Porsche doesn't consider themselves a failure because Toyota sell 100 times more cars."
Not comparable at all. Porsche being a premium, rare product that only the very rich can afford is part of their brand, meanwhile Toyota is the cheap, mainstream, 'most people can buy one of these' brand.
PlayStation products are more Toyota than Porsche.
"well all that proves is they are participants in this industry, not leaders."
Participating in VR isn't what defines you as a leader or participant in this industry. Nintendo are blowing the PS5 and XSX away, and they are not participating in VR. VR just isn't that popular or important 🤷
@ Orchard
"Not comparable at all. Porsche being a premium, rare product that only the very rich can afford is part of their brand, meanwhile Toyota is the cheap, mainstream, 'most people can buy one of these' brand."
Well actually within the gaming space you actually nailed it. Xbox is the toyota and Playstation is the Porsche..since it is more expensive in other parts of the world.
"Correct. a 4% attach rate, for a gaming accessory on a parent device that is dedicated to gaming is unsuccessful. Kinect had a higher attach rate than that, and it was considered a failure too."
Except nobody actually wanted kinect. It was forced onto IP and consoles with the xbox one. PSVR on the other hand is an optional device. An optional device that sold to 5million players. That is a success for a typical game and also embodies the hardcore audience. Most Playstation exclusives are guaranteed 5 million in sales. The attach rate for a non essential and expensive device shouldnt be seen in the same light as say an actual game or cheap subscription service. If it was actually a failure im pretty sure Sony wouldnt be wasting money on it.
"Participating in VR isn't what defines you as a leader or participant in this industry. Nintendo are blowing the PS5 and XSX away, and they are not participating in VR. VR just isn't that popular or important"
Thats not how it works. Sony is a leader in the VR industry regardless of popularity. Who else is doing it? So yeah. Not to mention you have to look at the games...I know...its an issue for xbox fans to dwell on whether games are actually any good but PSVR has good titles and PSVR2 doesnt look to disappoint either.
VR is so much fun. One day MS will get their act together. Don't lose hope! Hope is all you have. Keep believing…
I'd much rather MS, Nintendo and Sony all invest in traditional games instead.
Just look at PS5 in 2023, we're getting a very small handful of traditional Sony games this year because instead they've invested in appeasing ~4% of PS customers.
Nah, Sony knows how to make exclusives. We are getting so much Im falling behind in my backlog. MS on the other hand cant seem to make a single proper exclusive. Promises yes, games, no. And now, seems no VR either! What are they thinking? But, dont lose hope, one day they will fix all of it.
Orchy Sony can gives us traditional games and do some vr stuff. They gonna be alright. Vr is pretty dope if you'd actually try it or you can get your parents to get you one
Orchard you can be a real character at times. If Sony felt that PSVR didn’t meet or even exceed their expectations why would they move to release PSVR2? Sony is notorious for abandoning what they feel is a failure, but it looks like they are coming on even stronger with PSVR2.
I don't have data to prove this, but I feel like PSVR owners purchased more games and became more locked into the platform. Also more of the games were digital so no secondary market for used games. I suspect even though there weren't as many VR owners, they ended up spending a lot of money. I know I did
"If Sony felt that PSVR didn’t meet or even exceed their expectations why would they move to release PSVR2?"
Even Kinect had two iterations. Means nothing.
"Sony is notorious for abandoning what they feel is a failure"
I wouldn't say they are any more or less notorious than Microsoft and Nintendo. Google are the ones who are really notorious for killing things.
The Metaverse is something the former Facebook is trying to force while having no idea how to best implement it. Trying to use the "tried and true" method of get people using it then get it working.
How long have customer driven markets vs market driven consumers been things?
That is some serious cope. AR and VR are growing just fine. MS as a rule just sucks at innovation. Always has. They never see things through. Kinect was interesting but they ultimately botched that too.
I do think there has been a disappointing uptake on VR, but the reason is :
1: The upfront cost. You're literally doubling the price of the console.
2. Lack of first party support. Getting spin offs etc makes it feel like second fiddle.
I've just preordered PSVR2 for Gran Turismo 7 alone. THAT is what I want, a full blown game in VR. I don't think I'd have bothered otherwise. Until developers start making BR games from the ground up, I won't be that interested.
I'm surprised that the Oculus Quest and PSVR didn't have these problems
Replies(1)Price alone will keep VR in the "super luxury" and "specialist" categories of gaming for a long time to come.
One day people will stop buying into Sony's lies. And for any fan boy hollering that Microsoft hasn't change as a whole needs to get their head out of the sand. The fact that they are giving away their bread and butter (Windows) speaks volumes.
"One day people will stop buying into Sony's lies."
Umm what? MS single handily nearly doomed Xbox 2 summers ago. Sony at that point didn't have to do much at all to gain and stay in the lead.
MS doing what it needs to do. Improve its hardware and focus on the games.
I love my Xbox's , look forward to getting more very soon.
Lol. What a headline. Unloved too!! You fools on both sides can't see that the media pulls your strings like puppets and you reward them with clicks.
The Xbox One may be selling less than the PS4 but it is doing very well compared to the Xbox 360 during the same time frame but that doesn't make for a catchy headline does it?
As you were.