The best thing about the Xbox was its ability to be hacked and then modded with cool launchers and the great XBMC. It being hacked may also be one of the worst things about it considering it meant piracy was super duper easy for anyone with a broadband connection at the time. I loved mine to death and still use it to play emulators on an old Sony Trinitron TV in my office.
MS did pretty much every thing right with the 360, at least in North America. They launched a year early while being able to massively downplay the hype of PS3. It was a full on generational leap with just about everything being done better than on the original Xbox. They were able to secure exclusive games early on which helped sales tremendously. I agree the RROD was a major blunder early in the console's life but MS was able to turn that around after some time. Kinect being released in 2010 was awesome to do as it helped increase sales despite whether Kinect itself can be deemed a success on 360. MS was able to sell enough units in its first year that it had a solid share of the market from which to build from. And the focus was primarily on games which is a great thing.
And then we have the Xbox One. They dropped the ball on the presentation of the machine for sure. The DRM policies that made many of us question getting the console didn't help them. They've had a lot of negative press since the XB1 unveil, much of it their own making. Things have gotten better for them but not a lot. Titanfall is getting good press but I just don't see the media taking to MS like they have in the past. I'm in agreement with others that the presentation and focus on XB1 as the center for entertainment wasn't the best idea. The focus should have been 90% on games since the very beginning to let 360 owners know MS is releasing a machine that they'd love to upgrade to because of the gaming experiences it will provide and not on controlling your TV with voice commands. The media features are great and all and I like them and use them on the system it doesn't help me with games I want to play. And I am a big believer in Kinect and think MS will be able to prove the value of it with compelling games. I am eager in seeing a game that makes me want to actively play using Kinect.
The hardware in the machine itself is a good design for a system and without Kinect would have been perfect at $300. I do think edram would have been far preferable to esram but can understand the direction MS had to take due to manufacturing difficulties. I'm confident devs will take advantages of the esram in the future, even if it's a year or two from now. I love how powerful SHAPE is and the potential for better sound in games. I hope devs take as much advantage of it as they're able to.
MS is in an OK spot right now. I'm not too worried about recent departures of high level personnel. It could be good or bad or largely neutral. Time will tell.
MS did pretty much every thing right with the 360, at least in North America. They launched a year early while being able to massively downplay the hype of PS3. It was a full on generational leap with just about everything being done better than on the original Xbox. They were able to secure exclusive games early on which helped sales tremendously. I agree the RROD was a major blunder early in the console's life but MS was able to turn that around after some time. Kinect being released in 2010 was awesome to do as it helped increase sales despite whether Kinect itself can be deemed a success on 360. MS was able to sell enough units in its first year that it had a solid share of the market from which to build from. And the focus was primarily on games which is a great thing.
And then we have the Xbox One. They dropped the ball on the presentation of the machine for sure. The DRM policies that made many of us question getting the console didn't help them. They've had a lot of negative press since the XB1 unveil, much of it their own making. Things have gotten better for them but not a lot. Titanfall is getting good press but I just don't see the media taking to MS like they have in the past. I'm in agreement with others that the presentation and focus on XB1 as the center for entertainment wasn't the best idea. The focus should have been 90% on games since the very beginning to let 360 owners know MS is releasing a machine that they'd love to upgrade to because of the gaming experiences it will provide and not on controlling your TV with voice commands. The media features are great and all and I like them and use them on the system it doesn't help me with games I want to play. And I am a big believer in Kinect and think MS will be able to prove the value of it with compelling games. I am eager in seeing a game that makes me want to actively play using Kinect.
The hardware in the machine itself is a good design for a system and without Kinect would have been perfect at $300. I do think edram would have been far preferable to esram but can understand the direction MS had to take due to manufacturing difficulties. I'm confident devs will take advantages of the esram in the future, even if it's a year or two from now. I love how powerful SHAPE is and the potential for better sound in games. I hope devs take as much advantage of it as they're able to.
MS is in an OK spot right now. I'm not too worried about recent departures of high level personnel. It could be good or bad or largely neutral. Time will tell.
