Power On: The Story of Xbox [Documentary 6 Parts]

[mr magoo]

There is a great documentary serie about xbox on youtube

"A small team of upstarts sets out to convince Microsoft that it’s time to enter the console business. Chapter 1 of Power On: The Story of Xbox. Xbox almost didn’t happen. Find out why in this behind-the-scenes, six-part series that takes you back to the scrappy beginnings of Microsoft's video game console. It’s the untold story of the people behind the box, glitches and all."

 

[orangpelupa]

There is a great documentary serie about xbox on youtube

"A small team of upstarts sets out to convince Microsoft that it’s time to enter the console business. Chapter 1 of Power On: The Story of Xbox. Xbox almost didn’t happen. Find out why in this behind-the-scenes, six-part series that takes you back to the scrappy beginnings of Microsoft's video game console. It’s the untold story of the people behind the box, glitches and all."

thanks! i was planning to watch it but i forgot the title (xbox on). btw is cortana the one voicing the narration?

 

[mr magoo]

thanks! i was planning to watch it but i forgot the title (xbox on). btw is cortana the one voicing the narration?

i was wondering the same

 

[Remij]

thanks! i was planning to watch it but i forgot the title (xbox on). btw is cortana the one voicing the narration?

Power On: The Story of Xbox

And no, it's narrated by Laura Bailey, who voices Kait from Gears of War..among a billion other characters from all over.

It's an amazing watch!

 

[Nesh]

To me it seems the only reason still XBOX exists is because:
1) MS had billions to throw to a dead product to keep its existence there until it got it right
2) Sony fucked up with PS3

 

[orangpelupa]

To me it seems the only reason still XBOX exists is because:
1) MS had billions to throw to a dead product to keep its existence there until it got it right
2) Sony fucked up with PS3

i wonder if its one of the contributing decisions of killing windows phones. They need to funnel everything to Xbox to keep it going.

 

[cheapchips]

) Sony fucked up with PS3

It's funny to go from them essentially fist bumping over Sony's terrible PS3 pricing to One's rubbish $499.

Also them putting the OGXbox's name through the name-calling 'playground filter' and then forgetting to do so with the XBone.

 

[Pinstripe]

To me it seems the only reason still XBOX exists is because:
1) MS had billions to throw to a dead product to keep its existence there until it got it right
2) Sony fucked up with PS3

This, but unironically.

 

[mr magoo]

I still cant belive how badly they f..ed with xbox one, they did everything right with x360 build the brand, build the community and they handed all of this to SONY without fight .... holy cow..

 

[see colon]

I still cant belive how badly they f..ed with xbox one, they did everything right with x360 build the brand, build the community and they handed all of this to SONY without fight .... holy cow..

That, coupled with Sony really having a great piece of hardware in PS4. You can mess up if your competitors mess up, too. Sony basically had the perfect hardware for the perfect price, just like Microsoft had in 360.

 

[iroboto]

thanks! i was planning to watch it but i forgot the title (xbox on). btw is cortana the one voicing the narration?

Laura Bailey is credited with narration. Though it did sound like Cortana

 

[eastmen]

To me it seems the only reason still XBOX exists is because:
1) MS had billions to throw to a dead product to keep its existence there until it got it right
2) Sony fucked up with PS3

Seems to me the only reason the playstation exists is because sega fucked up with the saturn
Seems to me the only reason playstation still exists is because Microsoft fucked up with xbox one
Seems to me the only reason penicillin exists is because Alexander Fleming fucked up.

The best things in life come from fuck ups.

 

[Nesh]

Seems to me the only reason the playstation exists is because sega fucked up with the saturn

You can back up how Sega fucked up with the Saturn but you cant back it up that the PS1 wouldnt have done well

 

[eastmen]

You can back up how Sega fucked up with the Saturn but you cant back it up that the PS1 wouldnt have done well

Well we know sega botched the saturn design causing them to loose roughly $100 per system even at the $400 price point which was higher than sony. But in japan that didn't matter as the saturn still out sold the playstation. The real mess up was how difficult it was to program for it vs the playstation. If sega didn't mess up the design they already had the publisher relationships and would have still out sold the playstation.

You can see this kinda replay itself with the ps3 vs the xbox 360. The ps3 was much more expensive and much more difficult to program for while under performing its competition and so it lost massive market share.

Sony got very lucky and was able to thread the needle. Sega came in expensive and under powered while nintendo came in late with expensive carts. If you change either of those it's doubtful the playstation would have done well. nintendo using cd roms for the n64 would have meant FF 7 would have come to the platform maybe by passing the ps1 all together.

history is full of what ifs. For a new company to enter the market it takes a lot of screw ups from the companies already in the market or a huge over whelming force.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Sony got very lucky and was able to thread the needle. Sega came in expensive and under powered while nintendo came in late with expensive carts. If you change either of those it's doubtful the playstation would have done well. nintendo using cd roms for the n64 would have meant FF 7 would have come to the platform maybe by passing the ps1 all together.

Sony most definitely didn't get "lucky"; their play for launching for the original PlayStation was flawless. Their console hardware was designed to do certain critical things very well. they engaged with developers early on and they made sure the thing was easy to program. On top of that they funded a bunch of games so they had something to show the their competitors didn't and they marketed the thing to young adults.

Sony helped pivot videogames from "things for kids" to "cool for everybody". As @Nesh alluded, even if SEGA had launched at a similar priepoint, Sony were chasing a different, larger, more mature market with their own disposal income. I don't think the outcome would have been any different. Doing things like making is a great visual CD player, which resulted in its adopting in clubs, which sold more PlayStation's was just the icing on the cake.

 

[iroboto]

Great series. The whole of Xbox is so razer thin from failing so many times now. It's so nuts to see this whole thing in review. The Xbox 360 red ring is insanity, I can't believe they survived that.
I can't believe how many suits who don't game said, fuck it, go for it, go fix it.

I also can't believe they found Don Mattrick lol.

I love how it ends with them saying there's no way they could torpedo xbox now.
lol..
TV, TV, TV....

Then episode 6 is just nuts. You really have to think about how hard it is to stick around, after watching this documentary, I think it really puts into perspective why other entrants have such a hard time breaking into the market.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I can't believe how many suits who don't game said, fuck it, go for it, go fix it.

And everybody should be glad that Microsoft were willing to toss $$$ at gaming. Any market can only thrive and advance when there is competition. Two companies (e.g. Nintendo and SEGA) can just about keep this alive, but when one (again Nintendo) decides to do their own thing, the technological competition disappears. Without Microsoft, Sony would have zero incentive to press technology forward and without Sony, Microsoft would not be trying so hard.

 

[BitByte]

Fantastic 6 part documentary by Xbox. I really enjoyed it and it put a lot of things into perspective. People say that the momentum of Xbox died during the Xbox One but I disagree. I think it actually died after 2010 during the 360 years. All the things that made the 360 so good stopped. The unique and exciting exclusives just basically disappeared and all we got was sequels. When you combine that with the RROD fiasco, it just bought Sony time to sort themselves out and recover. If they had kept going on the path they were on, I have no doubt that team Xbox could have surpassed team PlayStation. Regardless, the Xbox One was a real own goal. I do take issue with quite a few of their claims during the documentary. At one point, they labeled the 360 as the best selling system of its generation which is false. That was the Wii.

 

[cheapchips]

I think it actually died after 2010 during the 360 years. All the things that made the 360 so good stopped

I was going to post something similar. The first half of the 360's life was great. The 2nd half wasn't.

 

[see colon]

At one point, they labeled the 360 as the best selling system of its generation which is false. That was the Wii.

Given the context of the statement, I think they are talking about North America only. Pretty sure 360 was at or close to 50 million there, Wii was more like 45. Xbox lost every other region, though, so worldwide totals are in Nintendo's favor. Actually, I think worldwide PS3 outsold 360, but in NA it lost to 360 something like 5:3. 360 was very successful in in NA, I'm not even sure PS4 has caught up with it yet.