Microsoft's Gaming Problem

Mostly PC, but console and mobile too
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Romero said the closed systems and long life cycles of consoles put them at a serious disadvantage when compared to "continually evolving" PCs. "If I want to play a game that's [made] in DOS from the 80s, I can, it's not a problem," he said. "You can't do that on a console."

Funny part is you can apply that same logic swapping out "consoles" and replacing it with "Macs." But goddamn, is MS that stupid or is Romero just making his requisite once-per-decade contribution to intelligent debate?




Edited By Malcolm on 1406652993
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

If I had to guess, I'd bet you money there are people at MS who saw consoles as the present and future of gaming. Who thought, "We can beat the shit out of Nintendo and Sony, AND synergize with PCs!" That's why you saw Shadowrun as one of the first releases. (Shadowrun was the first "big" attempt to connect the console and PC gamer.

They probably also saw a giant opportunity in their Windows Live product across both platforms. Even though it's been completely abandoned for years remnants of it are still around.

The problem is the people who came up with these plans weren't gamers, or if they were, they were console gamers. A better guess would be that their kids were console gamers...

"Dad, I don't know how to work my PC! Why do I have to install things?"

"Leish, I think the controller is far superior to a mouse and keyboard." :D

"Mom, I want to play on the big screen with my friends!"

So instead of thinking ahead like Valve, MS's execs went X-Box.

Now they're pot committed and trying to keep the company in the X-Box business.

If MS cut bait right now on what non-gaming investors probably think is a big, valuable brand there would be a lot of questions. There would also be a lot of lost jobs and a stock drop as investors realize how much money was wasted.

"No, but seriously, why did you enter the console market while Valve developed Steam? Maybe we should have hired Gabe Newell as the new CEO?"

Plus, revenue would be lost. There are still lots of clueless gamers who pay for X-Box (Windows) Live. The games are still "full price". The licensing fees Microsoft commands for X-Box developed titles would be gone.

To their credit, Apple was jumping into the console war, and it appears that someone over there figured out it'd be a waste. Although, I must admit that I'd laugh my ass off if they suddenly announced a console that didn't have streaming.

And that's where I think the next X-Box is going to go. I think they'll hedge their bets and install streaming from your home PC.

Let's design the next X-Box.

Name - X-Box Future
Marketing one liner - Because the Future is now!
Hardware - No disk drive. 1GB network port. Best proc/RAM/graphics they can get to keep the price around $300.

Features:
-Games played on the console will be DL-only.
-You will be able to stream games from your PC.
-X-Box Live will morph into a multi platform distribution software, ala Steam. (It'll suck.)

No matter what they do, they're already publicly behind Valve and now nVidia. If they had more gaming savvy shareholders, they'd be answering a lot of hard to answer questions about the X-Box.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
TPRJones
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Post by TPRJones »

I still can't imagine the average XBox user as a gamer in the geeky gamer sense. I always picture them as frat boy bro types.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

Because the hits just keep coming, ESPN is in love with e-sports after the DOTA2 coverage.

They want more, and Call of Duty appears to be next.

The important bit is the last line from the article:
Interestingly, the source also said that the number-one viewing platform for the PC-exclusive Dota 2 event was the Xbox.


Seriously, how are MS stockholders not all over them about their X-Box strategy?
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Seriously, how are MS stockholders not all over them about their X-Box strategy?

Because stockholders in MS are like the Cleveland sports fans. Anything above a cataclysmic failure is seen as progress.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
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Post by GORDON »

TPRJones wrote:I still can't imagine the average XBox user as a gamer in the geeky gamer sense. I always picture them as frat boy bro types.
Think: boys ages 7-12. That's my kid and all his friends who pay for Xbox live so they can get the online chat and shit.
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Post by TheCatt »

Remember when the XBox was introduced. Microsoft had a firm grasp of home PCs. But, they couldn't get anything into the living room. Sure, they tried Windows Media Center Edition, and it was wonderful for the 20 people who used it. But it was yet another box in the living room, and they were loud, and ugly, etc. Meanwhile, people were buying tens of millions of things that were not much different, called consoles. So MS thought it was a way to get into living rooms, and to get a stakehold there for living room computer initiatives.
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

So MS thought it was a way to get into living rooms, and to get a stakehold there for living room computer initiatives.

When are they going to take the first step towards such a device?
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote:
TPRJones wrote:I still can't imagine the average XBox user as a gamer in the geeky gamer sense. I always picture them as frat boy bro types.
Think: boys ages 7-12. That's my kid and all his friends who pay for Xbox live so they can get the online chat and shit.
No, I get that. We were ALL console gamers at one point or another. Whether it was the Atari 2600, Collecovision, X-Box, SNES, Dreamcast, Genesis, etc. we played on a console.

Do handheld systems, and thus, smartphones/tablets count?

We've graduated to the PC. Why? Is it because we got stupider, hated our freedom of choice, wanted less control over our hardware, wanted to only communicate with friends via a totally unnecessary service we have to pay for, desired worse controls, and demanded higher prices for our games?

No.

Aren't today's kids learning from our mistakes? Isn't that why a market that supported so many consoles is now struggling to support two?

Isn't that why PC Gaming is going to make more money than all consoles combined this year?

Again, why isn't Microsoft the industry leader? Because:
So MS thought it was a way to get into living rooms, and to get a stakehold there for living room computer initiatives.


However, as TPR points out:
When are they going to take the first step towards such a device?


Exactly.

Instead of securing the place for a device they dominated (and still do, let's be honest), they created a new device that had nothing to do with the original one.

Oh wait, they tried to connect them via Games for Windows Live. Hey PC gamers, you want to pay for what you already get for free, right? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

How did that fucking idea even get off the drawing board? I genuinely hope people were fired for that fiasco.

And again, I must point out that while X-Box was comparing dicks with Sony and Nintendo, Valve quietly developed Steam and now dominates digital distribution. Now they're looking to bring the PC to the living room.

Why didn't Microsoft do this with the original X-Box? Why are they three versions in, and this STILL isn't an apparent goal?
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Why didn't Microsoft do this with the original X-Box? Why are they three versions in, and this STILL isn't an apparent goal?

They'd rather engage their competitors in a Pyrrhic slugfest of retribution rather than flank them. Why? Because like any frustrated, steroid-fueled behemoth that isn't #1, they're looking for a big-ass fight to improve their public standing.




Edited By Malcolm on 1406658533
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

Leisher wrote:Aren't today's kids learning from our mistakes? Isn't that why a market that supported so many consoles is now struggling to support two?

Yes, console sales are dying.

*edit* This chart would have showed successive large growth in console sales from generation to generation, if I could have hotlinked it *edit*

I couldn't fine more recent data, unfortunately.
Image

PC gaming revenue passes consoles, but only due to a generation shift going on in consoles right now.
And those PC gamers are playing MOBA shit, not real games.




Edited By TheCatt on 1406659353
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GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

"MOBA shit?"
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

GORDON wrote:"MOBA shit?"
Moba shit.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

Did you really think I didn't know the meaning of MOBA?
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

GORDON wrote:Did you really think I didn't know the meaning of MOBA?
No.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
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Post by TheCatt »

Yes, MOBA shit. They're trumped up versions of rock, paper, scissors.
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Post by GORDON »

I see.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

New Tomb Raider will be X-Box One "Exclusive".

That article is interesting because it slams the shit out of all the involved parties for a "desperate" tactic.

Don't turn your X-Box One vertical. A very well designed system...

Meanwhile, this clown at Forbes thinks its ok for MS to lose money on the X-Box One. The poor guy has horse blinders on and completely ignores the fact that MS already dominates the world's #1 gaming platform and the emerging Steam (or streaming) boxes.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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