Windows 8 has reportedly failed to boost the collapsing PC market, but the new operating system has also led to a dramatic decline in customer satisfaction for the Redmond-based tech giant.
The Xbox "One" release isn't looking anymore appealing either. Has to phone home every 24 hours or won't work, potentially making it a pseudo online only device. Comes with Kinect as part of the system, can't be disconnected, always on, and as such always listening and watching (I hate to reference 1984's telescreens, but yeah... I am). Games for it will not be able to be traded, sold, or used by more than one account, as they now come with a code that ties it to your profile. Only way to play it another Xbox will be to transfer your profile. Essentially killing the buying/selling used games or trade markets. Seems silly to make such a jump from the Xbox 360, I'm not much of a gamer but I found this all surprising. Hopefully they wise up and yank some of these "features" before launch. If it has an always on Kinect that I can't turn off, I'll never have one in my home. Call me paranoid, but that's an invasion of privacy for me, considering how capable of a system it is. It's one thing to have Google scan my email and deliver advertising based on that, it's another to have a device watching me in the privacy of my own home with the intent to do the same. Seems like MS is looking at companies like Apple and EA for inspiration. Closed markets, locking things down, and hoping advertising, flashy marketing, and slick looking products won't alienate a lot of people despite all these shortcomings. I'm about as MS fanboy as they come, but I can't and won't defend Win8, nor the Xbox One.led to a dramatic decline in customer satisfaction for the Redmond-based tech giant.
Yes, that is a deal-breaker. What would be the rationale for the benefit from a consumer's point of view of not turning it off? Maybe they are just floating the idea to see if they can get away with it.If it has an always on Kinect that I can't turn off, I'll never have one in my home.
I honestly think they are doing that with a few things on that list from the reveal. They are either testing the waters and will back down, or are completely naive as to the market. Gamers are about the most fickle and over-reactionary group of people on the planet in my humble opinion, so it seems silly that any gaming company thinks this shit was going to "go over well". Either way, it killed my interest in that console, and there's no reason to upgrade, just reasons to NOT upgrade right now.Maybe they are just floating the idea to see if they can get away with it.
Same here. My wife and I have owned and played both version of the xbox and were looking forward to the next console. After drinking to the Xbox One reveal we went back and watched the PS4 announcement from february. It does seem that Microsoft is further aiming to compete with Apple and Google instead of Sony, Nintendo, and Valve. And unless something changes drastically before launch, it looks like we'll be getting our first ever Playstation.Either way, it killed my interest in that console, and there's no reason to upgrade, just reasons to NOT upgrade right now.
See I love my 360, but don't own a PS3, and had a PS1 and PS2 which I loved. I just go where the best console is. The only reason I got a 360 was it was cheaper at the time, and had Fable and Halo series which are a couple exclusives I enjoy... but not worth having someone peep on my personal live in my house. No thanks Microsoft! Microsoft is already backpedaling on numerous things stated during the reveal. The twitter account is actively defending all the shit I talked about and saying it was mistaken. But those were the VP and senior management talking at the reveal. Who do I believe more, them, or some twitter PR accounts... yeah. I'll go with what the higher-ups are saying until they state otherwise.
I became a 100% PC gamer years ago. I owned a 360, a PS3, and a Wi each of which bit the dust over time. Before the P3 died it spent it's last two years as a dedicated Netflix box. I hate having all the physical media around, I hate shitty console DRM and the inflexibility of their console interfaces for non game content. It's a more expensive to get a decent gaming computer, but a decent gaming computer is upgradable and more powerful and flexible than consoles. Many of my favorite games have lots of free mods (free content!) that you can't find on their console equivalents. I love steam and GoG's, takes less time and effort to manage my collection via their services and I never scratch or lose a disk.
I also hope that the XBox One announcement is an idea airship, or an idea piñata: "The commentaries hate A and B, but they don't mind C..." It also seems like a strange aggregate of the annoying new features from other systems. What happens when you go away for the weekend and cut the power, so it fails to connect to the Internet every 24 hours? What happens if you tape a piece of paper over the Kinect lenses -- do they call the cops? Do they really want to see that many dudes in worn-out sleepwear across the world as they hurl homophobic insults? If they want full price for used games, won't that lead Gamefly to boycott along with GameStop? The summary question resulting from the others: who is their expected consumer? It's someone that is constantly connected but never leaves the house. It reminds me of my recent encounter with a Windows phone. There weren't a lot of apps, but that's to be expected with a newer platform. However the smart phone basics -- camera, phone, texting -- were tricky. You can't hit a single button and get to the camera. If you confuse people on the way to "hey, everybody, quick smile!" then you have a problem.