| Xbox One |
When the unveiling of the new Microsoft games' console caused so much anger among the now disenfranchised gamers, who felt their needs are not only not being met with their proposed update to the Xbox, but outright ignored, I felt an uncomfortable disagreement with the backlash, that made me feel old; I rather like the new direction the leading game platform is taking. | While it's true, yes, the initial reveal focused heavily on non-game content like TV, voice control, Kinect, and multitasking, nobody can really say they were surprised. Ignoring the fact industry speculators such as Michael Pachter were telling us as much for months now, it was obvious to anyone who can stil remember what the previous generation actually brought in terms of not strictly game based features. Microsoft in particular has been experimenting with ideas and implementations in this general direction with the Xbox 360, so a move to expand to other market segments than just gamers was heavily expected. It's just good business; they've saturated the market around 2010 when sales plateaued and since then the Xbox 360 served them well as a cash cow for developing their expansion strategy.
This is where I got sad, however, because I feel like I'm betraying my gamer roots. I actually like the idea of a centralized box with all my content that isn't focused only on games. I like it so much, in fact, that I already have one; my home computer network is so elaborate as far as content sharing, distribution and control among various devices goes, I'm already there. I'm doing this One thing now. It's great! Obviously, it's not as seamless as what Microsoft is proposing, or as powerful and feature-packed, but it's useful and I recognise it as the future.
I suppose it's a sign of aging. While I still play - quite a lot - I'm a tech geek first nowadays and I'm intersted in any advances technology makes. If it's game-related, well that's ideal, isn't it (OculusVR can't get here soon enough), but not required.
I'm separating myself from the pack with what I'm saying here, in a way that makes me feel old and boring (I don't even watch TV as such, so it's even stranger that I would like Xboc One), but I can't help it. I like and agree with Microsoft's market strategy and I like what Xbox One is going to be.
I'm probably getting one after the first (maybe second) price cut. | | Comment |25-5-2013 | views 890 |
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