Xbox Dumb

I watched the ‘Xbox Revealed’ presentation.

Microsoft somehow came up with a worse name than Wii-U with the name of ‘Xbox One’ for a game console. Can you imagine how confusing that is going to become? When I watched Microsoft’s presentation, it is clear to me that managers or overseers of Microsoft are not interested in gaming but in ‘entertainment’.

As gamers, it is common to see business guys try to talk less of gaming and talk up the ‘non-gaming’ forms. Xbox One, or Xbox Dumb as I call it, is the definitive Non-Gaming Machine. It follows the same mistakes that the Xbox 360 made, the PlayStation 3, the CD-i, and the graveyard of consoles that tried to be something other than gaming. We now know where the soul of the PSP went; it went into the Xbox Dumb.

“You get to have a personal relationship with your game console.” I don’t want a relationship with my game console. That sounds creepy. “You get to talk commands to the Xbox.” Who wants to have conversations with their game console?

“Xbox: Watch TV.”

“Xbox: Watch Movie.”

“Xbox: Start Game.”

“Xbox: Go offline.”

Ooops! I didn’t hear that last command. Gee, I wonder why?

The Xbox presentation reveals the upper management of Xbox being completely out of touch with what gamers want. Gamers don’t want all this non-gaming media stuff. Gamers do not want their game console to become a ‘water-cooler’. The EA Sports shown excited no one. The racing game seemed like we have seen it before. It felt forced, as if someone was trying too hard. And Call of Duty is an old man’s franchise. Gamers need fresh, need new.

What gamers saw was a game console that plays games tired old series they aren’t excited for and does non-gaming media that they don’t want the game console to do. I was looking at the message forums and the comments during the presentation (I was so bored), and everything I read was negative.

After Xbox Dumb, gamers are going to be very receptive to PS4’s presentation. And I can’t blame them.

UPDATE: Apparently, it is confirmed that Xbox One will block all used games. Xbox Dumb indeed.