Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One yesterday to a lot of fanfare and a lot of skepticism from fans and non-fans alike about the future of the Xbox brand. A huge part of the cynicism surrounding the Xbox One reveal has been Microsoft’s seemingly laser-sharp focus on the features of the Xbox One outside of the games, everything from watching interactive television to stuff lithe use of the Kinect sensor for everything and every other thing in between. To top it off, we even saw indie developers feel like they were left in the dust, as you can see from outspoken indie developer Phil Fish’s angry Twitter feed right now.
I feel like a lot of people are making knee-jerk reactions to the announcement, much like what we saw with Sony’s PlayStation 4 announcement, without keeping things in perspective. It wouldn’t be the first time that the online gaming community has taken something completely out of perspective and ran with it for page views, ad revenue or just sensationalism and it won’t be the last time, either. That being said, a lot of the criticism aimed at the Xbox One seems to be that it isn’t a gaming machine.
As we reported just mere days ago, Microsoft has had a plan all along when it comes to unveiling the Xbox One, with the reveal on Tuesday being part one. The plan was on May 21st to reveal the console itself and to show off some of the cool new features, while at their E3 presentation they will focus on the games that they are going to push the Xbox One with. I think that just because the focus was on the Xbox One’s media functions does not make it a “total failure” by any stretch of the imagination.
Sometimes in gaming patience is a virtue and with some patience we might see a lot more about what the Xbox One will bring to the table come E3. Hell, not just the Xbox One, but the PlayStation 4 as well, as Sony apparently has a lot planned for E3 and the PlayStation 4 as well.
While the media functionality that was shown off yesterday might not be gaming-specific, it was important to show that the Xbox One is capable of a lot more than just gaming. It is implied by the fact that it is a video game console that it will play video games and because it is newer, with better hardware than the last generation system that it will play games that are better than before. I’m not sure why Microsoft not trotting out a vast array of games at their reveal is somehow a sign that they have left gaming behind, or that they didn’t use their huge reveal for their multi-million dollar gaming console to promote indie games that on average net a few thousand purchases apiece is seen as a slap in the face.
Let this whole thing sink in a bit, stop and let it digest and wait until we get the game reveals at E3. If the E3 event turns out to be a complete and total bust your pitchforks and torches will still be there, the castle will still be there and ready to be stormed by the angry mob.
I completely agree. I don’t understand why people want it to fail so badly. Isn’t competition good? Innovation is a good thing people. Video game consoles used to just play games, now they can do a whole lot more. Nothing wrong with that. We know the games will all come. So why complain?