Xbox One

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Xbox One vs. PS4: Who’s Really Over-Delivering Value?

playstation-4-vs-xbox-one-banner

In an interview on Bloomberg TV last week, Microsoft President of Interactive Entertainment, Don Mattrick, said that the Xbox One was over-delivering on value. In fact, the Xbox boss went so far as to say, “We’re delivering thousands of dollars of value to people.”

The problem is that no one apart from Mattrick, Microsoft employees and the staunchest of Xbox loyalists believe this to be the case. When you look at the dollars and cents of the next generation of consoles, it’s pretty obvious that the Xbox isn’t actually over-delivering and definitely not thousands of dollars worth of over-delivery.

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Microsoft Does an Xbox 180 on Xbox One DRM

xbox-one-logo-bannerAfter taking a PR battering over 24-hour online check-in, used games restrictions, contradictory explanations of their policies and seemingly mocking people who didn’t like the Xbox One’s policies, Microsoft is performing an about-face on their established DRM policies.

A post on the Xbox website said that Microsoft was backtracking on the DRM and used games restrictions that nearly derailed the Xbox One in this console generation before it started.

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Level Ups and Level Downs for E3 2013

e3-2013-bannerThe dust is starting to settle on the 2013 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, and we’re starting to gear up for the five-month run to the launch of Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles.

Normally, you’d get a winners and losers of E3 column but all except the most delusional of fan boys can agree that Sony was the big winner, Microsoft was the big loser and Nintendo didn’t win but they didn’t lose any of their growing positive momentum.

Instead, I’m going to look at E3 2013 and score the goings on at the big show with Levels Up or Levels Down. Yeah, it’s not an original gimmick but what is nowadays on the internet.

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E3 2013: The Microsoft and Xbox One Roundup

xbox-one-logo-bannerAfter getting all of the ugly business about DRM, used games, TV, apps and always-connected Kinect out of the way before E3, Microsoft got down to the business of trying to actually trying to sell the upcoming Xbox One as a gaming console.

For their E3 press event, Microsoft came at us with scads of games, both multi-platform and exclusive to the Xbox One to make us forget about all the bad press about the last few months leading up to today’s big showing. Well, until they announced the launch price.

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5 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Microsoft Has Lost the Console War Before It Started

xbox-one-logo-bannerThe Microsoft keynote event at E3 is about to begin and it doesn’t really matter. Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has repeatedly shot itself in the foot when promoting their upcoming Xbox One. They think that they can do no wrong with their next-gen console but the reality is that the can do nothing right.

Microsoft is walking into E3 thinking that they’re Justin Bieber, they’re on top of the world and full of swagger. They are Justin Bieber but everyone sees them as Justin Bieber, self-important douche, with a bit of Amanda Bynes’ delusional separation from reality.

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Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Five Dream E3 Announcements for the Xbox One

xbox-one-console-bannerHaving written my dream announcements list for the PlayStation 4’s keynote at E3, I thought that it would only be fair to give Microsoft’s new console equal time with their own list of dream announcements for the Xbox One.

Now, I’m not an Xbox guy. I’ve never owned either of the Xbox consoles but at one point considered getting the Xbone before the official unveil. However, that unveiling had nothing that appealed to me. So for my dream announcements for the X1, I’ll try to balance between dream announcements for those firmly in Xbox’s camp and those still not sold in the Xbox One.

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1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: Cracked Up

heather-graham-maxim13-01Okay, I missed the Wednesday set of links because I was busy with all my Xbox One launch coverage and the lack of decent links over the first half of the week. We don’t have that problem today, though. We’ve got a cool collection of links for you today. First, since Hangover 3 is out this weekend, let’s start with Heather Graham.

Rob Ford said on Friday that he doesn’t smoke crack. Well, apparently that won’t be in keeping with his family’s history of drug dealing. (The Globe & Mail)

Prior to Friday’s straight denial, Ford’s office’s position was that the video was faked. The problem is that it would be impossible to fake even with an unlimited budget. (Hazlitt)

We’re still a long ways from another US election but it’s never a bad time to look at some interesting facts about Presidential elections. For example, Democrats weren’t impressed with the continuously changing message of Mitt Romney. He scored an all-time low among Dems in exit polling. (Prez16)

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2 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Video Games

Console Wars: The Xbox One’s Failure to Launch is a Marketing Failure

playstation-4-vs-xbox-one-controllersHaving had a few days to digest the two very different launch events for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, I’ve come to a realization. As much as people don’t seem to like the Xbox launch, it wasn’t a failure in and of itself. In fact, I believe that Microsoft successfully accomplished what it set out to do.

The Xbox One and PlayStation Four both play video games. However, if you were to watch the two launch events, I’d understand if you were a little confused by that statement. While the PlayStation 4’s launch emphasised how it plays games and how it augments that with the social networking and sharing features, the Xbox spent comparatively little time talking about the games.

The difference in the launches was an example of how the console manufacturers are positioning their next-gen consoles in the market.

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2 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

Microsoft Launches the Xbox One; Here’s What We Know

xbox-one-console-and-logoMicrosoft didn’t hide that yesterday’s big announcement would be for the next-gen Xbox but they sure did manage to surprise with that name. The third-generation Xbox console is the Xbox One whose name represents that it’s an all-in-one system for the living room.

It was that all-in-one nature of the Xbox One that formed the majority of Microsoft’s presentation. Unfortunately, that emphasis on the all-in-one Xbox came at what was essentially the de-emphasis of games as the core of the Xbox One.
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