When Xbox 360 was about to be released I couldn't be more excited. J Allard could literrally sell me on anything and I played a lot of original Xbox considering I got it at launch and never had a PS2. 360 turned out to be a great platform with a variety of games. Even though Allard left the platform still continued to grow, but then it took a turn.

Microsoft noticed how interested casual gamers were in Wii and they wanted to go after that market. They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of ads. They replaced gamer cards with these rediculous avatars that they can easily sell items for. They've forced all of their stupid fucking services into the experience like Bing and Zune. If I want to search something on the Dashboard when the new update comes out with my Kinect I actually have to say "Bing" before I say the word I'm searching for, why can't I just say search Microsoft?

I was watching their E3 press conference live and literally fell asleep. I woke up right before they announced Halo 4 and I wasn't even excited. MS sells Halo the same way they sell Office, with small iterations every three years. The Kinect stuff was pretty ridiculous, those demos was absolutely dreadful to watch.

Never trust Microsoft with a product you like, Steve Jobs was right, "they have no taste". Take at a look at what they did to the Rare site.

When Xbox 360 was about to be released I couldn't be more excited. J Allard could literrally sell me on anything and I played a lot of original Xbox considering I got it at launch and never had a PS2. 360 turned out to be a great platform with a variety of games. Even though Allard left the platform still continued to grow, but then it took a turn.

Microsoft noticed how interested casual gamers were in Wii and they wanted to go after that market. They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of ads. They replaced gamer cards with these rediculous avatars that they can easily sell items for. They've forced all of their stupid fucking services into the experience like Bing and Zune. If I want to search something on the Dashboard when the new update comes out with my Kinect I actually have to say "Bing" before I say the word I'm searching for, why can't I just say search Microsoft?

I was watching their E3 press conference live and literally fell asleep. I woke up right before they announced Halo 4 and I wasn't even excited. MS sells Halo the same way they sell Office, with small iterations every three years. The Kinect stuff was pretty ridiculous, those demos was absolutely dreadful to watch.

Never trust Microsoft with a product you like, Steve Jobs was right, "they have no taste". Take at a look at what they did to the Rare site.

Heh, yep. The soulless and opportunistic looking Avatars from that Rare site really envelops MS's business model to a T.

Have an awesome utoob spam to get the real nitty gritty:

Regardless of the volatile conclusion of "Microsoft destroying Xbox as a platform", (although a lot of your points have been things that have been bothering me lately) I think it's pretty safe to say that Rare's website looks pretty freaking horrible.

Get a PC, come on, join the side that can actually use mods, we have cookies.

Get a PC, come on, join the side that can actually use mods, we have cookies.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Get a PC, come on, join the side that can actually use mods, we have cookies.

Modded cookies?

I love crazy internet people.

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds.

Shall I begin Operation: Purple Nuts? For those who don't know, Operation: Purple Nuts is a where we pay as many midgets as we can find to go to Bill Gates' house and headbutt him as hard as possible... in the junk.

@faunt: Blades were always superior to the disgusting NXE. There were a few people who knew what kind of ad-laden abomination NXE was going to be even before launch.

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds.

Wut. I know nxe could be better but calling the old dash "beautiful" is kinda weird.

Interestingly for the first time in 4 years i have let my xbox gold expire, not because i dont like the service but because the Value added services they offer me with gold arent a good value proposition. I rarely play multiplayer as of late and i never use any of the new dashboard stuff like twitter. i use sky player but recently i have just watched it on the laptop

@faunt said:

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds.

Wut. I know nxe could be better but calling the old dash "beautiful" is kinda weird.

Yeah, seriously. I liked the blades too, but they had a ton of problems that NXE fixed. I think you really have rose-colored glasses about a lot of this stuff. Seems like you're sitting their gnashing your teeth about a bunch of things that don't actually lower the quality of experience on xbox at all. I agree with you about the E3 conferences, but ultimately wasting 90 minutes of my time once a year doesn't mean they're "ruining xbox." Have a little perspective.

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard

I've been really interested in getting one of those "The End is Nigh" signs. Does anyone know where they're giving them away for free*?

*Only explanation I can get to for all the negativity in the gaming community lately.

@faunt said:

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds.

Wut. I know nxe could be better but calling the old dash "beautiful" is kinda weird.

@Mcfart said:

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard

Stopped reading there.

Okay, maybe beautiful was an over statement, but the old dashboard was very organized. The blades just made so much more sense.

I do hate the avatars so much and the fact you automatically get put on the advertisement pane as soon as your 360 boots up. Ridiculous.
 
Avatars, day/week one DLC and pre-order bonuses (well, in-game pre-order bonuses) are what I hate the most of this generation.

Fuck Microsoft! How dare they make money!

@Lights_Up_The_Shaft said:

Fuck Microsoft! How dare they make money!

FIGHT DA POWAH! UH!

Personally, I think people who like Apple products have no taste and are generally hipsters who just want to latch onto the latest gizmo every 6 months.

I don't agree with Microsoft's decision to push towards the casual market, but that's where the money is. As long as they don't completely stop making 'core' games, I don't care what else they do. The new dashboard is a huge improvement, the ads aren't particularly intrusive and it's not like they didn't exist with the blades. It's just generally much easier to navigate, I'm really looking forward to the new one coming this year as well, which seems to be improving things further and brings it much more in line with the Windows 8 UI (plus it gets rid of that darned "what's new" page). The avatars are an obvious extension of the gamer pics we started with too, my only complaint with those is that we still don't really have a use for them.

@WinterSnowblind: Before I got an iPhone I would have agreed with you, but man... Apple just puts so much thought into their user interfaces. They are a super-smart company, despite the crowd that popularises them.

I think it's awesome that Microsoft wants the Xbox to be more than just a game console. It's actually a smart move to add all the other services (Bing, Zune etc.). The whole point of a business is to expand and make more money.

@WinterSnowblind said:

Personally, I think people who like Apple products have no taste and are generally hipsters who just want to latch onto the latest gizmo every 6 months.

I don't agree with Microsoft's decision to push towards the casual market, but that's where the money is. As long as they don't completely stop making 'core' games, I don't care what else they do. The new dashboard is a huge improvement, the ads aren't particularly intrusive and it's not like they didn't exist with the blades. It's just generally much easier to navigate, I'm really looking forward to the new one coming this year as well, which seems to be improving things further and brings it much more in line with the Windows 8 UI (plus it gets rid of that darned "what's new" page). The avatars are an obvious extension of the gamer pics we started with too, my only complaint with those is that we still don't really have a use for them.

All good points. A question that I always wondered about was; With all these Avatar items that the Avatar interacts with, like for example the Halo remote control warthog, why can't anybody else see your remote control warthog?

Which then leads to the question, why should we pay for something that was designed to show everyone our gaming interests if when we've bought it they can't physically see it.

This is why I only ever dressed my character in the items I won from actual games. Otherwise the cost, even if it isn't anyway, simply wasn't worth the outcome.

I've been really interested in getting one of those "The End is Nigh" signs. Does anyone know where they're giving them away for free*?

*Only explanation I can get to for all the negativity in the gaming community lately.

Oh, I'm sorry, I think I took a turn into crazy town.

I'm going to stay away from the point of destroying it as a platform but they certainly seemed to have shifted their focus. And in terms of Rare you need to remember that it's essentially a new company so they have also shifted their focus. After the shift from Nintendo many of the original staff left which let Microsoft essentially rebuild it in their own image.

Okay, maybe beautiful was an over statement, but the old dashboard was very organized. The blades just made so much more sense.

I miss the Blades so much... 
 
I'm also still pissed that they didn't drop the price of 360s at E3 like it was rumored they were going to. Mine broke a couple months ago (my second to break actually), but it was out of warranty, and I need a new one. Argh. 

Huh. They have ads on the dashboard? Weird. I must keep missing them when I hit up once and then A to start my games (or wack the guide button to dig into HARDCORE menus. Hurrr. Hurrr.)...

Personally, I think people who like Apple products have no taste and are generally hipsters who just want to latch onto the latest gizmo every 6 months.

I don't agree with Microsoft's decision to push towards the casual market, but that's where the money is. As long as they don't completely stop making 'core' games, I don't care what else they do. The new dashboard is a huge improvement, the ads aren't particularly intrusive and it's not like they didn't exist with the blades. It's just generally much easier to navigate, I'm really looking forward to the new one coming this year as well, which seems to be improving things further and brings it much more in line with the Windows 8 UI (plus it gets rid of that darned "what's new" page). The avatars are an obvious extension of the gamer pics we started with too, my only complaint with those is that we still don't really have a use for them.

And what is it with all the doom and gloom with gamers these days? We have better games, more often, with almost too many releases to keep up with. A new generation of consoles is just around the corner, but games continue to look better on our consoles five years from release. I can't even keep up with the AAA titles coming out, let alone the second-tier games that look decent and XBLA games coming out. We're having a golden age of indie game development. I really just don't get it. It's a great time to be a gamer, and there's no reason to think that things aren't going to keep getting better.

As long as they still have video games that I can play on my xbox I couldnt really care what they do to the dashboard.

I think Blades is infinitely better than any iteration of NXE.

@monte: Awesome episode. I love it when they change the status quo. And so true for some people...

I disagree.

Anytime someone says Steve Jobs was right, I know they're wrong. Xbox is not what the fans want it to be, it is what Microsoft wants it to be. Microsoft can't be destroying the Xbox. They're expanding the audience and expanding the feautures.

Maybe you're just too much of a hard-core, old-school, real gamer?

I don't really have a problem with a majority of what Microsoft is doing with the Xbox.  Other then the Kinect and some of the features on the dashboard.  I think they have a lot potential to do something really great with it all, but now since they gonna show the new Xbox at E3 2012, I'm hoping they'll start with something fresh and step away from the body controller bullshit.

Seamus is right, but I'm part of the problem. I really like Halo. However, they don't have to make a new one every three years, they could just sell those that want to continue playing DLC.

honestly, everyone has known for a long time that Microsoft is greedy, and would kill the soul of its system if it meant some more bucks.

@WinterSnowblind Now see I hate that blanket statement about Apple. Fan boys for any company are terrible but I happen to enjoy the occasional Apple products I purchase. I bought a shuffle for listening to music while running and I love it, bought my iMac 4 years ago and it's still kicking, won my iPad last year and I have increased my web browsing especially on Whiskey Media sites ten fold. I understand you might not like the people who camp out or jerk off to every word Steve Jobs says but Apple does put out some good products.

I think MS has done amazing things this generation and some terrible things. The dashboard and avatar stuff looks and feels very cool, much more personal than PSN with exception to the ads. Now the bombardment of Kinect features like in the next Ghost Recon or the milking of the Halo franchise, I can see them releasing multiple Halo games every year now that Bungie is out, has me worried. And Rare... It just makes me depressed see a great developer, or at least once great because there has been so much change in staff there, be reduced to motion sports franchises. At least do something good with the Perfect Dark IP.

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds. They replaced gamer cards with these rediculous avatars that they can easily sell items for. They've forced all of there stupid fucking services into the experience like Bing and Zune.

You are remembering the Blades UX too fondly. It was a nightmare to navigate the marketplace on it and it too also had ads even in the xbox guide. Gamercards never went away either. While Zune and Bing are on the 360 its not like you have to use it.

@Wolverine said:

They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard

Stopped reading there.

They still sell vidja games.

I don't really have a problem with a majority of what Microsoft is doing with the Xbox.  Other then the Kinect and some of the features on the dashboard.  I think they have a lot potential to do something really great with it all, but now since they gonna show the new Xbox at E3 2012, I'm hoping they'll start with something fresh and step away from the body controller bullshit.

It still fucking plays video games doesn't it?

I've never liked Xbox's UI options. Although I did really like NXE when it first killed the blades, I do kinda miss it a little bit. Remember when you'd press the big'ol'Xbox button, and that blade would come over? And you could launch music from there?

But, I mean. Honestly.

Microsoft is NOT KILLING THE XBOX... as a gaming platform. Maybe as a platform for other things, but I don't give a fuck about how accessible buying or streaming music, movies and shit like that is.

Xbox is still my preferred Netflix box. Xbox is still a great gaming platform. So there.

I put in discs in and then play games. Seems exactly the same to me.

@Wolverine said:

When Xbox 360 was about to be released I couldn't be more excited. J Allard could literrally sell me on anything and I played a lot of original Xbox considering I got it at launch and never had a PS2. 360 turned out to be a great platform with a variety of games. Even though Allard left the platform still continued to grow, but then it took a turn.

Microsoft noticed how interested casual gamers were in Wii and they wanted to go after that market. They destroyed the once beautiful dashboard with the NXE that feels awkward to navigate and has tons of adds. They replaced gamer cards with these rediculous avatars that they can easily sell items for. They've forced all of there stupid fucking services into the experience like Bing and Zune. If I want to search something on the Dashboard when the new update comes out with my Kinect I actually have to say "Bing" before I say the word I'm searching for, why can't I just say search Microsoft?

I was watching there E3 press conference live and literally fell asleep. I woke up right before they announced Halo 4 and I wasn't even excited. MS sells Halo the same way they sell Office, with small iterations every three years. The Kinect stuff was pretty ridiculous, those demos was absolutely dreadful to watch.

Never trust Microsoft with a product you like, Steve Jobs was right, "they have no taste". Take at a look at what they did to the Rare site.

I agree with you on the casual thing but that seemed to stem more when they decided to push hard with Kinect. Minecraft for the 360? Meh; I could care less. Child of Eden is the only Kinect game I even care about since I'm a huge Rez fan and you can play it without Kinect. I'd say they're more like an ADD child that gives all its attention to something for a while then drops it in interest for something else. Right now, their focus seems to be WP7 and they've put the 360 on the back burner.

The initial iteration of the NXE was pretty good, much better than those horrid blades. But it's become clunky and obnoxious to use.

We release more than one Halo game every three years. I would know since I've been working on the MS side of the franchise for over 5 years now. The current rate is about one every year and half.