The reply everybody seems to give when giving a reason for buying an XBone is "Exclusives". While I agree the lineup was pretty solid I urge you to think about that choice. For those old enough to remember the 360 and PS3 launches that was said about the 360 in the beginning when 360 had Halo, Fable, Forza, Mass Effect, and Gears and Sony pretty much only had Resistance. Fast forward to today as an owner of both consoles anybody that says 360's exclusives are better than PS3 must really love Halo. Mass Effect is no longer an exclusive, Gears and Fable have declined significantly(IMO of course) leaving Halo and Forza as the only good exclusives. Whereas Sony has Last of Us, Uncharted, Killzone, Resistance, Little Big Planet, Infamous, Ratchet, God of War, and Gran Turismo. Even including God of Wars decline it is still better than Xbox and I have a feeling this will be similar this gen as well. Knowing EA I highly doubt Tianfall will stay exclusive especially when I have always felt the exclusivity was to help XBone and the DRM included on it and Mass Effect as another similar example. If you want an XBone get it but I would be cautious if you are getting it for exclusives. History of two consoles says that Sony tends to have better exclusives.

Dear console manufacturers,

We the hardcore gamers are the ones that determine the success of your console especially around launch time. We the gamers that watch your PR events live and then spend the next week on websites analyzing and talking about them. Not the casual market you court so heavily. Yes, we are probably a small percentage of the total gaming market but we are the ones that tell the casual market what your plans are. Do you think the casual market was on gaming websites looking at and talking about the Xbox One? No, it was us, the people on this website and others like it. Then we go and tell our friends that are in the casual market. Sony learned that last gen. with the PS3 launch and focus on Blu-Ray and Riiiiidddggee Racer!!! and too high of a price.

Microsoft is making that same mistake now focusing on TV and killing and/or controlling the used game market. First, most of us core gamers buy our games new because we know the importance of supporting developers, I counted recently and own 92 current gen games of which 80+ are new. But we realize this policy if it requires codes are giving away ownership of games and a vocal majority as is evidence on every gaming website and even MSoft's YouTube channel do not approve of this practice and apparently even more adamantly than they anticipated.

Second the focus on things like TV and all the others is what I like to call the condiments on a bacon cheeseburger. While they may make the burger better it is not what makes the burger. Wheras the TV stuff may make the console better to core gamers it isn't what makes the console, the games and how they are better and easier is what makes t for us. I don't care what you say before the event and what your goal was, the casual market isn't watching and focusing on them is a mistake. Focus on the core gamer and then give tidbits of what else it will do to take back to our casual friends. That is how you successfully reveal a console.

I have been gaming for over 25 years, my first console was an NES and I will never forget the feeling of opening that console and spending hours jumping on Koopas heads. i still remember spending my parents entire shopping trips mesmerized by the games deciding which I would save my allowance to buy And which I would ask Santa Claus for. Times were simpler then, for everyone.

Fast forward to today, where developers are shooting themselves in the foot and blaming us because we are buying the wrong bullets. The problem isn't used games. If used games are killing the industry why is every release of Call of Duty and Assassins Creed a bigger success than the previous? The problem is the big boys taking a bigger and bigger piece of the pie and greedy leadership. With DLC, season passes, limited edition games and micro transactions games that used to cost $50-60 now cost $100-200. Meaning that if you spend the same amount of money you get fewer games meaning fewer games are purchased. But instead of taking this model and subsidizing slightly less successful franchises for a healthy gaming market they take the money and give Bobby Kotick and whoever runs EA(Moore) huge salaries.

I own 92 current gen games with over 80 being new, I only buy used when I can't find a new copy. I pay the extra $5-10 because I CHOOSE to support developers but I still feel I own the games. With this new model does anybody own the game? Whether we own it now is debatable but in my opinion if I can sell it I own it i.e. house, car, DVDs, and basicly most other things except things I don't own i.e. an apartment, rented movie or anything else I rent. In my opinion this puts the new model into us renting a video game for $60. It is time for a choice to be made if you buy the console with this model you are giving away your rights. If you choose not to for a year or two they will have to consider dropping it. Either is fine because it is your choice but be aware of the importance of this decision. in my opinion this is one of the biggest decisions us gamers have ever had to make with the biggest stakes ever wagered.

Hey look guys a blog with more than I am writing a blog to get some points.  
 
As stated in my only other blog I write blogs because they are cheaper than therapy and for some reason they make me feel better.  Today I am venting about Microsoft customer service.  Microsoft has suspended my account which means I can't connect my main account to Xbox live so that leaves me with 2 choices create a new account and abandon all of my points and game saves under that screen name or keep it under the original and never connect to Live again.  
 
What horrible misdeed may you ask did I do to deserve this punishment?  I didn't update my credit card expiration date and Microsoft charged me anyways.  When I called to find out why my account had been suspended they informed me their system isn't setup to not charge expired cards.  They however had no answer when I asked why they could set it up to email the card was expired but to not charge the card of course he couldn't answer that.  All I wanted was for them to not charge me the $20 that I didn't ask for in the first place and they refused so in return they have lost a pretty big customer.  
 
I am not asking for a boycott or anything along those lines as stated I am just more or less venting.  I do however advise don't give Microsoft your credit card number and buy cards for subscriptions to Live.

I have never written a blog before because for the most part I don't even care what I have to say and therefore assume no one else does either.  However there are some things about the industry that personally worry me and wanted to write them down.  I am writing them down more or less as a constructive way to blow off steam than anything else.  I am aware that a lot of these issues are controversial and fully expect some to disagree with me and am personally fine with that.
 
1.) Microtransactions
 
I am a big fan of DLC for the most part.  I find it to be a great way to extend the time, gameplay, and enjoyment of most games.  I love my DLC for Fallout 3, I like my DLC for Fable 2, and think maps are a great to extend the fun of a good FPS.  However, if you have played Madden 10 they charge real money to keep a player from retiring, yes you heard me right for a little real money you can keep Tom Brady playing well into his 50s now don't tell me that is not a couple of bucks well spent.  Now there are rumors of a weapons shop in Fable 3 that charges real money to get a sword.  Now I know the counter argument is you can enjoy those games without these things and I understand that but should I have to decide between keeping a player from retiring or downloading an arcade game?
 
2.) Running a beloved franchise into the ground
 
The recent news of the COD franchise is what drove me to write this.  It is a companies job to make money and they would be idiots to not try to make as much money as possible but companies like Activision are being very short sighted.  Maybe they are of the mentality to strike while the iron is hot but Activision is quickly making every gamer in America sick of Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, and now Call of Duty franchises at the rate that if they don't come up with a new IP to carry them soon they will be in a lot of trouble unless they have the money from the above franchises stuffed in a safe somewhere.
 
3.) Games on Demand
 
This is probably the most controversial and the one that may never come to be.  To me this is the one that scares me the most.  Why? Because this has a lot of implications in a lot of directions.  First even though owning a game is at best controversial when I buy the game I feel that I own it and when I spend $60 I like that feeling of ownership.  I have the ability to buy, sell, rent, trade, lend, and borrow.  Do I do those often, no, but I have the option.  If games go digital only you will be paying $60 and the only thing you can do is play it yourself and that is it.  Second, is the jobs.  Whether or not you like Gamestop or whatever game retailer you frequent or not is another debate but if games go mainly digital or all digital then their doors will close and those jobs will be lost and will not be replaced because brick and mortar stores will close.  Now these jobs may not be the greatest jobs in the world but they are an employment option.  
 
4.) Sports games only having 1 year of online service.
 
EA has decided that you only need to play your sports game online for 1 year.  Does it make business sense for them?  If it causes you to buy a new game every year then of course it does.  However, I like alternating between my sports game from the 360 to the PS3.  For example, I have Madden 09 for the PS3 and Madden 10 for the 360 which I bought both new within a week or two of launch.   
 
In conclusion, I know that some of this nitpicking and that manufacturers don't make me purchase their games and all of the other cliches.  But as someone who has been gaming for probably 25 years and has probably owned more consoles than some people on here have owned games I can't help but be disturbed by these trends.  I will always be a gamer but if these trends continue I won't be spending my money on games with these options.  Will the companies miss my money, probably not.  Will I be the one that suffers for my decision, probably.   But luckily I have enough systems and enough back catalogs of games that don't meet the above criteria to keep me busy for years to come if these trends continue.  Hopefully these trends are just passing trends and that I am just overreacting but I can't help but worry.  Well my rant is over and for some reason I do feel better.