This has been killing me. I've noticed in the past 10 years or so people have become more and more annoyed by things that don't offer solid answers. Anything with an ambiguous ending causes huge rage wars on the troll threads. I sit back and watch while people bicker over how crappy Prometheus was because it didn't explain the meaning of life, or how disappointing Lost was because it left so much stuff unanswered in its 900 hour long series. I even saw hate for Inception (which was directed by God himself, Christopher Nolan) which ended with a spinning top that never fell. Now the Xbox One is announced and everyone is up in arms about that too!

Microsoft is obviously trying to be mysterious with the way they're handling the Xbox One until release. Will it kill used games and certain businesses in the process? Is it always online? Is it always on? How much information are they gathering from their users? Who is it for? Can the Kinect tell if I'm a Democrat? What about Republican? These are just a few of the many questions that have been left in the air for us to interpret how we want. What they are doing is very interesting here. They're allowing us to decide! The internet is so useful that they've decided to go a new route with the messaging of the machine and the features that it will offer. What's the fun in having all the answers up front? It seems like they're taking the public's temperature on all the things they'd like to do with the next Xbox and then deciding under the wire what to have and what not to have. It's going to have a pretty persistent internet I think anyways so they can definitely include a bunch of system updates after it releases, offering their loyal customers even more input on what it should do.

They're doing the right thing by not having any answers for anyone. Do you remember how mad people got when George Lucas shat on the whole world by explaining that the force is made of midichlorians? How effective was the ending of Se7en when they didn't show what was in the box? Really effective. No one likes the end of The Return of the King because it answers too many questions! Think about it.

I think Microsoft should keep us in the dark as long as they can. I hope they don't even announce the games they said they were going to at E3. Life isn't about answers. It's about the journey.

Hey man sarcastic or not, I just wanna say that the ambiguity was the only good thing in Prometheus. Baaaad movie. <3

Yeah well, that's just like, your opinion man.

also inception was pretty bad too lol

also season 6 of lost

these things werent bad because they didnt answer questions. there was more to it than that. and that thing that youre missing might be the reason youre ok with xbox not giving you answers atm, while other ppl arent.

Surely this is a joke, right?

If not, it's not a valid comparison. Do I want all the answers to a story? Not necessarily, no. Do I want all the answers to a piece of consumer electronics so I can make a better-informed purchasing decision? Hell, yes.

MS is not doing themselves any favors with the way they've been handling the XB1 so far.

@tarsier: how dare you!

Eh, your other two blogs about the xbox one were better, this was completely uninspired bro.

I don't really buy game consoles to be part of some hippie community where we take things as they come.

However, that being said, I miss not knowing everything (I know, a bit of an exaggeration). Being younger and reading the E3 editions of gaming magazines. And new consoles were mysterious and exciting. Now I feel like everything is known by the time it's announced.

Man, I am tired of answers! I want mystery and fog creatures in my console marketing.

Prometheus was terrible for a lot of other reasons. My main beef with Prometheus is that people in space suits were willing to take their masks off in that ship. Right. The characters were pretty poorly written as well. I liked the ending. I liked the action, but the story wasn't organized well, or well wirtten. Opinions man. Everyone's entitled to em.

You can not compare Microsofts ambiguity with that of stories, this is a box not some epic piece of story. Also the ending of LoTR is great.

I demand answers!

@geirr:

I'm sure we'll get our answers at E3 in June.

Yes, because explaining "Jedi Magic" is exactly the same thing as learning just how many of your rights are about to be violated by a massive corporation.

What? Why would I not want answers on a piece of technology that I may be spending $300-500 on? Are you daft?

I want the truth!

Why would we not want answers?

stop right there.

1. nolan falls a bit short of being a god-tier director

2. you didnt ever understand inception.

I stopped taking your post seriously when you compared fictional storylines with actual consumer products and essentially thought "it's okay if stories don't give the answers. Why should Microsoft?"
That's honestly one of the dumbest things I've ever read trying to defend Microsoft's crappy actions. What Microsoft is dealing with is the potential dismantling of our private rights as consumers, which could disrupt one's experience more than just some silly storytelling decisions. At least with the storytelling, the complaints are only limited to that game. The complaints about how Microsoft is dealing with used games and DRM could affect EVERYTHING about the system, which makes Microsoft's lack of concrete answers FAR more frustrating than how Bioware wrote Mass Effect 3's ending.

This analogy doesn't make much sense. When you buy a car, don't you want to know how many miles it gets to the gallon or what the warranty covers and for how long? If it's used, don't you want to know what its mileage is and if it's been in any accidents? When you purchase a cell phone, don't you ask about coverage, speed and digital transfer rates? A little mystery is fine when you're talking about women and what goes into a hot dog, but when it comes to expensive goods I expect to last more than a few years, I want to know the details.

As for appreciating ambiguity at the end of a story, well Neon Genesis Evangelion soured me back in 1998. 25 episodes and then a "What the fuck?!"

This.