I would like clarify, I like the 360, love the concept, love the Xbox live functionality and I also love the control.

However,

In recent times I'm having a hard time finding a good reason to turn on my Xbox. Recent example, I was just about to purchase Mark of the Ninja in Xbox live, when I realise it was also coming to steam.. so I was like mmkey I guess I better get it there. Most arcade exclusives are coming out to both Xbox and Steam.. as a dude with a badass PC, I rather buy everything there.. it looks better, run faster, and its going to be there in my library "next gen" and the gen after the "next gen"... PC Gaming backwards compatibility since the 80s.

Point is, why is Microsoft diminishing his own brand for a quick buck by putting out their exclusives in PC !? I mean.. that's cool for me, but.. then I have zeerooo motivation to go out waste a few hundred dollars in their next console. With modern TVs functionality, people is eventually going to figure it out, they can use Netflix for free.. it might take a while, but It will happen. What would be the Xbox advantage by then anyway?

Again, I'm not hating or trying to bash the xbox, I just wish someone at MS read this and realise there might be people like me who is actually buying Xbox-es because you know... videogames.

There is that, Xbox I want, to want you, but you keep giving me reasons to not do so... so, please stop being awful.

Buy a PS3?

Meh, it's the end of the cycle and the 360 had a good run. Halo 4 will make me turn on my 360 for a good while and I'll play it again once Gears of War Judgement comes out. I could say the same about the PS3 when it comes to consoles collecting dust but at least there are more exclusives down the road that I'm looking forward to playing on it and I have to use it to play blu rays until I finally get around to putting a blu ray drive into my desktop.

I don't have a good enough PC to run things, and I bought Super Meat Boy and Costume Quest on XBL in the past week or so. I'm very late to the party, but yeah.

Microsoft isnt going to wast his personal money to put out his games for a crap system when he has the Xbox 420 in his mothers basement.

@Colourful_Hippie said:

Meh, it's the end of the cycle and the 360 had a good run.

This, basically. They're treading water at this point until the Durango comes out.

@Etnos: You do have a number of points. Microsoft's model HAS to change in the future with Smart TV's you aren't going to need another box to do any of the media stuff that they are pushing so hard core. Besides Halo and Forza they really don't have much of anything to offer as far as first party stuff. Personally I'm just so entrenched in the ecosystem that I usually tend to buy games for 360 anyways but for someone in your situation I see your point.

Xbox is my preferred system to play on due to it's reliability, library, and amount of "friends" that use the same system. I think the new things Microsoft is pushing is cool and I hope to see a little bit less of dedication to memberships to enjoy the part of the console that is obviously no longer their "priority." If Durango/PS4 were to release and the variables I mentioned switched over to PS4, you'd find me there.

Microsoft is just treading the waters now in anticipation for their new console release. They don't want to establish too much of a foothold with the 360 right now that would stop people from transitioning over to their next big thing. I expect Microsoft to push forward with it's gaming line-up with Durango due to their seemingly obvious intention to connect everyone together.

I still think the Xbox is a great platform for gaming.. I can't use it for anything else really because I live in Aus.. plus it is the end of the console cycles (hopefully) so I think that Microsoft would be planning and working on the Durango..

Also Xbox giving up on Xbox.. sounds like suicide?

Halo 4 is coming out, and i haven't been this excited for a game since RDR! Also i'm glad MS puts out it's games on the PC, it gets more people to play them, and no one is really gonna buy and Xbox just for it.

I wished Sony would do that, i would like to play Journey but i'm not gonna buy a PS3 just for it.

@Dagbiker said:

Microsoft isnt going to wast his personal money to put out his games for a crap system when he has the Xbox 420 in his mothers basement.

Where can I read more of your fan fiction?

We are at a crossroad of change.

The beginning of the future.

A new era for the industry.

@FritzDude said:

We are at a crossroad of change.

The beginning of the future.

A new era for the industry.

I hope it turns out good, if the future looks like the iOS store... I want no part of that future.

I started this generation as an Xbox fanboy. Then moved toward neutrality as Sony got their shit together. Now I'm completely with you. It's impressive how quickly both those companies turned their luck around. The XBL experience right now is abysmal and the PSN experience is something spectacular.

Also, I love your title.

@Etnos said:

@FritzDude said:

We are at a crossroad of change.

The beginning of the future.

A new era for the industry.

I hope it turns out good, if the future looks like the iOS store... I want no part of that future.

Where we're going... we don't need roads.

I agree. Xbox has sort of dropped the ball lately. I have zero interest in Halo so I highly doubt I'll be supporting them next generation. Building a new PC very soon so that will be my primary platform.

Can someone define "XBox Live functionality"? I always thought the voice quality was terrible.

@EXTomar said:

Can someone define "XBox Live functionality"? I always thought the voice quality was terrible.

Its ability to charge you sixty dollars for features that come free everywhere else, while basing the servers off of some random ass dude who is prone to pulling the cord out of his modem, is second to none!

I also tried buying Mark of the Ninja the other day but got hit with a terms of use thing I had to agree to. Motherfucker froze my Xbox twice. Haven't tried since, but that shit better be sorted before Halo 4.

@Etnos: Wait a second...You like Giant Bomb. You have a kick ass PC. You're one of us when it comes to Steam...Why oh why are you not part of the Giant Bomb Personal Computer Gaming Hub?? Or just hit up giantbombing.com, then on the bottom right, it'll take you to the appropriate places in case you don't like reading forum posts . . .

@Etnos said:

I would like clarify, I like the 360, love the concept, love the Xbox live functionality and I also love the control.

However,

In recent times I'm having a hard time finding a good reason to turn on my Xbox. Recent example, I was just about to purchase Mark of the Ninja in Xbox live, when I realise it was also coming to steam.. so I was like mmkey I guess I better get it there. Most arcade exclusives are coming out to both Xbox and Steam.. as a dude with a badass PC, I rather buy everything there.. it looks better, run faster, and its going to be there in my library "next gen" and the gen after the "next gen"... PC Gaming backwards compatibility since the 80s.

Point is, why is Microsoft diminishing his own brand for a quick buck by putting out their exclusives in PC !? I mean.. that's cool for me, but.. then I have zeerooo motivation to go out waste a few hundred dollars in their next console. With modern TVs functionality, people is eventually going to figure it out, they can use Netflix for free.. it might take a while, but It will happen. What would be the Xbox advantage by then anyway?

Again, I'm not hating or trying to bash the xbox, I just wish someone at MS read this and realise there might be people like me who is actually buying Xbox-es because you know... videogames.

There is that, Xbox I want, to want you, but you keep giving me reasons to not do so... so, please stop being awful.

You won't be saying that when the next consoles come out and all the games specifically developed for them blow anything the PC has to offer out of the water.... Or you will still buy pc games because the new consoles might be the same quality as a pc. Who knows?

@Etnos:

Microsoft makes money on every pc built with Windows installed, and if the Windows 8 app store is a success they will be making 30% off of every pc game sale.

@glyn said:

@Etnos said:

I would like clarify, I like the 360, love the concept, love the Xbox live functionality and I also love the control.

However,

In recent times I'm having a hard time finding a good reason to turn on my Xbox. Recent example, I was just about to purchase Mark of the Ninja in Xbox live, when I realise it was also coming to steam.. so I was like mmkey I guess I better get it there. Most arcade exclusives are coming out to both Xbox and Steam.. as a dude with a badass PC, I rather buy everything there.. it looks better, run faster, and its going to be there in my library "next gen" and the gen after the "next gen"... PC Gaming backwards compatibility since the 80s.

Point is, why is Microsoft diminishing his own brand for a quick buck by putting out their exclusives in PC !? I mean.. that's cool for me, but.. then I have zeerooo motivation to go out waste a few hundred dollars in their next console. With modern TVs functionality, people is eventually going to figure it out, they can use Netflix for free.. it might take a while, but It will happen. What would be the Xbox advantage by then anyway?

Again, I'm not hating or trying to bash the xbox, I just wish someone at MS read this and realise there might be people like me who is actually buying Xbox-es because you know... videogames.

There is that, Xbox I want, to want you, but you keep giving me reasons to not do so... so, please stop being awful.

You won't be saying that when the next consoles come out and all the games specifically developed for them blow anything the PC has to offer out of the water.... Or you will still buy pc games because the new consoles might be the same quality as a pc. Who knows?

The new consoles have been in development for so fucking long, there won't be that same jump.

The "rebound", where people go back to their respective consoles after the PC surge, won't be as big this time.

I haven't played my 360 since Dust: An Elysian Tail came out and before that it was sometime in May/ June that I played anything. Mainly it's because I have a PC capable of running most of the games I want on high settings and the only other games that have come out that I want to play have been on the PS3. I'll play Halo 4 and maybe Forza Horizon, but beyond that I have no want to play it. That and my Live subscription ran out in September so if i want to play online i just get the PS3 version now.

BUY HALO 4

im pretty sure they are focusing on developing a whole new platform rather than ameliorating the current one

@thedj93 said:

im pretty sure they are focusing on developing a whole new platform rather than ameliorating the current one

Pretty much. Especially since if they wanted to improve the console, they wouldn't have released the critical abortion of a dashboard that they did this week.

S'all about how you use it, I guess. I'm in the opposite case where I've been using it way more over my PS3 lately. :| Games run better on it and my friends have all switched over to 360 because the online there isn't garbage like it is on PlayStation.

Because we all know in another year paying for Twitter and Facebook and Netflix on the next platform

No, if Microsoft is doing anything they are spending their warchest to get a bunch of first party exclusives on the next console where XBox Live is going to be secondary.

If you have steam and would rather make your purchases there that is cool. This might come as a surprise to you, but a lot of people dont have gaming PCs. For those people, getting the Xbox version is perfectly fine.

I'm in the same boat as you; ever since I got my killer PC a few months ago, I haven't really had much of a reason to boot up "Big Black". It doesn't help that XBOX LIVE still has a monthly rate associated with Gold Accounts. With all this said, there is something sad about seeing Big Black gathering all that dust :(

@Matthew said:

@Etnos: Wait a second...You like Giant Bomb. You have a kick ass PC. You're one of us when it comes to Steam...Why oh why are you not part of the Giant Bomb Personal Computer Gaming Hub?? Or just hit up giantbombing.com, then on the bottom right, it'll take you to the appropriate places in case you don't like reading forum posts . . .

Yo, I'm getting home late today cus I'm in the middle of crunch.. I'll join the group when I get there. Thanks! for the invitation Much appreciated!

The 360 is definitely at the end of it's life cycle. Valve is also definitely hitting it out of the park with Steam and it's sales, which has definitely enticed me to invest in a new gaming rig rather than the next Xbox. Also, Microsoft looks insanely cheap when you see ridiculous rewards like getting only 2% off purchases if you have a really high gamerscore -- especially when steam constantly has sales that go all the way to 90% off. Most of the people on my friends list don't even have Gold anymore.

I have absolutely no proof of this and I'm just wildly speculating, but I would think that Microsoft is holding back as much as they can for their next console to entice people to get it, which is right around the corner. They desperately need a new lineup of first party exclusives though besides Halo. Seeing something like a new Kameo with portal-like business like Skylanders Giants would be really neat. I'll never buy Skylanders but the idea is genuinely pretty cool.

The Dashboard is the biggest fuckup on Xbox, the adds are fucking plastered everywhere, it pisses me off so much.

I use my XBox all the time and have next to no interest in PC gaming. So there.

It hasn't had any good exclusives in years, unless you like Halo and Forza. Oh there's Gears of War as well, but I was bored of cover shooters after the first game.

The interface being shitty doesn't help either. I loathe using that thing.

@EXTomar said:

Can someone define "XBox Live functionality"? I always thought the voice quality was terrible.

I think they have to mean party chat, right? Surely? Party chat is the only good thing it has over the PS3, and that's still not worth paying for.

Voice quality is good if you and your friends have better headsets than the official 360 ones, otherwise yeah it's pretty garbage...

Yeah, it's the end of the cycle and this is just how it is. It'll be really interesting to see what happens when the next Xbox and Playstation come out, though. If the PC versions of most games stay at the quality they are at currently without requiring a giant hardware leap, then I feel there really isn't any reason to buy a new console. Especially when you see stuff like Darksiders II and Sleeping Dogs on sale for less than $20 on Amazon/Steam only a month or two after release.

I think everyone knows by now that this next hardware generation is going to be really interesting, and I honestly can't wait.

everything thing is building up for a strong first party come next generation.... but Halo 4 is a couple weeks away and Gears is a few months away. Those are really the two things I need.