Woggerman1974

I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan on several occasions. The first time was many years ago at E3. I was coming out of a meeting at Activision and he was just going in. I stopped him to tell him how happy I was to finally meet him. I told him that I was the same age and his writing and opinions were so in tune with my own, that I looked to him for advice on so many occasions and was never let down. He was gracious and thankful. We spoke for about 5 minutes more, before they called him into the meeting room.
I have subsequently run into him at least 4 more times that I could remember at E3 in the years since and every time I saw him, he remembered me and we would have a quick 2-3 minute conversation.
In this era of bloggers, we as readers come to form a bond with those that are closely matched with our own interests. We look forward to reading articles and seeing videos where people like ourselves share their opinions with us.
For me, Ryan was that person. I am thankful to have met him and even more thankful to have been able to read and digest all of the many articles and videos he has done over the many years.
My heart goes out to the many friends and family of Ryan, as well as the huge number of fans he had. The good news, is that his legacy will live on, thanks to the internet and whenever we need that fix, it will only be a button press away.
Thank you Ryan Davis, for all of the contributions you made. For all of the advice you gave me. For remembering my name.
Rest in peace.

I really wish a gaming journalist would come out and write about what this means business-wise for Microsoft rather than the gut reaction from a hardcore gamers perspective. There are two sides to every story. This one is not even completed yet. For the hardcore gamer, keep the following things in mind:

Fact: Microsoft has been telling us this reveal was not about the games since the reveal was announced 3 weeks ago.

Fact: They did announce that there are 15 exclusives including 8 new IP's being developed by MS Studios for release over the next year. Many of these are slated to be shown in less than 3 weeks at E3.

I am pretty hopeful that E3 will have some really great games shown by Microsoft.

Now the other side of the story. Just a quick history about myself. I am a 39 year old gamer. I started working straight out of college at Electronics Boutique and I worked there 10 years. The last third of my career there was spent as a buyer at the corporate office in Westchester, PA. I left a couple of years before Gamestop bought them out. I have a good understanding of the business side of things and the difference in revenue between a popular item and a mass market item.

Microsoft did what they wanted to and they did it very successfully in my opinion. They peaked the interest of not only the mass media, but also the mass consumer. Let me explain:

In the US there are almost 120 million cable TV and satellite subscribers. Many of which saw the Xbox One do some things their current box can't do.

Microsoft gave the fans of the most popular sport in the US(NFL) a reason to buy the box. Fantasy Football is bigger than ever and I have already heard from the members of my fantasy league that we all need to buy one. It may not speak to the hardcore gamer, but it does to many NFL fans.

Microsoft and EA also, while vague about it, also told fans of the most popular sport in the World(Soccer/Football) that the Xbox One version of FIFA will have exclusive content. Very compelling to soccer fans.

Folks, these three things alone speak to a different crowd than the traditional or hardcore gamer, but they are just as important to the success of a console and a huge opportunity for many sales. The PS2 and PS3 were not only bought for games, but early on in the cycle they were bought as DVD and Bluray devices. Hardly hardcore gaming material.

Business-wise this makes great sense as the real meat and potatoes of the machine(the games) will be shown at E3. The hardcore gamer will show up regardless to watch those press conferences and Microsoft knows that. Would you rather they take an hour of that E3 conference and go into everything they did today and leave only an hour or less to showcase games or would you rather they showcase the games for most of the press conference. I for one am glad they got this out of the way. Give us the date and price on E3. Fill in the few items left blank and give me those exclusives.

I really think there is a lot of short-sightedness right now in the gaming press and we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. It may not make sense right now as a gamer, but I really believe E3 will change that perception. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

Oh, and I plan to buy both systems, just like I own every other one since the Odyssey.