Microsoft’s Major Nelson ended up in ER after suffering panic attack days before Xbox One reveal in 2013

I hope this is a satire piece. I hope it is about how he knew what Don Mattrick was gonna pull so that is why he had a panic attack.

I am seven years away from a pension as a career first responder; I really don't want to hear boo-hoo about a fucking corpo with anxiety because video game box. Go put your ass on the line and not know if you're gonna see the other side of the next sixty seconds and then come back and talk about your Xbox reveal anxiety. People here saying how rough they had it; dress shirts and conference rooms and multi-million dollar investments in entertainment software, yes, so very rough indeed. What a soft and misguided society this has become.
 
joey Dubs said:
I hope this is a satire piece. I hope it is about how he knew what Don Mattrick was gonna pull so that is why he had a panic attack.

I am seven years away from a pension as a career first responder; I really don't want to hear boo-hoo about a fucking corpo with anxiety because video game box. Go put your ass on the line and not know if you're gonna see the other side of the next sixty seconds and then come back and talk about your Xbox reveal anxiety. People here saying how rough they had it; dress shirts and conference rooms and multi-million dollar investments in entertainment software, yes, so very rough indeed. What a soft and misguided society this has become.
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People's field of view tends to expand or shrink to fit their lived experience. To an office worker who's been secure in their job for years, getting laid off can feel like a death sentence to them. To the social media influencer who gets canceled because of the think they weren't supposed to say, an online hate mob can feel like the end of the world.

Obviously the Marine who did four deployments to Afghanistan can't relate. But how many people serve as first responders or experienced combat? Less than 0.5% of the population? Seems like it's a case of those people being tougher and hardened by their experiences, rather than the 99%+ being "soft and misguided".
 
All MS entered in panic mode once an almost in bankruptcy Sony revealed the PS4 specs since they couldn't believe in the slightest that sony could nearly match xbox One specs after how much money they were losing over the cell chip...

Taking in considetstion that MS threw the last 5 years of the 360 'cause they wanted a strong line up for the XBO launch... and that sony sorted it at all with games like TLOU and even ended winning in sales with the PS3... MS did indeed lost the worst gen with the TV TV TV kinect necesary always online aproach versus the PS4... the consolidation gen... the one that made users grow masive digital backlogs.
 
I always felt bad for Major Nelson. He never deserved the bashing he got. I always defended him on here.
I just feel he wasn't in the right job as the public face.
You could never question his professional commitment or his passion as a gamer.
 
I don't understand why this guy was (and still is) doing PR jobs like that, he's always been absolutely terrible at it, and visibly disliked the consumers and journalists he had to deal with.
 
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The fanboy army it was his job to cultivate were about to eat him alive and he knew it. His job was going to be hell for years on end.
 
Xbox isn't dead, what are you guys mumbling about? COD7 is too big to fail but it failed? MS surely understand bigger numbers like we do with little numbers on a daily basis. People who aren't used to feel little numbers doesn't mean they're inherently evil, it's just human nature and with COD7 this is so good cause MS will address this issue and it'll never happen again.
 
Panic attacks are no joke. Had a couple of ones myself and it's not pleasant at all. Must've been an awful experience to be an Xbox executive and not support the Xbone vision. Completely sidelined only to be constantly harassed and hounded by green rats and ponies for years. No wonder he left the organization.
 
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Poor guy - did someone show him that modern TVs had media apps and more than one hdmi socket, just before the launch?

The xbox one was basically fucked.
 
Tiago Rodrigues said:
I can imagine what it was like for people that understood games / gaming and knowing they were about to give a presentation on Kinect and TV TV TV, ideas that came from suit guys that started meddling with the gaming business that it was a terrible idea. When those two visions clashed i can imagine how people like Major Nelson reacted back then.

It's like a train crash you know it's gonna happen and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

When you think about it, the effects from those months back in 2013 are still felt to this day.
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When was that not the case? Almost every largest company in gaming is run by people who don't give a fuck about gaming, don't understand it and look at fans with contempt.

EA
ABK
Ubi
 
Tiago Rodrigues said:
To this day i'll never understand how "if you don't like what we are about to release just stay with the old product from 8 years ago" was a good message. He really didn't even had to say anything but he kept going lol.
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I don't even KNOW what it means to be on a nuclear sub, but I gotta imagine it's not easy to get an internet connection!

IQ level one hundred million
 
Xbox One is the best modern example of a console conceptualised, designed, and marketed by people who absolutely do not understand videogames, gamers, or the videogames industry.

Which is kind of insane when you already have Nintendo, PlayStation, and even your own brand showing you how to do it.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs said:
#Lol,

Larry's role was literally to be a paid professional fanboy for Xbox. So he didn't tolerate xbots all day long, he was one... just wearing a suit and a stupid hat.
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That's how he always seemed to come across. But it's one thing to shill for a living, it's another to have to do it alongside others who do it for free.
 
It's been a long time since the people running at Xbox actually understood and cared about videogaming. And no, they still don't.
Fahdis said:
Why are these 2 standing so close together? Do they like smelling each other's breaths?
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if I was him there I would've taken a whiff if you get my drift
 
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Moriarty1889 said:
Truth and now Phil hides like a coward behind Sarah Bond who is as clueless as a brick. They should have been sacked long ago and maybe the brand could have turned around with the right people in charge. To late for that now it seems.
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Its not Phil. Its the whole company. They are mass producers of products which sell without them doing anything.micorsoft always tried to squeeze as much out with doing the least as it was their bussiness.
 
I suffered from panic disorder for 15 years, its scary. Basically after you have your first severe panic attack you are terrified of having another one and the thought alone can make you have one and end up in the ER, thinking your having heart problems.
 
hussar16 said:
Its not Phil. Its the whole company. They are mass producers of products which sell without them doing anything.micorsoft always tried to squeeze as much out with doing the least as it was their bussiness.
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Point well made sir. Yes MS do as little as possible when it comes to games. Everything they buy up turns to shite. Activision and COD will be next sadly.
 
Remember when he was getting absolutely grilled. He probably had more panic attacks the evening of the unveil and days after.

Poor sod.
 
I never really liked Major Nelson or completely understood why exactly he was the face of Xbox for as long as he was. I did enjoy the stories he told on this podcast only for the fact I love the 360, I adore that period of gaming (the last great period of gaming in my opinion) and am always happy to hear behind the scenes stories from that time but the fact he went to hospital is no good.
Still, watching back on some of the videos during the Xbox One launch period is cringe worthy stuff. Seeing him try to almost make out like we are all idiots for not seeing what they were trying to do and almost force us into a future they wanted is as funny now as it was infuriating back then.
They had such a good thing going with the 360 and they fucked it up completely. I'll never forget the complete disappointment I had when I picked up my Xbone on launch, turned it on, did the updates and got to the main screen and it was completely different user interface from the 360 and nothing seemed to work well. They fucked it all up big time and now are paying the price.
 
I can empathize with that. Panic attacks are incredibly awful, if you haven't experienced one you have no idea. It's not just in your head, it's not just what people usually call "panic" or "anxiety", it really physically feels like you're about to die.
 
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HeisenbergFX4 said:
Throw in the price vs PS and not being able to play used games and this was the start of the death of xbox
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For sure. Then Sony dropped that PS vid of how to play used/share games too.


xbox is about to become the next water cooler
 
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MacReady13 said:
I never really liked Major Nelson or completely understood why exactly he was the face of Xbox for as long as he was. I did enjoy the stories he told on this podcast only for the fact I love the 360, I adore that period of gaming (the last great period of gaming in my opinion) and am always happy to hear behind the scenes stories from that time but the fact he went to hospital is no good.
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I get the sentiment here, I really do, but this is objectively a strange take.

We've gotten incredible games this generation (hell, even just this year) from AAA to indie. Sure some high profile stuff has bombed big time but gamers are completely spoiled for choice in where to play, what to play, how to play. If you told me in 2009 that Sony was going to have a massively successful multiplayer game that they also put on Xbox and PC I'd have called you insane. If you told me Valve was going to release a portable for $400 that could basically play your entire Steam library I would had you evaluated
 
phant0m said:
I get the sentiment here, I really do, but this is objectively a strange take.

We've gotten incredible games this generation (hell, even just this year) from AAA to indie. Sure some high profile stuff has bombed big time but gamers are completely spoiled for choice in where to play, what to play, how to play. If you told me in 2009 that Sony was going to have a massively successful multiplayer game that they also put on Xbox and PC I'd have called you insane. If you told me Valve was going to release a portable for $400 that could basically play your entire Steam library I would had you evaluated
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I could give a rats ass about playing games on pc from console, I really could. Having a choice where to play games is ok but not a revolutionary thing for me.

I want the time when games cost less to make than Hollywood blockbusters (yes, I love so many indie games today so don't even go there. I'm talking about the tentpole "triple A games from the big devs). I want a time when games were released when they were finished and not released with myriad patches and using us gamers as beta testers. I want games to fuck off microtransactions and give us the full game on the disc (I get this started with the 360 era but it wasn't as egregious as it is now) . I want the days when the people making games cared about the gamers and not about pushing a god damned narrative that they think everyone cares about.
 
Evolved1 said:
just wrap your head in a towel and hope for the best.
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Animated GIF
 
Nelson was part of the old guard that made Xbox a powerhouse in 6th and 7th gens. He actually plays MW2 multiplayer on Xbox from time to time.
 
joey Dubs said:
I hope this is a satire piece. I hope it is about how he knew what Don Mattrick was gonna pull so that is why he had a panic attack.

I am seven years away from a pension as a career first responder; I really don't want to hear boo-hoo about a fucking corpo with anxiety because video game box. Go put your ass on the line and not know if you're gonna see the other side of the next sixty seconds and then come back and talk about your Xbox reveal anxiety. People here saying how rough they had it; dress shirts and conference rooms and multi-million dollar investments in entertainment software, yes, so very rough indeed. What a soft and misguided society this has become.
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Clickbait, he said he had a panic attack because he realized that moment the xbox360 era is done, the one he had the fondest memory of and now they are starting something fresh full of unknowns. Basically sad its really over and they are moving on from the 360. Not because he knew the price point or that they forgot its a gaming console (xbox one).
 
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joey Dubs said:
I hope this is a satire piece. I hope it is about how he knew what Don Mattrick was gonna pull so that is why he had a panic attack.

I am seven years away from a pension as a career first responder; I really don't want to hear boo-hoo about a fucking corpo with anxiety because video game box. Go put your ass on the line and not know if you're gonna see the other side of the next sixty seconds and then come back and talk about your Xbox reveal anxiety. People here saying how rough they had it; dress shirts and conference rooms and multi-million dollar investments in entertainment software, yes, so very rough indeed. What a soft and misguided society this has become.
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It's easy to be nice to the ones who deserve it. It's hard to be nice to assholes. That said I'm happy for your retirement, because I think you are terrible at your job.
 
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