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Microsoft Studios' creative director has some choice words about always-online

R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
MSFT stock didn't change much during the course of this madness. It's actually up a bit now from when I checked a few hours ago. Though that could abruptly change if something dramatic happens.
 
Who is this evillore fella?

You know you just asked "Who is God?", right?

hPi6vxE.png
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Unrelated to this hoopla but reddit-related, original posting has been removed by mods in /r/gaming.

As if this isn't further proof /r/gaming has been shit and /r/games should be the default subreddit (though granted, since it isn't that's why the quality is up where /r/gaming's is shit).

Or they do a moderation purge. Whichever.
 
If it's true, then these reactions were inevitable. If it's not, then they don't matter. People give a shit about functionality (which includes always online!), about software (which might have to do with always online!), but when it comes to voting with their wallet? the only thing Microsoft cares and will listen to?

No. No one gives a shit about some idiot on Twitter.

It's not the messenger, it's the message.
 

tokkun

Member
Do you really believe rumors half a year away from launch will be more influential than months of marketing and promotion?

I honestly think that the bad publicity over the rootkit from Sony's music department played a roll in the PS3's slow start (not as big a role as $599 USD, but still a significant one).

At the time, if you went on sites like Digg, any PS3-related article would get downvoted, and people would respond with a chorus of "Wii60!". This was before the disastrous 2006 E3 conference, mind you - before people had the real details of price, enemy crabs, and whatnot, and when the main PS3 details we had were the hyperbolically-awesome false promises of E3 2005. The rootkit stuff, which wasn't even game-related, was enough to significantly turn the tides of opinion on popular communities.

Now, isn't there kind of a parallel here? An anti-consumer DRM solution is being talked about, and now Digg's successor, Reddit, is starting to develop a similar sentiment against Microsoft. And once people on that type of hivemind site decide to hate a company or product, it is pretty difficult to reverse that, even if the original reason for the hate turns out to be false or overstated.

If you want to take the analogy out of the videogame realm, look at what happened in the last election. A ton of scrutiny was put on Romney's offshore accounts. By the time he started pushing his side of the story that he didn't have any control over his blind trust months later, it was already too late because many people had changed their general perception of him to be a heartless plutocrat. The negative rumors that swirled around him 6 months before the election and months before he even had the official nomination turned out to be incredibly damaging.

It seems like they have no control over the narrative around Durango, and that is very dangerous.
 
Oh, thank God.

In my defense, Internet sarcasm is hard.

It's Anihawk, it's best to assume he is being sarcastic (unless he is talking about a specific game).

So then it'd be a great PR boost when they announce at the conference "hey guys, it's not always online!" The easiest way to impress is when the expectations are low.

It's not going to be a PR boost, at best it will be painted as "see guys, we aren't that stupid". Also considering MS have spent the last 2 gens trying to appeal to "core gamers", this is just another sign that that has changed.
 

Juken

Member
Because if the rumors are false, then they will be proven false at the reveal and they will have MONTHS before the release to control the narrative. If they deny now, then they automatically lose control of the narrative and start discussing the 720 on our terms rather than on their terms.

I understand the logic, but it's not so cut and dry. There is a threshold that could be passed here where "no comment" is no longer the best option.

If they were to let this go on and it doesn't subside, you end up with a prolonged period of negativity which may cause them to lose control of the message regardless. Not that I think that it will get to that point, but it's possible.
 
Well, there you have it people:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/5/4186676/always-on-consoles-unease-xbox-adam-orth-microsoft

Polygon: Microsoft Studios creative director's tweets bring always-on console unease to a head

edit:
hah, yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/always-online...ios-creative-director-173731528--finance.html

oh man. I love that this blew up in Adam's face. And hopefully this will make MS back down from always-online. Hopefully there's still time to reverse that decision. Otherwise I will not purchase.
 

Boss Man

Member
Well, there you have it people:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/5/4186676/always-on-consoles-unease-xbox-adam-orth-microsoft

Polygon: Microsoft Studios creative director's tweets bring always-on console unease to a head

edit:
hah, yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/always-online...ios-creative-director-173731528--finance.html
They don't mention the stupid analogies.

They don't mention the offensive "Why would I live there?" tweet.

The headers are,
"I WANT EVERY DEVICE TO BE 'ALWAYS ON'"
"ADAM IS A REALLY GREAT GUY"

What a fucking joke of a site.
 
Well, there you have it people:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/5/4186676/always-on-consoles-unease-xbox-adam-orth-microsoft

Polygon: Microsoft Studios creative director's tweets bring always-on console unease to a head

edit:
hah, yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/always-online...ios-creative-director-173731528--finance.html

They sourced NeoGaf, that cesspool.

In all seriousness though. We are apparently such shit, but continuously get sourced by Polygon and other sites.
 

unbias

Member
I understand the logic, but it's not so cut and dry. There is a threshold that could be passed here where "no comment" is no longer the best option.

If they were to let this go on and it doesn't subside, you end up with a prolonged period of negativity which may cause them to lose the message regardless. Not that I think that it will get to that point, but it's possible.

Or it would create the perception of the next system will be always online, whether true or not(very much like many uninformed consumers thinking the WII-U was a controller peripheral) because of a perception created before the full console was announced.
 

sflufan

Banned
Rösti;52807278 said:
MSFT stock didn't change much during the course of this madness. It's actually up a bit now from when I checked a few hours ago. Though that could abruptly change if something dramatic happens.

There is absolutely no reason for the stock to move one cent because of this situation because it's a storm in a teacup outside of the enthusiast press.
 

Gui_PT

Member
oh man. I love that this blew up in that twerp's face. And hopefully this will make MS back down from always-online. Hopefully there's still time to reverse that decision. Otherwise I will not purchase.

Highly doubt they'll go back on their decision. If they've decided to make it always online, it'll be always online.
 
Well, there you have it people:

http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/5/4186676/always-on-consoles-unease-xbox-adam-orth-microsoft

Polygon: Microsoft Studios creative director's tweets bring always-on console unease to a head

edit:
hah, yahoo: http://news.yahoo.com/always-online...ios-creative-director-173731528--finance.html

lol! via the verge.... they couldnt even bring themselves to post it..it had to be someone from a different department

Edit: nvm, some polygon intern sourcing the verge..
 
I have no fucking idea what is going on with this new Xbox. A lot of people feel like Microsoft is being arrogant/proud of what they have to show and other people feel like there has been some internal squabbling when it comes to when to show this thing and what direction the brand should be taken in. I got bad feelings about this when it was confirmed a while back that a lot of major people that had a hand in the development of the Xbox and the 360 either left due to disagreements or were pushed out. The writing is on the wall. Look at what they did to Rare, look at their past two Kinect-fueled Usher dancing E3s, look at their past anti consumer practices of hiding behind a paywall, look at the fact that they're opening up entertainment studios to supplement their apps vision. The sad thing is that they'll probably get away with it because people somehow see this thing as the Call of Duty/Madden machine.
 

Boss Man

Member
They don't mention the stupid analogies.

They don't mention the offensive "Why would I live there?" tweet.

The headers are,
"I WANT EVERY DEVICE TO BE 'ALWAYS ON'"
"ADAM IS A REALLY GREAT GUY"

What a fucking joke of a site.
And here's what they close on:

Leaks aren't unique to the gaming or entertainment industries; they're just as prevalent in fields like politics and business. But the gaming industry seems particularly concerned with secrecy, which is difficult to maintain when social media is so integrated with the lives of the people who make and play games. And that's made even tougher by gaming fans, the most ardent of whom are constantly scouring the web for the smallest tidbits of information that might hint at the future of the industry — tidbits like a few tweets on someone's personal account.

Not everyone is dreading the prospect of an always-on future. Michael Hartmann, CEO of indie studio Frogdice, said yesterday that he hopes "the entire next gen" consists of always-on devices.

"I love anything AAA does to make it easier for us indies to sell our games," he explained.

It's like they can't even help it. They know they have to acknowledge this, and they sit down to write the article...but it just can't help but come out this way.
 
So then it'd be a great PR boost when they announce at the conference "hey guys, it's not always online!" The easiest way to impress is when the expectations are low.

I still remember early 2006.

"Guys, guys, I'm sure Ken K was just kidding about the second job thing, lol. Sony has all the momentum, no way they'd be that dumb. He's just setting people up to celebrate at E3 when they announce PS3 is $299!"


yeah... and we all remember what happened.
 

jtb

Banned
Or it would create the perception of the next system will be always online, whether true or not(very much like many uninformed consumers thinking the WII-U was a controller peripheral) because of a perception created before the full console was announced.

Well, I think the audience for the Wii-U and the 360 are different. Maybe I have too much faith in Microsoft's marketing and PR department, but I don't see that being an issue (again, assuming it's not always-online) once the pre-release marketing blitz hits its stride. But then again.... Microsoft did royally fuck up the Windows 8, Surface, and WP launches... and Zune.... oh fuck, I think I'm coming around to your point of view.

I do still think the no comment is just an innocuous no comment though.


I still remember early 2006.

"Guys, guys, I'm sure Ken K was just kidding about the second job thing, lol. Sony has all the momentum, no way they'd be that dumb. He's just setting people up to celebrate at E3 when they announce PS3 is $299!"


yeah... and we all remember what happened.

Sony didn't lose buyers because of some idiotic comment Ken made. Sony lost buyers because they priced their console out of the market.

That's my point. The twitter thing and this ensuing little shitstorm? No one gives a shit. But the feature itself? That, people will give a shit about.
 

unbias

Member
Well, I think the audience for the Wii-U and the 360 are different. Maybe I have too much faith in Microsoft's marketing and PR department, but I don't see that being an issue (again, assuming it's not always-online) once the pre-release marketing blitz hits its stride. But then again.... Microsoft did royally fuck up the Windows 8, Surface, and WP launches... and Zune.... oh fuck, I think I'm coming around to your point of view.

I do still think the no comment is just an innocuous no comment though.

Sure, but I'm not looking at it as simply as that. If they thought an always online console was damaging to their brand(Microsoft as a whole), they would say something. Knowing MS and their past history, they are easily arrogant enough to think they could pull it off, which is why a no comment, to me(with their history), is a serious pause for concern.
 

Speevy

Banned
Nah, you need an example that makes it clear.

Single player game, player walks up the final boss. Connection error.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
I like how this thread is nearly four times bigger than the thread about the Kotaku rumor.

We love us some drama.
 

Ravage

Member
It's cute how all the pirates are upset about "always online", though. Oh, not a pirate, just don't have a stable Internet connection? Go buy a Wii U. Nintendo has your back.

So i'm a pirate now for not accepting always-online DRM?

Amazing.
 
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