Spong "MS a catalogue of Lies"

Where has SpONG been the last five years? It is pretty well known that MS is leveraging Xbox as a game console to get their foot in the door, and then expanding down the road into more of a set top box.

Anyway, all this extra stuff is just that, stuff. It'll still play games, and just as many as before. But now you will be able to access more. Convergence isn't a bad thing if handled properly. Sony is heading the same route...
 
Journalists should spend at least a few years in a real industry job.

It's not like Microsoft would have had only one strategy round in 1999, and would stick with those strategy decisions forever.

Instead, companies tend to have business analysts looking at the market, and strategy is adjusted to fit the world on a regular basis.

So - yes, strategies of commercial enterprices change over time, sometimes even dramatically. Boo fucking hoo.
 
I have coined a new phrase, for it is the harshest of insults: Spongtard.

Folder, for instance, is a Spongtard.
 
Where's that timeline pic that shows birth of black jesus, etc.. you... and now?
 
Spong = Journalism at its best
Talk about a cheap way to get some hits. I actually thought Spong was getting a tad better these (or maybe it was just the propaganda that's spread here by some people), but that was really low, even for their former self.
OMGBBQ MS SAID IT WAS ALL ABOUT GAME BUT IT WAS A LIE !!!111
 
Even though this was blindingly obvious from the start, Spong are totally wrong. Microsoft never said the Xbox was ONLY about gaming -- they said gaming FIRST. That was their justification for not allowing you to play DVDs without the remote, anyway: We don't want a half-assed machine that does everything, we want a great gaming machine that you could also use for... other stuff.

(Speaking of which, have Spong been in a closet since the January announcement of the Xbox Media Center Extender or what? It pretty much fulfils all Bach's bluster about sharing your movies/TV/music around the house on a basic level already.)

On the bright side, every time Folder does one of his SHOW ME WHERE SPONG IS CRAP EH EH EH???? posts we have something new to throw at him :-P
 
Blimblim said:
Spong = Journalism at its best
Talk about a cheap way to get some hits. I actually thought Spong was getting a tad better these (or maybe it was just the propaganda that's spread here by some people), but that was really low, even for their former self.
OMGBBQ MS SAID IT WAS ALL ABOUT GAME BUT IT WAS A LIE !!!111

If Spong had a time machine and a copy editor, the article might be good.
 
Blimblim said:
Spong = Journalism at its best
Talk about a cheap way to get some hits. I actually thought Spong was getting a tad better these (or maybe it was just the propaganda that's spread here by some people), but that was really low, even for their former self.
OMGBBQ MS SAID IT WAS ALL ABOUT GAME BUT IT WAS A LIE !!!111

I think it's long past time to put the ***** filter back in. And maybe a permaban on ***** employees :lol
 
OMG WTF MATES?!? MS R SITTING ON TRONE OF LIES! tEH EVIL!

THANK YOU SPONG, YOU R SAVING HUMANITY FROM MS NEFARIOUS PLAN!
 
You know, I was reading the article and the whole time I was thinking "ok", wasn't suprised or bothered by anything they wrote. Then I got to this wonderful nugget and I just lost hope.

Microsoft quite simply got away with telling perhaps the biggest set of lies the technology sector has ever seen and certainly the most astounding lies in the games sector.

Nothing aggravates me more than sensationalist media from someone who doesn't have a damn clue as to what is coming out of their mouth. If you want to pretend like it's some atrocity, fine look like a fool. The problem is what Microsoft did/hasn't done pales in comparison to the type of garbage that has been going down in both sectors since the 80's.
 
Now SPOnG would like regular readers to cast their minds back to around this point in the pre-release phase of the original Xbox. Can you remember how the entire Xbox project was only about gaming.
No, I seem to remember how they announced it would also be able to rip CDs to the HDD so you would be able to use the XB as a digital jukebox, as well as announcing it would offer DVD playback as an add-on option.

And in a final bombshell hidden away at the end of the interview Bach uses the ‘T’ word for the first time in relation to Xbox operations. “Communications turns out to be a very important scenario as well, whether that's chat, messaging, blogging or telephony.”
Bombshell? I guess spong doesn't have access to the latest versions of XBL...
 
MS Press Release

MS REVEALS SPONG CATALOGUE OF LIES
Computer Software Giant Sheds Light on Spong Deceit


REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 6, 2004 - "Well... It's spong", proclaimed Microsoft founder, Bill Gates.

For more information about Microsoft visit their website at www.microsoft.com
 
Where is Folder? Spong threads not created by him usually attract him like a firefly....
 
DarienA said:
Where is Folder? Spong threads not created by him usually attract him like a firefly....

He should post more pics of his girlfriend to make up for this shit :D
 
To tha rescueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

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Blimblim said:
Spong = Journalism at its best
Talk about a cheap way to get some hits. I actually thought Spong was getting a tad better these (or maybe it was just the propaganda that's spread here by some people), but that was really low, even for their former self.
OMGBBQ MS SAID IT WAS ALL ABOUT GAME BUT IT WAS A LIE !!!111

Yeah, I thought they were slightly concerned about their credibility for a while, but after the RE4 Xbox announcement (which was supposed to be a few weeks back) and this, I think they're back in the crapper.
 
boutrosinit said:
RE4 Xbox announcement?

You missed that? They announced that within 14 days of the news item we'd see an official announcement of RE4 to the Xbox.

Then later either Folder told us here or they modified the article to say well it may not happen because they just may want to wait til later to announce it.
 
Fowler said:
Even though this was blindingly obvious from the start, Spong are totally wrong. Microsoft never said the Xbox was ONLY about gaming -- they said gaming FIRST. That was their justification for not allowing you to play DVDs without the remote, anyway: We don't want a half-assed machine that does everything, we want a great gaming machine that you could also use for... other stuff.

No, you're wrong there. Microsoft did categorically deny the possibility of Xbox being some kind of home networking hub. They didn't just say "gaming first", they really did say GAMING ONLY. Of course, anyone with half a brain knew they were fibbing. That didn't stop many folks from defending them on messageboards though. Believe me, I was on one in particular where the entire board was convinced that Microsoft would NEVER use the Xbox as a trojan horse to become a set-top box.

Robbie Bach, Blackley, Fries, Allard... they all said it was a games-only device and would never become anything else. But even at the beginning you had Ballmer accidentally speaking about Xbox as media convergence machine in interviews or off the cuff comments and then later those comments would be retracted. This was a carefully managed information plan by MS. Now that they've got a large group of gamers on board, they can talk more openly about it.

As far as I'm concerned though, set-top box is still a dirty phrase. Give me games only and stop marginalizing the hobby into some tiny segment of a larger home entertainment category.
 
MrPing1000 said:
best thing was when someone from gaf sent them stuff that they just made up. Good times

Even better was the reply from Spong to someone via email saying that MS were evil.

did Millhouse ever keep copies of how he owned them with all that stuff? I may, actually - I remember emailing the text to someone for a laugh.
 
Dave Long said:
No, you're wrong there. Microsoft did categorically deny the possibility of Xbox being some kind of home networking hub. They didn't just say "gaming first", they really did say GAMING ONLY. Of course, anyone with half a brain knew they were fibbing. That didn't stop many folks from defending them on messageboards though. Believe me, I was on one in particular where the entire board was convinced that Microsoft would NEVER use the Xbox as a trojan horse to become a set-top box.

Robbie Bach, Blackley, Fries, Allard... they all said it was a games-only device and would never become anything else. But even at the beginning you had Ballmer accidentally speaking about Xbox as media convergence machine in interviews or off the cuff comments and then later those comments would be retracted. This was a carefully managed information plan by MS. Now that they've got a large group of gamers on board, they can talk more openly about it.

As far as I'm concerned though, set-top box is still a dirty phrase. Give me games only and stop marginalizing the hobby into some tiny segment of a larger home entertainment category.
Really? How about this from Bill Gates' GDC Keynote Address, March 9, 2000, in which he officially announced the Xbox for the first time?

Bill Gates said:
Our goal is to create a platform that allows wonderful applications to be built for all of them. And, in fact, in many ways, those devices need to work together. If you have preferences. If you have communications, you don't want to have to manually move that data around. You want that to happen automatically because of the platform. And so Microsoft's vision statement talks about great software anytime, any place and on any device. And so the announcements we're making today really fit into that "any device" vision.

Bill Gates said:
And it's a DVD drive, you can stick in a DVD movie and get automatic playback

Never EVER is it said that this is "only for gaming." In fact, I think I've already proved that that specifically was not said. The CLOSEST they come is this:

Bill Gates said:
Keep in mind, this is a traditional game console. It will look great in the living room, it will be priced like a game console, it's got the traditional software royalty model of a game console.

And why all the talk about games and very little about other things? Well, perhaps because, I don't know, this was the GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE.
 
There were numerous instances of Microsoft specifically distancing the Xbox from the "set-top box" ideal by constantly pointing out its use only for games. If you all choose to have selective memory, that's not my problem.
 
I'm confused. This article is a joke, right? Everyone and their mother knew this was the direction of the Xbox 1/2 and not to mention, the PS2/3.

Does the article imply that gaming will no longer be the emphasis of the Xenon? Cause the only way i can see this article having any journalistic merit, with the title they have given it, is for the Xenon to not play games and to be a media focused only set top box.

The title is nothing more than a "National Enquirer" type of headline used more for shock to generate hits, than to convey any real news.
 
I know MS said they woudnt allow the XB to become a "PC port box" but I never recall them signing off on a "soley a games console" deal.
 
Any1 said:
The title is nothing more than a "National Enquirer" type of headline used more for shock to generate hits, than to convey any real news.
Id say it's more a "The Sun" headline. And I mean this as an insult.
 
Dave Long said:
There were numerous instances of Microsoft specifically distancing the Xbox from the "set-top box" ideal by constantly pointing out its use only for games. If you all choose to have selective memory, that's not my problem.

I think the bozos at SPONG and a few folks here are using the term XBox in a way that differs from how Microsoft is using it. MS is talking about the brand as a whole - the same way Sony talks about Playstation in reference to the brand. MS was specific in that the first iteration of the XBox would focus on games, but could expand to cover other media. I can't find the interview, but Robbie Bach is on record saying that if the first "iteration of XBox is successful" then the next would try to expand it functionality beyond games. But to succeed as a multi-use platform, they needed to succeed at games first.

I don't see any contradiction here. I had no plans to buy an XBox until about 6 months after it came out, and so hadn't paid much attention to it before then, and even then I knew what MS was up to because they said it so bloody often. (Such as in MetatronM's quotes above.)
 
Dave Long said:
There were numerous instances of Microsoft specifically distancing the Xbox from the "set-top box" ideal by constantly pointing out its use only for games.
You haven't singled out and quoted any of these "numerous instances". You're the one working from memory here. Metatron actually has quotes supporting his assertions about MS's past stance.
 
border said:
You haven't singled out and quoted any of these "numerous instances". You're the one working from memory here. Metatron actually has quotes supporting his assertions about MS's past stance.

And how do we know Metatron isn't making them up? Do you see any links? Any articles? I don't. So how do we know? Hmmmmm? HMMMMMMM?
 
Because Metatron is a longtime poster who is not prone to lying, and probably doesn't want to damage his reputation by doing so.

Also, it takes a whopping 5 seconds to verify the quotes with Google. =\
 
Here's the whole paragraph from which you quote above...

The modest tag line here is "the future of console gaming." So this is the device for the living room. It's a device that will come out in Fall 2001. We're here today announcing it for a simple reason, we need your best efforts to take what's in this platform and create amazing game products around it. Now the X-Box is quite an amazing product. I want to go through a little bit here what actually is inside the box. Keep in mind, this is a traditional game console. It will look great in the living room, it will be priced like a game console, it's got the traditional software royalty model of a game console.

Sorry if you don't see it that way, but I think this specifically targets gaming and is easily interpreted to mean games only.

It continues through every interview that Fries and Allard did after this too. Just hop over to TeamXbox and go through their old news archives. A lot of the interviews are gone because sites that hosted them are dead, but a lot still remains too. They ALWAYS talk about the games specifically and how the Xbox is envisioned solely around games.

You can always use the excuse "Oh, they were talking to gamers or developers so would you expect them to have a different message?" and really that's bull. Because I ARGUED with people about this for two years before Microsoft finally started publically admitting that the real goal was beyond games... having grandma put her pictures on the Xbox and all that goes along with that.

I'd love to take the time to find a myriad of articles about it and in fact I started doing just that at TXB but then I realized that I don't have to. This is common knowledge.
 
I'm still missing where anyone explicitly said GAMES ONLY.....not some slipshod interpretation of a sentence that could just as easily mean "predominantly games".

You don't have to find a "myriad of articles", I was just asking for one or two. Where is it stated that Xbox was exclusively a game platform? How does one reconcile that with the fact that it offered DVD playback from day one?

They wanted to keep the focus on games because that's their core market. But where did they "categorically deny the possibility of Xbox being some kind of home networking hub"?
 
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