As much as you hate the One right now, chances are you're going to buy one sometime during its lifespan because you are a gamer and it will be tough to resist when all is said and done. Here's five reasons why the One will top the charts:
Brilliant opening salvo, for the record... before elaborating, he used his amazing psychic powers to determine everyone reading the post on neoGAF will be persuaded to ignore how horrific its anti-consumer practices are so we can play some games and spite ourselves forever after as the industry drowns in flames.
Well, I am sure some of those people exist. But Xbox One could get Dark Souls III, Call of Duty, could fucking buy out Nintendo and get Mario, Zelda and Metroid - all exclusive - and short of every console offering free blow jobs on top of it, I still will not get it, because I am not in the business of fucking my own face to death. I like my face.
Kinect 2.0
Kinect 2.0 will be the next Wiimote. The new Dance Central and Kinect Sports will be just the tip of the iceberg. MS knows they need a few more killer apps to start the avalanche effect and that's exactly what they have been working on in the hopes of having the next "Wii Sports" phenomenon on their hands. No other system can provide this type of mass market offering for grandma and little tommy alike.
Hahah, lordy. So many things wrong with this first point.
1. Kinect 2.0 can never be the next wiimote because its utility for 99% of genres is essentially nothing but pain and shitty gimmicks. Because it lacks tactile feedback and buttons, it's basic functionality is somewhere between miles behind the wiimote and stabbing yourself in the penis with a steak knife and then trying to control a game with the entrenched, bloody blade still stuck inside you, acting as if it was an analog stick.
2. Kinect 2.0 can never be the next wiimote because Microsoft already burned off the hype over the technology when it blew its load on $500 million marketing for the 360 version of the technology. Now it's no longer fresh and new, and trying to describe in commercials that HOMG IT CAN NOW DETECT YOUR HEART and notice your fingers is going to inspire about as much new fervor as the latest Milli Vanilli Zombie revival concert. Nintendo learned that with gimmickry like this, eventually people get tired of it and move on to the next big thing. Essentially, Kinect is already the old kid on the block. Nobody gives a fuck anymore. When you start telling consumers to expect wild gimmicks, they start developing a sort of ADHD syndrome where they always expect such a thing from that company, and when they fail to keep delivering that quick buzz of empty, short-term appeasement, as is inevitable, people move on faster than you can say "Red light, green light, 1-2-3."
3. Precisely what games out of the only genres around that actually function with the Kinect will be its "Wii Sports"? Hm? Come on, what? They already have a Kinect Sports, old hat. They already have a Dance Central, also old hat. None will be the catalyst to sell systems like Wii Sports. So, out of the wide range of potential options and genres - you know, like all two of the genres that actually function in a way that doesn't inspire a person to run headfirst into highway traffic - which will get its golden goose? Dance games, or shitty mini-game compilations? Or maybe they'll get some MAGICAL KINECT hybrid game where you use a controller and issue voice commands, which of course could have simply be done with a headset and without concern for Xbox conferences accidentally fucking up your recognition.
4. LMFAO. just because it's so hilarious, I think the 4th point I'd like to make is simply "LMFAO."
Power of Dudebro
The biggest franchises out there will be on One. Some of them will be on the PS4, sure, but there's nowhere else where you'll find Halo, COD, Gears, Madden, etc. all on one console. Don't underestimate the dudebros who continue to fuel the yearly installments of COD, etc. and play it on the 360/PS3 instead of playing superior graphical versions on PC. The hardcore may care about FPS and res and such, but dudebro's don't.
oh wow, no where else you'll find the exact same shit you found on Xbox 360, only now with the ability to fuck yourself as a consumer! What true wonderful innovation we have here.
Nobody will underestimate dudebros, but this is a new gen and like most gens before it, it is always the games nobody expects that will blow the game open, not old franchises that every system will be getting anyway.
Marketing
Wii U already has a flat tire so only the PS4 is in the way from topping the charts. Wii U will rebound a bit, no doubt, and PS4 is formidable, but Microsoft already proved it can maneuver around Sony whenever it needs to to maintain sales momentum whether that comes in the form of advertisements, aggressive price cuts and promos, or marketing deals with publishers. Microsoft has the deeper pockets and it's looking like they may have a price advantage all gen long.
This is the one point where you'd gain some traction. Microsoft has an inordinate amount of money, a hellish desire to fuck all gamers everywhere, and no hesitation about bullshitting their way to the top. At least Sony spent generations building up massive amounts of franchises and development teams, Microsoft was pretty much puttering out at the end with horrific Kinect titles and middling, long-in-the-tooth versions of franchises everybody is finally starting to get a little tired of (except Forza Horizon. Shit was rad). Hopefully Microsoft's "15 exclusives in the first year" means compelling first party vision that suggests they'll be investing in a more meaningful way, so that the marketing isn't just vapid nonsense.
Sony seems hungrier, but I don't think any amount of hunger is going to magically give them enough money to spend as crazily for marketing as Microsoft.
But as we all know, the market is ever so slightly more complex than a single good marketing campaign.
Exclusives
There will be a bunch of One exclusives, moneyhat variety or otherwise. A handful of those will be hard to resist for even the biggest Sony or Nintendo fan so gamers will give in whether they like it or not. There's already been talk of Microsoft opening the wallet for Respawn's game and possibly Dead Rising 3. We know Ryse is coming and sounds like Insomniac and others may have exclusive stuff in the works.
This is just empty rhetoric, since Sony will have tons of exclusives as well (and their first party output is becoming exceedingly powerful in a wide diversity of genres at this point). So will Nintendo. And so far their 'money hat' brought them some exclusive shit within a mode that PS4 is getting too (Ultimate Team) on FIFA, and some first go at DLC for Call of Duty. I mean, neat and all, but this is the same sort of 'exclusives' that dominated last gen and largely become the butt of many jokes throughout the gen for both PS3 and Xbox 360, as Microsoft and Sony kept fighting over the most hilarious low-hanging fruit.
"Omg you guys, I just got the PS3 version of Assassin's Creed and it has a whole
60 minutes of exclusive content where you participate in a tedious fetch quest for all of that time! Truly Sony is opening those purse strings!"
Innovation
Microsoft were big innovators with the 360, whether people want to admit it or not and it's looking like they will keep that trend going. Gamers who think that Sony won't follow suit with the used games restrictions are fooling themselves. The future is here. You will either support it or not (see Steam). Dedicated servers, dynamic achievements, in-game skype and internet feeds, video sharing, cloud enhancements, clean and snappy interface, real-time multitasking/switching, smart TV, etc., etc. Few companies will be able to match the One's online gaming experience, but it will come at a cost, of course.
They've largely innovated purely in the online space, but it also came with all sorts of caveats that consumers are slowly starting to pick up on. Microsoft has to do a metric fuckton to suggest that their online service will continue to be worth paying for in the face of a PS4 which similarly has an insane amount of features just like you mention. And Sony's PlayStation Plus service is a value so insane in comparison to the Xbox Live service that it immediately made it an insult to me to continue paying for Live. I was already considering jumping ship after Kinect came out and destroyed everything that I loved about 360 piece by piece, but once I tried PS+ I pretty much stopped paying for XBL altogether.
I'm just a silly, insignificant anecdote in this case, of course, but you seem to be greatly exaggerating the breadth of their 'innovations'.
Nah, but he's a real old school Xbox flag holder, so it's expected some push back from one of these old school cats. So far it's been pretty much harson, DopeyFish, this guy and like a handful of others, and most of them are from the class of '02.
