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I can see the advantage to having something like this implemented, but my only fear stems from Microsoft stretching themselves to thin. Because their online support is already all in-house, I'm worried that they as well as other companies are losing focus on the reason we all bought the damn consoles. GAMES.
Look at the painstaking effort that Microsoft has already put in to arbitrarily forcing the Kinect to have some discernible purpose. I could rant about motion gaming but I plan on making a blog post about it in the near future. I digress.
Do you have any concerns about Microsoft continuing to grow as a monopoly? Do you have the same fear I do, that video game companies are leaning more and more towards the masses instead of creating things they are truly passionate about? Or is the current trend of pumping out "X numbered sequel of gritty shooter based on 'Y' badass and his badass friends" REALLY what is best for the industry? Where a 5-10 hour campaign followed up by 10 pieces of DLC basically ends up costing you over $100 just to get the full experience?
To me this just seems like the next step in filling their pockets with what will probably be an overpriced and under-furnished service. I hope I'm wrong.
Look at the painstaking effort that Microsoft has already put in to arbitrarily forcing the Kinect to have some discernible purpose. I could rant about motion gaming but I plan on making a blog post about it in the near future. I digress.
Do you have any concerns about Microsoft continuing to grow as a monopoly? Do you have the same fear I do, that video game companies are leaning more and more towards the masses instead of creating things they are truly passionate about? Or is the current trend of pumping out "X numbered sequel of gritty shooter based on 'Y' badass and his badass friends" REALLY what is best for the industry? Where a 5-10 hour campaign followed up by 10 pieces of DLC basically ends up costing you over $100 just to get the full experience?
To me this just seems like the next step in filling their pockets with what will probably be an overpriced and under-furnished service. I hope I'm wrong.
I do agree with you about the fear that Microsoft may stretch itself too thin with these technological implementations. I have a hard time believing that as their console grows to basically become an all in one media center, that Microsoft will not improve on their support at all or outsource some of this support to the companies of which they are acquiring product from. But then again, Microsoft is known for buying out and shutting down competitors so this will have to be thrown on the wait and see shelf. Where you and I may say that we buy our consoles for the sole purpose of gaming there are many others who buy theirs for other reasons. I can speak to the fact of my purchasing a PS3 solely for the Blu-Ray and media center abilities, or for giving a parent my old Xbox to use as a glorified Netflix machine. As we move into the future these are no longer going to be strictly gaming machines, and are going to be purchased by a much larger community than just gamers.
As for the Kinect and other motion gaming appliances I could not agree with you more. I would argue that motion gaming is much more of a waste of a company’s time and resources than adding Live TV or products like Netflix. Where having Netflix or ESPN on an Xbox does not directly affect the release time, price, or contents of a game itself, these motion gaming appliances do. I’ll leave the rest of this topic to your blog on the subject though, but you will not find an ounce of disagreement from me on this topic.
I am more threatened by a company such as EA moving towards monopolizing products than Microsoft. Whereas Microsoft continues to purchase companies and add more and more to their arsenal I do not think they will ever monopolize the field. For something like this to happen you would have to see Sony and Nintendo completely dissolve which I highly doubt will happen within the next few decades or possibly longer. I am not overly thrilled with companies making 50% of a game and charging $60 for it and then releasing the other 50% of the game in DLC that costs twice the starting price in total. I think that the industry as a whole has taken a sad turn by doing so, but I do not think having things like Netflix on a console has a direct correlation with a company like Bethesda releasing Fallout 3 for $60 and then releasing DLC for $20 a pop. I wish that the industry would return to its roots, but you can still find companies such as Atlas that will give you the best bang for your buck.
Don’t get me wrong, if Microsoft increases the pricing again on a Gold membership to include all of these additions I will have a huge problem. I think that they need to specialize memberships for what the individual is looking for. If I do not want to watch live TV on my Xbox I should not have to pay extra money for the service, but if I do I should have the option to purchase a different membership that includes all of these services. I hope that they prove me right and this ends up being a successful endeavor but I could definitely see it becoming yet another way to pull a few bucks out of gamer's pockets.
As for the Kinect and other motion gaming appliances I could not agree with you more. I would argue that motion gaming is much more of a waste of a company’s time and resources than adding Live TV or products like Netflix. Where having Netflix or ESPN on an Xbox does not directly affect the release time, price, or contents of a game itself, these motion gaming appliances do. I’ll leave the rest of this topic to your blog on the subject though, but you will not find an ounce of disagreement from me on this topic.
I am more threatened by a company such as EA moving towards monopolizing products than Microsoft. Whereas Microsoft continues to purchase companies and add more and more to their arsenal I do not think they will ever monopolize the field. For something like this to happen you would have to see Sony and Nintendo completely dissolve which I highly doubt will happen within the next few decades or possibly longer. I am not overly thrilled with companies making 50% of a game and charging $60 for it and then releasing the other 50% of the game in DLC that costs twice the starting price in total. I think that the industry as a whole has taken a sad turn by doing so, but I do not think having things like Netflix on a console has a direct correlation with a company like Bethesda releasing Fallout 3 for $60 and then releasing DLC for $20 a pop. I wish that the industry would return to its roots, but you can still find companies such as Atlas that will give you the best bang for your buck.
Don’t get me wrong, if Microsoft increases the pricing again on a Gold membership to include all of these additions I will have a huge problem. I think that they need to specialize memberships for what the individual is looking for. If I do not want to watch live TV on my Xbox I should not have to pay extra money for the service, but if I do I should have the option to purchase a different membership that includes all of these services. I hope that they prove me right and this ends up being a successful endeavor but I could definitely see it becoming yet another way to pull a few bucks out of gamer's pockets.
