You can forget the birth of the World Wide Web or the creation of the .com. You might as well throw the rise of the blogs or the invention of Youtube in the trash can. According to Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg, being able to buy a pair of sunglasses for a bobble-headed cartoon character trumps all those Internet hallmarks.
The Xbox Live product management director has suggested that the launch of the New Xbox Experience could be the biggest moment in Internet history. Before that, however, he promised that we so-called "core" gamers will get some edgy-as-Hell avatars:
"[W]e realize that for core gamers, they’re going to want their avatars to be a lot edgier, not as cute. We’re going to do a lot of things to enable that—not just looks and feels and clothes, but you’ll even be able to unlock things in games."
I dread to think what Microsoft's idea of "edgy" is. I'm guessing it involves flared trousers and pink shirts. Because Microsoft is boiler in the hood, son. Solid boiler. Greenberg then went on to make his boastful claim:
"With that 14 million people [getting the update], it’s probably the biggest moment in the history of the Internet."
You don't get much bigger than that. Google is probably sh*tting itself over this as I speak. Microsoft has already confirmed it -- The NXE will be BIGGER than GOOGLE! Thus it was promised, thus it better come true or we will all be bitterly disappointed.
Ball's in your court, Microsoft.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
5:10 PM on 10.16.2008
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What the fuck does that mean, you silly Redcoat?
That's huge!
makes me want to dress all edgy!
While it is an important moment, it's not a phenomenon and stuff. Seriously. Face it, Microsoft, this won't reclaim Gate's first place of the richest man in the world!
Also o don't give a shit about avatars either. I have enough digital personas on Wii.
damn!
this is huge!
Stop talking to press types! Don't you know by now that whatever you say will not be good for you?
Thanks
The interwebz
Lets not knock it until we try it.
Lets give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt here. It could very well be the best thing since sliced bread.
/sarcasm, obviously
I can't believe this guy is serious. What core gamers want is not to have stupid unnecessary avatars forced upon them in the first place. They're annoying enough on the Wii, but you don' HAVE to create them to play games on that system. Microsoft, this is a terrible, horrible no good very bad decision.
It's foolish. If you really feel it necessary to basically copy Nintendo's cutesy thing, then do, but for god's sake don't force them down our throats. The people who are playing on the 360 do so because they like (generally) what it has to offer. If they wanted "avatars" they'd be gaming on the Wii. When you push something cute and cuddly on your audience like this it shows that you don't really understand who your audience is.
This is comparable to the design of the 360, which didn't allow enough air circulation and led to overheating. The new system had to be thin, thin thin because Microsoft was tired of having its system compared to a large toaster. So thin it was.... meanwhile the actual XBox gamers generally didn't care that their original system (XBox) was a big enormous brick. It generally worked quite well, it didn't suffer from overheating problems, every system came with ethernet networking and a hard drive built-in.
MS, stop trying to copy Nintendo and please take some time to learn who your customers are.
What a tard. Well, enjoy your avatars people.
Man, you completely summed up my entire opinion on the Xbox 360. Does this mean we're soul mates?
its really quite funny that M$ thinks that its got ANYTHING to do with the biggest thing on the internet....
I can't really imagine the avatars being edgy, or even cute for that matter.
Everybody loses!
You heard it here first/last!
"not as cute" = Men will still look like women
"looks and feels" = Tricksy Hobbits!
That's probably about right...Firefox 3 holds the record at 8 million downloads in 24 hours.
If the NXE gets downloaded to all the Live enabled boxes in a 24 hour period it WILL be the biggest download moment in the history of the internet and hold a Guiness record.
It could mean that. Do you sometimes look up at the moon thinking deep thoughts and wonder if there's someone else around the world looking up at it at the same time and thinking the same deep thoughts?
That's edgy.