Microsoft Cancels E3 Post-Conference Info Session

[Lightknight]

The excuse is paper thin, a "scheduling conflict" for an important date that they have probably been planning for all year? Suuuuure.
No, the backlash against all the "features" of the Xbox One that serve Microsoft and publishers more than the people actually buying the product was much greater than expected and they are falling back on the one tactic they know best, silence. It is pretty sad to see.

Right, E3 should be the scheduling conflict for which they have to ditch other events. It's also not like they only have one person that understand the product.

This is purely damage control. Plain and simple. Their scheduling conflict is that they have time set aside around then to not accidentally give the media something else to complain about it.

 

[Colt47]

Someone needs to run a poll on which reveal was worse: The Sega Saturn or the Xbox One. I would have definitely said the saturn before, but this one is coming really close.

Pardon my ignorance but what was so bad about the Sega Saturn (aside from The PSX stealing its sales)? I always thought the Sega Neptune or CD was Sega's downfall.

In the case of the Saturn, the console was already on the store shelves during the E3 release and they restricted the number of 2D games that were allowed to be released on it. Ironically, the Saturn was a power house with 2D games but had very sketchy 3d support, so as you can imagine this didn't sit well with developers. Neither did not having any heads up on the console pre-release.

Microsoft on the other hand is doing it's best to alienate the people it is supposed to sell the Xbox One to, to the point where most people are just watching to see how far the boat goes before it completely sinks into the ocean.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

What the escapist or destructoid or rock, paper, shotgun or gamespot, or kotaku thinks about MS at this point is irrelevant, because as MS sees it they've already lost them. As important as those outlets may be to hardcore gamers, a single well-crafted nation-wide advertising campaign will reach far more people than any gaming press ever will; all while allowing them to carefully shape and control the message.

The problem is, hardcore gamers are the reliable bread and butter consumers of video games. They are the ones that buy game after game, time after time.

If you lose them, you will end up just like Nintendo. Praying that whatever gimmicks your toy has is capable of attracting the single-purchase-then-to-the-closet-it-go mainstream market.

Nah, us hardcore crowd will just be buying the console anyway like Microsoft said, because, you know, we're hardcore and stuff, and buying every console for the hell of it is our god-given duty. Microsoft has every right to piss over our petty questions so they can focus on more important things: convincing everyone that they need to spend $600+ on an 'all-in-one' media center, astonishing features such as 'streaming TV' and 'playing music' their computer is already capable of doing itself with half the hassles...

OT: Microsoft, you continue to insult our intelligence with this bullshit. Nintendo may have screwed up the Wii U's launch, but at least that was because of misinformation (new console lolwut?), not because they blatantly refused to answer any difficult questions (not that any existed to the best of my knowledge), and for all of Sony's secrecy, all they had to do is say "The PS4 is designed primarily for games" to reassure everyone.

Back off topic, unlike Nintendo who's using a gimmicky tablet and Sony who's focusing on that bloody 'share' button, both of which MAY work, you had to go one worse: to take an idea that we all know DOES NOT FUCKING WORK and force it on us, which now you won't answer difficult questions about regarding invasion of privacy because you're so bloody terrified that someone will say something stupid (or worst, honest) if they're not reading off a script.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Not the brightest move after the utter failure of the Xbone announcement

 

[Icehearted]

I wonder if they will have the gall to actually pretend to be shocked at how people will react to all of this once this monstrosity is on the shelves and sales are tanking.

 

[Simon1]

This... this is hilarious. I fucking called this. Their entire E3 presentation is likely going to be damage control. Meanwhile, we'll finally get to see the PS4 box, and hopefully Nintendo might announce something at their own conference later this year. As is though, it looks like the Xbone is a sinking ship on the scale of the ET for the Atari.

Better get those landfill's ready Microsoft.

 

[Stevepinto3]

So how long until they give us some solid answers as to what the fuck the thing actually does? A year after it's released?

This is the most ridiculously awful PR for a console I think I've ever seen. I'm not sure if people having been sniffing glue all day at Microsoft or if they really made a system so terrible that they don't want to tell us.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Two words - damage control. They're on the ropes and they know it. As long as they can show things in a controlled environment they may be able to salvage some interest in the Xbone, while they madly fiddle with it behind the scenes to make the rest of it more palatable.

That's kind of what I was hoping for. Not that I wanted to buy an Xbone in the first place but I wanted to at least be compelled to buy it. Actually, I think that's what Sony is doing, waiting for MS to show their cards so they can see exactly how much they can get away with.

As this drags on, I think MS is trying to ditch some of their consumer base, the ones who don't spend as much money. I think what they want is to get a few more people in on buying xbl gold, and ditch the ones who don't. They don't make money on selling the consoles, they make all their money on subscription fees.

BTW - love the Ellis avatar "Hey! Sprechenzi Talk?"

 

[Blueshadow]

Having fun doing Damage Control Microsoft? In all the years I've have watched E3 I don't i can remember when a company cancelled their post-show round table discussion. Has there ever been a time when a company at E3 was booed off stage? Anyone know? That would be great to see this year.

However, the bigger concern for me is what Sony is doing. They haven't said a word since February. Which leads me to believe they are up to the same things that Microsoft is doing, but are letting MS take the heat. And it's funny because both companies said that they will leave the DRM stuff up the publishers, but only Microsoft is taking the heat for that. Sony won't answer questions, which leads me to believe they aren't the knight in shining armor that some people think they are.

I will need plenty of popcorn for this years show.