Microsoft: Xbox 360 Made for Families, Not Gamers

[Canadamus Prime]

Oh give me a break Microsoft. This is like calling a garbage collector a "sanitation engineer"
You can dress it up all you want, but at the end of the day, it's still a game console.

 

[hooksashands]

Another yuppie prattling on about 'accessibility to family entertainment'. Go to fucking jail.

This isn't something I want to hear after my Xbox redrings. I went into BestBuy the other day set on buying a new one, but all I could find were Kinect bundles. It's like they're TRYING to dissuade me from giving them money.

Yea, segregate your customers. Really sound business tactic, asshole.

 

[DSK-]

My 360 collection says it's not made for families.
*looks at Gears, DoA, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead, GTAIV, various others*

Whatever do you mean? It sounds like family fun no matter the occasion!

 

[goliath6711]

I have to almost laugh at some of the downright childish responses that I'm seeing here. Just the mere thought that someone can think of a 360 as something other than a game console offends you that much?

I play games. I don't care what I play it on, as long as it works. And if it does anything else, it's called a bonus. Is it bad that I use my 360 to download episodes of "Smallville" and "Sons of Anarchy" that I missed? Is watching "Invictus" and "Shoot 'Em Up" on it somehow betraying the sort of antiquated mindset that seems to be displayed here? The subject of gamers needing to quit sealing themselves away from the rest of the world has already been brought up. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2005-Gamer I think it's time that you all seriously take a step back and really think about what you're so afraid of.

I'm starting to wonder if the consoles intend to whore themselves out completely toward casual gamers and the suddenly all important family audience, starting with the Wii and now with Move and Kinect.

Thank god I'm a PC gamer. At this rate that's going to be the last refuge of gimmick free gaming.

Yes, because as we ALL know, PCs are built for nothing but playing video games......and watching videos......and listening to music......and checking your e-mail......and filing your taxes......and printing out letters......and storing photo albums......and making video phone calls......and booking travel reservations......and taking college courses......

 

[Kyogissun]

...My 360 isn't for a gamer like me?

*looks at Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, New Vegas, Bad Company 2, Borderlands, Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, etc etc etc etc etc*

...Balmer, you REALLY should just stick to shouting 'Developers' over and over again.

 

[Adzma]

Ah, now I can sit back and laugh while all the fanboys who claimed the Microsoft weren't going to abandon the core market once they dipped into the casual one squirm and try to dream up excuses.

I guess my games aren't games anymore. Whodda thunk it?

 

[Bigsmith]

the 360 isnt a games console the same way FF13 isnt an RPG

I can't tell if you're saying if it is a games console or not. I'm honestly sorry if this comes off as stupid.

Was about to say a similar thing, if anything an older FF should have been used, one that does actualy resemble a RPG rather then a liner corridor.

OT: Say wha?

Really? I don't have a Xbox 360 (don't have a PS3 either) but I can defiantly tell you that changing the audience for it at this point could be a bad move.

 

[Bigsmith]

snip


Yes, because as we ALL know, PCs are built for nothing but playing video games......and watching videos......and listening to music......and checking your e-mail......and filing your taxes......and printing out letters......and storing photo albums......and making video phone calls......and booking travel reservations......and taking college courses......

Your spew of sarcasm seems to, in my opinion, make PCs sound even better.

I'm starting to wonder if the consoles intend to whore themselves out completely toward casual gamers and the suddenly all important family audience, starting with the Wii and now with Move and Kinect.

Thank god I'm a PC gamer. At this rate that's going to be the last refuge of gimmick free gaming.

As A PC gamer I can whole-heartedly agree with this statement. Although I do believe there is 3D software and some 3rd party motion detection software out there, but nothing that there is mass marketed for it.

 

[jyork89]

Honestly who cares what the console maker says? All you so called elitist "gamers" seem more interested in pretty graphics than good games. Frankly if Xbox wants to have their equivalent of Mario Party or whatever let them. Even Wii has good games made for gamers you know. And despite what you think, gamers are a minority market. These are companies and the primary goal of a company is to make money. If they abandon that, you can all kiss your shiny PS3's and Xbox 360's goodbye.

As long as developers still make gamer orientated games I couldn't care less what Microsoft wants to market their console as. I would be more concerned if Ubisoft, or EA or any large game publisher suddenly said we are switching all our focus on family friendly games. Microsoft don't develop the games (most of them). Same with Sony, Nintendo, or any PC manufacturer for that matter.

 

[T-Bone24]

I didn't read anywhere there that he said that it's not "for gamers". I read that he said that it's for "more than just games". Sure, it spells doom for humanity and all that, but let's not all jump screaming out of the plane because we think we heard "bomb".

 

[Woodsey]

Just buy a fucking laptop if you want to watch films, then do everything else you can do on XBL for cheaper or free, then have the benefit of also having a laptop to do everything else on.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

I find the premise of the 360 now being a family entertainment device of any sorts quite a twist of the knife to Microsoft's original 360 consumers who put the console where it is today, in spite of the red light error ruining consoles, exorbitant first party accessories, and the cost for online play. Now that Microsoft has tasted the sweet nectar of "casual" markets through the Kinect, the company is most certainly displaying its interests geared towards that specefic market. As an owner of both a 360 and PS3, I believe that Microsoft is leaving the 360 to just float along for those of us not interested in using the console for Kinect, as a DVD player, or Facebook/ESPN/Netflix/Function that our computers can already do for free. Where is the past focus on maintaining a strong first party lineup of games whose exclusivity to the 360 made it a desirable console? I mention my PS3 ownership for one primary reason: I was sick of where the 360 has been heading and the lack of any effort to expand upon its library beyond Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Mass Effect 1 and 2, causing me to seek an alternative system that was at least moving forward in a direction focused on games and that respective market.

As inane of a claim that the 360 is a family console now, there is some truth to the statement that is the made evident by disregard for continuing a strong gaming function for the Xbox in favor of making your kid sister jump up and down to pet the imaginary animal that shows up on the television.

From my own experience, I find the DVD playback abhorrent on the 360 and the other features touted for the device are superfluous given my access to a computer or even a PS3 just for competition's sake. If anything, my family is constantly using the PS3 just for the bluray function. No matter the advancements made for the multimedia capabilities of these consoles, is it really going to be more desirable than a plain old computer? I feel that once a console transcends into a true "family device" then the appropriate compromises on content will adversely impact those of us interested in one main thing: The games.

 

[Palademon]

Microsoft, I already have a Wii!
Don't kill the console that I turned to after Nintendo killed theirs!

 

[hooksashands]

Just the mere thought that someone can think of a 360 as something other than a game console offends you that much?

No, it offends me that this guy makes six figures a year designing stupid ad campaigns. It also offends me that my hobby could be synonymous with all this fake "family togetherness" bullshit.

I didn't memorize every fatality or collect all the materia only to put down my controller and play Kinect with my mom.

 

[RicoADF]

The only console that can call itself an entertainment system is the PS3 as it was made from the outset with more than just gaming in mind (and I bought it as such), later ad-hoc addons doesn't change what the xbox is, a cheap basic gaming machine, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[dubious_wolf]

Yes because my 50 year old parents are completely on the same page as I am, there are no cultural gaps, and love video games and try and to immerse themselves completely in all that I do, to try and bond with me at ever waking moment.
If it is a family entertainment center then they would not still be making games for the 18-35 age demographic. The only reason a parent plays video games with their children is to show them that they are supportive and wish to bond with their kid by doing something they are interested in. The 18-35 age demographic is pretty much over the "bonding" phase and is moving out/growing up, and if they aren't mom and dad are probably bitching and complaining because they want their kid out of the house so they can spend money on themselves...

 

[putowtin]

I'll say it again
"Jumping on the Wii bandwagon a bit late there!"