Microsoft: Xbox 360 Made for Families, Not Gamers

[Screamarie]

So....you're not average if your a 15 year old girl and you're excited about the xbox?....way to alienate the ladies Microsoft. I mean really..."this is the machine the boys use." Really? His wife really feels that an item in her house is so out of her grasp just because she's a woman?

My mother, who is probably older than this woman, has been known to play video games with me (granted this is years ago when I was a very young teenager and it was never anything more difficult than say Crash Bandicoot racing but...still...).

Don't get me wrong. I understand that some people aren't into gaming, I'm not upset about that, but I'm not into watching football and yet never once have I said "that's a show for the boys." It's just something I personally do not like.

 

[plunderbunny]

"the machine the boys use" - I find it bewildering that anyone can be that vacuous, then again Balmer's 'family entertainment centre' sounds equally vague and dull. It really IS a games console, and surely it's not a good sign for the games industry if they begin to use euphemisms to market their own products.
Also, surely these days there are plenty of women into gaming? How is marketing it as a 'family entertainment centre' going to encourage a 15 year old girl to play games? I can't imagine that they generally preoccupied with 'family'? This isn't the 1950s Balmer.

I don't think there's anything wrong with creating games suitable for families to play together, but it's reductive to call a games console a 'family entertainment centre'. Besides, i'm sure that even before all of these marketing gimmicks families would sometimes play games together. I used to play Monkey Island on the Amiga with my dad and brother; I've played games alongside friends since I was a kid - surely it's not always as anti-social an activity as it's so often made out to be. However, it's fun to play games on your own, surely in the same way that it's enjoyable to read a book or watch a film on your own.

 

[mattttherman3]

Without Blu-ray it is incomplete as a family entertainment device. Gotta have the hdness.

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

When I first got MY xbox 360 back in 2006, I made something Abundantly clear to the 'family.' They are not to touch my GAMING console under any circumstances. It is for gaming only, and there will be no family friendly anything for it.

 

[hooksashands]

Considering said yuppie is the CEO of Microsoft... yeah.

Who cares.

A year from now, the Kinect will be sitting in everyone's closet next to the Wii Balance Board and the Sega Activator. And with a little more luck, someone else will be CEO. Someone who remembers which demographic they serve.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

I feel like I am getting repeatedly kicked in the sack. Didnt the PS3 make the same "identity crisis" at the beginning of its launch? Look how well that worked for it at the time. They had to change that whole "entertainment system" thingie back to a GAME CONSOLE to even start to right the ship back then.

Talk about not paying attention or learning a lesson, Microsoft.

 

[James Raynor]

So.... Less 'hardcore' games and more wii rip-offs?

 

[TheAmazingHobo]

So Balmer wants to exite 15-year old girls... good for him...

 

[airrazor7]

This isn't surprising. Microsoft is still in the "I'm going to get your family demographic, Nintendo!" mode. Also, I guess they might beat the Sony PS3 in being the 'does everything' console

 

[rokkolpo]

He should have named it a Wii then.

Not an Xbox.

 

[airrazor7]

"the machine the boys use" - I find it bewildering that anyone can be that vacuous

you would be surprised to find out just how closed-minded people are nowadays. This is actually the main reason why soccer moms and other gaming haters cry out in rage; they view games as toys for 10 yr olds and under and refuse to wrap their minds around the existence of 17+ rated games instead thinking games are not simply children consoles. They do no understand the fact that a variety of games are made for different ages and demographics just like movies and books. I know this cause I live around such people. It can make life pretty annoying.

 

[EricBC]

My 360 is Halo Green. Until I can pay real dollars to buy a TiVo that also comes in Halo Green, my 360 is a gaming console.

In other news Toyota is no longer making cars, but portable love hotels.

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

I hope they don't start pulling a "Wii" and only producing cheap ass looking games with weak story and game play mechanics now they've decided to hop on the family-friendly train.
*sigh*

Guess i'll have to migrate to buying a PS3. Granted a self-entitld "media centre" but least it doesn't throw the word "family-oriented" around.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

while there are obviously games still be churned out like crazy, i can't blame them really for taking this approach..it helps families buy multiple 360's for their homes for complete multipurpose utilities...

me personally, i dont use my 360 that way, but surpisingly enough around some more "casual" families that i know they use their 360 for netflix/movies/etc... and do about 10% of gaming on there. so dont really blame microsoft for trying to keep the biggest market possible.

 

[DaHero]

Microsoft reminds you that the Xbox360 is a family friendly console that will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak. In the event that the Xbox360 does speak about a Mature title, Microsoft urges you to disregard its advice. If the Xbox360 could play a Mature title ? and the Microsoft takes this opportunity to remind you that it is a family friendly console ? it would tell you about such things as Gears of War, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and to go on without it, because it would rather die in a red ring of death than become a burden to actual gamers.

 

[Bernzz]

It was targeted towards gamers when it came out. Almost everyone who owns one would use it primarily for games, I would wager. I will always consider it as more of a gaming machine than anything else.

 

[pulse2]

Is he saying this for PR?

 

[8-Bit Grin]

What was that? I couldn't hear you over my chainsaw going into my enemy, cutting him into bits.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[ultratog1028]

Seriously? Xbox was marketed from the beginning as a game console. Trying to radically change it's image now sounds like a bad move.

True. And if not done properly, it'll just anger both the gamer and family crowd. If they want to be more "family" orientated they should start with enforcing thier Live policies better. "Family friendly" and "Xbox Live" just for some reason fit as well together as "child-friendly" and "adult Siberian Tiger" in my mind.

 

[PROcrastinator]

So the xbox is trying to do with Casual Games what the Wii "mastered".... Lets see how this plays out.