Xbox turning into a childish plaything?

[gibboss28]

Just wondering why we have moved into a very young childish style for the brand, especially avatars?

I understand the avatar system but why make it seemingly targetted at 5-8 year olds? I remember when the update first was launched, my 6 year old niece ran into the room thinking that I had turned the Wii on when she heard the music.

I remember the days when the xbox was a beast of a gaming console built for gamers. It seems that the trend now will be that the console will be an entertainment system for families.

Of course the line that will be given is that gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry so needs to reflect its audience. But GAMERS made the gaming industry into the powerhouse that it is now. This worrying trend of trying to give the 360 a Wii-makeover is only going to push the real and hardcore gamers (the ones who made the xbox product so successful) away from the brand and to whatever console shows itself to be a true gaming console.

Please, please don't let ths fantastic product turn into a Bieber box, keep it as an X-box.

Are you actually being serious?

I've been sitting here reading what you've put over and over, to come up with a fair and reasoned response. But you know what? I can't, because you're either trolling or you're an idiot.

 

[TheTaco007]

Does it affect you AT ALL?

No?

OK then. Why are we talking about this?

 

[lostzombies.com]

Um... get over it?

Family gaming is very popular. And it's why the Wii has a HUGE marketshare compared to XBox and PS3. It's not like they are forcing games that are published on their console to be filled with rainbows and unicorns instead of blood and guns.

And avatars? You're being driven away from a game system because of avatars? Seriously? Do you game for the games, or for the avatars?

As for the "entertainment system for families", it's only good business. My husband (who isn't even a gamer) wants to purchase a second PS3. Why? Because for $400 (we'd be paying the extra $50 for the move bundle) we'd get a Blu-Ray player for the living room (our current PS3 is in my and my husband's room), with harddrive space for more movies, internet connectivity for Netflix, and where the kids can play their games without having to be in our room.

Grow up. XBox isn't going to turn into the "Bieber Box". You'll still be able to play great games. So why are your panties in a wad?

You completely and utterly missed the point of everything I said. I'm talking about xbox trying to copy the Wii and make a games console into a novelty childs toy. Instead of developers making games that will appeal to traditional video game fans, they will start to make novelty throaway games like the majority of the Wii games.

Who cares?
Avatars are there for a second or two when you sign in, with the right settings you can get straight into a game without even seeing them.
It's not like their happy little mugs are the face of your Black Ops dude.

At least I'm assuming you play gritty, "real" games like Black Ops because you consider yourself too good for games actually aimed at children.
Because you're so darn manly and we should all bow down to you.

You just proved my point, thanks. The fact that you think Black Ops is a gritty real game shows just how the games industry is changing. You want to know an adult gritty game? Try Doom, Duke Nukem, GTA or soldier of fortune. No games like these will be made while developers try to catre for 8 year olds. Even the last GTA was tame compared to all previous versions.

I'm an adult and want to have a video game experience similar to an adult film ie Total Recall or Saving Private Ryan. I wont get those traditional type of games if the trend continues, I will get Wii/Move/Kinnect sports and dance dance hannah montanah simply because developers know that they will have a bigger market.

 

[team star pug]

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

He might have been talking about the look and feel of the xbox as a console, not the range of games. I have to admit, Microsoft seems to be putting an effort into trying to sell kinects to families. It's just a lack of concern for the demographic which made xbox what it is today.

 

[Devil's Due]

I do think the xbox is targeted for the younger demographic such as older kids and teenagers while the ps3 is popular with adults such as myself.

Hell even my seven year old cousin got a xbox at Christmas.

Hah, nice joke mate. My best friend's little brother of six just got a PS3 for this Chrismas, and most of my friends who play the PS3 are younger than me. Most Xbox users are adults, it's just the little kids that stick out like sore thumbs, same for your PS3.

 

[demoman_chaos]

$500 mil on advertising for Kinect, which is geared for little kids. The list of 2011 "core" exclusives is worse than the Wii's. It seems as if MS has given up on winning the "core" gamer market and are following Nintendo's (who were demolished last gen in sales) example and heading for the less informed little kids who don't care about the lag and impercision.

 

[Double A]

Don't worry, it's just a fad. Wait till the newest shiny thing distracts all the casual gamers and turns them away again.

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

Skyrim is Elder Scrolls Scrolls V. It's also not a 360 exclusive. Neither is DA2.

See, there's this thing called a "computer." You can play games on them.

 

[lostzombies.com]

I fail to see how appealing to everyone is a bad thing at all.

If the xbox is family friendly does that mean we still cant get our "hard core" games too?

Fuck no it doesnt. It just means companies will sell more games and make more money which in turn will be used to make more games.

To the OP stop being so fucking elitist.

That's the issue. When was the last time a game comparable to Doom 95, Duke Nukem, Manhunt or the original Grand Theft Auto series was released?

The only one I can think of is gears of war. The issue for me isn't the fact that games are being made for the non-traditional fan, its the fact that these games will be made instead of.

Does it make me 'fucking elitist' to be concerned that in a few years time I won't be able to kick back with friends online drinking beer, swearing at each other and telling foul jokes while blowing each other into chunks of meat and painting the levels with their brains?

Because right now the only options are the dull and uninspired COD games which are teen at best, or gears of war which sacrifices gameplay for graphics.

 

[The Random One]

It isn't, it's just being marketed as so.

Why? Because silly marketers think it's better to have a larger market, when in fact handling a smaller market well can be just as good. Especially if you're talking about a market as crazy about buying lots of expensive little discs and then cheap little add ons for the discs as hardcore gamers.

Before someone berates me, I'll add that this isn't a silly thing to do because the 360 should be for REAL GAMERS. It's a silly thing because they're trying to conquer a market that the Wii has firmly entrenched itself in, whose consumers have no need or desire for a second console, in which the 360 in a worse, more expensive alternative, and which, as the OP so brilliantly showed us, risks alienating the core audience. It's like if Harley-Davidson started manufacturing minivans (which it in fact did, but under a different name).

I find the avatars cute though. I can't help but smile at how silly they are.

 

[lostzombies.com]

It isn't, it's just being marketed as so.

Why? Because silly marketers think it's better to have a larger market, when in fact handling a smaller market well can be just as good. Especially if you're talking about a market as crazy about buying lots of expensive little discs and then cheap little add ons for the discs as hardcore gamers.

Before someone berates me, I'll add that this isn't a silly thing to do because the 360 should be for REAL GAMERS. It's a silly thing because they're trying to conquer a market that the Wii has firmly entrenched itself in, whose consumers have no need or desire for a second console, in which the 360 in a worse, more expensive alternative, and which, as the OP so brilliantly showed us, risks alienating the core audience. It's like if Harley-Davidson started manufacturing minivans (which it in fact did, but under a different name).

I find the avatars cute though. I can't help but smile at how silly they are.

I agree, that's the issue. The xbox (or PS3) will never be able to beat the Wii at it's own game. Nintendo went in that direction because they decided they couldn't compete in the traditional gaming market anymore.

The 'smaller' traditional gaming demographic made playstation and xbox what they are, it seems foolish to risk alienating that group in an attempt to take the Wii's crown as 'alternative family friendly system'

Why or how people are getting so angry about pointing this is is beyond me.

 

[Wolfenbarg]

Maybe for the moment, but they're just copying the company that made a gazillion dollars during a recession. If your core audience can sell you X units, but your core audience plus the casuals sell you X + Y units, then wouldn't it be a stupid move not to embrace them? It's not like the major software developers that have been creating games for the core audience have been losing anything. There isn't an arbitrary edict that requires them to make one shitty Kinect game for every AAA title they release.

 

[Hippobatman]

He might have been talking about the look and feel of the xbox as a console, not the range of games. I have to admit, Microsoft seems to be putting an effort into trying to sell kinects to families. It's just a lack of concern for the demographic which made xbox what it is today.

Sure, but I'm only saying that a console is based off the games it's making or supporting, and it seems to me that we don't have to worry. At least not yet.

Don't worry, it's just a fad. Wait till the newest shiny thing distracts all the casual gamers and turns them away again.

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

Skyrim is Elder Scrolls Scrolls V. It's also not a 360 exclusive. Neither is DA2.

See, there's this thing called a "computer." You can play games on them.

Who's talking about exclusives? There are 360 versions being released, thus making them a part of the Xbox 360 software. I don't see why that is an argument. And that IV thing was a slip, that's my bad.

 

[Amphoteric]

Here is the solution

Buy games you like and don't buy games you don't like, Problem solved.

If you think it is too childish then do something else.

 

[Busdriver580]

The entirety of the "wider audience" Microsoft is trying to reach could have bought a wii by now if they wanted a game system. There is no reason to have two family consoles in a given generation. It's not being an elitist bastard to say that a game system marketed to a traditional gaming nerd like myself shouldn't pull a complete 180.
Side note : I played Pikmin last year and loved it, it is completely possible to make a family game that isn't aggressively infantile.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

Don't forget LA Noire, Forza 4, and Mass Effect 3

No one is abandoning core gamers, Microsoft is just trying to appeal to everyone else as well.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

Its simple. The new format will attract kids, everyone else will get over it.

 

[northeast rower]

Complain more?

I'm a teenage male and I like playing it. It may be many things, but having the Avatar system certainly doens't make it a childish plaything.

 

[IamSofaKingRaw]

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

Yeah, all but 1 of those are made only for Xbox. The only games MS is focusing on is Kinect games.

 

[Double A]

He might have been talking about the look and feel of the xbox as a console, not the range of games. I have to admit, Microsoft seems to be putting an effort into trying to sell kinects to families. It's just a lack of concern for the demographic which made xbox what it is today.

Sure, but I'm only saying that a console is based off the games it's making or supporting, and it seems to me that we don't have to worry. At least not yet.

Don't worry, it's just a fad. Wait till the newest shiny thing distracts all the casual gamers and turns them away again.

Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Rage, Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2, Homefront etc. says otherwise.

I doubt the industry will turn its back on 'core gamers'. We are, after all, the ones who spend most of our money monthly on new games. That's my theory, anyway.

Skyrim is Elder Scrolls Scrolls V. It's also not a 360 exclusive. Neither is DA2.

See, there's this thing called a "computer." You can play games on them.

Who's talking about exclusives? There are 360 versions being released, thus making them a part of the Xbox 360 software. I don't see why that is an argument. And that IV thing was a slip, that's my bad.

My apologies, then. I thought you meant exclusives since you started with Gears.

 

[RatRace123]

I don't mind the avatars, and I'm not sure Xbox turned into a "childish play thing" until the Kinect came out, and even then it doesn't strike me as childish as much as it does a desperate grab for some of the Wii's massive widespread audience.
Sure it seems like the Xbox is undergoing something of an identity crisis, what with Microsoft now stating that the 360 is more of a family entertainment center and not just a game console, but it's still not striking me as childish, just a company doing a piss poor job of playing follow the leader.

And there's only like 7 games out for the kinect and there's plenty of "adult hardcore" games coming out later this year. I'm sure the Xbox is in no danger of changing into the "Bieber box"