[Nirolak]

I wanted to break this into a separate thread since I feel it is an interesting discussion point.

On the latest episode of the Bonus Round, Pachter mentioned that Microsoft told them their major focus is on new services and multimedia content as opposed to games.

(On visiting MS in a few weeks) Pachter: "They told me don't expect a lot of game stuff, expect a lot of dashboard, interface, multimedia."

My question is, do you feel this is a good idea or not, and why?

So, to give an example argument for both sides, we might argue that:

1.) This is a good idea because this late in the generation, they aren't likely to attract many new hardware buyers (who weren't going to buy the system anyway) with new games, as they already have content for the vast majority of target demographics that their device is applicable to. As such, trying to sell the system as a set top box is their best option to increase sales, and also gives the Xbox 360 a renewed purpose after the Xbox 3 comes out and most of the major games start migrating off of it. Since the Xbox 360 has such a strong line up of game support even with a relatively small amount of first party titles, there is no fear of the brand not being strongly associated with playing video games in addition to being a great multimedia device.

2.) This is a bad idea because there are still untapped demographics such as (insert example here) that they could very feasibly attract to the Xbox 360 with the right content. Also, demand for set top boxes is more limited than focusing on these new demographics, and ultimately, they want people to associate the Xbox brand with games as they have to try and sell a new Xbox primarily as a games console starting at the end of 2013. If people view the Xbox brand as a multimedia brand instead, they may be more inclined to buy one of the competing systems they associate more with having a robust selection of games.

[McHuj]

It's a bad idea imo, because E3 is about games. The audience paying attention to E3 is the core gamer and they want to hear about games. There are plenty of other conferences to showcase this stuff like CES.

[PsychoWARD23]

No no no no no no no no.


This is what they've done the past 2 years and it's been awful.

[NateDrake]

Double edge sword really. Gamers (GAF) will be less than pleased with the E3 showing, however the more casual crowd may begin to sway to MS' side as they push a heavy media center focus & will likely build on that with their next system.

Interesting to see what they have to show &, to me, is something to look forward to come E3. I want to see just how far MS will take the app & dashboard aspect for the 360 & see what Nintendo/Sony must do to compete -- if they so choose to.

[op_ivy]

MS has halo 4. this e3 cant disappoint.

but yeah, bad idea (for us gamers)

[Digishine]

service can always be better. and games.. Personally I wouldn't announce big budget games when you got a next gen that is coming out next year..

[DTKT]

They want to create a Netflix/movie box. Which lets them expand the market.

[semiconscious]

well, why play games when you can just get serviced?...

[lordfroakie]

Guess I'll skip this conference and wait for gifs :)

[MoeB]

I told my mom that I want kit kats in my lunchbox tomorrow. Not sure if good idear.

[LunaticHigh]

The xbox 360 hasn't been about games for years, I have no idea why this would be a surprise.

[BurntPork]

That's it. It's time for Microsoft to stop attending E3 and to just hold they're own even because they have no idea what E3 is about anymore.

I have zero hope that their conference won't be one of the most boring E3 conferences ever, with Halo 4 as the only high point.

[cyborg009]

It's a bad idea imo, because E3 is about games. The audience paying attention to E3 is the core gamer and they want to hear about games. There are plenty of other conferences to showcase this stuff like CES.

E3 isn't really about all games but the main audience is are core gamers

Microsoft just want to expand on the casual market and make the 360 a central thing in a household.

[TheSeks]

Microsoft's completely 180'd from what most people/"gamers" want over the course of three-four years. It's delicious in a trainwreck watching fashion, but terrible for 360 owners. :(

So, no, it's an extremely bad idea. But knowing Microsoft it's extremely possible their conference is going to be just that.

[antonz]

I think its in someways a corner they have backed themselves into. I mean the living room has always been their target. Gamers are foolish to think Microsoft ever gave a shit about them.

But now they are in a period where development resources are shifting to Nextbox and its kinda like Nintendo with the Wii gap but Microsoft unlike Nintendo had alot more going multimedia wise. So I think this E3 will feature heavily on the multimedia side and be light on games.

I expect some gamer backlash but I also think there are too many fanboys for the backlash to get too bad

[mr_nothin]

Jesus, keep that shit at CES and to their self-hosted showcases. Dont bring this shit to E3. When the hell are we supposed to get actual gaming news then?

E3 isn't really about games but the main audience is are core gamers Microsoft just want to expand on the casual market and make the 360 a central thing in a household.

Wut?

[-Pyromaniac-]

I think it's a bad idea (for gamers). Can't say I'm surprised.

I mean the living room has always been their target. Gamers are foolish to think Microsoft ever gave a shit about them.

been saying the same thing lately

[funkystudent]

Been that way the last few years and other then having sucky presses it has only meant good sales for them.


If you have a problem with the direction they are taking Xbox then vote with your wallet and stop giving them money

[RyougaSaotome]

Not all that surprising when you step back and take a look at the last few years of conferences.

Disappointing? Sure. Unexpected? Not really.

[TacticalFox88]

E3 is for VIDEO GAMES not Social Services shit! FUCK!

[Sho_Nuff82]

E3 is meaningless for creating buzz for games. Pax and Eurocon ftw.

[BD1]

If you want XBOX to be a games platform, then it's a bad idea. If you like the idea of XBOX as a living room hub, then it's a good idea. Microsoft cares about homes full of windows 8 connected devices. Kinect drove the install base to a high enough level where the master plan is now in full effect.

Games will become a smaller and smaller piece of the XBOX equation.

XBOX-as-a-service is the end game.

[DCharlie]

E3 is becoming less and less important as a spectacle - no one -really- cares who "wins" E3 and given the Wii U is going to be the 'star turn' i'd suggest MS are much better off just continuing to pimp the X360 at this point and have a stand alone event for their launch.

E3 as a concept is starting to look a bit of a white elephant to be honest - no matter how confident you are in your product, why would you risk going against the unknowns of your compeititors ?

[ffdgh]

this certainly won't bode well if true.

[cyborg009]

Been that way the last few years and other then having sucky presses it has only meant good sales for them.

I won't call it "sucky" but for me it's lacking general appeal to me.

[flamesofchaos]

Well I'm going to be buying a new 360 to replace my broken one so that I can continue chipping away at my backlog. But in my opinion it's bad especially since MS isn't going to show the next Xbox, so it really narrows the focus on what MS can present.

MS clearly only cares about being in the living room in the 360 to be a person's media hub and to monetize the hell out of these experiences.

[Tashi]

Although I would rather see new games, I don't think this is a bad idea at all. At this point MS doesn't need to show many new games. I'm sure their conference will show Halo 4, Fable and CoD with a sprinkle of other stuff. The service upgrades and multimedia features are what can draw the casual crowd like Netflix, ESPN and Hulu have done in the past. I don't know what other service upgrades they have up their sleeves but I would assume something substantial.

I think next year when they reveal their new console, MS has to be prepared to show a ton of games.

[CambriaRising]

Microsoft gunna Microsoft. Next gen Is going to suck :(

[DMeisterJ]

Microsoft said from the beginning of the generation that they wanted to be the the total entertainment center for families. They have the games for gamers, they have the games for families, and now they'll have entertainment for the whole family.

I think that financially, it's a pretty good idea for them, but for gamers, not so much. Their entertainment division is doing well recently, no? It's a fine idea.

[fluffydelusions]

Maybe they are concentrating on games for 720 and services now that will carry over?

[Emitan]

If the current dashboard is something Microsoft things is a good idea... please never focus on services again because you have no fucking clue what you are doing.

[FallbackPants]

If you think about it its probably not that much of a shock. If they are working on the next console then you'd hope their first party (and close third party) studio to be working on titles for it.

They probably realise they need a Halo-esque blockbuster to kick the gen off instead of a Perfect Dark style flop. So getting all studios going as early as possible on it would help avoid as much shitness as possible. You'd hope anyway.

And if they're not going to announce the next console then they're not going to announce games for it surely?

It's a bit shit, because new games are awesome, but probably not entirely surprising.

[Y2Kev]

This reminds me of Nintendo's E3 2007 where they had Youtube footage and newspaper clippings. It was like proto2012!

If you're posting on this message board, Microsoft doesn't care about you.

[Pie and Beans]

Its always kinda weird when people tot up who "won" E3's and rank MS anywhere near the others. MS seems to be struggling seemingly to bring much gaming content at all to their one box while Sony and Nintendo bring entire line-ups to home console and portables.

So I guess we'll get some third party cack like a COD walkthrough, Halo4, maybe Crimson Dragon shown for Kinect (it canz do da hardcorez!!!11) and maybe one or two XBLA games to look forward to.

What added bullshit service with incentive can they even plop on now? This Woodstock music thing?

[SlickShoesRUCrazy]

Not really surprising. If Microsoft is seriously though planning on not announcing any games and focusing solely on apps, then the 360 is dead and Project Durango is definitely coming next year.

[Carl]

It'll be another...interesting...MS E3.

[Bluth54]

MS has halo 4. this e3 cant disappoint.

Unless you don't care about Halo like me.

Yeah I'm going to be disappointed with Microsoft's conference.
Only thing that likely wouldn't disappoint me would be Alan Wake 2 but if the rumors that it's a 720 game I doubt we'll see it this year.

[phosphor112]

Maybe it'll make their 60 bucks a year worth it...

[Clint Beastwood]

and?

They have no games. Forza just came out, no one gives a shit about Fable and Gears just came out with Epic supposedly working on something else.

Might as well focus on your strengths. No one uses their Xbox for anything other than CoD, Halo or Netflix anyway.

[Nirolak]

Its always kinda weird when people tot up who "won" E3's and rank MS anywhere near the others.

I feel Microsoft has very good presentation and production values for their conferences, which helps the perception a lot.

I mean, there are a lot of cringe moments, but they definitely pack things together quickly and look like they're presenting a large amount of material.

[AceBandage]

I feel Microsoft has very good presentation and production values, which helps the perception of their conferences a lot.

That and they give free consoles to people in the audience.

[antonz]

I feel Microsoft has very good presentation and production values, which helps the perception of their conferences a lot.

Agree with this. They put on a very high production value show which is influential in convincing people that its better than it may actually be.

Its why alot of restaurants even if not that great will go out of their way to make everything from the decorations to presentation of the food look top notch

[rpmurphy]

It can't be worse than two straight E3's of Kinect, can it? Considering that, it'll probably at least okay to watch.

[neptunes]

I see no harm, this generation is practically done, their focus on multimedia makes good business sense, even if it is a little stupid.

Anyone who hasn't purchased a 360 by now wouldn't suddenly go buy one based on any game announcements.

[AceBandage]

It can't be worse than two straight E3's of Kinect, can it? Considering that, it'll probably at least okay to watch.

20 minutes of BLOps2
20 Minutes of Halo 4
20 Minutes of Kinect

[CountAntonius]

I stopped depending on Microsoft a long time ago for games. I'm not a fan of their first party titles much. But I like the Live service and as long as third parties still keep releasing games on the system and they preform well on the 360 then It doesn't bother me that they go for a larger demographic. I have used Live since it's inception(as well as Steam FYI) and i never really felt shit on by msoft tbh.

[Not a Jellyfish]

I will believe it when I see it. If MS had any big unannounced games or just announcements dealing with already established IP why the hell would they tell him...it would be on the net just as soon as this statement was.

[bangai-o]

and this is where neogaf believes Microsoft has banned all 3rd parties from making games for the console.

[Tookay]

Not surprising considering the trajectory of the last two Microsoft E3 conferences, which have been nothing but dull circuses calculated for maximum mainstream media appeal. Microsoft already "won" the hardcore, it's not surprising they'll just sit on their laurels and become some multimedia service provider.

Its always kinda weird when people tot up who "won" E3's and rank MS anywhere near the others. MS seems to be struggling seemingly to bring much gaming content at all to their one box while Sony and Nintendo bring entire line-ups to home console and portables.

It's hard to bring exclusive content when you're closing studios left and right while letting other ones (Bungie) get away from you. I have no hope for Microsoft next gen.

and this is where neogaf believes Microsoft has banned all 3rd parties from making games for the console.

I don't think that's what people are complaining about. Most people are preoccupied with first-party content, of which Microsoft has little to show.

[WickedLaharl]

Multimedia stuff in nice and all but I bought the system primarily for gaming. Thankfully sony hasn't forgotten the importance of having a first party stable otherwise I'd be depressed by this news going into e3.