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Microsoft on hardcore gamers: "Sweaty 30 Year Olds In Metallica T-shirts"

Baraka in the White House

2-Terms of Kombat
StuBurns said:
Me on MS.

Your product range is an embarrassment, your console is inferior, your operating system is inferior, your portable MP3 players are inferior, your cell phone OS is inferior, your search engine is inferior, your name is stupid and your boss is a cunt.

So there.
 
Dabanton said:
You'd have to have paper thin skin to be even offended by this.

Unless you are actually sweaty over 30 and wear Metallica T shirts.
what if i'm sweaty, 33 years old but looking like 45, live in a house composed entirely of rotting drywall, and wear a stained t-shirt that just says THE TROOPS on it. am i the Expanded Audience.
 

Apoc29

Member
abstract alien said:
Should have just went with the ole "fat and living in their parent's basement/spare room" label. I will be turning 30 soon though, so...partial correctness.
According to the article, they did:

And it didn't end there - the presentation featured constant allusions to basement dwelling nerds and impenetrable control schemes. Which is fine if Microsoft's courting vacuous fashionistas now, but does the company have to do it at our expense?
 

Tiduz

Eurogaime
Segata Sanshiro said:
Haha, this is going to be one of those really ugly breakups where you have to pretend to care about your buddy's feelings but really you're just laughing at how terrible it all is.
:lol
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Threi said:
Seriously though nobody should really be offended by this. The same reason they are doing this is the same reason MS and Sony and a lot of devs referred to the Wii's audience/appeal as "soccer moms, kids and grandmas": They are trying to get "cred" with the audience they are trying to appeal to. It was just a marketing ploy then and it's just a marketing ploy now.

No one should be surprised by this either. Microsoft isn't a gaming company; they're not "your friend". They're a marketing company. Everything they've done with the xbox platform, at every turn, has been dictated by marketing and chasing shifting demographics.

They won the adoration of "hardcore" gamers at the launch of the 360 because that's who they targeted with their surgical marketing strikes. Everything about the 360 was exclusive and hardcore, right down to releasing a stripped down "core" package "for the casuals" to prove that Microsoft knew you were f**kin' A hardcore because they had a expert's bundle just for you. You know what a hard drive is... you're not one of those casual gamers. That's why they don't need one in their box!

Microsoft began "disrespecting" their original target audience as soon as the NXE was announced - that is when they decided they had enough sales to the hardcore to lock that demographic down, and began looking for the next mark :lol
 

ShinAmano

Member
Funny thing is...the sweaty thirty year old are the ones who buy games...and probably wont be buying Kinect.

Way to go MS.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
So... Does this mean they're giving up on the hardcore crowd?
 

Zabka

Member
Microsoft has gone nuts. The stupid ass new controller and raising prices on xbl were bad enough, but this sounds like genuine contempt for their base.

In response,
2ynq612.jpg
 
Everyone should club together and turn up to every single gaming event wearing Metallica T-shirts and not wash for 9 days prior to them.

Or wear T-shirts with his face on. Still stinking.
 

TheOddOne

Member
gofreak said:
Well, it's one of a series of implicit or explicit statements made about 'the hardcore' in the last few months. All on top of a context where MS seems to be decreasingly interested in generously serving its hardcore base.

So maybe that's why.
And those are?

The Live increase & Controller thread where warrented, MS just fucked up so much. But this? Really? Is this a slow news day or something?
 
ShinAmano said:
Funny thing is...the sweaty thirty year old are the ones who buy games...and probably wont be buying Kinect.

Way to go MS.

That would be 40 year olds. The REAL hardcore gamers from the 80s ;)

Besides.. all the 30/40 year olds will be buying Kinect for their kids.
 
ULTROS! said:
So... Does this mean they're giving up on the hardcore crowd?
No, it means they've already got the hardcore crowd to the extent that they feel it's worth throwing money at it, and now they're trying to court a new audience.

I mean, there has to be some confidence at MS that their hardcore audience isn't going to abandon them no matter what they do, what with testing that by the whole shitbrick hardware thing and all.
 

Lakitu

st5fu
It's just a throwaway comment.

Though personally I hope Kinect fails. In fact, I'd love it. Maybe it'll make them see sense for once and actually come up with some decent exclusives beyond the obvious ones.
 

Interfectum

Member
The funny thing is... those 'sweaty' 30 year old Metallica fans made them $1 billion in XBL revenue and are going to be the ones paying $60 a year for their p2p network.

Good luck getting my grandma or sister to do the same MS. :lol
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
Why does anyone give a shit? This is no worse than the stuff GAF says about hipsters. The truth hurts, I guess.
 

Chrange

Banned
Galvanise_ said:
Everyone should club together and turn up to every single gaming event wearing Metallica T-shirts and not wash for 9 days prior to them.

Or wear T-shirts with his face on. Still stinking.
So you've been to E3?

Valkyr Junkie said:
Whoa there, stop the bus. Jerry Lambert is an actor, Kevin Butler is the real deal.
There are people who BELIEVE that, that's why I responded to Astro! It must freak them out to see him in that credit card commercial :lol
 

Interfectum

Member
Ushojax said:
Why does anyone give a shit? This is no worse than the stuff GAF says about hipsters.

I don't think some of you get it.

I don't take offense to what they said, it's the tone and the fact that corporations like MS get off on pissing on their consumer's faces.
 
Chrange said:
Whatever they tell him to? HE'S AN ACTOR :lol

Jesus Christ, dude. This reply was so stupid that I lost brain cells reading it. Did you really think we was talking literally or seriously? For god's sake...
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
In all fairness hardcore gamers are about as fashionable as roadkill.
The 360 pad also has zero style.
Indeed. It's just one of those truths you aren't supposed to speak about customers, like if you work in a clothing store and a person of... significant carriage asks if the outfit makes them look fat.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
I'm approaching 30 but haven't listened to Metallica since I was 10. But according to your average gamer nowadays I am not a "hardcore gamer" bc I don't like FPS or play online and I own a Wii/DS, so it doesn't matter anyways.
 
MS gaming division undergoing an identity crisis.

It's like hanging with losers your entire life and after getting invited to hang out with the cool kids you become the biggest basher of the group you hanged out with just yesterday. Hilarious. :lol
 

Feindflug

Member
1. E3: We have nothing for 2011 except Gears 3...now let's talk about that awesome Kinect thing we were talking about last E3.
2. You'll have to pay 10$ more for Xbox Live..why? what do you mean why?
3. Here is a new controller with improved d-pad for our "sweaty thirty year olds in Metallica t-shirts" who play fighting games only at 65$!!!
4. Hardcore gamers? you mean those "sweaty thirty year olds in Metallica t-shirts" who were our main supporters this gen, will buy our new controllers and pay 10$ more for Live? who gives a fuck about them.

Seriously what is wrong with MS lately? :lol
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Segata Sanshiro said:
No, it means they've already got the hardcore crowd to the extent that they feel it's worth throwing money at it, and now they're trying to court a new audience.

I mean, there has to be some confidence at MS that their hardcore audience isn't going to abandon them no matter what they do, what with testing that by the whole shitbrick hardware thing and all.

It would be nice if they know how to take care of the hardcore rather than "oh! im pretty sure you hardcore guys will buy our stuff. time for another crowd!" Hopefully they're taking care of 'em.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Interfectum said:
I don't think some of you get it.

I don't take offense to what they said, it's the tone and the fact that corporations like MS get off on pissing on their consumer's faces.
Ok, I'm out of here.
 
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