Support NeoGAF

[Bernoulli]

Watching back this highlights about the TV TV TV SPORTS SPORTS Call of duty meme of the Xbox One reveal in 2013




But it would have worked pretty well in the recent years with the switch to streaming on Netflix, Disney and all
maybe they could have presented all this in a later conference show idk

Without talking about Kinect that would have worked way better if it was optimised as a digital assistant like Alexa, it already had control over your smart devices but could have used more support from Xbox Devs and 3rd party games

and without forgetting the best part the "Xbox go home" always gets me

 

[Yoboman]

You can already do all of this on a smart TV

 

[Beer Baelly]

Xbox been ahead of its time.

 

[drganon]

You can already do all of this on a smart TV

Hell, back then you could get a roku box to do all that stuff with the exception of voice.

 

[DonJimbo]

Funniest E3 Conference thanks to Don Mattrick

 

[Bernoulli]

You can already do all of this on a smart TV

in 2013 the one was way more powerful than any TV or smart box
it even HDMI in to plug your other devices in

 

[ReBurn]

The TV features they were hyping were exactly like other live TV technologies from the time, they just tried to pair it with video games so you only had to have one box. Channel guide and DVR + video games. If they would have included the ability to replace your cable box they might have been onto something. Nobody wanted it then and few people use that stuff now. With TV moving to streaming and pretty much every device supporting streaming apps of some kind I can't see how anything about Xbox TV capability was ahead of its time.

 

[winjer]

Having TV features on a console is not a bad idea.
What is a bad idea is to only talk about that, during the first presentation of the console, during a conference where everyone is expecting games and more games.

 

[mrcroket]

No, today it would have been even more dumb, because all tvs are now smart tvs. And the "always online" thing, after the criticism redfall has received for it (and the absurd problems of the server crashing or lagging when playing in singleplayer). Definitely not, and mandatory kinect better not even mention it.

 

[Yoboman]

in 2013 the one was way more powerful than any TV or smart box
it even HDMI in to plug your other devices in

Sure but investing in broadcast TV tech in 2013 is like investing in horse carriages in 1920

 

[Bernoulli]

Having TV features on a console is not a bad idea.
What is a bad idea is to only talk about that, during the first presentation of the console, during a conference where everyone is expecting games and more games.

Wrong time to announce it

 

[Spaceman292]

People have a dozen other devices to watch TV on. They buy games consoles for games. That was the whole joke. It's crazy that people still don't get this 10 years later.

 

[FunkMiller]

People have a dozen other devices to watch TV on. They buy games consoles for games. That was the whole joke. It's crazy that people still don't get this 10 years later.

Exactly this. This strategy would never have worked for them at any time.

 

[Spaceman292]

Exactly this. This strategy would never have worked for them at any time.

People were worried back then that there was a lack of actual games, and that's exactly what happened. Nay gaems.

 

[Astray]

But it would have worked pretty well in the recent years with the switch to streaming on Netflix, Disney and all
maybe they could have presented all this in a later conference show idk

Did it? The majority of those functions don't need more than a smart tv, or a smart tv box.

Turns out we didn't need a $400-500 machine to do that.

 

[Bernoulli]

Exactly this. This strategy would never have worked for them at any time.

their strategy was maybe rely too much on TV instead of games
it would have been good if it was games and this was presented later

 

[skit_data]

One word: No.

Off topic: Damn it’s wild they announced the live action Halo TV series all the way back then and only just recently it actually came to fruition.

 

[chromatic9]

Nah, that type of idea was ok in the 2000s. Set top box, roku, Sky+. It was all fading out by 2013. Total shite idea anyway with all the license deals, subs and different regions. The TV can do it or your phone or pad. No one wants to fire up a console to watch TV now or even then really.

That NFL money lol.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Microsoft got into the game business to take over as a set-top box.

That's why they pivoted so strongly here after the success of the 360 and why they didn't focus on retaining and maturing studios.

I've mentioned it many times, but they let Bungie go, they let Rare waste away, they let Epic go, they shuttered Lionhead. As a result, they failed to cultivate IP and failed to create a strong pipeline.

Their focus was just never 1st party games and then all of a sudden Sony really turned things on, which changed the dynamic of the industry.

It started with them creating 1.5x teams with Naughty Dog and Uncharted and Last of Us. It's now believed that many of Sony's top studios (Naughty Dog, Insomniac, Santa Monica, and Guerrilla) have at least two teams each. The same template will happen with their 2nd tier studios like Sucker Punch, and now Firewalk.

None of that growth and development has happened within MGS.

 

[Gudji]

 

[RaySoft]

Watching back this highlights about the TV TV TV SPORTS SPORTS Call of duty meme of the Xbox One reveal in 2013




But it would have worked pretty well in the recent years with the switch to streaming on Netflix, Disney and all
maybe they could have presented all this in a later conference show idk

Without talking about Kinect that would have worked way better if it was optimised as a digital assistant like Alexa, it already had control over your smart devices but could have used more support from Xbox Devs and 3rd party games

and without forgetting the best part the "Xbox go home" always gets me

Actually no, All devices does something similar today and it's annnoying. Jack of all trades has never appealed to me. I'm more for surrounding myself of stuff that do their thing the best it can, so I can build a system to my taste from components that are the best in their field. i.e. a TV should focus on delivering the best picture it can, I don't care about sound, since I have that covered already elsewere.
I understand that others may have different taste and would love to have one device who can do it all, but the sad reality of today is that no matter what you buy, everything offers the same "smart" stuff that you end up paying for, but don't need.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

They got the part about the games correct. If you think about the future a lot of it's going to be on a little tiny device the size of your phone that's going to be able to transmit it to your tv. So these consoles like the Xbox will have no games kind of like right now.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Sony understood tv

 

[Fbh]

It really wasn't though.
"Ahead of its time" would imply TV and movies eventually became a major factor in the console market, and they really didn't. I saw plenty of Ps5 vs SX disucssion leading up to the console and hardly anyone cares how their media playback capabilities compare. Hell, the Switch outsold both Ps4 and Xb1 and doesn't even have Netflix.

 

[Tsaki]

It is a little strange if you reorganize the Xbox One launch. If they released the Kinect 2 as an optional accessory and not a forced bundle which ballooned the price higher than the PS4, then Xbox might have been in a a very different position right now. Microsoft would have something that lots of casuals were already familiar and probably bought with Kinect 1, something that set them apart from Playstation. Small, family friendly games could be Xbox exclusive and parents loved that crap.
Of course MS should not have ever revealed the DRM policies, which alienated lots of people.

 

[Captain Toad]

Not really. It was a terrible focus away from a game consoles primary focus being on gaming. I don't feel any differently in 2023.

 

[Three]

But it would have worked pretty well in the recent years with the switch to streaming on Netflix, Disney and all
maybe they could have presented all this in a later conference show idk

Nope, in recent years as you said IP TV has taken over broadcasting. MS just wanted telemetry data from broadcast television. That's been replaced with internet streaming and apps.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I actually thought at the time it was a decently good differentiator vs PS4 and Wii U. But the over-focus on TV and cross-media vs Games wasn’t done well. They needed more emphasis on games. And by the time 2013 came around no one cared about Kinect, but they insisted on bundling it with every console sold. That was a huge, short-sighted mistake. They corrected it decently fast but a lot of damage was already done.

But like, the idea of original TV series made by Xbox, related to the games coming out, I found that initial proposition pretty compelling. It’s just a shame it was never executed on at all. They canceled that whole initiative before they had a chance to even see if it worked or not. It had the potential to be a competitor to Hulu/ Netflix.

 

[German Hops]

 

[rofif]

It was such a bad idea that it killed xbox to this day lol

 

[Stare-Bear]

If Phil Spencer had some killer Kinect software ready for launch it might have been a different story.

But Phil likes to launch his consoles without first party software…

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

If Phil Spencer had some killer Kinect software ready for launch it might have been a different story.

But Phil likes to launch his consoles without first party software…

Savage.

 

[GHound]

But it would have worked pretty well in the recent years with the switch to streaming on Netflix, Disney and all

Even the prior generation already supported the major streaming applications that were available at the time. Nothing about it was ahead of its time. At all.

 

[Drew1440]

It wasn't a bad idea at all, having TV services integrated into a game console is something that would appeal to most people, I think at one time Netflix was mostly watched through both the Xbox 360 and PS4. Also Sony experimented it in Europe and Japan with the PlayTV and Nasne/Torne devices respectively, and there was the PSX DVR that was trialled in Japan only.
I will agree about the HDMI in, it was kind of redundant but back then it was needed as cable operators did not have streaming services and cable boxes were still the only option to watch TV. Now we have services like NowTV, PlutoTV, Philo and Sling that deliver this OTT. In hindsight they should have had it as an optional USB 3 accessory like they did in Europe with the terrestial TV tuner. It seemly still has a place as even Amazon's Fire TV cube 4 has a HDMI passthrough.
Dedicated CableCard support might have made sense, but then they would have been limited to cable tv customers, aliening those that have satellite or IPTV.

TV has always been part of Xbox, the original Xbox and the 360 have Media Center Extender support where you could pull live TV channels from your Windows Media Center PC onto the Xbox. The Xbox 360 went further and had this built into the dashboard and even integrated it with ATT&T's Uverse IPTV service.


The problem is the TV industry are pretty backwards when it comes to DRM and rights management, even with Android TV and other smart TV platforms there are silly restrictions in place that limit the quality of your video stream if your device does not have the right keys, and some features like casting disabled outright. Also many smart TVs have a limited timeframes of support for apps, with many dropping support after a few years. Xbox One still has ongoing support for many steaming apps, not bad for a device that 10 years old this year.
We can look back and laugh, but if Microsoft had fully committed to their gaming/streaming TV platform I think Xbox would be in a stronger position and would have carved them a unique identify among gamers as the home of digital media, rather than the alternative to PlayStation.

 

[SegaShack]

Then they took away the picture in picture feature .

 

[Umbasaborne]

Definitely felt like they thought xbox was too cool for gamers

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

yeah. it was beta tested in the future remember?

but Jim Ryan used the time gem and fucked them up.

 

[Fahdis]

God, Brock Lesnar is such an ugly fuck!

 

[Alx]

Did it? The majority of those functions don't need more than a smart tv, or a smart tv box.

Turns out we didn't need a $400-500 machine to do that.

At the time smart TVs or extensions were far too sluggish compared to what the Xbox One offered. Also smart TV didn’t have the gaming part, the whole point was being able to switch between all kinds of media as smoothly as possible. Turning any dumb TV into the most responsive and polyvalent smart TV on the market wasn’t such a stupid idea.
As a matter of fact I’m still mostly using Xboxes for that now (and an Amazon fire for the TV I’m not using for gaming), I never use the Smart Tv native functions even 10 years later.

 

[Rentahamster]

Not a bad idea, and a very good feature set, but it's a bad idea to market your VIDEO GAMES console so heavily as a TV console. Push the games first and foremost, and leave it to the press to write their clickbait "OMG YSK XBOX is a great home theater box too!!!" articles.

 

[diffusionx]

People who say this obviously did not own an Xbox One in 2013. I did. It. was. fucking. terrible. There was no other way to say it. The TV stuff did not work right. The One Guide shit was absolutely terrible. The much-vaunted PiP and multiple streams stuff gave you a postage stamp to view everything. The voice controls did not work right (no joke, the PS4's voice system was far superior, and Sony didn't advertise it, it just worked if you bought the camera). The Kinect did not work right. The UI and interface was a total, complete, buggy, crashing, disaster. MS' attempts to fix it were usually one step forward, two steps back - for a good six months I lost the ability to watch TV through the pass through. And what was the cost of this horrible setup? Only about 90% of the good gaming features in the 360 OS. MS had to scramble to put in a workable party system before Titanfall came out. it just sucked, in every single way. You couldn't see how much battery life was in your controller.

MS was not ahead of its time on anything. You could watch streaming services and play shitty Kinect games on Xbox 360. You didn't need an Xbox One or a total overhaul to do that stuff. The Xbox One was a horrible idea, badly done.

 

[Neff]

It was a terrible idea among many terrible ideas, fueled by Xbox' hubris and naive assumption that console brand loyalty is set in stone with players forever.

They treated a new system like an inevitably successful sequel to an old system which was at that time embraced by a very large casual market (not the kind of people who rush out and buy a console to play a red-hot new exclusive), and designed it as such with expensive, casual-friendly system features core gamers didn't really give a fuck about. Marketing a console to the core audience at launch is still the way to go, and always will be. Gamers want games.

Push the games first and foremost

Yep. Release your Ninja Gaidens and Perfect Dark Zeros first, then sneak your casual shit in later when the user base is there.

 

[Banjo64]

Don is one handsome bastard

 

[lh032]

Phil must be thinking "thanks don" during interview with funny games.

 

[mrcroket]

At the time smart TVs or extensions were far too sluggish compared to what the Xbox One offered. Also smart TV didn’t have the gaming part, the whole point was being able to switch between all kinds of media as smoothly as possible. Turning any dumb TV into the most responsive and polyvalent smart TV on the market wasn’t such a stupid idea.
As a matter of fact I’m still mostly using Xboxes for that now (and an Amazon fire for the TV I’m not using for gaming), I never use the Smart Tv native functions even 10 years later.

Use a xbox like media center still overkill, it's more practical to have a dedicate tvbox with a proper multimedia remote with all the streaming apps installed, still being unnecessary though, because even if the smart tvs aren't pretty fast, all of then includes a dedicate button to launch netflix, prime or disney, so in the end is even faster than a tvbox.

 

[Rentahamster]

The voice controls did not work right

lol

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Xbox One built in TV was great. I'd play a low key SP game and have a baseball or hockey game on at the same time picture in picture. You could even adjust volume control of each picture box.

The only problem is when playing a game, the TV picture quality was half framed I think, but the audio was perfect. Gaming was 100% perfect. When you'd quit gaming and go to the dashboard, then the TV picture box would flow perfect. So it looks like the system didn't have enough horsepower to do both 100%.

Oddly, the built in Rogers TV guide into the Xbox UI was better looking and playing than the built in controls from my cable box. Go figure.

 

[Insane Metal]

Nah.

 

[Mung]

One of the worst and cringiest ads in the history of gaming? I think so.

 

[th4tguy]

I got to be around for some first hand accounts of what the planning and marketing meetings were like for the xbone before it came out. Even then it sounded unappealing and full of ego.
It was Xbox one because they thought people would refer to it as “the one” like in the matrix. They wanted it to be “the one” entertainment box in your living room. They were obsessed with sports and wanting to heavily get into the same marketing circles which is part of why they were pushing for cable/ satellite tv incorporation. At one point they even tried to line up deals that would have cable/ tv companies rent out the Xbone as your cable/ satellite box. An entertainment box instead of a gaming system.
The higher ups were still convinced that the Kinect was a step ahead of Nintendo and that Nintendo would move in that direction going forward.

The whole management team we’re basically slapping each other on the backs, smelling each others farts, and calling themselves geniuses who were going to become super rich off the whole thing. Very dude bro culture, horribly mismanaged.

At the time I was finding this all out, I was big on my 360 and it felt like MS was poised to knock it out of the park with the next system. Totally deflated my whole view on it after hearing all the above.