BACK TO THE INDEX.
-By Philip Wesley-
-Posted May 27th, 2005-
-Oo! Pity!-
I almost feel sorry for Microsoft, I should be nice to them. Naw. I am not known for being NICE to companies. Animals, women, and children? Yes. Companies? NO. Although, I have to say that nothing really stood out about any of Microsoft's offerings this year. The Xbox 360 is a bit ugly. I like the idea of faceplates for it. The Game Boy Micro does the same thing and that's pretty cool. I hate the idea of micropayments, and an overbearing 1984 style Guided User Interface that pops up on you.
The good things about the Xbox 360 are these:
1. The controller is nice and comfy.
2. The concave sides are AWESOME for top battles, finger boarding, and playing with jacks!
3. Custom soundtracks, and other custom neat stuff.
The bad things about the Xbox 360 are these:
1. Not really backwards compatible.
2. The price may end up being almost $400 USD.
3. The big button in the middle of the controller looks and feels cheap.
4. Micropayments mean that they can sell me an incomplete game at full price, then sell me the rest of the game in installments!
5. The games do not look any different from the current Xbox games. In fact, some of them look WORSE than current Xbox games.
That said, I do not think Microsoft had a very impressive showing of their console at E3. As for games? Nothing really stood out in my mind. For the Xbox, they had a bunch of games and that was pretty cool. Over all, it was just an "eh" show for Microsoft. People were too busy at other booths. Even Microsoft's press conference was rather "eh" as well. They know hardware and number crunching, but not presentation. I entered and left E3 2005 feeling neither happy or angry at Microsoft. They were just there at the show. Please, Microsoft, try to SELL me a system, okay? The big plus is that SquareEnix will be making a few games for them after FF11. That is definitely a win there. Only problem is that now SquareEnix supports ALL platforms, so.. it really is not a trump card. Coming out first is going to help the Xbox 360 just a little. Next E3 better be chockfull of grade A Xbox 360 titles. Since the PS3 will be playable, and the Revolution will be playable as well. To say the truth about the Xbox 360? I like how the controller feels in my hands, but the awkward system, and the severe lack of really creative or awesome games exclusively for it makes me doubt that I will ever purchase one. I think the college kids who think it is just some sort of bong will buy it and then realize it can play games, much to their completely stoned delight. Good for them.
Maybe Microsoft really just needs to evaluate where they stand in the world. Sony says: "Our products are capable and powerful." Nintendo says: "Our products are fun and creative!" Microsoft say: "Our products are High Definition and Customizable." That seems to be the wrong message to send. I think Microsoft needs to market their system like this: "Our system is capable and fun to play." In fact, I have the perfect slogan for the Xbox and Xbox 360. Microsoft is welcome to use this too. I want to see them use it. "You don't just play games, you LIVE them; and so do we." To shorten it: "LIVE for games." They could use it for all their game commercials. It may resonate well with the MTV demographic. When other systems come up, use the slogan "Choose to LIVE." It sounds a bit heavy handed, but I think people will get the obvious. Especially if the idea of LIVE is presented continuously in the ad campaigns like so.
Madden 2006: "LIVE for Football."
Perfect Dark Zero: "LIVE for perfection." (OR better yet: "LIVE for her.")
Full Auto: "LIVE for chaos."
Too Human: "LIVE for battle."
Test Drive Unlimited: "Live for the Drive."
Kameo: "LIVE for POWER."
Call of Duty 2: "LIVE for Freedom."
See? It could work and it emphasizes the main advantage that the Xbox 360 has: Xbox LIVE. LIVE for the thrill. LIVE for the future. LIVE. LIVE! Okay, whatever. Needless to say, E3 2005 was just Microsoft tripping over things. Oh, well. LIVE for E3 2006?
Article by Philip Wesley
Property of DMG Ice, dmgice.com, and the original author as expressed in the by-line.