Dead Pixels has 41 chronicles

1. The Love Letter Series: Microsoft
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Mar 10 2009

   Dead Pixels
   By Ryan M. Eft
   3/10/2009
   
   The Love Letter Series: Microsoft
   
   Dear Microsoft,
   I’m going to start this letter off by stating my amazement. During the twilight of the last generation, I don’t think anyone thought you guys would be mopping the floor with Sony. After all, the Playstation 2 is the most successful video game system ever made. No one could have imagined Sony pissing that down the drain.
   
   But piss it down the drain they did. Debate is going to be present for quite some time on whether the success of the Xbox 360 is primarily due to you doing things right, or Sony doing so many things wrong. That’s a debate for when Sony and I have a talk, later. For now, let’s point out what you have done right, to take some of the sting off when the Red Light of Death comes up.
   
   I don’t think any one thing, on your part, contributed to the 360 being the thing of choice for dedicated gaming as much as did Xbox Live. I have in fact heard it argued that achievement points are the majority of the reason the Xbox is doing well. I don’t know about that, but there’s denying that with that system, essentially a virtual pissing contest, you knew exactly the audience you were reaching. That is to say, you were reaching out to an audience who thinks that the higher the number, the better something is. More achievement points reflect directly on the size of their…controller.
   
   On that subject, I won’t lie to you. I feel our relationship can take a little blunt honesty. I didn’t get the point of achievement points. When I first got my 360, I thought they were pretty damn stupid. They didn’t give you anything in-game, so what was the big deal?
   
   I kind of get it now: people want achievement points for the same reason people want to climb Mount Everest. They want to be able to say they did it. Kind of odd, but there it is. Also, something else I figured out: that one for punching a hunter while it is in the air? In Left 4 Dead? Not possible. I just wanted to put that out there.
   
   Achievement points may be more of a draw for people than I ever expected. But then, 90% of your success is potentially attributable to Xbox Live. It’s both the most robust and the most welcoming way a console has ever gone online. Prior to Xbox Live, easy online gaming was limited to people who knew their way around a computer. So, not me. Live got more people playing games online than ever before. And the access to patches, expansions and the like has been unprecedented. It started out kind of slow in that area, but now we have more DLC than we know what to do with.
   
   So, there you go. Xbox Live is revolutionary, and is probably going to go down as one of the most important things to ever hit consoles. Again, congrats.
   Now, we have to talk about the Red Ring.
   
   The Red Ring of Death is quite possibly the biggest PR hit a console manufacturer has ever taken. And hey, I won’t lie: you damn well deserved it. I mean, you knew it was in there. You released it anyway, to get the drop on Sony (if you’ll recall, everyone had counted Nintendo out at that point). Now, it’s possible that without that initial lead, you might have lost some ground to the competition. It is the sort of thing no man can now know. But the real kicker was your response to the hoopla, which included denying it, then firing the guy who didn’t deny it. Sure, when it finally became clear that you weren’t going to get away with it, you did something about it. But by this point the entire thing had given you a hell of a black eye and, to date, has cost you a lot of money repairing defective systems. The whole thing could have been avoided with a little better quality control.
   
   So right away we’ve established what you need to do first in the coming generation: make a system that works. We’ve got that out of the way, and can now focus on some other thoughts and ideas.
   
   I’m going to form this one as a list, because people love lists.
   
   A. Loosen up on your third-party partners. This is one of the few lessons Sony seems to have actually learned. Let Bungie do and say what Bungie wants. Ditto for Mistwalker. Don’t reward development houses like Ensemble with pink slips. You let Bioware slip right through your fingers. If I were you, and had more money than God, I would have said something along the lines of “Name your price”. They just about couldn’t have asked for an amount that would not have been worth it.
   
   B. Continue to treat third-party developers like human beings. You’ve been good about this, actually (Sony, you and I will have a nice talk about this next week). Your XBL development services are actually really awesome. I have no doubt that such things aren’t exactly filling the coffers, but make sure you hold on to them. These days that is what fans want to see.
   
   C. Don’t advertise your console almost solely on the basis of gory, action-focused titles appealing primarily to males. People are shocked when I show them things like Viva Pinata or Banjo-Kazooie. They think your system is exclusively for people who want to blow some shit up. And the family market is the biggest new market in gaming. You have not, by any means, been neglecting developing titles for this market. XBLM has delivered titles like A Kingdom for Keflings, and Rare is doing the family thing pretty well now. You need more, sure, but you still have quite a bit. Yet people think the Wii is the only family-oriented system. You gotta tell people these things.
   
   D. Remove the Xbox Live friend limit. This is a minor thing, but I really see no reason for it.
   
   E. Make sure original 360 titles are completely compatible with all features and online functionality for the new console. Yeah, it’ll take some engineering dollars, but the goodwill reaped will be worth it…especially in that first year, which always suffers from a lack of great games.
   
   I’m sure there are other ideas you’ve had that I’m not even thinking of. I’m not an engineer, which is why I had to write. My perspective is valuable precisely because I’m NOT an insider (admit it; getting the perspective of someone who knows how to spell is nice). Also, just a personal request: I’d really like Summer Lilac to be a color choice. Come on, do it for me.
   
   Sincerely,
   Ryan

   
   

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Dead Pixels has 3 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Link
   Posted On Mar 11 2009

   Good read, great ideas, only one comment. Careful on the recommendation in the promotion of "family games". As fellow 360 owners, I think we can agree to NOT go overboard with it- as did the wii. Dare we introduce the term "shovelware".......

2. BEN
   Posted On Mar 11 2009

   Great read here. I agree that Xbox Live is the main reason for the Xbox 360's huge success. I suppose if you leave the networking element to one of the largest computer software/networking company, they're bound to blow you away somehow
   
   I also find it amazing that Playstation let such a valuable thing go down the drain in some sense. I also remember when everyone thought Nintendo was done, so I suppose this market always allows for a comeback story.
   
   Anyways, thanks for this article. I thought the list your highlighted was great (and could go on forever), and although I don't think a new generation console is coming very soon, I can't help but to think how exciting that will be!
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   BTW-I voted for a multicolored next generation machine. I thought the four colors in the MS Windows logo would be hilarious, but there's some debate over in the GoG Forum about this request, so check it out if you're reading this

3. DecipherOne
   Posted On Mar 10 2009

   I would say that you nailed why the 360 is so successful. It'll be interesting to see how thing progress over the next generation of consoles.