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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Microsoft has done a lot of innovations

McDonaldsGuy on 19 January 2015
S.T.A.G.E. said:
McDonaldsGuy said:

A lot of people hate the Xbox and wish Microsoft never entered the gaming market, but look at what they've done for gaming:

- Achievements. First one to do achievements, brilliant innovation. Achievements give games lasting value to many people and also sold many games (I won't lie I have bought games just for the achievement points)

- Hard drive standard (except for a small percentage of 360 Core machines)

- Xbox Live. Seriously, the gold standard for online gaming. So many innovations - friends list, party chat, Xbox Live Arcade/Store, great matchamking, etc. etc. Compare it to the PS2's online! Now online gaming is probably the biggest part of gaming now, and Microsoft is the one that really pushed for it by including ONLY broadband for the Xbox instead of dialup (Sega's huge mistake)

- Halo. Halo was groundbreaking and super popular. Pretty much paved the way for the FPS generation. Even if you don't like it or its influence, you can't deny the facts. Some say Goldeneye was the game that did this but I think it was Halo 2 when the FPS era really took off. Not to mention Halo is the first $350 game ever (what I mean is most people bought an Xbox just to play Halo, the Halo box)

- Gears of War. A true killer app. The 360 needed one badly in 2006 and Gears of War also paved the way for many shooters last gen.

- It also helped promote WRPGs on consoles, which are now also a huge genre and bigger than JRPGs now

- Then there are other little innovations (albeit inevitable ones) like the guide button, dashboard, Kinect, etc. etc.

Microsoft forever changed gaming by forcing console gamers to do what PC gamers would never do and thats pay for online gaming. Online was coming in some capacity in the future, but Microsoft brought in properly. Sega had been trying for years to accomplish this since the genesis.

I'll give you the Xbox Live dashboard. That is innovative.


Microsoft bought both Halo and Gears. They didnt invent either game. 

They bought the Kinect after Sony turned it down.

WRPG's were on Playstations before they were a thing. Ever heard of Deus Ex and Champions of Norrath?   Most of them couldnt be handled by consoles until the 360 era. You're right that Microsoft caused a mass exodus of WRPG's, but it was a mass exodus of PC games period. They had no real exclusives, so they had to use PC games to make it seem like they had them. Thats not innovative and they were coming anyway. See Carmack interviews from the game Rage. Consoles were finally ready for PC level games at that point and he considered the profitability to be there too. 

Microsoft caused a great drought of PC exclusives until Valve launched Steam.

Sega was super innovative and they were great but they bundled the Dreamcast with a 56K port, not an ethernet port.   A HUGE mistake. But it was Xbox Live that really pushed online gaming. It cost money but for a console it was worth it. PC gaming is great and all but I got many more memories with friends with Halo 2 and 3 than ever PC gaming.

Look at Sony's online for the PS2. Barely servicable (they can say they had online and that's it). In fact PSN was pretty much trying to copy Xbox Live. 

Champions of Norrath is okay, but nothing big like KOTOR, Morrowind, or even Jade Empire. Now this is important cause WRPGs are bigger than JRPGs now. As great as the PS2 was, it was a product of its time. The Xbox truly opened many doors.



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iTechHeads on 19 January 2015

Gears Of War was made by Epic Games.



DJEVOLVE on 19 January 2015
shikamaru317 said:
Ka-pi96 said:
Achievements - Agreed. I think they are by far the best thing Microsoft has brought to gaming

Hard drives - Another incredibly important one, although considering the PS3 and Wii (I think) also had hard drives and were only a year later that may well have happened even without Microsoft.

Xbox Live - I miss local multiplayer

Halo - I think COD Modern Warfare did a lot more for FPS than Halo did. Yeah, but Halo paved the way for CoD. Before Halo, FPS as a genre just didn't exist on consoles, Rare had attempted it with 007 and Perfect Dark and that was pretty much it. 

Gears of War - Microsoft may have funded it, but it was Epic's game.

WRPGs - The only thing I can think of here is getting Mass Effect as an exclusive. I think 3rd party companies did much more for WRPGs than Microsoft by far. Them becoming bigger than JRPGs too is because of 3rd parties (many Japanese companies forgetting how to make good games) I think he's referring to the fact that WRPG's were mainly a PC only genre before developers started putting them on Xbox. For instance Elder Scrolls, Xbox was the first console to get an Elder Scrolls game. The original Xbox also got KOTOR and Fable, which PS2 didn't get. Xbox 360 was also the first console to get a Witcher game and a Mass Effect game.

Other stuff - Kinect not really an innovation, PS Eyetoy? I don't think PS Eye Toy can even be compared to Kinect. Kinect was definitely an innovation in many ways, it didn't really do much good for gaming itself, but it's voice commands are definitely innovative for turning on your system and navigating to aps like Netflix. 

Bolded

Agree with bolded. Was going make the some of the same Points.



McDonaldsGuy on 19 January 2015
iTechHeads said:
Gears Of War was made by Epic Games.

But without Microsoft it would have never been published or put on consoles.

Epic actually went to Sony first (or I think offered Sony an exclusive - something like that) and Sony denied them.



estebxx on 19 January 2015
McDonaldsGuy said:
iTechHeads said:
Gears Of War was made by Epic Games.

But without Microsoft it would have never been published or put on consoles.

Epic actually went to Sony first (or I think offered Sony an exclusive - something like that) and Sony denied them.


What!?... why did they do that?... oh Sony sometimes i really dont understand you...



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Ruler on 19 January 2015

Disagree, The ps2 was the first console who was designed to use a harddrive and sega invented the online service.



Why i left PC gaming

 

(2015) Question for PS4 owners: if the situation would be reverse? would you still play on PS4?

(2015) The "I don't care PS4 is the most powerful console" thread

McDonaldsGuy on 19 January 2015
estebxx said:
McDonaldsGuy said:
iTechHeads said:
Gears Of War was made by Epic Games.

But without Microsoft it would have never been published or put on consoles.

Epic actually went to Sony first (or I think offered Sony an exclusive - something like that) and Sony denied them.


What!?... why did they do that?... oh Sony sometimes i really dont understand you...


Yeah, http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/epic-wont-do-ps3-exclusive

I also remember reading another story around that time of them actually GOING to Sony and asking for money for a kick ass exclusive. Instead Sony was content with Killzone and Resistance (backfired of course). I just don't know why Sony is so obsessed with trying to make Killzone their main shooter franchise.



estebxx on 19 January 2015
McDonaldsGuy said:


Yeah, http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/epic-wont-do-ps3-exclusive

I also remember reading another story around that time of them actually GOING to Sony and asking for money for a kick ass exclusive. Instead Sony was content with Killzone and Resistance (backfired of course). I just don't know why Sony is so obsessed with trying to make Killzone their main shooter franchise.

i see that as them trying to promote/improve and grow their first party games, which i belive is the right thing to do, but yeah its very silly to not grab some exclusives if they are offered to you.

and i dont belive they wont buy/get second or third party FPS or TPS exclusive just to promote Killzone, because well... Resistance is exactly that and its not made by first Party, so there must have been another reason why they didnt accept the offer back then.



McDonaldsGuy on 19 January 2015
estebxx said:
McDonaldsGuy said:


Yeah, http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/epic-wont-do-ps3-exclusive

I also remember reading another story around that time of them actually GOING to Sony and asking for money for a kick ass exclusive. Instead Sony was content with Killzone and Resistance (backfired of course). I just don't know why Sony is so obsessed with trying to make Killzone their main shooter franchise.

i see that as them trying to promote/improve and grow their first party games, which i belive is the right thing to do, but yeah its very silly to not grab some exclusives if they are offered to you.

and i dont belive they wont buy/get second or third party FPS or TPS exclusive just to promote Killzone, because well... Resistance is exactly that and its not made by first Party, so there must have been another reason why they didnt accept the offer back then.


I believe the 2 reasons they didn't accept are:

a) They truly thought Resistance and Killzone would have been enough

b) Money. They were also offered Assassin's Creed and Grand Theft Auto as (timed) exclusives but couldn't get either because the PS3 lost them so much money already.



true_fan on 19 January 2015

Great thread and thee are still some unlisted innovation and even more that will become standard :

Apps
1st with built in ethernet port
Indie Self Publishing
HDMI in
Rumble Triggers
Snap
Insta resume and Multi-Tasking