I want to start this off by saying I don't have anything really against Microsoft. At least not like I did in the beginning of the 8th gen. I even made a thread that stemmed from how much I love the Xbox One controller. I have very little criticism of the console, especially over the Sony and Nintendo's consoles (of which I have both PS4 and Wii U), and I generally don't go out of my way to criticize Xbox like I would the latter two. To be honest, I think there are some even on this forum that were overly critical or spinning to the point I think makes no sense on a reasonable standpoint in regards to the Xbox One. I want to make it very clear this is not an attack on the Xbox One, but I will cite certain aspects of its shortcomings to highlight my overall point.
*The one thing that I have gotten increasingly fed up with is the allegations of media bias, both in and out this forum*. People are consistently trying to frame Xbox as a victim this gen. The Xbox One is a victim, but only because of Microsoft's own decisions early on this gen. Essentially, it is a victim of itself, not the media.
It boggles my mind that the same people giggling over the Wii U's reported, factual failures, somehow get upset when the Xbox One gets criticized for factual problems. The Xbox One got bad feedback for a good reason. The Wii U got extremely negative feedback for good reasons. The Ps4 got good feedback for better reasons. Out of all three groups, I have only consistently seen those in the Xbox One group talk so much about media bias in the face of facts. I'm always stunned when I hear someone accuse the likes of Digital Foundry of bias, or allude to it by referring to them as "Pony Foundry". If I had a quarter for every time last year I heard or read a comment something alluding to media bias against the Xbox One, I would probably have close to enough for an Xbox One S before taxes. You can't complain about media saying the Xbox is lacking exclusives if it is lacking exclusives. Especially if you consider that Sony this year alone has had a good number of exclusives in the first half of the year. This isn't semantics either. These were high quality exclusives. Just look at the reception Nioh and Horizon: Zero Dawn receive. Despite what their detractors say, the Xbox One had good exclusives. The lack of them recently is the problem.
The reason I bring any of this up is because my friend sent me a picture of this tweet:
This is when I couldn't take it anymore. Yes, they each champion the Pro, but this was ridiculous for so many reasons. For starters, the you'll notice that the Engadget tweeted shows the same author's name on both of the articles but does only shows it for one of the two Verge articles. This is because the Verge articles were not made by the same person, but the person tweeting of course wanted to bring this up for the Engadget article because it certainly seemed favorable to frame this way. It wasn't. If you actually look at both Engadget articles (nevermind even that you can tell by the subtitle of the Ps4 Pro) you'll notice that the writer states in the PS4 Pro article that while it is good, the console is no way a replacement for those with a vanilla PS4 especially considering the cost of the console and 4K TV's. In no universe is the same guy who wrote that going to go ahead and make an article about console that comes a year later than Pro, costs about $100 (depending if Sony considers a price drop) more and lacks a current stream of exclusives to leverage what you're missing on competition, as a better sell. I can't even think of an exclusive title for Xbox One next year that was not delayed. Keep in mind as well, one is an in-depth review, the other is an opinion based off exposure to GamesCon.
The Verge allegation is somehow worse. These are two different writers. One is a review and the other is an article about short experience in GamesCon. If you even look at the review for the Pro you'll notice that it showcases several negatives such as the lack of 4K games, yet alone true 4K games. The real kicker is that, in that very review they criticize the lack of a blue ray player and highlight the Xbox One S as an alternative.
I again want to reiterate that didn't make this thread to bash Xbox fans (in general) or bait arguments. I also didn't do this so Sony or Nintendo fans a pat in the back, as I have seen just as much spin and ridiculous statements on their space. It is just as unsavory. I just think that the consistency in this particular subject needs to end.
* This specific sentence was poorly placed. I meant to say accusations and allusions to media bias, in general, gets on my nerves and that people in and out of this forum do so. When I was referring to just claims or allusions to bias I have seen on this site, I was largely referring stuff like reviews (which I have been dying to make a thread about since last year but never quite get around to). You'll notice the following sentences pertain closely to the next, full paragraph. I wrote that seperately that pasted it, but merely forgot to combine it and put this sentence at the end of the first paragraph. I ended up doing something else and losing my focus here. Apologies for the misunderstanding on that front*
