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S.T.A.G.E. on 19 January 2013
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J_Allard said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:
J_Allard said:
Thank goodness Sony came along and introduced such elements to the gaming world as "major 3rd party support" and "longevity" and "multimedia". Oh wait they actually didn't invent any of that.


No one in gaming did "invent" such things, but rather it was influence by timing of implementing such means successfully (much like Nintendo themselves with other gameplay styles). It just so happens that Sony was the first to implement their strengths into gaming, which expanded its audience with CD's and later with DVD). Microsoft came in with online later on. Without outside interference I doubt gaming would've wouldn't have been the main platforms even when compared to PC.

Except Sony wasn't the first to implement those things successfully either. Maybe multimedia, but even that is a stretch. It is strange though how you now say no one invents anything after you've basically been saying all thread that Sony invented this magic blueprint MS copied.

Sony was the first to implement multimedia a CD music system/Gaming combo in the first console they ever put out and have it become a successful paradigm shift for games on a large scale. The second console was first launched by them as a DVD player that also played your CD's and Microsoft followed suit. Anyone who has read up  on the history of Microsoft joining the console race knows they saw Sony was becoming a threat to PC and was hurting the arcade circuit because massive amounts of people were buying their product to play at home. Sony set their sights on the PC world and Microsoft came with two goals:

1) To swallow Sonys multimedia marketshare whole. Microsoft has an issue with not monopolizing any form of multimedia hub. Anywhere there is an all in one multimedia hub you will see Microsoft because thats just how they are. Think I am joking? Look up all multimedia hubs available to people. If Microsoft isn't there they will be.

2) To stop Sony from interfering in PC dominance in the late 90's. They failed to save PC from getting hurt, and actually hurt PC themselves by taking PC exclusives to strengthen their arsenal against Sony. Third party PC devs caught wind of the growth of powerful consoles and the large stable marketshare growth of the PS2 and joined in for the next gen. Valve is the true savior of PC. Its also a double edge sword, because even though Microsoft took PC devs away from exclusivity to PC and brought them to consoles, they also gave them a more stable audience to sell their games to as PC's core popularity dwindled in the current gen. The leap from last gen to this gen was so great even the lead dev of of Id brought form fitted RAGE to be created specifically for the consoles and PC secondary before this gen even began.

In conclusion,

Microsoft failed their prime objective, but I dont think their prime objective was to save PC at all when you look at their performance. How many PC titles did they even publish during their time as console devs outside of WIndows Live? PC games were Microsofts trojan horse. This gen indy games were Microsofts trojan horse because of lack of software support in their first party. Their third party was stacked this gen. 

I remember reading an article with Shane Kim earlier in the gen saying Microsoft will follow Sony until the end of their cycle which will be eleven years. They will not let up on Sonys marketshare because thats who they are truly after. Shane Kim stepped down, but I realized he was correct about seven years of software support and I am guessing it will have four years of third party support until its over.