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danasider on 26 May 2013
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happydolphin said:
danasider said:
I agree with the dev and the OP. I get that we are supposed to expect the unveiling of games for the platform during E3. I get that PS4 didn't have a perfect press conference either. But I also understand that a vast majority of websites and news articles (even on mainstream outlets like Yahoo) had a majority of positive feedback from fans for PS4 and negative feedback for XBox One after their respective press conferences.

And that's the point here along with all the other posts which have criticized Microsoft. I'm not saying MS won't have games and the company won't put a lot of effort into their product. But they underwhelmed at the press conference by unveiling their machine with little care for the fans that buy their products. They just didn't give gamers any incentive to be excited, and I don't really think many other consumers were overjoyed by the announcements of the machine's functionality with respect to TV.

Isn't a press conference supposed to inspire and excite? If it's just relegated to being a pre-show for E3 in which the functionality is displayed and all the boring bullet points are covered, what's the point of even having it? The reality is that MS could have potentially stole PS4's thunder by simply showing some games, but they didn't.

And I'm not saying these press conferences or E3 will be truly indicative of either product, but I think most of us complaining about the borefest that was MS's press conference have an issue with just that...their press conference. So if you have to defend MS with a statement like "MS will show games at E3 so get over it" or similar, you are only reinforcing the point that the unveiling was underwhelming so we have to WAIT for another show to really get excited about the product.

See, for example, my point is not that "they will announce games at e3 so get over it". My point is that anyone bashing the console due to lack of games shown at the conference are lost.

At the same time, your opinion is more interesting, you think the conference itself was bad and that the industry media is highlighting that.

I think my main argument against that is that the conference wasn't meant for gamers but for the mainstream. What tends to happen in gaming media, even those like yahoo's gaming section, is that they are covered by gamers. If the conference wasn't targetted towards gamers, then these writers will be disappointed and it will transpire in their coverage.

However, from a mainstream standpoint, what the One showed is a strategy for success imho. Had the mainstream been watching the show, that would have been better. I think the real problem here is that microsoft targetted the gamer in their pre-unveil hype, and ended up targetting the mainstream with their content. This kind of disconnect is what is plaguing the industry at the moment in my humble opinion.


I agree that there was a disconnect in which audience the unveiling was intended for (judging by the content it certainly wasn't the gamer but more of the IPad user who wants another spiffy do everything gadget) and who MS ultimately targeted (the gamer because it's an Xbox).  Either way, the conference left a lot a fans with bad feelings and it didn't get any hype stirred in the mainstream audience either.  So that's never good.  Microsoft has had a few other misteps (Windows 8, Smart Glass) in the last year further showing their lack of judgment when it comes to knowing what consumers want.  I guess disconnect is a good word for that too.

Point is even though they will have many opportunities to change public perception, the perception, as of today, still exists and I don't think Microsoft is too pleased with it (they even disabled comments on YouTube).  Like with any type of marketing, perception is reality so even though you and I can separate MS performances with regard to press conferences and products, many won't.  Because of the show, many will see the Xbox One as a product that doesn't put gamers at the forefront and many of those consumers will base their purchases on that perception alone.  Nothing is wrong with that.  When making a press conference, it's not the consumers job to keep the faith; it's Microsoft's job to excite all of its audience...not try to divide them by almost completely leaving them out of one show in order to get them on board at E3.  That only causes a lot of backlash and confusion.

I'm sure a lot of money goes into the conferences, but they are put together for a good reason.  To get consumers excited for their products.  Put on a good show and many people will be clamoring for the final product (admittedly with little knowledge of what that actually entails).  Put on a bad show and you get this shitstorm after MS's show.  Either outcome invariably affects the public's opinion of the product.  Guess we'll have to wait till E3 to see if that opinion will be changed...