Microsoft is innocent!!

[VanceIX]

d21lewis said:

Myth:  Microsoft was the one that started making us pay for online gaming

-This is false.  Anybody who was around at the time knows that SegaNet (Dreamcast) charged for an online gaming subscription long before Xbox Live.  In fact, if I remember, SegaNet cost around $19 a month.  Even before them, there were paid (unlicensed) online services for Super Nes/Genesis games.

Myth:  Microsoft made it okay to launch a console with faulty hardware

-Again, not true.  The original Xbox was built like a tank.  The Xbox 360 may have the worst failure rate of all time but the PS2 also suffered so many defects that Sony was the subject of a class action lawsuit.  Sony settled.  Even before that, it was widely accepted that the PS1 was a fragile device.  Quick fixes were common, including turning the console on its side or even upside down.

Myth:  Microsoft ruined the industry with their exclusivity deals

-Before the Xbox 360, it was actually Nintendo with the NES and Super NES that wouldn't allow companies to make games for the competiton.  Companies found ways around this by releasing their games under different names.  For example, Street Fighter 2 Turbo was exclusive to the Super Nes so Capcom would release "Street Fighter 2: Special Champion Edition" for the Genesis.  Virtually the same game but a way around the exclusivity deal.  And it wasn't just Nintendo.  In a 2001 issue of EGM, Microsoft was preparing for the launch of the Xbox and was quoted saying that certain games were "Moneyhatted" to remain exclusive to the PS2 but they were able to get most of whay they wanted.

It would seem that Microsoft "throwing money" at gaming companies for exclusive content was a standard practice long before the Xbox was a threat.

 

Well, Microsoft was the first to take all of those negatives and put them into one convinient package for consumers to enjoy.

Not saying that they're a terrible gaming company, but they were pretty shoddy last generation.