Microsoft has done a lot of innovations

[Dusk]

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.

I disagree with almost everything. 

I don't like achievements, they are pointless and unnecessary. I'm aware that I am in the minority of this, but it's what I think.

Hard Drives are fine.

Paying a premium for online is mental and shouldn't happen. 

Halo is good, but no, it didn't revolutionize anything. It was really Wolfenstein and Doom that created and made FPS mainstream. Goldeneye took it to another level. Goldeneye is still better than Halo. 

Gears of War again is fine, but nothing too special and not the first of it's kind. Sypon Filter and Max Payne were both superior and far earlier, but it was something that helped the system stand out at the time. 

Kinect was MS answer to Wii-mote and copied Sony PS2 eye toy.