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McDonaldsGuy on 04 December 2017
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CGI-Quality said:
McDonaldsGuy said:

Do you mean recently or they were never necessary?

Microsoft did bring a lot to the table:

- Xbox Live is the standard for online gaming. Could you imagine if we left it up to Sony or Nintendo to do online gaming?

- They created game achievements

- First console to have a hard drive (the PS2 had an expandable bay but they never did anything with it!)

Microsoft was one of the real innovators in the console space. Sony was the opposite - they are the so-called "leader" but they always followed other's footsteps.

A lot of assumption and personal feelings mixed in here. So I'm going to tackle the ones I feel can be truly argued and omit what is mere opinion.

  • Xbox LIVE isn't a standard. It is an option, just like PSN and Steam (the latter is actually a more robust program). 
  • Achievements are wonderful, but trophies took it a step further. Really, it's a choice here, not about better/worse.
  • The HDD is a big deal. Yes.
  • "Real innovators". I always chuckle at this sort of thing. Each manufacturer brought something that a competitor hadn't. Whether it was Nintendo with the thumb-stick, Sony with Dual Analog, or Microsoft with the HDD, everyone brought something that has been standardized. To deny that is to admit a lack of understanding of how this industry has formed and grown.

The thing is trophies didn't even launch with the PS3. I don't think the PS3 even had standard trophies til 2008 or 2009. It was a while because I remember they had to add them for Metal Gear Solid 4. They would've never existed without Microsoft. And I don't even think Nintendo has them yet even though they could just do coins and a Power Star lol.

Xbox Live changed the way consoles are used. You got to have your own account, a friends list, send messages, etc. etc. It does suck you have to pay for it, but I can see why they charge (hardware is not profitable).

To show how clueless Sony was about online play their network adapter had a 56K connection (though TBF it did have ethernet too). Microsoft was brilliant BECAUSE they only allowed an ethernet connection for the original Xbox. Microsoft leadership wanted to include a 56k connection but the Xbox Live team were adamant against that.

Without Xbox Live who knows what online gaming on consoles would be like today?

Sony has a huge problem where they are the industry leader but never seem to actually lead.

It does seem however that Microsoft barely cares anymore though. With the Xbox 360 they pulled out all the stops, but with the Xbox One there is no effort. Hell, backward compatibility with the 360 seems to be a bigger deal than new games.

I think Microsoft pretty much quit caring too much about consoles after the release of the Kinect. They started focusing on that and ignoring "hardcore" games.

I actually thought they were going to slowly exit the console race until they released the Xbox One X. But I still feel they are going to slowly just start focusing on Windows gaming.