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hinch on 02 July 2020
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padib said:
goopy20 said:

Well, Phil did say it may be depressing to some, and maybe I'm just one of them. Phil talks like a used car salesman but with melting that 4th wall he's still saying higher res, better load times and input latency are what he feels will be the major differences between current- and last gen. He also mentions increased story telling which at least is something to get a bit excited about. 

The problem is that you have practically analyze whatever Phil is saying to get something positive out of it in regards to pushing next gen boundaries. Either he's being brutally honest and he's a terrible sales person or... he's being as political correct as possible because he knows their cross platform strategy puts Series X is a difficult spot to really flex those next gen muscles. 

Sony is doing the exact opposite and are telling us how their SSD is God's gift to mankind that will revolutionize gaming as we know it. Now maybe they are overselling it and I should temper my expectations from Sony. But I would rather have them overhyping things with crazy footage from games that never even get released or 6 years later, than getting less and less excited whenever I read a Phil Spencer interview. 

MS totally got me when they announced a 12Tflops console, and I still think the raw specs are insane. But after that all we've been hearing is things like; no next gen exclusives, Smart Delivery, Optimized for Series X logo's and how framerates/resolution are going to be biggest differences between current and next gen. Its almost as if they're trying to sell us a X1X 2.0 instead of a next gen console that allows for completely new experiences, not possible before on current gen.

I think you under-appreciate him. Here are things I really like about him:

  • He doesn't tend to exaggerate or inflate the capabilities of what they are doing or of the console
  • He cares about the overall delivery and the game experience
  • He wants to make a great product
  • He wants to drive his team in a player-driven direction, he is the icon for the new team at MS
  • He is giving 40-minute interviews from his home

You will get a presentation from Xbox in a few weeks. Be patient.

Also, I much prefer a company that discusses things that encourage a better industry and experience than a company that just boasts about itself. Right now we are comparing MS talk to Sony talk. I can tell you that Sony is most often, in my point of view, trying to create inflated hype. In the opposite, MS is staying chill and just being confident. They did their work, now they'll go to bat. I like that mentality.

As for "no next gen exclusives", you really need to adjust your visor. You need to know that MS has purchased a lot of studios that are hard at work on experiences that leverage the XsX. As you mentioned, we saw that MS has a logo to highlight games that were optimized for the new console. This means that, while they are going strong on smart delivery and allowing people to play the games on as broad a range of platforms as possible, they are dedicated to maximizing the use of the new hardware. So in my opinion you really need to understand the subtleties here, and not jump to conclusions.

Edit: I think you should also use another term than "used car salesman". I think personally that it's disrespectful to him, to the industry and to xbox fans. You should be more respectful imho, especially given his care for video games.

Yeah, companies are not your friends. Also not sure how MS encourage a better industry other than alternate ways to make more revenue. Moreover it looks like they are pushing online for games for service. This may be good for industry or bad. I'm cynical, so anything that takes away control for the end user (especially in the games industry) is slippery slope and not one I'm going to partake in - if I can help it. As a PC gamer I've seen the change on progression from physical to digital and while its convienient its not all good. Rights for games are up to publishers and it can get messy. The only difference is that there is vast competition on the digital front on PC. Whereas on consoles, its a closed ecosystem.

Gonna be an old man gamer with CD's for consoles until they stop making them. Then its PC all the way.

Phil Spencer does seem like a a nice guy though and does sound like he cares for gaming.