Power On: The Story of Xbox

[mjk45]

Chazore said:

SKMBlake said:

I watched the first 2 episodes, I am in the middle of the third one and...

This is exactly why I don't enjoy the "Xbox brand":
- the main target was to respond to Sony's claim about the PS2 replacing PC in living rooms
- then it became all about beating Sony in their own field
- and then it was about entering in the lucrative gaming business to make money out of it, with unlimited funds from the richest company in the world

And yes, we heard about Samus the passionnate nerd who build up a prototype that could boot Windows in 3 seconds, but yeah, overall they made obvious why the Xbox brand isn't loved as much as Nintendo.

I mean, their goals and reason for entering the market aren't something to remember fondly, but tbh, I don't believe Sony's should be either, because if you remember, they only entered the market in a big way because they felt "betrayed" by another Japanese company (Nintendo), which they took Japanese levels of offence to (because that's just like the Japanese to go all Samurai period levels of pissed off, seriously, I'm not joking, history tells you how easy it was to offend them), and decided they wanted to crush their would-be partner.

The part about "replacing PC's" isn't exactly something fond to look back on, considering that was Sony wanted to crush another market.

MS's entrance wasn't noble, but neither was Sony's. Nintendo is remembered fondly because they were there when the market crashed, to pick up the pieces, while the other two were so hell bent on destroying each other and PC gaming (which is hilarious, when you look at PC gaming now, and how the other two, besides Nintendo, have adhere to the market they once sought to do away with/left behind).

Like most thing's it isn't one or the other but a mixture, yes there was betrayal and honour involved, but also Ken and certain others who having  become involved through the sound chip and the failed partnership saw the promise and wanted to continue on despite internal opposition, most of the betrayal and honour story comes from Ken using it to convince the head of Sony to back it when it looked like it would be knocked back at a meeting.

Even then with the greenlight given, that opposition is part of the reason Sony music became the place that birthed the PlayStation, so the betrayal aspect was just a strategy used by Ken and not a Sony wide mindset.

The reason for MS entering the scene has been told many times by Bill Gates he said he was afraid that the PS2 would become or at least herald the ubiquitous all in one multimedia box that the world foresaw in the pre smart phone era, so it's success endangering windows, history has shown it was a misplaced fear brought about by Bill seeing the PS1 dominating and believing Ken's ambition for the PS2  so in conclusion everything can be laid at Crazy Kens door its all his fault.

Last edited by mjk45 - on 17 December 2021