So the answer to what does Xbox have to market is that Sony didn't have anything to market?

The debate equivalent of " so"

Shadow Of War and Assassin's Creed Origins are the only big third party marketing deals they got. So those two and Forza 7 are gonna be they big pushes for the X. I wouldn't be surprised if the TV ads for AC and War end with "Played best on Xbox One X". But I wouldn't be surprised if both Shadow of War and Assassin's Creed sale better on PS4 simply due to having twice the install base. 

I was gonna get one along with Crackdown but now I'm just going to see what it does for games like Gears 4. Hopefully the 4k patch satisfies my itch. Maybe Forza.

You hit the nail on the head. Thats pretty much the gist.

Sure sure... that would also explain why MS dedicated a lot more time promoting X1X than PS4 did for the Pro right? Their full E3 trying to push real 4k prettier pixels were on the same level as Sony

I guess it'll be Forza 7, then. I wasn't really expecting them to release it with a big title to showcase it, though.

I think one of the Just Dance games did, but no other than that.

I bought an XOne shortly after launch - used it for MCC and Halo 5. But then nothing came out afterwards I wanted to play on it so I was going to sell it. About that time they announced the Scorpio, so I thought I should keep it because they will probably announce games alongside it. I say this with no pleasure - I was very wrong.

Do we have any ideas what Remedy is working on? I really, really, really want Alan Wake 2.

Thanks, even though that wasn't what I wanted to hear!

This is easily proven false if you just look at each console presence at E3. 

The Pro was mentioned in passing and shown in a slideshow at E3 2017, with God of War, arguably Sony's biggest game there, even being showcased on a base model.
The X featured heavily both as a reveal at E3 2016 and the star of the show at E3 2017. 
This is ignoring the huge push in between these events as a "revolutionary leap forward", a "monster" etc.

Leaving aside the effect this will have on xboxx sales, this has left the xboxs looking like, pardon my French, the "tosser model", a look which current sales seem to reflect.
It isn't really surprsing: painting the X has the "ultimate model" means any other would feel like a waste of money.
The hurdle of being the less popular system this gen would always be an issue Sony wouldn't have to contend with, but the way it was handled clearly didn't help Microsoft. 

I realize that seeing as this marketing push has undoubtedly hurt base model sals for XBox that you can do nothing but deny it happened, but that isn't going to help.

I would also dispute your claim that the X would help Microsoft at the start of the next generation.
People, by and large, seem to have a deep seated dislike for the kind of upgrade console cycle you're suggesting Microsoft should adopt.
As a consequence I struggle to imagine that people would give an eventual XBoxXX, which played the same games as the XBoxX, being given even a pssing glance in the face of a PlayStation 5 or a SwitchEroo (yes, that's what they'll call it.)

Power might have been a solution in 2014, but we're now hitting the fourth year of the console, and while Sony and Nintendo are getting widespread critical acclaim and the industry celebrates bigger and better things, Microsoft remains a footnote.
I suggest they fix that, before asking people to pay $500 for a beefed up version of the same thing.