I’m disgruntled with Sony, I’ve been annoyed by Nintendo, but Microsoft is the only one of the big three that has truly pissed me off. My experience with my 360 has been more or less akin to that of being a beaten wife in denial. I'm currently on my 6th system and I’m so freaked out that it’ll break again that I sent in a questionable claim to Xbox support just to have a box and shipping info prepared just in case it goes.

So here’s a list of every wrong, perceived or real, that Microsoft has done onto the gaming community (aka my “peeps”). Note: due to space restrictions the following will be limited to gaming-based examples of how Microsoft hates us, there are many, many more.

Microsoft has achieved the closest thing to a monopoly in the operating system market: an environment where the competition is either regarded as a cult, or simply laughed at. That’s why they can get away with baiting PC gamers as they did with Windows Vista, which is currently making people so miserable that they're going back to XP. That's right, thousands of geeks and technology freaks who live in a world where anything over a year old is ancient are willfully going back to the old OS because the hot new thing is a hateful piece of crap.

In the first few months after the 360 launch we were treated to loads of size-comparison shots of the system’s external power next to things like a Gamecube, a game case, and in one of the internet's darker corners, someone’s wang. Sure enough the thing is unwieldy. It's so heavy it strains the cords connected to it, and it performs worse in heat than an overweight hooker.

Maybe it’s my fault for having outdated expectations of my battery-powered devices, but I’d prefer to think it’s Microsoft hating us. Whatever the case, all I know is that I changed my Wavebird batteries once in two years and the batteries that came with my 360 controller lasted all of three weeks. After that, it was either buy the play and charge kit or a return to the Gameboy days when batteries were coveted like crack.

Disaffectionately known as the Xbox 3-Shitty, the core package was an unjustifiable purchase. Desperate parents were faced with crippling shortages, and the terrible choice between making their little snookums upset or getting the impaired Core package. Such a devastating moment of consumer agony could have been avoided if not for the…

The classic story of the 360's launch was that while they were sitting on shelves in Japan, people were being robbed at gunpoint for one in the US. While I didn’t have to point a gun at anyone to get one, I did have to do some things I’m not too proud of.

It was quite a sight to behold, a controller so big it could be used to smuggle in illegal immigrants. A controller so big it could pull other controllers into it's orbit. Did I mention it was big? Besides the whale-choking size, the monstrosity had a poor button layout and, as the launch controller, was the only option unless you wanted to import the well-proporioned Japanese controller. Oddly enough, a friend of mine still favored this massive thing, go figure.

Wanna know how long it took me to break my Xbox 1 headset? 30 seconds. As soon as I put it on the connector snapped and I spent the next 6 months being playing with a headset held together by a yard of duct tape. I don’t think the hair around my right ear will ever grow back. Then, my 360 headset was destroyed beyond repair in another 30 seconds by a kitten with abandonment issues. Needless to say, I’m now using a third party headset, and it’s already lasted longer than the other two combined.

I just don’t get this whole customization craze. People are happily paying 20 bucks for a pretty hunk of plastic to make their 360 “theirs”. Add in the overpriced picture packs and themes, and I’m forced to draw the conclusion that people are idiots. Hmm, fourth time today, what a coincidence. Of course this wouldn’t be as bad if not for…

In the devious world of online micro transactions, a theme that should cost $1.50 ends up costing more than four times as much because this online pseudo-currency only comes in sets of much more than anyone needs. It’s like going to a rigged casino, losing half your chips, and being forced to gamble away the other half because you can’t cash out. Hmm, that doesn't really work. Maybe a simple sodomy analogy would’ve been less cumbersome.

One of the finalists for “bane of my existence” being narrowly beaten out by capital punishment and this guy named Gordie I fought with in second grade. So many great games I always wanted to play (like Chronicles of Riddick, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, Otogi 2) but didn’t have the Xbox for. Even after schilling out the $500 to Microsoft via this guy on eBay, I still can’t play them until someone decides it’s worthy of emulation. That means I'll never be able to delve into such classics as Barbie Horse Adventures and Big Mutha Truckers.

Avatars In, Gamerpics Out

In the big kerfuffle about E3, certain nasty truths about all the shiny new stuff can get lost, or at least delayed until everybody's calmed down enough to start tempering expectations again like intelligent human beings. So I feel a responsibility to get up on my soapbox, dodge fanboy ejactulate, and speak the truth so that all may share in my outrage. The nasty truth about this new 360 dashboard update (the one with the Mac-like interface, the Wii-like avatars, and the complete lack of shame) is that is will render the gamerpics and themes that so many people have spent so much money on completely useless. To reiterate: all that cash, down the crapper. Also, while I'm at it; Santa's not real, wrestling is fixed, and mommy's "friend" Tony is banging her like a screen door in the next room.

This is, of course, the big one. If you can't guarantee your product will work when it gets to the consumer than the consumer won't buy it...in theory. While that never stopped me or anyone I know, it has caused me lots of grief. I've spoken to 15 different customer service reps of at least 3 different nationalities. I've even gotten sent on to someone at HQ who kissed my ass and called me every day for a week to make sure I wasn't going to do something drastic, like stop buying their products. I'm on my 6th console, and now that I'm out of warranty I live every day in fear. It's like Microsoft was contracted by the universe to dish out all the karmic payback from every time I hit my brother when we were kids.

What do you make of it? This is from a 360 fan site

http://xboxfocus.com/columns/36-six-rings-in/625-microsoft-hates-us/index.html

ok you can stop now xD

I agree in 100% with this thread.

All I can say is that I lol'd :D

This is from a 360 fan site...

You should probably note that at the top of your OP MegaMike.

You don't have a 360, get a fucking life.

 opinions of 360 owner must hurt...

......Im not sure if I should facepalm or not....

LOL. This guy necro'd like 5 threads yesterday.

It's not his post, it's from Xbox Focus... He's just posting it here so people can discuss.