Microsoft pitched the original Xbox as a hardcore gaming console. While I sorta cringe at the wording and idea of the pitch, the original Xbox was indeed that. While the PS2 had a slew of exclusives and an incredible software lineup, the original Xbox felt different, unique.
There wasn't a Western competitor as ambitious as Microsoft was with the Xbox. While the Gamecube and PS2 were very Eastern in software and design, the Xbox was completely Western in software and design. Plenty of PC games got ported to the Xbox, performance for most games was much better on the Xbox.
The Xbox help bring Western developers to the console space. Of course there were Western developers working on console games long before the Xbox, but the Xbox as a whole brought a different and unique flavor to gaming.
Flash forward to the 360.
Such abysmal hardware failure, inexcusable, but what the 360 brought to the table in it's first 5 years was incredible. Interactivity with marketplaces and other people was hinted at during the original Xbox, whatever interactivity happened on the Xbox felt like an incredibly neat extra or bonus with the console.
The 360 was built around that idea. No longer did you have to subscribe to magazines to get demos, expansions to games could be bought and downloaded from the console itself, you can talk to a friend during any game at any time with a few clicks of a button.
None of those things are new for PC owners, but it felt amazingly intuitive on a console. No longer were you alone in a room with whatever is in your grasp, you were part of an online ecosystem in which functionality within the console realm was increased tenfold.
The software lineup for the 360 was also fantastic. Retail exclusives died down in the past couple of years, but the initial wave of exclusive games on the 360 were great. You had a gardening sim with pinata animals, you were a CSI detective caught in one of the worst parts of town, you scaled skyscrapers and your car can morph due to the experience it gets.
XBLA brought smaller games into the limelight for console owners, no longer were people restricted to experiences at retail. For $10 or $20 you can get a game that's equal to the experience of a $60 game.
Some really hated the end game for the 360, where apps and Kinect became a new priority. Due to the actual software on the 360 though, I didn't care. I had and still have software to play and experience, third party developers have picked up the 360 and carried it outside the door.
Onto the storm clouds.
You know how I just talked about interactivity and being able to benefit from it? What if you still had those same pros from before, but added in a avalanche of cons?
Used games becoming new game passes, having to be online during a 24 hour period to play games, period. Xbox Live Gold probably still on the table, Kinect has to be plugged in so Microsoft can sell the Xbox at a higher price.
It doesn't matter what good can come from these current proposals, Microsoft is using the online infrastructure they have in place to impede on what have been traditional practices. Publishers and Developers may benefit from these systems, but at the cost of having a balanced business relationship.
Interactivity and "Always on" can bring fantastic changes and benefits to console owners and all of gaming. But those changes won't matter if the user feels restricted and bound to following a regiment so these changes can occur, progress is more than something new or different, progress is making something in the past better than it used to be.
The Xbox One isn't an instant failure, and polices can be changed while keeping what makes some of the changes sound fantastic. But at this moment, I don't feel inclined to invest in something that has such a haphazard treatment of it's user base.
