After a rather pointless reveal last week, Microsoft announced their new next-gen console; Xbox One.First of all, I'm sure you can all agree that this is a completely dumb name.
Second, practically nothing was revealed and we may as well have been kept in the dark until E3 in a couple of weeks.
Much like the WiiU and no doubt the PS4, there seems be an obsession with adapting games consoles into so called "entertainment centres" or "all in one" experiences. This new trend might seem positive but is it really what consumers want? Sure, it's great that I can access Netflix and connect my Last.fm account to my Xbox but first and foremost, I boot up my Xbox to play games.
Years ago, Peter Molyneux was vying for living room dominance, "input 1" he called it. The dream that your games console was first thing you turned on in your living room and enabled you to perform all tasks through it, however I find this detrimental.
Take mobile phones for example, you might be able to use it to browse the Internet or take photos but the Internet connection can't possibly compare to your desktop computer or laptop and despite the fact more photos are taken on iPhones than any other medium, the quality of those images will never be as good as a proper dslr camera because of the lens quality. Ask any photographer or film maker and they'll all agree. When something is made for a sole purpose, it will more than likely perform it's function with more efficiency.
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| Look at it... all weird and boxy |
Take mobile phones for example, you might be able to use it to browse the Internet or take photos but the Internet connection can't possibly compare to your desktop computer or laptop and despite the fact more photos are taken on iPhones than any other medium, the quality of those images will never be as good as a proper dslr camera because of the lens quality. Ask any photographer or film maker and they'll all agree. When something is made for a sole purpose, it will more than likely perform it's function with more efficiency.
If I want to watch a film, I'll use my Blu-ray player because it was created for that very purpose. I don't think, let's use my gaming console because it's better as a platform for gaming than it is for watching films. If everything becomes connected and your "entertainment centre" fails or breaks, everything breaks.
I feel as though I'm being disregarded as a gamer. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are so desperate to encompass all forms of entertainment, they're forgetting their original purpose.
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