Has Microsoft Abandoned the Hardcore?

josuttis - 40 days 18 hours ago

Of course they have.

Just look back over the 8 year 7 billion dollar Xbox fiasco. They dumped a bunch of very expensive desktop PC parts in a big black box and tied for last place and had to pull the plug on the too expensive to manufacture hardware after racking up some 4 billion or so in losses.

They rushed out new poorly designed console hardware that was built with the cheapest and shoddiest parts to try to avoid racking up billions in losses like the first Xbox marketplace disaster did. They ended up with the RRoD fiasco and other hardware failures that have once again racked up billions in losses but this time with underpowered graphics hardware and media capabilities compared to the competition.

Anyone who really thought Microsoft would continue to throw billions down the Xbox rathole was living in a fantasy world. Bolting a Sony Eyetoy style motion controller on the old Xbox 360 hardware is much cheaper than once again trying to create expensive new console hardware. Keep the suckers paying the 50 dollar a year online fees at the very least.

Trying to compete with Sony's console hardware design and manufacturing dominance has been a disaster for Microsoft. At least targeting the Nintendo Wii crowd will be cheaper for Microsoft when they fail.

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Troll_Police - 40 days 17 hours ago

Sure looks that way. Seems their only focused on games that require you to stand in front of the t.v. and flail your arms and legs like an idiot.

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Ko_Uraki - 40 days 17 hours ago

...and released tomorrow, I wonder how someone can write stupidities like that.

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Jamescagney - 40 days 17 hours ago

*Insert fanboy comment here*

*then burn fanboy here*

*dispose of fanboys corpse here*

*rejoice here*

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Sangria - 40 days 17 hours ago

The article isn't really good as it asks a good question and slates personal experiences displayed as a common truth, but i wonder if Natal will be able to gather the hardcore audience. The project is a no-controller motion sensing through a camera. Something that casual games would perfectly use, but how about hardcore games?

Mollyneux has announced recently that Fable 3 will support Natal. But how can we play a Fable game without buttons and only with the body? Will we be able to play with a classic controller? How will we be able to play online? What kind of application can the body motion sensing have on Halo games, Gears of War games, Forza games, etc..?

There are two possibilities: either hardcore games become more casual in order to be adapted to Natal, either developers manage to keep a hardcore mind in the gameplay with Natal. So right now, i think we should wait how Natal-compatible games will evolve. But the question about 2009's hardcore audience is pretty low, as Xbox 360 players (neither PS3 players) don't only play exclusive games, and 2009 have been full of great multiplatform games.

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Odion - 40 days 17 hours ago

I like how the author couldn't remember the dates, ME1 was a 2007 title, 2006 had Dead Rising.

Also this was a bad year, but next year is full of heavy weights.

Alan Wake
Crackdown 2
Halo Reach
Fable 3
Mass Effect 2
SC:C

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PLAYSTATIONGENRATION - 40 days 17 hours ago

What they don't seem to understand is what makes them recognizable its hardcore pc shoots and console exclusives...it is what it is...yet tey do have fans that will buy any thing and i mean anything(natal) just because xbox made it and those fans make it worse on the rest of us..i believe if they continue to try and get the casual market they will fail... miserable..the next year will be a do or die factor for the x box...2007-8...was the xbox model they should have kept...I want xbox around..i do but NATAL WILL RUIN XBOX AS WE KNOW IT...who wants natal in their halo, fable, GeoW...it would sell at first but hardcore gamers have no to light real interest in natal

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ForROME - 40 days 17 hours ago

Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaat Post

ive been saying it for 2 yrs, MS

1st. could end up in 3rd place but their goal was to get in your living room and take market share

2nd. The Wii made them sale out, why make exp hardware when you can get casual people make a quick buck and move to the next system

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Magnus - 40 days 16 hours ago

Microsoft has not abandoned the hardcore gamer, they want to open the market up even more with Natal and taking on the Wii. Natal and Sonys wand are great inventions but as a hardocre gamer the last thing I want to do on the weekend or after I am done work if move my arms around like a chicken. I actually like to sit and have a smoke and play a game. Hardcore gamers will abandon Microsoft if they decide to raise the price of Live to a 100 a year I know I will. The only way Microsoft will abandon the harcore gamers is by going down the same road Ninetndo took. And thats releasing the 720 with 360 graphics and half the HDD space that to me is Microsoft abandoning the hardcore gamer.

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doa766 - 40 days 16 hours ago

MS is clearly focusing hard on Natal but it does make you look like an idiot and even if the had the precision needed to play games for real it would still be very limited by the lack of buttons

you might be able to swing a sword but how would pull a trigger? how about taking cover, would we have to hide behind the couch?

even if we put aside all its logistic problems and tech limitations, assuming that it works with the precision to play a shooter online, for how long will you able to play before getting too tired?

since we can play Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Left 4 Dead 2 on PC, what's left for the 360? endless Halo spinoffs

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GarandShooter - 40 days 16 hours ago

There is a difference between expanding your demographic and abandoning a segment of it.

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kigsunama - 40 days 16 hours ago

I dunno about that, but Microsoft defiantly has shown they don't give a crap about their customers.

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cmrbe - 40 days 16 hours ago

They know that they can't sustain console growth into the future without the casual market which they still have failed to attract.

MS 3rd party strategy is slowing coming back to bite them in the ass. MS made a huge mistake in trying to fool the masses that multi-plats are exclusive to the x360. Slowly people are starting to see that they are not with most 3rd parties games that were on the x360 going multi. People are not stupid.

MS gamble that they can fool people to believe that the x360 is the new PS2 failed miserably. After almost 4 years on the market with all the advantage they had with the 1 year headstart, more variety in game collection, cheaper console and most once PS2 exclusive on the x360. MS have only managed to attract a measly 7 million more consumers compare to the original xbox in the same time frame.

MS knows they don't have a chance in attracting the bulk of PS2 owners after all most PS2 3rd party exclusive are on the x360 and the x360 has been at 199 now for 1 year already. MS now are turning to the wii userbase with Natal to sustain growth.

MS knows they can't compete much more with Sony for the hardcore. They lack the talent and the hardware to do so. 3rd parties are not as warm to them as they use to be back in 2006/07.

MS strategy is similar to the shock and awe strategy that the US used in Irag. Its just a flash in the pan. It got everyone's attetion for a short time but then afterwards MS finds that they don't have the attrition to last a long and hard fought console battle against a seasoned veteran like Sony.

As i said many times before. MS have used up most of their cards and they were not prepared for this long console war. All of thier top games are out and most already have seen sequels with the x360 console price at mass market price. It leaves very little room for MS to maneuver unlike Sony. Most of Sony's big games still haven't been release on the PS3 as well as most of the PS2 franchise and the PS3 has only just reach 299 which was the PS2 launch price.

MS last card is Natal. As we have seen with ODST. Even their biggest franchise did not see it beat Sony in hardware sales because most have already bought a x360 with Halo 3 which was the first entry. It will be the same for Gears 3 and fable 3 and Froza 3 etc etc. None will help MS sustain growth in the hardcore segment. They need Natal to be a success.

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biggame901 - 40 days 16 hours ago

However, if Natal succeeds (I think unlikely), then you could see Microsoft place more effort towards the casual crowd, which likely would come at a loss to the hardcore crowd.

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Ps_alm3k - 40 days 16 hours ago

and they will.....Now jump the boat!!!

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doa766 - 40 days 15 hours ago

it will have a lot of day one sales and it will be all over the news when it comes out but very quickly people will see that it'll suck

NO ONE, not even small children will want to play for more than half hour in a row

I remember a few years ago when some articles started saying that Spielberg nailed the computer of the future on Minority Report many people rapidly replied that that no one will choose to wave the arms in front of a PC instead of moving a mouse a few inches

it's just like those virtual reality helmets from the 90s

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mrnintendo96 - 40 days 14 hours ago

I knew a article with this name would coume up before the generation ended.

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Relientk77 - 40 days 14 hours ago

I think they have the wrong name

Nintendo abandoned the hardcore

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Advari - 40 days 14 hours ago

Microsoft could careless about the hardcore they know the money will continue coming in. The only thing Natal is good for is me drinking a beer and watching the GF in hot shorts play a game. Natal is a joke and rumor has it its priced the same as a brand new console but we all know people on here will bash Natal for now. But when the thing is released people will stand outside a store at midnight and buy one because its the new thing. And for Microsoft quit milking the Halo franchise and the Gears franchise and come up with some better ideas for exclusives from where I am sitting as a consumer the PS3 and the Wii have better exclusives right now.

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Salginon - 40 days 13 hours ago

You can go on Live 24/7, and there are lots of people ready to kick your butt, in all kinds of games. I consider that Hardcore.

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suunyd - 40 days 18 hours ago

Well, all I ever hear xbots talk about is NATAL and MILO!
Get off Milo's nuts, he won't save you.
Milo = Nintendogs
Actually:
Nintendogs > Milo

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MetalGearRising - 40 days 18 hours ago

Microsoft is the only company that caters for hardcore and casual audience.

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Bumpmapping - 40 days 17 hours ago

M$ don't care for their fan base FACT.

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djtek184 - 40 days 17 hours ago

http://www.youtube.com/watc... the ps brand may be in 3rd but its been inching closer for a comeback slowly but surely

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Saaking - 40 days 17 hours ago

Bots like getting screwed by MS. Let the poor guys be.

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Handhelds_FTW - 40 days 17 hours ago

LOL! @ article, none the less.

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Nikuma - 40 days 17 hours ago

If you're truly hardcore then you have a gaming PC. FACT. Competition in PC games is on a whole nother level.

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xoxideu - 40 days 17 hours ago

..

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Guitarded - 40 days 16 hours ago

Seems to be working too.

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chrisulloa - 40 days 14 hours ago

Really? Let's do insanity on Mass Effect, Iron + Legendary + 4 player co-op on Halo 3 / ODST, or let's do realism on L4D2. See how "hardcore" that is.

This has nothing to do with "hardcore" gaming, this is just an opinion about exclusives. Poorly written to say the least.

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