Microsoft released an overwhelming wealth of information yesterday at their official E3 2008 press conference. Some of the announcements we were already aware of weeks before they took the stage. Others came as a complete and total surprise (Final Fantasy XIII anyone?). Despite exciting news like their newly formed partnership with Netflix and the (not necessarily wanted but will be forced to get anyways) redesigned Dashboard, gamers decided to focus their hate on one particular upcoming feature, the apparent unwelcome introduction of avatars. Taken from around the internet:
I hate the idea of avatars. I am not a casual gamer, I DON’T play in my living room. This is Microsoft’s worst possible idea.
This is not Innovation…It isn’t fresh…It is a Huge step backwards to your left, Right into Looney Ville.
The idea of marketing the 360 for a more child oriented base is sickening.
Xbox Avatars = me clawing my eyeballs out.
Who knew custom made digital representations of ourselves could fuel such hatred? Microsoft has already confirmed that the Xiis (see what I did there?) are optional and that our gamerpics will still be fully functional so hopefully the initial panic over potential wasted Microsoft points will pass quickly. I plan on withholding judgment until I am actually able to mess around with them and see exactly how and where they are used. What are your thoughts on the new avatars, the redesigned Dashboard, and everything else that Microsoft announced yesterday?
Posted by mendicantbias00 on July 15, 2008 at 4:03 am
lol I can totally picture youre “Xii”….very sparkly and pink. =)
I am glad we still get to use our Gamerpics, though I will probably play around with the new dashboard. However I was unimpressed with most of the announcements…at least for xbox. But, thats just me. =)
Posted by mendicantbias00 on July 15, 2008 at 4:04 am
I totally forgot to mention the Netflix venture…that will be awesome!
Posted by RT on July 15, 2008 at 5:52 am
I’ll do the update, play around with the Xii’s, and more-than-likely stick with my Gamerpic. And, like mendicantbias00 mentioned, the NetFlix deal is awesome!
Posted by Ragingterror on July 15, 2008 at 6:05 am
My thoughts on the FFXIII announcement were something along the lines of “Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha” (Bummer for the Sony fanboys)
Everything else: Meh.
Posted by firestream on July 15, 2008 at 6:09 am
I was really planning on buying a PS3 this fall, but the FFXIII announcement just helped sway my decision towards not buying one. Of course, its still got Blu-ray. The dashboard update might be cool, but its not very exciting to me.
Posted by Doc on July 15, 2008 at 6:18 am
All I really want is party chat. If they give us that, I’ll deal with the rest of the crap.
Posted by Jim 028 on July 15, 2008 at 7:01 am
“Looney Ville” “sickening” and “clawing my eyeballs out”
Nice to see that the internet is maintaining it’s usual standards of intelligent discussion.
Microsoft have essentially added a little extra level of customising of your gamertaq. Nothing really worthy of this level of vitriol.
I personally am really excited about the potential of Live Party
“You can chat with or send messages to your friends, but there’s something new: create a Live party, private groups of up to 8 people, always connected and chatting as a party.”
from joystiq.com about half way down the page at 11:15 am PT.
Posted by groxx788 on July 15, 2008 at 8:52 am
they could of thought of something better this year, I think.
Done something that nobody else has done yet, like the netflix thing, but the thing is, the “big” thing for them is the avatar thing. what they don’t realize is that if most xbox gamers wanted that, they would’ve bought a Wii I think
Posted by groxx788 on July 15, 2008 at 8:53 am
where the hell was Halo though!!!!!!!!!
I watched the entire thing fot that one reason!
Posted by Bigglesworth on July 15, 2008 at 9:21 am
it is an Avatar. big deal. don’t want to use it, don’t.
Posted by bs angel on July 15, 2008 at 10:04 am
While I can understand not everybody being excited about avatars, I don’t necessarily understand the people that are completely outraged. I was watching commentary on it yesterday and someone said they were actually offended by it because they consider themselves a mature gamer. Just seems like a waste of energy to get that worked up about an optional feature.
I’m really interested in seeing the new Dashboard in action. It’s hard to get a feel of things from a short video.
Posted by e house on July 15, 2008 at 10:13 am
Too many haters.
The new Dashboard looks hot! Party support!! Netflix. FFXIVVMLC . . .
This is all quality news. Very excited.
Posted by Qix on July 15, 2008 at 10:39 am
I don’t hate the new “Xii” stuff, but I definitely don’t like it. I’m also going to miss my Penny arcade themed dashboard. They better release another good one for this style dash.
Yes this stuff is optional. But it still shows the direction Microsoft is working towards. That direction is not where I am sitting. Not to mention, people saying this is “optional.” Yea right, and owning a car is “optional” as well.
Outside of the Xii crap, everything just depends on how well it works. The current dashboard has been refined for years, it works great. The new ‘update’ better not become clunky and annoying to use. All depends when it comes out I guess. Microsoft better not pull a “Sony” and make the update brick my console.
Ive been thinking about netflix for a while now, one more reason to start it up. I did not ehar it offiial, but one of the G4 hosts sad something about only one person had to have netflix for an entire group to watch a movie. If so, that would be freaking awesome. Wish I had this stuff when I lived in Japan!
As far as originality, Groxx is right, would be nice to see some innovation, rather than copying other’s ideas. But thats not going to happen anytime soon
Danny choo’s cooments:
(Games) XBOX 360 Mii (54)
日本語 UIはこちら
XBOX 360 Mii
I worked at Microsoft for a year before starting up my company Mirai.
I was disappointed at how Microsoft chose a strategy of “waiting to see what the competition does.”
They never wanted to innovate due to the “risk involved” but are willing to copy if they see a competitor doing well with a new product.
When I was there, they even had a job title “beat google” – how embarassing > http://gizbuzz.co.uk/2006/microsoft-beat-google-job/
http://www.dannychoo.com/detail/mac/eng/image/5093/XBOX+360+Mii.html
(The Navy blocks this Danny Choo, but this page (at the time) has nothing that is not safe for work, but you are warned)
(sorry about the wall of text)
Posted by tanaka sagara on July 15, 2008 at 11:08 am
the avatars a fun idea, and my make the system more assessable, but a step backwards? no. it’s just an avatar, no more than the armor perms in halo 3 or the gamertag / pic. no need to panic.
one more thing to keep in mind, the system that also housed some more kiddie games (playstation) is now dead in the water, sapre for their last name brand heavy (MGS4) so the kiddie games gotta go somewhere, right? and I’m all for Wii, but the system in my mind didn’t deliver, and the kids I know don’t have the coordination.
Posted by bs angel on July 15, 2008 at 11:55 am
It’s already been confirmed that both gamerpics and themes will still be usable on the new Dashboard interface.
Even if this appeals more to casual gamers and even if they do come out with more family-friendly titles, I guess I don’t understand how that impacts those that consider themselves hardcore. Our shooters will still be there. Our horror/survival games will still be there. Our mature RPGs will still be there. I guess I just hold the opinion that everything can coexist just fine.
Posted by Torrent on July 15, 2008 at 2:33 pm
The entire new dashboard design seems boring to me. I’m not particularly thrilled by the avatars, either. I loved the blade interface because not only was it simple to use, but even without themes, it was nice to look at. Here’s hoping we can choose between the new and old styles.
I’m fine with Microsoft attempting to appeal more to the casual market, but they need to be careful about alienating hardcore fans while doing so.
Posted by Willy on July 15, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I think Microsoft’s press conference was the best, better then Nintendo’s and Sony’s. Don’t get me wrong I love me some God of War III but Nintendo totally missed their mark shame on you Nintendo they should have had a Bluetooth headset for the Wii a long time ago.
The new dashboard is going to be sweet 8 person chat which will be cool, I will miss my dashboard themes though which kind of sucks.
One more thing about the new dashboard, NO CLAN SUPPORT??? COME ON NOW!!!!!
Posted by Tortacular on July 15, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I just don’t think Captain Red Light needed any more excuses to fail.
Posted by JPsmooth42 on July 15, 2008 at 5:31 pm
@willy- There is clan support- or at least a workaround. Just create a silver account, name it after your clan, and there is your clan support. This works great with the new ability to see friends of friends feature. Add all your clanmates, send requests and info through this. I don’t think it needs anything else, maybe just a label.
As long as my gamerpics and themes still work, I’ll be happy. Any step forward for my almost 3 year old console is great news to me.
What will be cool is if I can sport a “Xii” with a Final Fantasy XIII tee-shirt, COD4 hat and an energy sword on his back. My gamertag can only show my love for one game, so this wil be cool.
Posted by Willy on July 15, 2008 at 6:08 pm
JPsmooth42
The only thing I use the CE United gamer tag for is to post the videos of the clan matches we play against other clans on its Halo 3 file share http://www.bungie.net/stats/Halo3/FileShare.aspx?gamertag=CE%20United. I
t just seems like a hassle to click on a friend on you friend’s list just to view their friend’s list, maybe if they had an easier way of doing this I would like it better like how it was on Halo 2’s clan support.
I just think it is a really big missed opportunity by Microsoft to not include clan support.
Posted by Azrylle on July 16, 2008 at 9:41 am
“I hate the idea of avatars. I am not a casual gamer, I DON’T play in my living room.”
What does that even mean?
Posted by Master Kim on July 16, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Azrylle, I suppose casual gamers would play in their living room as opposed to serious gamers who play in their bedrooms or a more private area. This concept of placing avatars for a more community-based Live seems to be for the casual gamer as opposed to the dedicated one.
Which is BS IMO, because I consider myself a serious gamer and I have both my Xbox 360 and PC in the living room (That’s a :P to Hawty McBloggy). But yeah, I don’t like the idea of avatars either.
Posted by bs angel on July 16, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I play in my family room, which I have renamed my “Hardcore Gaming Room” after reading that comment.
Posted by Master Kim on July 26, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Thank you very much, bs angel, I appreciate that. :)
Posted by Playing with Yourself « Hawty McBloggy Invites You to Play on September 24, 2008 at 1:30 pm
[...] 29 at 12:01 AM PST in order to prepare for the new Xbox experience that gamers everywhere are so incredibly excited about. When you log back in a full day later, Microsoft has stated no changes will be readily apparent as [...]
Posted by terabyte on September 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I do not want this dashboard update to happen. Why couldn’t they just give you a CHOICE?
Posted by Havoc 101 on September 24, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Dear god.