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Why I Don’t Actually Want The Xbox One To Fail

So E3 is long over, and with it there is a new generation of consoles looming over us (sorry Wii U, you just don’t count). There is a lot of controversy in the world of gaming right now, and it’s all thanks to some rather ballsy decisions made by Microsoft for their new console, the Xbox One.

For their new console, they decided they were going to periodically put a stop to second hand gaming, by designing the system so that any disc you pay full whack for is installed to your account and system, effectively binding all three. When you decide you want to trade that game in to your local GameStop, the store (yes, the store, not you) is charged a fee to unlock the disc so they can resell it. That effectively means that said store will no doubt increase the price of second hand games to the point where they are more expensive than a brand new copy, rendering second hand game sales completely fucking useless. They also decided that you can only LEND the game to somebody who has been in your friend’s list for 30 days, and they can only borrow the game ONCE. So, you know that brand spanking new copy of Watch Dogs that you paid £55 for? Not really yours is it? ALSO they decided to place an internet stamp on the machine, meaning that it requires a constant internet connection and if the system goes longer than 24 hours without one, you can no longer play ANY games. Sure, it can still play DVDs, Blu-rays and the like, but the very reason that you just spent £430 on the fucking thing? Well, you just can’t do it.

SO, naturally there was an outcry about this, made even worse by the fact that Sony decided not to include ANY of this stuff on their Playstation 4, and opted instead to just design their console the old fashioned way. This, of course, led to a rapid decent in Xbox One pre-orders on Amazon and a rapid climb in pre-orders of the PS4.

SO NOW, Microsoft have decided to go back on this word and have taken all of these features off. Excellent right? Well, kind of. You see, in my opinion, the damage has already been done. Microsoft have already proven that they can not fully be trusted and that this is essentially a switch within the console’s infrastructure that they could turn back on (or off) at any time they bloody well feel like it. What’s that? You just told somebody to “bone your mom” on Xbox Live voice chat? Well it looks like you’re not playing games for a week.

Now, you may be under the impression that I am excited to see Microsoft’s gaming department plummet to the fiery depths of hell, but you are very wrong. Sure, I am a Playstation guy, always have been. That’s just a matter of preference. I bought a PS3 because it was the cheapest Blu-ray player at the time of release (mad, to think that £425 was cheap for a Blu-ray player back then). I would never call myself a Sony/PS fanboy, I just prefer PS’s exclusives. I would much rather have the deep story and cinematic qualities of such gems as Uncharted and Heavy Rain, than the mindless shooting and brain numbing stupidity of Halo and…well, Halo.

However, I DON’T want to see Microsoft, and in turn the Xbox One, fail. Why? Because in the world of video gaming, we NEED competition. Competition is what keeps our world interesting. If the Xbox One dies of its own obscurity, and becomes the last Xbox that we ever see then Sony will rule the entire market. Nintendo can’t hold a candle to Sony or Microsoft at the moment. I don’t know one…ONE person who owns a Wii U. And I know a lot of fucking people. Likewise, niche products like the Ouya and Nvidia’s Shield are going to remain just that: niche. So Sony will be the One Console to Rule Them All. And that’s just shit. Leaving Sony to rule the market means that Sony will eventually (as any company would in that position) get lazy. With no competition to worry about, there won’t be any need for any new crazy innovations. There will be no need to constantly push that tech forward. What will they have to be afraid of? PC’s? Give me a fucking break. PC’s are already on the decline and will, within the next 10 years, be a niche market themselves.

What I’m trying to say is that without Sony and Microsoft constantly going at each other’s dicks, all we will be left with will be one lazy console developer. Eventually consumers will get fed up of this laziness and video gaming will all but disappear. I hope…no, I pray this doesn’t happen. I pray that Microsoft can pull themselves out from this shit heap of fuck that they seem to have swan dived into. And if they can’t, then I pray that somebody else…like Apple or Samsung…decide to enter the video game world with a console of their own. We need competition. Constantly.