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[Xbox-Scene]

Posted by: Xbox-Scene  May 31 2008, 01:55 AM

Opinion: Aggregation Vs Portals: Where Microsoft Is Going Wrong With Xbox Live Posted by XanTium | May 30 20:19 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18816: Conclusion As you can see, Microsoft have effectively hoisted themselves by their own petard when it comes to XBLA. In trying to manage consumers and overcome what they believed was an image issue, they have created a network that organisationally can't actually sell a lot of games. Their solution is to reduce the catalogue, but this is essentially an admission of failure on their part. With the 360 probably having peaked in terms of overall appeal and other console providers and technology companies now delivering credible alternatives, it is up to Microsoft to rethink their whole strategy and decide whether this is a sector of the business that they really want to be in any more. Full Story: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18816

[trentdadi]

QUOTE

Now that Microsoft has real competition from Nintendo and Sony, developers are looking elsewhere to see which network offers the best deal.

Now?!  They have always had real competition until now in my opinion.  I want what ever this guy is smoking.  I have a very good feeling that if m$ never announced that they were delisting some of these games, a very small fraction of xbox live users would even notice, and they would probably just shrug it off or say something along the lines of "No 'game x' anymore?  oh well."

It sounds like this guy is upset about something that may have happened to him regarding royalties and is now taking it out in an absurd article and feels the need to attack another game.  I knew this article was crap as soon as it said Marathon was crap.

Edit:

Did some research
http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/in...hp/t499043.html - Tadhg is upset because Sony released a product that is 'not ready.'

http://slashdot.org/articles/02/01/07/2034218.shtml?tid=99  -  Tadhg is upset because Blizzard didn't release Warcraft 3 in time.  They didn't release it because that it was not ready.

He will never be happy with anything.  He should know all about having to delay games, he apparently works for Lionhead.  I dont even remember how many times Fable was delayed.  I hope Fable gets delisted just to spite him now  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/muhaha.gif)

This post has been edited by trentdadi: May 31 2008, 03:14 AM

[jimk72]

"other console providers and technology companies now delivering credible alternatives"

Name one that is even close to Xbox Live? Friends list, chat, instant online action, voice in every game!!! Everything right there in game at the touch of a BUTTON. There is nothing even half as good as the Xbox live setup. LOL get a FN clue buddy

[feflicker]

Doesn't it just make plain sense to get rid of the games the user community isn't playing? Why keep them all there? Just to clutter it up? Why not reduce it and just keep the cream of the crop over time so no matter what game someone purchases the quality is paramount?

[xlx Methos xlx]

This guy is probably one of the same voices that says Windows Vista is horrible, it's this, it's that, and if you ask them have you ever used Vista, they say...  "Well no, duh!!!!"

do we remember what happened the last time that happened?  Geoff Keighley had an interview on Fox news and debated with Cooper Lawrence, he asked have you ever played the game and she scoffs and says "no!!!"  Well you know, your book sucks really bad, but i've never read it either.

anyway, this just seem like some guy that is taking a small little peice of news, not taking 3 minutes of research, and trying to make this a story that people will read.  What has happened to journalism today.

[tutu]

This guy is on something. Theres nothing "wrong" with Xbox Live - in Tina's words... "it's simply the best".  

I have a strong feeling this guy is biased against Microsoft or is a fan boy of Sony/Nintendo.

I do agree with one thing he said however and that the 360 has definately peaked and it's mostly down hill from now on.  

[Hidari_Mak]

QUOTE(jimk72 @ May 30 2008, 11:52 PM)

"other console providers and technology companies now delivering credible alternatives"

Name one that is even close to Xbox Live? Friends list, chat, instant online action, voice in every game!!! Everything right there in game at the touch of a BUTTON. There is nothing even half as good as the Xbox live setup. LOL get a FN clue buddy

"Their solution is to reduce the catalogue, but this is essentially an admission of failure on their part."

I somehow doubt that the PS3 and Wii online services are offering massive catalogues containing nothing but AAA titles either.  It's impossible to have a lot of games, without having some that are unpopular and are comparatively below average.

In short, it's not just poorly researched, it seems to be written mainly for the purpose of ax grinding.

[ZycloneB]

I say: Delete games no one is playing. and stop flooding XBLA with mediocre new games.
Start porting old classics from PC and old consoles. There are so many games i would like to play again from the past, this time with achievements! =D

And do it fast and keep them coming.

[genpacker]

Does this guy not realize that every form of consumer products does this?  If there is no base for your product, it will fail.  Simple economics.  Products get discountiued all the time due to poor sales.  TV shows get cancelled due to poor ratings.  Elected officials don't get into power without votes (taken with a grain of salt)  Getting rid of games that aren't selling happens at brick and mortar stores all the time as new games are brought to market. What a tool.

[Altima NEO]

Isnt MS saying theyre getting a million downloads a day? That doesnt sound to me like MS needs to rethink what it wants to do.

If anything he should be badmouthing the Zune Marketplace for being an XBL clone that doesnt offer as much as the competition (iTunes, Amazon, etc)

[luther349]

delisting games that do not sell is not a failer. its just cleaning up. and they said its along the lines of like 3% or something of the title being delisted meaning alot are selling well.

[xMaD]

as a newer xbox 360 owner ( got one for x mas) i can honestly say, at first i thought i would never use xbox live did not think it was worth the money. a month later i got cod4 and i wanted to try it online so i finally used the 30 day trial .my first reaction was along the lines of " this is it?" but over the next few days i took stock in how well everything worked i expected uber laggy game play .what i got was a real fun multi player experience with voice msg the ability to control who i play with  demos out the wahzoo . the person who wrote that article is clearly on a mission. being the owner of pretty much all relevant consoles except the ps3 (nothing on it yet i have to have ) there is no comparison, so what the others are free they dont offer anywhere near the same level of service or interactivity .since then i have added 18 months live .

as for them taking games off the service its simply because they are not selling and they want to free up some room for other stuff simple as that .you don't think that hard disk space is free do you ? after all they are a business .

[Wilhelm_I]

QUOTE(xMaD @ Jun 1 2008, 08:20 AM)

you don't think that hard disk space is free do you ?

This is definitely not the reason (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) The games maybe take 1gig of space... you can get that for like 3€ a month, well they have got several mirrors but still...
If they are really trying to improve performance I appreciate that because it is a pain in the ass when xbox live is slow and ripping us off with the worst game(I dont even remember the name) I have every played as an apology is just a fucking joke...

[Chancer]

I see nothing wrong in removing games that are not selling. It is exactly what any store would do with a product. It shows MS are aware of what is happening as regards purchases on live.
There are alternatives from the other manufacturers but they are not of the quality and don't have the content of XBL. They won't have for some years yet, and that is assuming they continue development.
The way I see it MS is doing a good job with live and the article writer  would not be able to do any better.
It's easy to sit on the outside and throw a few stones.

QUOTE

as a newer xbox 360 owner ( got one for x mas) i can honestly say, at first i thought i would never use xbox live

That's what lots of new owners thought when the service fell over for weeks over the Xmas period (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by Chancer: Jun 1 2008, 12:45 PM

[Shod]

QUOTE(Chancer @ Jun 1 2008, 12:43 PM)

I see nothing wrong in removing games that are not selling. It is exactly what any store would do with a product.

Yeah I would say that was true in the longer term but I would say the first things shops would do is reduce the price to see if they sell better?

And thats what I think MS should at least have a stab at. I mean its not as if it costs them dearly to keep the games on their servers (from what little knowledge I have of such things anyway (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ) so I think they should at least reduce the prices of the games on the "de-list" list to see if they can sell some more, before removing them completely from the system. I bet some of the less popular games would still sell at a reduced price as its less of an outlay to the consumer (and so less "risky" , I know were not talking about a huge portion of disposible income but for those sitting on the fence, or on a budget - kids` pocket money? - then it will make a difference)

Whilst they're at it I do agree with the writers comments on the method MS use to list the games. They should have some form of search function, a rating system, and an indicator of how many full game purchases each game has had. A few times I have pondered buying a particular game but stopped myself cos I dont know how many people will be playing it on live. A lot of the games are dead when it comes to online multiplayer, and the demo versions dont let you go online (in general) so you can buy a game for the online to find out that no-ones playing, as I did with Super Puzzle Fighter.

Who knows, if they upgrade the listings like I say above they may not even need to remove the older games becuase "cluttering" wont be an issue!

This post has been edited by Shod: Jun 1 2008, 06:26 PM