Here's my analysis, post-research.
If you have nothing solid to say about your console, don’t reveal your console. This isn't magical insight gleamed from a crystal ball here. Just don’t do it until it’s ready! And for all these policy ideas regarding the system which you're playing around with, don't leak them only to preform a soft semi-retraction a tweet or two later. This is basic PR 101 here people, hell, it's Sun Tzu,
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle”
Replace "enemy" with "customer" and "battle" with "fuck you" and you pretty much get the idea of why they have their heads up their asses.
If they thought ANY of these stupid ideas would fly with consumers, then they obviously don’t have any idea how a customer-based industry works, and I could run their company better.
For one, don't advertise your game console as a Smart TV Box - that's what any gamer ever would describe as a feature not the purpose of the machine. If it is the purpose of the machine, don't call it X-Box. Video gaming is not an afterthought in this context, not something you mention halfway in as a feature to your totally awesome fantasy football Skype machine. Secondly, if you have nothing to show your core audience, then show nothing and postpone it until you have SOMETHING of substance to show. We (read non-XBOX fanboys) were ever-so-pissed-off that there was nothing to talk about here except the aforementioned nebulous rumours of doom and our reaction to them was OMGWTFBBQYOUBASTARD S because there's nothing for us to love here. If you want consumers to ignore the stick you intend to wallop them with you've got to have one hell of a shiny carrot dangling there. Thirdly, don’t make a console dependent on something that can see or hear you all the time; For one, it's goddamn creepy, for another there’s privacy concerns to think about. I don't think we believe in the infallibility of network security if we ever did, and that's a lot of trust were putting into a corporation which I frankly lack in every regard. What if their servers got hacked or MS decides to do market research and generally use your Kinect to go big brother on your ass?
This is not quantum mechanics here people, this is common sense and basic respect for the audience you intend to sell your shit to. And the fact that a lot of people at Microsoft never thought of any of these things tells me there’s a good number of people in the Xbox development team that deserve to be fired.
As to what they've released thus far. I will tentatively address them under the assumption that they may change (but probably not, again, assholes).
Why should I care about daily internet requirement?
I personally spend several weeks during the year in a place without internet connectivity, I know people who have no stable internet connection (shock of shocks) who still enjoy gaming as a hobby. It doesn't benefit me at all as a consumer while inconveniencing me unnecessarily.
It is not just about internet connectivity. Its also about being completely tied down to a network like this. With this everything is tied to XBL, and if it fails so does every single console sold regardless of having a proper high speed internet connection. What happens when the servers get shut down like original Xbox live? Will we just have abandon everything we invested in because we simply won’t be able to use it anymore? Will we be required to buy Xbox-two to keep what we've earned and payed for?
Those are the issues that come from a “feature” or rather system requirement like this.
Used/loaned/traded/rented game restrictions.
On a personal note, I have done all of the above. In fact, I've as many used games as new. This is one perk for a console gamer that PC gaming can't replicate. However, companies like Steam have gotten far better at adjusting their pricing to meet consumer demand. What are the chances that MS are going to keep prices inflated to maintain their cut? I want a reason to buy a console and making them more PC-like is not the solution, particularly when you're half-way through the system's life cycle and superior gaming computers are being released for cheaper.
A great deal of assurance in shelling out 60$ for a new game, is that you can trade it in for a percentage of the expense later and buy more games. While I agree that some aspects of the used market should be changed, like returning games the same month of purchase to flood the market with slightly cheaper used copies during the important game launch, I buy games months or even years after the release well after it has much tangible benefits to publishers. After all, it might make me want to buy their next game all the more.
The XBOX one basically reduces itself to glorified and vastly overpriced rental system. You don’t own anything, you are just spending a lot of your money to rent a game for a really long time, and when the network drops your rental period ends.
New restrictions on independent games
Xbox Live does not allow independent developers to self-publish anymore, forcing them to go through MS for everything. This to me is worst of the worst here. The XBLA was the main point of differentiation that made Xbox a gamers system. After all they're putting these little guys with innovative ideas out there on a marketplace where they're seen and can get paid for their work, creating some absolute gems and opening up gaming in new directions for the console market.
Well, now Sony and Nintendo are that, where MS was years ago. Just fuck MS.
Edit: And X-Box One... really? Really? That's what you went with? Was this seriously focus-grouped or something, I can't think of anyone saying it's a good name. It's a minor quibble, but added into the whole presentation it's just symptomatic of the utter lack of polish they put into it. Not that X-Box was a super-cool name or anything, but it was unique like the Wii, this is just confusing.
