Whether you're lavishing them with high praise, or dragging their name through the dirt, you may think that game developers, publishers, and other such companies aren't always listening to its audience. But you'd be wrong, especially in the case of Microsoft. While the company's promised not to do any spying via Kinect, the Internet's completely wide open.
A thread over at Reddit had several folks discussing the fact that the Xbox One wouldn't support external storage at launch, one redditor felt the need to explain that Microsoft was "rushing" the console, in light of the company's about face on several of its initial policies.
Redditor IceBreak wrote in the thread, "I think it does help highlight the fact that the Xbox One clearly looks like it's being rushed to match Sony as someone pointed out in/r/Games. They don't want to be in the position the PS3 was last gen with a year late start, especially considering the hardware is, at best, a wash. So far we've seen:
- An inconsistent message after the console announcement.
- A reduction in launch countries.
- Five countries supporting full voice support.
- No launch date announced a little over two months away.
- And now no support for external storage at launch.
I wouldn't say these are major problems. Just that it's fairly clear at this point that Microsoft is working on Sony's schedule and not their own."
Unexpectedly, but not completely surprising, Microsoft's own Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb was quick to respond to IceBreak's "rushed" label:
"The Xbox One program has been in development for years, so calling it 'Rushed' is incorrect. Did we have a few challenges between May and August? Sure. But we are working on our own schedule - not any one else's. At Gamescom, every game in the Xbox booth was running on final Xbox One hardware. Every. Single. One. That would paint a very different take on the being 'rushed.'"
The "challenges" Hryb is referring to are likely the number of backlashes Microsoft faced from gamers over its policies when announcing the console: not being able to share games, an always online connection (or check in every 24 hours), Kinect requirement, all of which eventually went the way of the dodo in an attempt by Microsoft to win back consumer confidence.
With Microsoft saying all of these were requirements and couldn't be changed, only to eventually change them, (and seemingly quite easily) is quite the mixed message for Microsoft to send. Consider that the company didn't even provide an official release for the console until recently, and the voice localization problems Microsoft has copped to don't paint a picture of a project that's been in development "for years."
As a result, it's easy to see why IceBreak, and no doubt many others, are content to label Microsoft's Xbox One as rushed.
Microsoft's Xbox One is due out in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and United States on Nov. 22, and will retail for $499.
