Why I View the Xbox 360 as a Gaming Non-Event

May 8, 2008

For some months now I have been continuously asked if I would like to write for someone’s Xbox 360 website. They’d seen my work on the blog and thought that it’d be great if I could contribute articles to their site. Unfortunately I disagreed with them for two reasons, most importantly I do not own and don’t plan on buying an Xbox 360 (the other being that I don’t like to write about press releases :(). While talking this over with my brother later on we generated some strong discussion justifying our lack of interest in the 360. Here are some of our main points.

NB: I don’t intend to disregard or downplay the Xbox 360 at all because in most regards it is a fantastic console and deserves the attention that it has garnered. I am writing this piece to show why, for me personally, in my situation why there is very little incentive in owning the console.

The Xbox Experience = PC Gaming on your TV

(Two points in One)

When the original Xbox as first announced many gamers were of the opinion that the predominate orientation of software design would be essentially derived from PC game design and in some ways it did. Since it’s conception I have had and still maintain this view about the console and its successor. The multimedia features, online play and software line all are largely lifted straight from the PC. This isn’t to say that these points are in anyway bad for the console, in reality this has allowed Microsoft to chase a particular type of consumer and has paid in dividedens.

Not all of the reasoning for this can be placed on Microsoft’s shoulders. Many popular PC publishers are now resorting to console ports to meet their bottom line and generally speaking this by large has effected console game development significantly.

For some reason, as people have become more accustomed to the Xbox consoles, the previous negative connotation seems to have disappeared over the years. This, in my opinion works in converse to these systems slowly taking the role of multimedia PC.
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- Link Me


Tags: gears of war, halo, live arcade, microsoft, online, xbox 360
Posted in General Gaming | Comments (16)

T-Bag = Total Fag

November 17, 2007

I’m a big fan of the Internet gaming show; Pure Pwnage and if you’re a fan like me then you’ve probably already seen the latest episode that was released a few days ago, episode 15. Episode 15 had a consistent theme which was Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2. In the episode the main character Jeremy meets Terrence Brown “one of the best Halo 2 players in the world”. Now I don’t know a lot about this guy or even if he is what the show claims he is but I know one thing, the guy’s a douchebag.

Before I explain why, let me share my opinions on the Xbox and Xbox 360. Much like PC LAN culture, I’m not terribly interested in Microsoft’s gaming venture. In fact both the Xbox/Xbox 360 and LAN gaming have always annoyed me a little bit. Theres just something about the whole Americanized PC orientated style of gaming that really doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe its the fact that Xbox gamers seem to think that they are the more elite than the rest of us or that I grew up on games that aren’t currently on Microsoft’s consoles. I’m not sure but in anycase I always find myself frustrated with the ‘macho’, ‘manly’ 360 crowd. In saying this, I am a fair man, the Xbox 360 has a fantastic slew of games, so I try to not let these people affect my interest in the console.

This is an example on how I’m trying not to let fan jerks like Terrence affect my perception of a console, its games and gamers.

So now that you know this, let me explain why I think this guy is a douchebag. During the Pure Pwnage episode Terrence does a little rap, letting us all know that he thinks he is so awesome at Halo and that non 360 games suck. Lemme pull out some lines here:

“Yeah, if you can’t handle me, then you better go play with your Wii”
“Kirby playing bulls**t”
“Wario and all that s**t”
“Its a me, f**k that bulls**t”
“Lets a go, get the f**k outta here, b***h”
“Aight, check it, all you PC gamers out there with your keyboards, with ya little mousy pads, wit tatata da mousees, f**k that s**t”
“Dual analogue, b***h”

Way to go Terrence, you just made you and all of your 360 owning friends look like complete ignorant assholes. I feel totally reassured that Halo 3 on Xbox Live is not full of angry, testosterone fueled people like yourself.

Terrence is probably the perfect example of my experience with the 360 crowd. Cocky children from the PC gaming scene who seem to think that they have 1uped all of us long term console players because they own the best console ever made. Of course not all 360 players are like Terrence. In fact the majority of them are seriously great gamers but like with all of the major gaming consoles, guys like this bring down the name and reputation of that consoles gamers. So although Terrence probably thinks hes pretty cool for doing this rap it actually makes other gamers unfairly frustrated with the 360.

So thanks for doing that Terrence, thanks for pissing off Wii and PC gamers and for fueling our disliking towards 360 owners. Appreciate it.

DPs note: Wasn’t particularly happy with that post, I rewrote it over and over. Couldn’t really express my frustration the right way. But it feels better sharing

DP’S 2nd Note: Before you decide to post a rude comment informing me that I am some sort of idiot because I didn’t know that Terrance Brown was a fictional character then don’t because it will be deleted. I am not a Halo enthusiest so I had no idea if he was real or fictional.  And it seems that this is the case with a lot of people because I have recieved a good deal of traffic from people googling his name.

Ironically some of the comments that I have been recieving just prove how justified the main points of this article are.

Oh and yes, of course I know that Pure Pwnage is also completely fictional. I never said otherwise, so please don’t claim that I did. Thank you.

DP’s third and final note: I’m sick of some people not reading what has been written and ignorantly slagging me out. I’m going to lock the comments.

- Link Me


Tags: gaming internet show, halo, patriots, pure pwnage, t-bag, Terrence Brown
Posted in Culture | Comments (10)