Microsoft bitching thread

Just thought I would leave this here to get members opinions on Microsoft as a console manufacturer. Having purchased an Xbone upon release a week into owning it, it crapped out on me. Sending a sickening wave of nostalgia over me, remembering the reason I hadn't owned an Xbox in several years(3 dead 360's in just over 3 consecutive years). After 1 phone call and 4 visits to chat support I have to say I am completely done with Microsoft products period. The sigh of relief made when Steve Balmer announced he was stepping down must have been deafening. I am curious as to what you all think of M$ as a video game company, all opinions and insults welcome. Or tell me to fuck off, I'm sure some of you probably would like to do so.

You know what's funny is that Microsoft's first foray into the console world yielded a pretty robust machine. The original Xbox was built like a tank and was pretty reliable. I was shocked by that.

Then the 360 came out in all its shoddy glory. I'm still stunned how well this console did considering how poorly they were made (I know multiple people who have bought 3 360s due to RRoD). At least it had the advantage of being cheaper than the PS3.

I haven't heard much about the Xbone. I know the PS4 had issues at launch, mostly with a batch that went through Amazon. I have to say I wouldn't trust anything from Microsoft right out of the gate. When I bought the original Xbox, it had been on the market for a few years.

I adore the original Xbox but don't plan to get the 360 anytime soon, though I've been tempted for a few minor reasons! Some ports are better on it, yes, but how they handled backwards compatability was a disaster! With the original, I have some warm memories of playing Blinx and Jet Set Radio Future when I got mine for Christmas and my library is growing.
The only problem I had is when my original softmodded Xbox died because of some surge that blew out the fuse box for the AC adapter but from what I understand, that sometimes happens and can be fixed. Regardless, it held up well for over a decade and the new one I am using is also doing well at the moment.

However, I believe Windows OS is irrelevant; I'm a Linux/Ubuntu user and see no reason for Windows to exist other than gaming. Most programs that I need are available in my OS's software repository. Not a Mac follower either but I wouldn't doubt that it has its merits too.

I am hoping that the ReactOS project will eventually get a stable release and render Windows entirely obsolete. It needs more funding but the idea of an open-source freeware OS with complete Windows compatibility will no doubt threaten Microsoft Windows. Good riddance, I say.

The launch Xbox 360 was a rushed piece of absolute garbage. It was a desperation move to 1up Sony. I had 4 360s red ring on me. My slim 360 is still going on strong 3 years and counting. My reliable original Xbox still works perfectly fine. It will be years and years until I buy another Microsoft console.

I absolutely loved the true Xbox one, it had loads of awesome games and lasted me a LOOOONG time (dvd drive crapped out). Sure it lacked the massive ps2 library, but the PS2 didn't have halo, ninja gaiden, panzer dragoon orta or conker live and reloaded. It really appealed to my tastes, and I loved the controller.

Never got a 360, it looked freaking ugly, most of the titles I loved on the original didn't make a transition or did a bad one, and the newer games just didn't interest me. Combine that with news of the red ring of death and I just had no interest in getting one. PS3 was super expensive and out of the question, same issues with the library.

This gen, if I still cared about modern gaming, I'd go PS4 for sure. Microsoft really showed they don't give a crap about their customers with the Xbone, and $100 more for less? Just no.

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Originally Posted by Kamahl

I absolutely loved the true Xbox one, it had loads of awesome games and lasted me a LOOOONG time (dvd drive crapped out). Sure it lacked the massive ps2 library, but the PS2 didn't have halo, ninja gaiden, panzer dragoon orta or conker live and reloaded. It really appealed to my tastes, and I loved the controller.

Never got a 360, it looked freaking ugly, most of the titles I loved on the original didn't make a transition or did a bad one, and the newer games just didn't interest me. Combine that with news of the red ring of death and I just had no interest in getting one. PS3 was super expensive and out of the question, same issues with the library.

This gen, if I still cared about modern gaming, I'd go PS4 for sure. Microsoft really showed they don't give a crap about their customers with the Xbone, and $100 more for less? Just no.

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Ditto!

I liked the oXbox quite a bit. It was my console of choice that generation. And yes, it was built like a tank (a few DVD drive models aside). The system was well made, if not big, but that was essentially on account of it being an off the shelf PC standardized and shoved into a custom case (a couple generations before the xbone and ps4!).

The 360 wasn't really all that poorly designed, what it was however... was poorly tested, almost 100% of the issues have to do with heat and the lead free solder used in it. Something that was only uncovered after the console had been used for quite awhile (as it heated/cooled and began cracking the solder joints).

It was still powerful, looked good, and to be fair the oXbox's only real complaint was (OMG it's teh hueg!) and MS wanted to address that as well as beat Sony and Nintendo to the punch with the new hardware.

My only REAL complaints about the 360:
1) They took a HUGE step back by making the arcade SKU with no hard drive. They should have just bit the bullet and made it required on all models.
2) Live's paywall was fine when it came out... it had no competition at all, and it took Sony a verrrrry long time to make their service even remotely comparable. The issue I have is when Sony did start to catch up, even doing better than MS in some parts... it's taken MS entirely too long to react. Games with Gold is awesome, but it took how long before they introduced that? And they still tuck netflix and the like behind the Gold service... they need to adjust such things as their main competitions service is no longer a complete POS.

And that's really my only issues with the 360. They recognized the RROD issue early, and went above and beyond IMO with handling it. The later models only suffer hardware issues at around the same rate as normal consumer products. You're about as likely to get an issue with a PS3 or wii as you will the new 360's, assuming they all have comparable play times.


For the XBone. No opinion yet. I know they rushed it, but how much was hardware rush, how much was software? And yes, a rushed and somewhat unready OS could absolutely be killing hardware. I have no need for either MS or Sony's new system yet, so I'm content to wait a bit and let them do at least the first major OS upgrade, if not the first hardware revision.

As for MS gripes in general? They need to get Balmers replacement sorted out, and hopefully make it someone good. The Xbone launch fiasco was a sordid affair that Balmer (or someone else way up on the food chain) should have been watching much closer and jumped out in front of the moment that idiot Mattrick started opening his mouth.

Windows is still very relevant. As easy as Linux is becoming, try getting some complete nobody that's never don't more than use windows a bit up and running on Linux... then give them their first issue they have to resolve... it's not going to happen. Let them go to a store and buy something for their computer, only to come home and find out there's no native linux drivers, and finding a way to get it to work hasn't been done in any easy way.

Things are MADE for windows, things are worked around and marginally supported for nix. It's not just games either, it's everything. Apps, hardware, software, services. Plenty works in it, just like plenty works in OSX, but they are both "other" platforms that have a smattering of support compared to the behemoth that is Windows.

Does that mean MS is safe? Of course not, and they know it. But they are far more worried about the lucrative enterprise market being encroached by nix than they are the consumer market.

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Originally Posted by Lan Di

The launch Xbox 360 was a rushed piece of absolute garbage. It was a desperation move to 1up Sony. I had 4 360s red ring on me.

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We got our 360 consoles over here a bit later than you US folks (September '06), so I'm not sure whether or not in between that time a hardware revision was made. But apart from recently developing a bit of a problem with the disc tray sometimes not ejecting on the first try, I must be alone (or at least part of a very small group) in that my launch day 360 is still going relatively strong.

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Originally Posted by Thierry Henry

We got our 360 consoles over here a bit later than you US folks (September '06), so I'm not sure whether or not in between that time a hardware revision was made. But apart from recently developing a bit of a problem with the disc tray sometimes not ejecting on the first try, I must be alone (or at least part of a very small group) in that my launch day 360 is still going relatively strong.

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My US launch 360 gave me no issues for several years. I upgraded to an elite with HDMI and gave it to my brother. It lasted many years in across 2 homes with 2 cats and 3 kids. It was used for netflix, games, and chatting almost daily until they moved to the second home.

So sometimes it's just luck one way or another. I've been through more Sony consoles due to defect than anything else personally (3 ps1's, 2 PS2's). I only had 1 360 go, and it wasn't due to RROD, the disk drive stopped working and MS replaced it free of charge.

Despite the fact that it currently seems to be en vogue to be hating on Microsoft right now... over the past year I've been seriously wondering what the fuck is going on in that company! Currently they are straight up running from one blunder into another, no matter what department we're talking about. Nobody there seems to know what people want, not even within their own company!

Yeah, we all know about the miscommunication and stupid mistakes Microsoft made when announcing the Xbox One (and the infamous "we already have a console for gamers who want to play offline, it's called Xbox 360"-interview). But the problems go even further!

Take Windows 8, for example. Taking the "innovation at all cost"-route, they "introduced" the Metro-surface, disregarding that most people still wanted to use the desktop. Then, they were forced to drop the "Metro"-name, changing it "Modern UI" instead. Now, we learn that with the next update, the system will now start up at the Desktop first... Why couldn't they have included a simple switch in the setup where you could choose whether you wanted Modern UI or Desktop on startup at the first place? That ain't so hard, dammit!

Or their Cloudservice. So they called it SkyDrive, no? Well, the mediaconglomerate Sky took offense to that and took Microsoft to court, which recently decided in favor of Sky, forcing Microsoft to change the name. So they decided to name it OneDrive instead. There's only one problem: THERE'S ALREADY A CLOUDSERVICE CALLED ONE (one.com, specifically), and they promptly filed suit against Microsoft. Christ, most companies check whether a name already exists before deciding on how to brand their product. Heck, many even create names and sit on the trademarks for years without ever using it just for such occasions!!! Doesn't anyone at Microsoft make market research anymore???

Well, they still have Office, right? Well... two days ago the British Government decided to drop MS Office and switch to the open-source-alternative Open Office instead. Seems like the bad news for Microsoft just won't stop coming...

Those are the obvious things, but, as a developer, microsoft makes even more blunders. You cannot trust microsoft technologies, period.

Are you basing your software on a microsoft technology that isn't native DirectX or native WinAPI? Well though shit, it'll get deprecated after a few years, your app might break after an update to the library, it'll function incorrectly on later windows/IE versions and please, follow our guidelines to the letter even though we've made the API in such a way that doing those things is harder than putting a spinning cube in the middle of a button.

Oh and please enjoy ALL CAPS MENUS in your editor. The metro design language mandates that ALL CAPS MENUS must be used to compensate for the lack of lines to delineate UI elements... Even though it states that menus should not be used at all, and the editor is not even a metro application to begin with, and the editor uses lines to delineate UI elements everywhere else. This is not negotiable! But since we're nice, you can disable them using a registry edit, not an application preference, a registry edit. But not for Office! Office must always have ALL CAPS TABS, we care about our customers and they must always have the best UI experience possible, and that is ALL CAPS TABS.

^ microsoft can soak that up
they still rake in billions every quarter but the days of their absolute monopoly are over they are a dinosaur a monolith thats being atatcked by smaller predtors fro mall sides
the smaller ones on their own dont do much but together they slowly eat away at microsoft
and microsoft liek any dinosaur is slow to respond and flailing around

and for the first time in sony ms found an opponent that they couldnt just bully or buy up ( even if sony is a bit wobbely these days but in the ps2 days sony was on top of the world )
and now apple and google are also looming ( apple actually has a higher revenue and higher operating income then microsoft currently ) so ms is finally seeing some actual competition these days and they have no idea what to do anymore in such markets they dont outright own

but their first two consoles have been quality ( if rather ugly )
the xbox looks liek a brick ( or a vcr ) and is build like a brick and has some great titles being easy to mod and a pc in an ugly consoel shell also helps
but for me the 360 is their best console even if i dislike online gaming ...a lot

i get by just fine with out the online crap
i never had a 360 rrod on me ( bet my 360 will do that just now after saying that ) it has a huge varied library which these days you can pick up for peanuts
and the last couple of days i have been playing fable 2

microsoft might be out of tyouch and flailing but the first 2 xboxes were quality

no comment on the xbox 3 ( i wil NOT call that thing xbone ever thats first and last time i ever use that stupid nickname ) its only out for 2 months and i have no interest in the next gen currently anyway

Never had any problem with my Xbox 1 (not Xbox One) or Xbox 360, so...

the only problem i currently have is that the start button of my used wireless 360 controller is a bit sticky and reluctant to move
...im hoping the problem is soda

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Originally Posted by KitsuneNight

the only problem i currently have is that the start button of my used wireless 360 controller is a bit sticky and reluctant to move
...im hoping the problem is soda

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Yesssssssssss.. soda.

So how's that Tombraider game?