(Looks over at my computers, thanks them for their years of continued dedicated service, and for doing everything the Xbox One promises to do, and more, all this time, and for doing it better)
Outside of that, yeah.... this thing looks like a PR nightmare, and I have a small gut feeling in a year and a half someone in marketing and a couple of heads up at Microsoft will be falling on their swords, though as a whole the issue will be shrugged off. This all depends on how well PS4 and Wii-U do though. If PS4 delivers a system that doesn't do fee shit on pre-owned titles and doesn't pull a always on scheme then it will be the winner of the new "console wars",whatever that even means anymore. I don't think it matters much though, since Microsoft seems to be taking the shift from gaming consoles into the realm of trying to make powerful but ugly as f*ck media boxes that directly eat dollars from your wallet like dogs eat bacon treats. All that machine is missing is a "insert dollar" slot and a guy that comes to your house to collect the profits once a week.
Microsoft is going to look at whatever success Sony and Nintendo get and basically say" who cares, we went in our own direction creating our own new market where we are number 1, we are not in the game console business anymore, we ARE the multimedia business". By this stance if they get outsold in the market, PR wise they will express they wont care and that it doesn't count because they are no longer selling a game console, and are the only ones to compete with in their own new market they created. This will all be imaginary obviously, as we all know the core audience of the Xbox has always been gamers, who will be diverting their money and attention to the other companies that cater to them better. But Microsoft has basically created the best easy way out to losing the console wars, by feigning ignorance of being involved in it. Some of this reaks of 3DO in that respect.
This round they are basically stealing business models and ideas from Steam, Apple, and even Trip Hawkens amongst others. Lame doesn't even begin to describe it all.
