I've been a Nintendo fan for all of my life, but last generation I decided to buy an XBox 360 to go along with my Wii and it turned out to be a great decision. Really couldn't play the mainstream games otherwise and the console overall is really solid.
However, this upcoming generation is a bit different for me: Microsoft really needs to show consumers like myself a good reason to buy the XBox One, as now the Wii U can pretty much play mainstream games like Call of Duty to their fullest capacity. As a gamer (for the past eighteen years) I've always been about the video games. The newer consoles (and I'll put the start of this on the PS3) have started to trend away from "video game console" and towards a "home entertainment system". Those companies have shifted from creating their own goods to being more of a "host" for outside parties to inhabit. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but to someone like me that's not really what I'm looking for. I have a television and cable. I have a DVD/Blu-Ray player. I have access to Netflix. I have internet. Those are pretty much standards outside of consoles (especially if you find yourself in the market to buy a video game console). I just want to play video games.
As a result, yesterday's press conference...didn't really sway me to pick up an XBox One. I'm absolutely giving Microsoft a pass on software display, since the E3 Expo is so close around the corner. I imagine Microsoft held back on software for that, and would be heavily surprised and disappointed if that was not the case. Still, some sports games and the CoD trailer that was fanfare'd around the internet for the past few weeks definitely didn't create much excitement. The "always online" features are an inconvenience, but I don't really have internet issues (thankfully) so there's not much of a problem there. What really makes me doubt the One, though, was the focus on television and the whole "used games" fees. I don't like the direction the console seems to be going in in terms of providing those resources that most people shopping for a console already have. All three big companies are doing it, but Microsoft's exposition showcases it the heaviest so far. Service providers like NetFlix and Hulu are one thing, but to have your conference go on about watching television on it? What kind of a pull is that? The used games fees kill me, though. I'm one of those guys who buys a game and then goes over to friends' houses to play it with them. Now it seems that I'll have to pay a fee just to go over my friends' houses just because Microsoft fears that one disc will spread to multiple XBox One units and profits will be lost. They forget the fact, of course, that disc units can only be played with one at a time (unless people have been able to download the whole data of the disc onto the console?). It's a terrible decision, as it pretty much takes a key component of social connectivity away from the consumer. Furthermore, there is zero way that Microsoft could ever make that announcement and look good doing so. It's entirely negative.
I'm not 100% turned off by the XBox One, however. Software is still important to me, so I'll still be heavily interested in the E3 announcement. Yesterday's presentation may have solidified my decision to wait around two years to pick one up, though. It just may not be worth it. In related news, this is now Sony's opportunity to "win": they could gain a lot of support from wavering 360 consumers or in-between consumers (like myself) by solidifying their console's line-up. However, looking at how the PS3 went, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS4 went a similar route as the XBox One. If that's the case, I'd be content with a Wii U alone this generation.
tl;dr: I don't like the direction the One is going in, and as someone who was considering owning both a One and a Wii U, I'm hesitant.
