Microsoft and why i did not buy an Xbox One

I have been noticing that recently Microsoft has been forcing products and features on customers despite the fact that a good amount of consumers do not want them.

Windows 8 is one of these products that come to mind, I work at a store that sells a lot of computer parts and Microsoft products, I can tell you that people are not happy with Microsoft at the moment, A lot of people are unhappy with the Metro Start Menu that Microsoft is forcing with every PC despite the fact that a majority of laptops and desktops are not touch screen, The Metro Star Menu actually hinders productivity on non touch screen computers since it is harder to navigate through, Even just shutting down the computer has become a 3 step process, The majority of the customers that purchase a Laptop/Desktop at our store asks us if we can add a start button for them (We usually install Start Menu 8 upon request).

Despite the fact that consumers have been complaining for over a year Microsoft has decided to not listen, They released Windows 8.1 which has a start menu but the only thing it does is open the Metro Screen, This just adds insult to injury.

Moving on to the Xbox One you all know what Microsoft had planned, They were going to block used games and require the Xbox to be online at all times, This policy actually made it into the final product and was removed at the last minute, So yes they did reverse most of the policies but the fact that it even got past the drawing board speaks a lot about the greediness of the company. They are also forcing Kinect, Yes the fact that Kinect comes in every box and the fact that the Xbox costs $100 more because of Kinect means THEY ARE FORCING IT ON YOU.

I am not a Sony fan and have never owned any PS System, I have had an Xbox 360 since 2006 and have over 30K GamerScore Points, but i chose to buy a PS4 because at least Sony listens to its customers and gives them what they ask for, I just cannot buy a product from a company that is so greedy and does not listen, I would be scared if i was an Xbox One owner not knowing what they may do with the system in a couple of years.

This is not a PS4 Vs Xbox thread, Sorry just needed to vent my frustration.

You chose the more powerful system and paid less money for it. No need to be frustrated. Quite the contrary. :)

Yeah, i noticed it too, it is almost as if Microsoft is trying to bully every consumer into buying their product. That is just ridiculous in my opinion but it does not end there too, they seem to perverted with dirty monetization dogma its irritating

The Forza stuff is what really pisses me off. They went out of their way to nickle and dime PAYING customers. It's not a free to play game, it doesnt need micro-transactions.

I used to sell PCs around the time they introduced Vista. My god. No one could find anything. Especially middle aged to older people. It was a pain in the ass selling any laptops around that time because you had to guide them through the fucking menus.

While I like my Xbone, I dont care for the useless fucking Kinect staring at me. It was cool for literally the first five minutes and now I just use the controller to navigate the menus. Tried playing the Kinect Rivals game, and yup it sucks. Gorgeous graphics but it simply isnt responsive enough.

You are 100% right about Sony caring about their customers. There is something beautiful about seeing all your games take center stage on the main PS4 screen. There are no bullshit apps or ads. Simply games that you bought right there in front of you. You dont have to go into a fucking menu just to pull up your games. You dont have to wait 10-30 minutes while the game installs in the background and you certainly dont have to wait an entire minute while Ryse loads your last checkpoint.

MS has done an admirable job of listening to their consumers, but that doesnt change the fact that every thing in this system was designed to **** over the gamer.

That never hapened

I don't care for a unified all-in-one box. Kinect is laughable, I would never use it nor want it, and those policies that MS so-called "reversed" back at E3 are going to return, just more slowly, you can bet your bottom dollar on it. Microtransactions will become much worse (though I won't lay this solely at MS's feet, but do believe they hold such a greedy mindset that it will be considerably worse than the competition).

Seems the arrogance bug has hit MS, as it did Sony last gen. I was once a fan of the 360, my PS3 was literally untouched last gen, not because I disliked it but I liked what MS did. After E3, a whole new MS has emerged, one that can take a hike as far as I'm concerned. I'm loving my PS4 even though I don't have any games for it. It's simple, streamlined, and efficient and it will be getting all of my support this gen as long as Sony keeps it together.

I may eventually get a One if (and a BIG if) MS offers a Kinectless version, smartly implements MTs, and does not again 180 on its present DRM policies (which I'm fully convinced it will....MS said they hadn't changed their minds on the subject, just that the consumer wasn't ready.....read between the lines and it's not hard to see where they will be going). But these things will take years to fully determine, so for the time being the One is in the same place as the Wii U is: wait and see if value comes down the road.

Requires you to be online at all times and forces a product on you. Wow... -_-

Well, you have every right to be upset with the choices that Microsoft made, but aren't these feelings old hat? Most of these decisions have been known about for half a year and some have been subsequently reversed. I would have thought the frustration had somewhat subsided by now and the decision to get the PS4 had been made well before launch weekend.

Have fun with your PS4.

Yes it did.

No it idn't

Everything in the game can be earned without paying a cent, next time do better research

@Jaysonguy:

but the grind is atrocious,

one person from here said it is longer to get credits than forza 4.

he said it was bad enough that he just bout 5$ worth of credits since he still had ms money in his account,

because he wasn't getting cars to level up and do those races when you need a certain car,

its bad man

It seems most of the people most critical of Forza 5's micro transaction options, have not actually played Forza 5 at all.

Nope, it's much faster

The fact that you're able to add multipliers to get more credits after races and your driveatar wins you credits when you're not playing it's not that much of a grind at all.

@Jaysonguy:

are those free?

or do you have to pay for the multipliers?

Why say something like this? Are you saying that the criticisms aren't true?

I am new to the Forza series and have only played it for a couple of hours, but fans of Forza and Eurogamer have listed the reasons why they are upset? Do you disagree with those reasons?

Did Forza 4 and the previous entries not gift cars after winning events? Because gaf was saying that Forza 5 certainly doesn't. That's forcing users to purchase every single car in the game. Eurogamer said it takes 1 hour to earn 100k in credits. And since some of the most expensive cars are worth 1-2 million, that's spending 20 hours just grinding for one vehicle. Are you saying that Eurogamer is wrong here?

I was planning on buying an Xbox One first, but I ended up snagging a PS4 last week and I am extremely satisfied. I enjoy both the PlayStation, and Xbox. I will admit I played a lot more Xbox with the release of the 360 mostly because of Xbox Live, and playing my PS3 for the exclusives. The taste Microsoft left me still hasn't left, but I know in time it will. I love the games on Xbox, and will surely buy one-- but not until a price drop which I imagine will be a few years away.

I was also turned off not only by it's policies even though they reversed them just the thought of them even considering that was a stab in the back to it's loyal fan base. I was also not pleased that they do not allow you to change the hard drive out on the Xbox One, 500GB is a way to small, and will force you to buy their own official hard drives which will be OVER PRICED. The fact that they also changed their input for headsets means you will have to buy all new products again that will be compatible with the Xbox One. At least with the PS4 all your previous headsets still work, I just got my Astro A40's this year and pleased I will be able to use them on my new system.

I hope Microsoft is different next time they launch a new system. They could have gained so much ground on the PS4, but seriously some of the people at Microsoft should be FIRED-- totally horrible PR that cost the Xbox One any leverage heading into the next console showdown with the PS4. But anyways in time I will have an Xbox One, but not for a few years.

Microsoft = Microtransactions.

I never seek to offend, but as an outsider to the conversation it sounds like you're letting websites color your opinion. And for the record, I do disagree with most of those reasons that I've read people complaining about.

Playing Forza is not a grind, it's a joy. How dare they offer me 20 hours of gameplay to earn I supercar a really want? That's what you're saying. In game credits are easy to earn through natural play. Your drivatar earns you credits. You gain extra credits for leveling up, for gaining vehicle manufacturer affinity, and for each and every race according to your skills. As you improve, you'll want to remove assists or up the Drivatar difficulty and doing so will earn you even more credits. But this is a game for people who love racing and who love cars, not people looking for a Pokemon style collection game of "gotta catch 'em all".

I'd like to know why this Eurogamer is only looking at the end and not the means. I want to keep playing Forza. Like, if this time next year I could still be playing the game naturally and still be receiving tangible rewards through new cars to experience... and that is bad? No, no it is not. They may not gift cars as rewards like they used to, but that's not a bad thing. It lets you choose your own cars for each race type rather than cluttering your garage with an abundance of cars you'll likely never drive. And while there may be less cars in the game in total, in practice it feels more like a case of separating the wheat from the chaff. What is on offer is polished to a mirror shine. Forza 4 shit cars all over you at each turn, but many of them felt like clutter in your garage. Forza 5 feels more like a case of a finely cut diamond, made all the better for any reduction in unnecessary excesses.

I understand why people with the collectors edition were upset, they paid a premium price to access "any car they'd want" and there weren't enough tokens included to honor that. And Turn 10 has taken steps to fix it. And this misstep caused me to dial back my glowing praise for a couple of days. But honestly, the more I play this version of Forza the more I like it. It's hard to describe why, but the last Forza felt almost bloated. Like it had become a very saccharine experience, devoid of the passion I'd seen in Forza 2 and 3. The Top Gear stuff made it a fun game for a while, but I've already put more hours into Forza 5 than I did in Forza 4 over the course of the few weeks I played it before getting bored of it.

I'll be the first to call out a crap game for being crap. I was excited for Crimson Dragon, but the microtransaction model essentially put me off of even trying it. But Forza 5 plays amazingly well, and unless you want some of the cars on offer as DLC, I've yet to feel like there was any pressure to buy something other than what came with the game. If you just spend time playing it naturally, you can likely get any car you want through natural play. Unless you just wanted to start off using the best cars and not earn them through the (very rewarding) gameplay, then I can't see the way this game is built as anything but fantastic.

@denny33142: I didn't buy either because I've gotten old enough that I don't have a sexual experience just dreaming about being the first on my block to get the next gen system or injuring and quite possibly maiming someone on Black Friday to get one. I'll patiently wait until my tax return comes in, get one. And then get the other one in a year or two. That's what grown-up gamers do.

All Companies are greedy. Microsoft just happens to be greedy and clueless.

Nope. Not websites, just facts. You've written a lot of things but did not point out any fallacies in my post.

If you want to play the game for 20 hours just to grind for one car then good for you. But please dont tell us that this isnt a problem. Yes, you have other ways of earning credits but are you saying that Eurogamer is wrong in their claim that you can only earn around 100k credits an hour? Are you saying you can earn upto 1 million in credits an hour by having your Drivatar race for you?

All Turn 10 has done so far is reduce the price of cars by half for this weekend only. They haven't taken any steps to address the main problem.

It was never my intent to point out a fallacy sir, I'm simply suggesting that instead of taking someone else's word for it and writing off a fantastic game after two hours of play (by your words), that you might try actually putting in some time and seeing for yourself what it has to offer. One man's trash is another man's treasure and one person's grind is another person's rewarding gameplay.

Cheers.

I think it's a legitimate concern MSFT will 180 on some of the aforemention policies. Once they have a sizeable enough base, they'll pull the trigger.

I agree with this.

As for the OP, you have some really good, obvious reasons to pick the PS4 over Xbone.

That Kinect will save me $100 worth of time just TV watching. The first time I went to the kitchen to make dinner after Jeopardy!, realized I'd forgotten to change the channel to Modern Family, and then yelled out "Xbox, watch USA" I almost felt I made my money back.

Well I actually ended up picking up Xbox One and PS4. I'm a Forza fan for sure. But I will say Kinect isn't getting Kinected! We are basically paying $400-$500 for a RAM upgrade in my opinion. The only reason I bought both systems was because of exclusives only. I originally was going Xbox and than backed out and decided both systems have really great games. I haven't played the PS4 yet but so far I can say that Xbox One when even talking about Forza 5 isn't a huge leap visually speaking. I must say that 360 was pretty powerful when comparing Forza 4. Of course Xbox wins as far as games for the moment. But overall I must say that I agree on your views.