Now isn't the time to let M$ walk off with the press. And before anyone gets on me, I've bought the 360 on launch, had 7 of them break, and have yet to leap to the next gen. Frankly, the only games I'm looking forward to playing are Alien: Isolation, Mirror's Edge 2, and Arkham Knight.

@The_Last_Ride: There's a lot of money in blame.

@nintendoboy16:

I admire how Nintendo has stayed alive by not directly competing against these huge companies. It's hard to be at the top when a whale enters your swimming pool.

I don't have a Wii U, Xbox One, or PS4 yet, but to tell you the truth the Wii U sounds like fun. It just should be cheaper, with a higher res screen on the gamepad, and better online integration.

Largely posted this topic previously on the Xbox One board. I believe that Microsoft was so in bed with the Kinect they couldn't afford to write it off so early. The device needed to be pushed into NA dominance in order to attract a killer app. Now that it's going to be something of a rarity, any dev looking to make that killer app has to pull the plug.

Games are so expensive these days. Devs and Publishers want games that can make the most money, and will nix anything that is shooting for such a low niche base. Keep in mind this isn't Kinect 1.0, something that is new and needs to be picked up with public interest. This is Kinect 2.0, something that Microsoft is already distancing itself from.

Microsoft dug themselves an epic hole, repeatedly. Any there answer has been to backtrack. Consumers can't trust a company that behaves like this, yet they spin it as offering choice. The best long term solution would have been lowering the 1 SKU to $399 and keeping the launch setup. Make the Xbox One look like such a bargain to the casual gamer that enough Kinects would hit the market to make it viable for programming.

I originally intended to state all of this in a YouTube vlog entry, but hosting a video during a jog can make it a little tough to recall all the point:

1) A ton of Nintendo exclusives that kids gravitate toward.

2) Wifi gives it free multiplayer with no communication ability that would upset parents.

3) Games are $20 less than dedicated console titles.

4) 3D effects can at times distance it from phones, since all have dropped 3D.

And there you have it.

@BattleSpectre:

I would LOVE to see Kinect games that lived up to the original Project Natal demo video. I feel that by making the Kinect an after-purchase option Microsoft has killed the opportunity of a killer app ever seeing the light of day.

Games are getting more and more expensive to produce. Publishers are going to can Kinect games because the possibility for revenue are smaller than general multi-platform titles or even standard Xbox One exclusives.

A great Kinect game can make a lot of money, but a great traditional game has an easier path to profitability, and at these stakes publishers will go with the safer bet.

The Kinect didn't need to exist in the first place, but since it's there they should have bitten that bullet and driven it to success.

All Microsoft needed was a big enough installed base to allow developers the chance to make a killer app, and they blew it.

I've yet to jump into the next gen, but when Xbox One was busy showcasing non-gaming features I knew I wasn't interested. I cam watch TV already. Heck, the TV I use for gaming isn't my TV watching TV.

The Xbox One is a microcosm of a larger problem in society and that is lowering the bar to reach the widest possible demographic. They took a video game playing machine and tried to turn it into am everything box. Same crap is happening in movies. R is practically banned because we just have to have everything in PG-13 so more kids can show up.

@tmorri603:

Thanks. I used to post here A LOT in college but I don't play games nearly as much as I used to. I used to do a lot of gaming videos too, but they became really tiresome and the competition had hot girls hosting so I was eventually ignored.

I think there needs to be Kinect dominance in NA to get wide developer support. I feel bad for the developers who wanted to do something ambitious like real time conversations, and will now have to scrap the project because there is now way to project a worthwhile gross in sales.

Of course it's only being offered because Sony was already doing it.

I would say there is need to be concerned. This generation should have launch with full HD in hand.