The Official Xbox One E3 Response Is Surprising. Then You Remember It's Microsoft.

Don Mattrick at E3.

For two days here I've been complaining about the XBOX One pricing as well as other constraints that don't put the user (especially the video game user) first. And for two days or so Microsoft has had time to craft a response. One might think that response would mitigate the anti-Xbox uproar since E3. One might think the response would address some of the concerns and issues people are having in a constructive way. At the very least, one might think they would say something like "Hey, we hear you. We'll go back to Redmond, talk it out, and get back to you."

No. This is Microsoft. What did they guy in charge of the Xbox, Don Mattrick, say?

"...and fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity. It's called the XBOX 360."

And then to illustrate his point he talked about how the crew of a nuclear submarine could still use their XBOX 360. He also said this about the negativity.

"[The gaming community] ...look at all those things and they say 'Hey. Is this going to impact me in a negative way?' And until you use it, it's really hard to understand what all the advantages are." (Emphasis is mine.)

$500 for something that is hard to understand how awesome it is until you spend $500, which also happens to be $100 more than your biggest competitor?

Read all about it and especially watch the GameTrailers.com video (if you want to get frustrated) at Engadget.

If that's not enough frustration, I'll refer you over to an ArsTechnica article where Xbox marketing chief Ysuf Mehdi tries to explain used games and all the DRM.

"We're trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world. We believe the digital world is the future, and we believe digital is better."

Except of course the XBOX One uses plastic discs which, last I checked, are made with atoms and not bits.

Microsoft talks about the "education [they] have to do" which in as of itself makes things all the more confusing. Check out the ArsTechnica article. If you can make it through it and you're still not confused as to how it will all work, well, good for you.

Also, feel free to put me on your "family list" as one of your ten "family members" even though we aren't "blood relatives" because we can be "family" even if we live "3,000 miles away" just make sure we aren't playing the "shared game" at the same time.