Biggest failure of a console

[Jorpho]

MS could have beat the ps3 and killed blu-ray with the 360 if they hadn't of screwed it all up. It would have put them in a position of dominance in the industry. Instead they will finish 3rd and be left scratching their heads wondering how the whole thing slipped away. To me that's a bigger failure than the rest of them because it could have legitimately been the king of the hill and instead will finish last.

Yes, it is truly a mournful tragedy that Microsoft failed to obtain a monopoly in another business sector..?

[ConsoleAddict]

MS could have beat the ps3 and killed blu-ray with the 360 if they hadn't of screwed it all up. It would have put them in a position of dominance in the industry. Instead they will finish 3rd and be left scratching their heads wondering how the whole thing slipped away. To me that's a bigger failure than the rest of them because it could have legitimately been the king of the hill and instead will finish last.

The big problem with Microsoft is that for all the people who love them, they also have a lot of people who hate them. I don't think anybody hates MS due to having a monopoly in the OS business, though those "I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" commercials are quite arrogant. Most of the hatred stems from faulty product shoved out the door before it's been bug-tested, out-sourcing their customer/technical support and making huge profits yet laying off people for no reason other than more profit.

While that mindset did little to stop the MS onslaught in their other avenues, it doesn't work for gaming. It frightens me how so many people are willing to over-pay for online play, peripherals and games (especially here in Canada) and deal with the E74 and RRoD and yet still see the white tampon as a masturbatory idol. I'm frightened for E3; I can't wait to read the comments from lemmings who want to waste even more of their money on Project Natal. It will be a huge flop. I don't think PS Move will be successful, either, but they won't be pushing it like MS is with Natal. You're not going to be called a loser if you don't own one.

Maybe someday, the Americans and British will wake up and realize that they were taken for a ride. However, don't hold your breath waiting for that day. Nothing like having paid off websites preaching how great the Xbox 360 is despite the myriad of problems it has. Again, teenage boys with zero social lives outside of the Xbox 360 don't need to have their feelings hurt.

[Arkhan]

those "I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" commercials are quite arrogant.

The OSX commercials are of course arrogance free.
/sarcasm

and really, Windows 7 is pretty kickass, so they're allowed to brag.

Most of the hatred stems from faulty product shoved out the door before it's been bug-tested, out-sourcing their customer/technical support and making huge profits yet laying off people for no reason other than more profit.

More hatred comes from ignorant users who experience crashes/problems and don't realize its all like that. It isn't just M$ with buggy software.

The grass is always greener on the other side and then you climb over the fence and step in cow shit.

Maybe someday, the Americans and British will wake up and realize that they were taken for a ride. However, don't hold your breath waiting for that day. Nothing like having paid off websites preaching how great the Xbox 360 is despite the myriad of problems it has. Again, teenage boys with zero social lives outside of the Xbox 360 don't need to have their feelings hurt.

Lol, I remember when everyone got 360s on day one and were like OMG OMG OMG OM GOM GOMGOMGOM and crap, flailing around like morons, getting on live and going OMG PROFILES, OMG ACHIEVMENTS O M F G

I didn't even get one

my xbox 360 is called a PS3.

I still have a launch model 20gb one. Only right after opening it I turned it into a like, 250gb. HDMI, sleek black finish, 250gb HD. It's like the 360 elite, only I did it first.

I'm an Arkhan and Xbox 360 Elite was MY IDEA.

[ConsoleAddict]

@ Arkhan

Touche.

EDIT: Apparently, the new name for Project Natal is "Kinect". Wow.

[camarotuner]

Yes, it is truly a mournful tragedy that Microsoft failed to obtain a monopoly in another business sector..?

Well, since we are discussing business failures, yes. MS had an oppurtunity to grab a stranglehold of ANOTHER business sector and blew it through a crappy system. Instead, they built a system with the reliability of a ugo that is costing them billions, let blu-ray win, and will end up third in a three team race.

[Jorpho]

Well, since we are discussing business failures, yes. MS had an oppurtunity to grab a stranglehold of ANOTHER business sector and blew it through a crappy system. Instead, they built a system with the reliability of a ugo that is costing them billions, let blu-ray win, and will end up third in a three team race.

You keep talking like this is a bad thing for everyone and not just for Microsoft.

[camarotuner]

Well, if we're going to play poker let's play with our hands exposed.

I work as a manager from Gamestop. As far as modern gaming goes, I simply don't care. I'm only concerned with the business aspect of this industry. When I sit down to play games, crack me out my atari 2600, nes, snes, and all the toys I had when I was a kid. But on a day to day basis, all I am concerned with is business since it's my job. That being said...

I wanted the Wii to win. Nintendo's DS system and the Wii system have shown MS and Sony that casual gaming, innovation, and general fun in gaming can beat "better" systems. As a direct result we get games like little big planet, which is awesome. Nintendo does the retro mario type games and viola Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is coming out! So yay Nintendo and their way of doing things.

But honestly? If people are buying video games, I've got a job. I don't care if people buy MS, Sony, Nintendo, or whoever/whatever else comes down the pipe. People spend money on games, gamestop makes money, I get to keep playing with video games for a living.

But the original point to the thread was "worst failure of a console". Given what it had to gain and had a legitimate shot at doing, put me down for the 360. Because at no point was any of the other systems on this list in a legitimate position to dominate the industry and lost it.

[ConsoleAddict]

I agree with you, camarotuner. Every point you made is valid and truthful.

It's sad that so many people have drunk Microsoft's Flavor-Aid and don't care to think that the Xbox 360 was a lost opportunity for MS. Anyway, I'm glad they are failing. They have some great games and some great ideas in regards to the 360 but that's not enough to cover the huge errors and idiotic decisions. However, they did succeed in raising their lemming userbase despite this. Which is why part of me doesn't see the 360 as a failure.

I really like the Wii but I wish there was a more consistent stream of software for it. I've bought 4 Wiis because I sold 3 of them due to lack of interest.

[Poofta!]

I think there are three types of failures.

1. I would put systems like Colecovision, 5200, Dreamcast in the same category. Good systems with potential though some flaws, but ruined by a series of bad decisions/actions by the company.

2. Systems like the 32X, Jaguar, 3DO, Astrocade, might have had potential, but the games mostly were hideous, and were laughed off the shelves.

3. Systems that either had terrible hardware, poor concepts, or absurd pricing that would never allowed for success. Odyssey 2, Neo Geo, Amiga CD32, VirtualBoy.

Konix Multisystem, Halcyon, Nuon, somebody said the M2. I'd barely even qualify those as actual systems. If the system doesn't get released or sold in mass, it's not much more than a prototype.

wow.... what a great way to put it! i... i.... i agree completely!

You know, I loved the Dreamcast. I thought it was an awesome console with tons of great games.

I wonder if things would have been different if:

a) it didn't suffer from the rampant piracy so early on in its life cycle?
b) they had better controllers and memory cards developed for it?
c) if they did have a built-in DVD player? They had thought about including it.
d) EA developed games for it?
e) Sega hadn't destroyed their customer base with their prior gaffes?

It's too bad. It was a bad omen when they were lowering the price of the DC so soon after release. It didn't deserve to be branded as a failure.

you know what? im an open dreamcast hater (even though im a huge 16bit sega fan), but youre right.

thing is, all the things you mentioned, thats like 80% of the system right there. after those 5 things, what else is the dreamcast? sega 1st party titles and (at the time) arcade quality board (hence awesomeness of soul calibur, crazy taxi and marvel vs capcom).

so i guess what im saying, if you have a system that failed for an entire laundry list of reasons, of course fixing each one would make it a winner.

i feel i hate that system so much cause the system hurt me so much. i had such high hopes, and seeing one terrible decision after another, and know the console's future before i even bought mine (a month after release), makes me sad. so much potential, yet such a failure

[grolt]

Well, since we are discussing business failures, yes. MS had an oppurtunity to grab a stranglehold of ANOTHER business sector and blew it through a crappy system. Instead, they built a system with the reliability of a ugo that is costing them billions, let blu-ray win, and will end up third in a three team race.

The Genesis has had similar coulda/shoulda/woulda woes, but you won't see anyone calling that a failure. The reality of the situation is that regardless of whether or not the 360 will be overtaken by the PS3 (and I'm not entirely holding my breath for that, either) it has enjoyed a lengthy and very successful run, both hardware and software wise, as the premiere hardcore gamers' console. The SNES eventually overtook the Genesis, but again...failure? The 360 is doing just fine.

[Poofta!]

double post

[Poofta!]

That statement seems like it is from somebody who read something about the history *somewhere*....but was not actually there

dude... did you even read the blurb i quoted?

man ive been gaming & collectiong for over 2 decades. i know wtf happened. i was there facepalming on the sideline.

Sega's rep was damaged slightly from the Sega CD and 32X...and then the Saturn. The Dreamcast didn't kill Sega's rep. If anything, their rep was sour at the start. But, as the Dreamcast proved itself in the beginning, people started to believe in Sega again.

no one began to believe in sega. evidence of this was everyone and their mother waiting off on buying the dreamcast because they were waiting on the ps2 to see what would happen...

As far as I recall, the Dreamcast had one of the best launches in history, and the system saw some of the greatest games ever created.

you recall wrong. maybe it was SEGA's best launch ever, but thats not saying much. and your 'greatest games ever created' blurb is as laughable as much as it is an opinion.

People were actually sad that the system was cancelled as early as it was, and people to this day keep petitioning for a "Dreamcast 2" (which will mostly likely NEVER happen).

most people will defend their investments to the death. if sega kept running with the DC it wouldve been bankrupt. and yeah, DC2 will never happen, for good reason.

If you can call that a failure of a console, I don't know what to tell you.

i can, and it is.

failure commercially in terms of sales
failure economically in terms of profit
failure as a competitor
failure to be worth owning even as a hindsight (99% of everything worth playing was ported long since)

it pains to look at, its deafening to turn on and the controller probably causes carpel tunnel, as if anyone is willing to hold it long enough to prove it.


the ONLY good thing to come out of the DC:
multiplatform SEGA games.

P.S. if anyone here brings up that it was the first net-connected system, youd only be half right, since x-band did it 2 gens prior. all the DC did was bring it back at a time where bandwidth was beginning to become cheaper, it's only pioneering effort in this category is bundling it w/ a modem from the get-go.

[buzz_n64]

360 has it's flaws, but IN NO WAY is a failure, games sell, best online gaming experience, and many other great features. If the system was a true failure, it either would have only lasted a few years, or Microsoft's next system would've been out already. Just because you might not like the system for one reason or another doesn't put it at Nuon or Virtual Boy status.

[Poofta!]

I tried selling PS3s to people all the time. They would come in asking what I preferred and I would tell them PS3 because:

--Bluray won
--The hardware looks and feels nicer
--The connectivity / HD upgrades rule
--I like the game selection, and the upcoming titles at the time were lookin good.

and then I would explain that the PSN store was pretty cool, and that you can set it up really easily to stream stuff from PC to PS3, etc. etc.......


the usual reply was "oh, ok, I'll take the 360".

to which I would reply with "Oh, how come?"

and they would go "Because its got *insert game that is also on PS3*"

or

"Because Sony is stupid"

*shrug*, their loss. lol

wow really? there are still people here who thing the ps3 is a better *game* console? i mean its fighting really hard TODAY to even compete w/ the 360, but a year or two ago? man the 360 was just decimating sony. hell i doubt sony will ever surpass MS in this generation. we'll see though.

this is is coming from a guy who has both consoles, and is a complete ps1 fanboy. i dont hate sony by any means, hell i own 3 psps with like 90 games!

[Poofta!]

MS could have beat the ps3 and killed blu-ray with the 360 if they hadn't of screwed it all up. It would have put them in a position of dominance in the industry. Instead they will finish 3rd and be left scratching their heads wondering how the whole thing slipped away. To me that's a bigger failure than the rest of them because it could have legitimately been the king of the hill and instead will finish last.

egh, thats a little misleading as well as wild speculation.

wii may have most sales, but the people buying them wont keep the gaming industry afloat. most of the sales are for younger kinds who get it with shovelware or older people who barely ever buy a game. how many people who call themselves 'Gamers' would trade a ps3 or 360 away for the wii.

as for ps3, 360 still has more sales. period. most people i know have both (including me) and use the ps3 as a bluray player. i suspect a lot of people are buying it because its a bluray player PLUS (and all the sales from it being the cheapest/best bluray player no longer exist, since bluray players dropped to ~100$). you remind me of a typical gamestop employee.

the 360 has a much larger and stronger market presence, which of course is thanks to MS's deep, deep coffers.

The big problem with Microsoft is that for all the people who love them, they also have a lot of people who hate them. I don't think anybody hates MS due to having a monopoly in the OS business, though those "I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" commercials are quite arrogant. Most of the hatred stems from faulty product shoved out the door before it's been bug-tested, out-sourcing their customer/technical support and making huge profits yet laying off people for no reason other than more profit.

While that mindset did little to stop the MS onslaught in their other avenues, it doesn't work for gaming. It frightens me how so many people are willing to over-pay for online play, peripherals and games (especially here in Canada) and deal with the E74 and RRoD and yet still see the white tampon as a masturbatory idol. I'm frightened for E3; I can't wait to read the comments from lemmings who want to waste even more of their money on Project Natal. It will be a huge flop. I don't think PS Move will be successful, either, but they won't be pushing it like MS is with Natal. You're not going to be called a loser if you don't own one.

Maybe someday, the Americans and British will wake up and realize that they were taken for a ride. However, don't hold your breath waiting for that day. Nothing like having paid off websites preaching how great the Xbox 360 is despite the myriad of problems it has. Again, teenage boys with zero social lives outside of the Xbox 360 don't need to have their feelings hurt.

im not a teenage boy, and i own a 360 (2 in fact). i never had problems and it provides a superior gaming experience than my ps3, in every way.

i love my purchase, the only time i had to call MS support i was greeted by a southern fella who helped me out, i enjoy the fact that all of my friends and new people i meet, have a 360 and we can all talk online while we game together. $35 a year (standard going price for xboxlive) is a very cheap price to pay for the service so well designed and easy to use. i spend more a week on beer.

your generalized opinion is humorous.

I agree with you, camarotuner. Every point you made is valid and truthful.

It's sad that so many people have drunk Microsoft's Flavor-Aid and don't care to think that the Xbox 360 was a lost opportunity for MS. Anyway, I'm glad they are failing. They have some great games and some great ideas in regards to the 360 but that's not enough to cover the huge errors and idiotic decisions. However, they did succeed in raising their lemming userbase despite this. Which is why part of me doesn't see the 360 as a failure.

I really like the Wii but I wish there was a more consistent stream of software for it. I've bought 4 Wiis because I sold 3 of them due to lack of interest.

dude you cannot possibly believe the 360 is a failure. thats just ludicrous. also, MS didnt lose anything, the wii isnt competing w/ ps3/360 so its irrelevant. MS doesnt care about bluray (or any physical media actually). the 360 makes MS loads of money and software sales are insane. no company does things without making mistakes, and sure MS had many (and still some) but it really doesnt matter when they, in the end of the day, provide the best gaming experience. reading your posts makes me feel like i have to lose IQ just to understand you. either way, haters will be haters. i cant take the stupidity in the last page or so anymore (how the hell is ANY console in the last 2 gens a failure since they all went on to make new & better ones?!). im out.

[dbiersdorf]

i love my purchase, the only time i had to call MS support i was greeted by a southern fella who helped me out, i enjoy the fact that all of my friends and new people i meet, have a 360 and we can all talk online while we game together. $35 a year (standard going price for xboxlive) is a very cheap price to pay for the service so well designed and easy to use. i spend more a week on beer.

Your individual experience doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I owned a 360 for a little over a year and a half and went through four systems. Does that make me think all of them broke? No, but it's pretty clear from reports online the system has a high failure rate. And you're making a very ignorant statement to think that it's some small vocal minority. It doesn't mean the system is a failure, but when that can retract from sales from people who consider the risk too high - you have a problem.

Further more, why are discounting the Xbox Live price? You might be able to find a year subscription for $35 if you're a smart shopper, hell if you wanted you easily pull off never paying if you simply took advantage of the many ways to get free month cards, but that doesn't take away from the fact that 95% of the time you walk into a brick and mortar store the price is $50.

the wii isnt competing w/ ps3/360 so its irrelevant. MS doesnt care about bluray (or any physical media actually). the 360 makes MS loads of money and software sales are insane. no company does things without making mistakes, and sure MS had many (and still some) but it really doesnt matter when they, in the end of the day, provide the best gaming experience. reading your posts makes me feel like i have to lose IQ just to understand you. either way, haters will be haters. i cant take the stupidity in the last page or so anymore (how the hell is ANY console in the last 2 gens a failure since they all went on to make new & better ones?!). im out.

The Wii isn't competing with the PS3 or 360? People still feed into that bullshit? What is Kinect and Move? They are attempts to capitalize and compete on the Wii's market. When internal funds are moved to focus on these products it goes to show that yes they are competing and in fact they got man handled by Nintendo because the market changed and they didn't adapt accordingly.

Furthermore, since when is the 360 such a huge cash cow? The entire Xbox brand hasn't been profitable until (finally) the past year or two. Although that has been Microsoft's choice in order to penetrate the market that doesn't necessarily make the system an undeniable success. Is it a failure? Not even close. I'm not arguing that, but I've read this thread and you clearly have a biased opinion on the matter, not to mention posts filled with inaccurate information. Stop taking people's opinions personally and acting like a child.

[danny_galaga]

Why is 360/PS3/Wii even being discussed? They are patently not failures. They all make a net profit for their respective companies (when you include software sales, which is after all a necessary part of the equation).

I think I'm leaning towards Gizmondo after reading this thread. Certainly a quite spectacular end to what could have been a promising product. It's underworld ending makes me think of Delorean

[ConsoleAddict]

@ Poofta

You may not be a teenager but you sure type like one. Honestly, what adult types everything in lower-case? Or are you 12?

[Aswald]

I'd certainly put the Atari 7800 here.

For one thing, it was not released when it was supposed to have been: 1984. Tramiel-Atari waited until a few years later, after the NES was hopelessly #1.

It was mostly technically outmatched by both the NES and SMS. True, it had certain strong points, but overall, it was o.k. But not great. The CV and 5200 were too close to it, overall.

The games it had were hopelessly outmatched by what the NES and even SMS had to show.

And of course, one always had the feeling that the support for it was half-hearted at best.


But another problem it had was that, unlike the VCS and 5200, Atari was no longer Atari. Gone were the days when one could expect an "Atari" arcade game to automatically be available for an Atari home system (Atari Games, Atari).

Really, what did it have going for it? Almost every disadvantage.

[ConsoleAddict]

@ Aswald

I remember reading through an issue of Electronic Games back in 1984 where they put the Atari 7800 through its paces. They reviewed the console and all 18 games that were going to be launched with it. Throughout the entire article, I found their enthusiasm to be lukewarm at best. With that kind of attitude permeating through the story, you could tell the Atari 7800 was going to have a rocky experience throughout its life cycle right from the start.

I don't remember which month the issue came out. I sure would like to read a scan of it somewhere.