The curious case of the Xbox One

I am both a lapsed core gamer, always willing to be drawn back to the fold for the right new release, and a modern consumer of video on demand with a fully fledged media PC (alongside the Xbox 360) under their 50" plasma. 

In other words: I am even more the target market for the Xbox One than most hardcore gamers whose palpable outrage I've been reading since the press conference yesterday.

And yet, even assessed on charitable terms, the focus on broadcast TV seems anachronistic to the point of absurdity.

As Rob Fahey puts it:

a business strategy which in five years time will probably look about as wise as launching a game console that plays VHS tapes

In fact, Rob sums up my thoughts perfectly in that piece over at Gamesindustry.biz:
After an awful start, Xbox One must redeem itself at E3

Long, but well worth reading.

Nothing the Xbox One proposes to do is new either. On the integrating-cable-TV front, Google TV has tried and failed at this before already. And when it comes to controlling your TV through voice and gesture, who hasn't had a go?

Rob Crossley at C&VG:​

It's as though Microsoft has wilfully ignored that Siri and other voice command gimmicks, and QR codes and other camera-based technologies, have flat-lined despite their comprehensive promotion.

Including Microsoft themselves of course, with the Kinect. Control systems need to be responsive and accurate above all else - until voice/gestures are accurate and appropriately ignore false inputs >99.99% of the time, they won't catch on. Maybe the Xbox One has solved the problem, but I'm sceptical.

If you didn't see the conference, here's a brilliantly edited summary that sadly really does sum up, in the correct proportions, the key elements of the presentation:

​Bring on E3.