When it ꦅcomes to crafting powerful systems that revolutionize how online play is handled, there is no better company to go than Microsoft. Entering the video game cons𒁃ole race fairly late into the game, they made a huge impact with their Xbox and have since been going strong, with the Xbox One X to be soon released at the time of this writing.
However, with all of its popularity, there were many things that the company did wrong over the years. Regardless of which big corporation you cling to when it comes to video games, there are days ๊where you wonder what they're thinking. That said, Xbox fans have felt the sting of this reality all too well.
To be fair, their consoles are impressive machines that seek to bring amazing graphics and great games combined with a hub for watching all different kinds of entertainment. The Xbox One is like the Swiss Army Knife of game consoles in that 🧔regard. Still, that alone doesn't make a company perfect.
Some ill-liked memories are about to be dug up from history ꦿas we take a look at 20 Xbox pictures that perfectly 𒈔explain why gamers have trust issues today.
20 ꦉ Rare's Glory Days Are Long Gone 𒐪
When Rareware first got into the big leagues with Nintendo, they created great games like Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie. Then, they went the way of the dodo and were bought out by Microsoft. However, tha✨t didn't mean they were prohibited from making games. As a matter of fact, it gave them the opportunity to make more games, just for an🦂other platform.
Unfortunately, Microsoft hasn't exactly utilized Rare to their full potential. Sure, they have Viva Pinata and Gears of War under their belt, but it never reaches the heights of their glory days. They were even allowed to use the Banjo Kazooie property again, but that game was devoid of 💞everything that made the original such a classic.
19 No Eyesꦑ, Always Watches 🉐
When it came time for Sony and Microsoft to unveil their new consoles, it's easy to see that the former of the two companies had control of the ma▨rket. The reason for this is a lot of the practices Microsoft wa♎s going to place with their new Xbox One X. Needless to say, most of them were astonishingly bad.
One of the big issues is that the Kin♈ect would essentially be always on and recording information. Why this had to be included, we'll never know. The problem here is that it brought a lot of privacy concerns for the public, and it wasn't long before the press picked it up. This led to a lot of bad publicity regarding the Xbox One Kinect.
18 ♈ ꦺ Get Ready For Next-Gen Minecraft
VR is a newer concept that is still desperately tr🥃ying to gain relevance. Oculus, HTC, and Sony have all jumped on th🌊e bandwagon, and Microsoft is following suit with the reveal of the HoloLens. That being said, there isn't a lot to the HoloLens that allows it be to any more viable than its competitors.
The demo shown off on the HoloLens was someone looking into a Minecraft worl𒊎d as some omnipotent being. While it's cool to see, we have a hard time imagining that would be useful beyond a few "wow" moments. We do like that it's trying something new with AR functionality, but that alone isn't enough to make the device relevant to consumers.
17 🧸 ๊ Just In Case You Didn't Know What Controller It Was
When the original Xbox came out, there were a lot of things that Microsoft did right and a few that they did wrong. On the latter side of the spectrum is their controllerꦐ. While it contained a lot of the necessary features, like face buttons, dual analog sticks, and a D-pad, it became one of the most uncomfortable peripheralsꦿ to use.
The controller😼 wasn't designed with usability in mind, as the size and shape almost required the user to have big hands. Furthermore, a big Xbox logo was plastered over the front, which was way bigger than it had any right to be. Fortunately, they made a brilliant move with the Xbox logo button on the 360 and One.
16 Remember This?
As the world moved into a more technology-focused age, many companies and developers tried capitalizing on that fact. Sometimes, the result works well, and other times it doesn't. Case in point: the Xbox Smartglass app.
On paper, this little peripheral seemed like a great idea. If you download the app to your phone, it allows you to essentially play your Xbox games with it as well as control your console. However, the idea wasn't fleshed out enough to give it any weight in the long term. Apart from a few cool gimmicks, there wasn't much to like about the Smartglass.
Further proof of this🔯 is the fact that it's not really a feature marketed on the Xbox One, despite you being able to do it.
15 ꦏ 🌳 Always Better In Bulk
Nowadays, gaming consoles are sleek, attractive, and powerful-looking in just about every way. With Microsoft learning how to do this right with the Xbox One S and One X, it's nic🧸e to see them embracing a more cosmetic side. That said, it wasn't always this way, and one would simply have to look at their history to know what we mean.
The original Xbox console was fat, ugly, and full of all ki💟nds of mid-2000s tropes. The design was improved with the Xbox 360, but even that machine was kind of chunky and ugly. Then when the Xbox One was announced, it was still a massive product and could barely fit on most enꦉtertainment shelves. At least they're doing better in this regard nowadays.
14 Suc🌊h A Great Lauꦯnch Line-Up
Consoles, in their early days, don't sell that well. Anyone who buys th𒁏em is simply an enthusiast of the company seeking to have the latest and greatest tech (not a bad thing). All of the GameStops in the area were crowded by people wearing Xbox t-shirts at the time. For the casual consume꧑r, there aren't many games, and therefore incentive, to purchase the new device.
For many companies, console launches are heavily marred by lackluster launch line-ups and the Xbox One was certainly no exception. Having games like Zoo Tycoon and Ryse: Son of Rome graci🔴ng its doors wasn't exactly putting their best foot forward. It wouldn't be until months later when they would start acquiring games that were worth peoples' time and money.
13 ꦬ The Silver Ring Of Death 🍒
By the time the Xbox 360 launched, it's clear that Mic🎃rosoft was trying to go for a competitive edge. How do we know this? Because the console was riddled with defects that could've been properly dealt with had the system sat in the oven for a little while longer. One of those issues is what the disc driver would do to the game discs.
Simply put, the disc drive wasn't exactly stable while the discs were being read. This meant that the games would shuffle around while being played, whichꦛ led to a circular scratch being put on them. Taking their games out, many people would notice that their shiny $60 game discs didn't look as nice as they once did.
12 ꦑ ☂ What's The Point Of Physical?
Before we continue, it's worth noting that this issue isn't just exclusive to Xbox but is covered across the majority of the games industry. With a lot of the platform going digital, people have to sit through hours of download time before they get to play their shiny new games. One solution was to buy a disc and just pop it ꧟right into the game.
With the Xbox ꦆOne and PS4, though, games are becoming so incredibly massive that, regardless of whether you have a disc or not, you still have to sit through a crazy download. What becomes a problem is that you are suddenly running our of storage very quickly, as most AAA titles can take up to 90 GBs of data. It's only going to go up from there on the One X.
11 Why Is T💞his Necessary?
The Xbox One was home to ꧟a lot of strange business decisions when it was first announced. When Microsoft unveiled it, they stated that regular consoles were yesterday's news and tha🐬t online play was the way of the future. However, they took that concept and ran with it when they announced that the Xbox One would require an internet connection to run. If you didn't have that, then you were out of luck.
Granted, most people who could afford an Xbox One could already afford an internet connection, but the problem comes in the little things. Internet can be spotty and not always work properly, meaning that you won't always have easy access to the system. Furthermore, it would almost require that your int꧑ernet service be higher than normal to accommodate such a heavy console.