We've sold our souls to Microsoft. As you can see from all the advertising we're carrying, they've given us pots of money to be nice about them and their secret plans to take over your living room and not mention all the lies they told when the Xbox was originally launched.
So we're really pleased to see that contrary to popular belief, the software giant isn't trying to take over the living room and turn your TV into a cash register screen.
“Well, I’d say having everything connected sounds pretty great! It gives me the ability to get at my digital entertainment content in the ways I want to, and that’s not about ruling your living room,” explained Jeff Henshaw, Executive Producer for Xbox Digital Entertainment at Microsoft in an interview with his official magazine. “It’s about freeing digital media enthusiasts to live their lives in the way they want and access their entertainment in the way they want. That’s really what the Xbox 360 is all about. It’s about putting the gamer at the centre of the experience.”
Henshaw goes on to outline that in actuality, it's none other than the evil mega-corporation that is Sony which currently harbours such a plan. “For us it’s not about owning the living room,” he continued. “We don’t care what kind of TV you have. We don’t care what kind of digital audio player you have. We don’t care what kind of digital camera you’ve got. Xbox 360 works with everything. There are other companies out there that want you to own a brand ‘S’ console. They want you to own a brand ‘S’ TV and a brand ‘S’ digital audio player and a brand ‘S’ portable gaming device. To me, that looks more like trying to own your living room, trying to lock you into a single brand. That’s absolutely not what we’re about. We’re about partners and an open ecosystem where everyone can share content, regardless of what kind of device you have.”
And therein, Henshaw has a point. Sony does really want you to own Sony everything. Your camera, music player, videogames machine, TV - everything. And they also want you to not notice when the stuff breaks after 12 months and one day of you buying it.
However, Sony has always said that it wants to own your 'digital futurehome'. It began with the PlayStation 2, with ambitious plans mooted by Ken Kutaragi outlining how the PS2 could act as a digital hub for the home, controlling everything from communications to the contents of your fridge.
As to what Microsoft may have planned in the coming years is anyone's guess. Our guess, for the record, is to own the living room.
So we're really pleased to see that contrary to popular belief, the software giant isn't trying to take over the living room and turn your TV into a cash register screen.
“Well, I’d say having everything connected sounds pretty great! It gives me the ability to get at my digital entertainment content in the ways I want to, and that’s not about ruling your living room,” explained Jeff Henshaw, Executive Producer for Xbox Digital Entertainment at Microsoft in an interview with his official magazine. “It’s about freeing digital media enthusiasts to live their lives in the way they want and access their entertainment in the way they want. That’s really what the Xbox 360 is all about. It’s about putting the gamer at the centre of the experience.”
Henshaw goes on to outline that in actuality, it's none other than the evil mega-corporation that is Sony which currently harbours such a plan. “For us it’s not about owning the living room,” he continued. “We don’t care what kind of TV you have. We don’t care what kind of digital audio player you have. We don’t care what kind of digital camera you’ve got. Xbox 360 works with everything. There are other companies out there that want you to own a brand ‘S’ console. They want you to own a brand ‘S’ TV and a brand ‘S’ digital audio player and a brand ‘S’ portable gaming device. To me, that looks more like trying to own your living room, trying to lock you into a single brand. That’s absolutely not what we’re about. We’re about partners and an open ecosystem where everyone can share content, regardless of what kind of device you have.”
And therein, Henshaw has a point. Sony does really want you to own Sony everything. Your camera, music player, videogames machine, TV - everything. And they also want you to not notice when the stuff breaks after 12 months and one day of you buying it.
However, Sony has always said that it wants to own your 'digital futurehome'. It began with the PlayStation 2, with ambitious plans mooted by Ken Kutaragi outlining how the PS2 could act as a digital hub for the home, controlling everything from communications to the contents of your fridge.
As to what Microsoft may have planned in the coming years is anyone's guess. Our guess, for the record, is to own the living room.
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Comments
fluffstardx 15 Dec 2005 14:14
1/9
It's true. The real difference between the two is that Sony makes a wide variety of consumer electronics. It's funny how Sony fanboys fill their houses with Sony gear and then turn around and say "Microsoft want to own you"...
LUPOS 15 Dec 2005 14:26
2/9
MS doesnt want your living room they want your whole digital experience... they want to make the software that runs on every hardware item... sony ericson makes cell phones... some cell phones have windows ce on them... sony makes expensive hardware MS makes cheap software and makes a ton of money at it... they wana make your server software and your pc software and phone and mp3player and camera and anything else... and then they will be all set to be the digital content provider of the future like itunes, but with videos and games and basically everything... much like the 360 market place.
if this was quantum leap MS would own your twiggy! thats the plan.
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if this was quantum leap MS would own your twiggy! thats the plan.
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majin dboy 15 Dec 2005 14:32
3/9
I hate the advert that pops up in the middle of the screen. How much money did they give you?
anyway,MS have ther cocks in everything. i work in sainsbury's(8hours a week)in belfast,30 odd tills,so one day we had a power cut(very romantic actually)/(stupid f**king customers getting pissed off at me,like i flicked the switch). when we got everything back my till started up again and a familar blue screen popped up,followed by the MICROSOFT loading thingy then sure enough "microsoft" popped up.BASTARDS.
anyway,MS have ther cocks in everything. i work in sainsbury's(8hours a week)in belfast,30 odd tills,so one day we had a power cut(very romantic actually)/(stupid f**king customers getting pissed off at me,like i flicked the switch). when we got everything back my till started up again and a familar blue screen popped up,followed by the MICROSOFT loading thingy then sure enough "microsoft" popped up.BASTARDS.
tyrion 15 Dec 2005 15:04
4/9
It's strange, even though the XBox 360 "gives me the ability to get at my digital entertainment content in the ways I want to" it won't connect to my Linux box using NFS.
Microsoft want to own the software on everything.
Sony want you to buy a "brand S" laptop, but it'll come with Windows installed on it. Same with every other brand of laptop or desktop, except brand "A" of course.
The PSP (a "brand S" portable multi-media device) has recently been upgraded to use Microsoft's WMA format of music files. As have many other portable multi-media devices and mobile phones.
When you buy your next-generation "brand S" gaming console, Microsoft will get some money since Blu-Ray players have to support Microsoft's VC-1 codec. The same with every other Blu-ray and HD-DVD player that will ever be sold.
Who's trying to take over what again? "Living room"? With Microsoft you have to think bigger, try "Life"!
Microsoft want to own the software on everything.
Sony want you to buy a "brand S" laptop, but it'll come with Windows installed on it. Same with every other brand of laptop or desktop, except brand "A" of course.
The PSP (a "brand S" portable multi-media device) has recently been upgraded to use Microsoft's WMA format of music files. As have many other portable multi-media devices and mobile phones.
When you buy your next-generation "brand S" gaming console, Microsoft will get some money since Blu-Ray players have to support Microsoft's VC-1 codec. The same with every other Blu-ray and HD-DVD player that will ever be sold.
Who's trying to take over what again? "Living room"? With Microsoft you have to think bigger, try "Life"!
comrade_chimp 15 Dec 2005 17:07
5/9
Xbox 360 works with everything
Except non-Windows computers, DivX movie files, etc.
BlackEyedFish 15 Dec 2005 18:06
6/9
Microsoft aren't really trying to take over peoples lives, they just want to have all the money in the world. Apple is slowly becoming more mainstream though, with the power of music.
Ditto 15 Dec 2005 20:06
7/9
Rhino wrote:
Microsoft aren't really trying to take over peoples lives, they just want to have all the money in the world. Apple is slowly becoming more mainstream though, with the power of music.
Which, as Config pointed out is under threat from Microsoft's WMA.
Microsoft want you to have to go through them to do anything. They do want to own your life.
It's scary that people still buy their products.
BlackEyedFish 16 Dec 2005 09:21
8/9
I came up with crazy conspiracy theories last week, one of which involved supersonic noises that all machines using microsoft create, to resonate frequencies in your brain which tell you to buy microsoft. How else can you explain why everyone would buy a product that crashes when you least expect it. Another is that microsoft is a metaphor for bill gates' dick.
iheartboobs 17 Dec 2005 16:44
9/9
That might just be the most hypocritical thing I've ever read. Microsoft has some balls. They're just located on Bill Gates' chin.