I'm surprised by all of the Microsoft hate. Am I the only person here who thinks that the 360 and the PS3 are essentially the same system? I know Mark of Classic Game Room has mentioned this several times. Same with Adam Koralik. But seriously, where does all the hate come from? Same games... same capabilities...
I can understand the hate of Microsoft as a company. I have been a linux or Apple user my whole life and really dislike Windows at a moral level. But I feel if you hate Microsoft you also should hate Sony. In my opinion, Sony is a much more evil company. Microsoft is just the lesser of two evils.
I don't think anyone necessarily disagrees, and from my perspective, Sony, Microsoft, Apple, and Nintendo are equally guilty of doing evil shit over the years. So it really just comes down to precedent and personal preference. I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences with the PS1, PS2, and PS3, with each one offering up a great library of games and, barring my launch day PS2 developing disc read problems, the hardware has been solid and reliable. I also see them putting a lot of money and time into unusual stuff like Tokyo Jungle and LocoRoco, and whether those efforts are successful or not, I think it's a sign that they're at least trying.
By contrast, I've had good experiences with Nintendo hardware, and I especially love the DS and 3DS, but with their post-SNES consoles, I've been disappointed by a lot of their technical decisions, and have found it difficult at times to justify owning them, though there
are some really great GameCube and Wii games out there. Even so, while I think their efforts are sometimes misguided, they do seem to be trying hard to become more well-rounded and in some ways, get back to their roots.
I don't have the first Xbox, but my experience with the Xbox 360 has soured me on Microsoft for a lot of reasons. My first system developed the red ring of death within the first three months, despite sitting on a fairly open air stand with no back or sides, and sounded like a jet engine when turned on. Before and after receiving the replacement from their support center, I had consistent issues where the disc suddenly seize up as unreadable while playing, even on completely brand new games. When I attempted to file a complaint with the BBB after the replacement started acting up, I received calls from Microsoft reps every single day, trying to get me to close it - I gave up after about a week or so, just so they would leave me alone, and the only thing ever offered was to send it to the same repair center I had before. Their cases used to be reasonably sturdy, but have now been changed to be as cheap and flimsy as possible. The user interface is crowded with ads and other nonsensical shit like Bing, to the extent that it's actually making it more of a pain in the ass to even get to game related things.
I could go on, but the point is, they had their shot to impress me, and they failed in virtually every way possible. I'm willing to give their next console a shot, but I need to see a lot more before I'm willing to give even an inch, and so far, the only semblance of PR that I've seen has been some prick of an executive telling people to "deal with" always-on gaming. That doesn't instill a lot of confidence. That's just my experience, though - I know plenty of people who absolutely love all things Xbox, and if my initial experience had been with the Slim model I currently have, my feelings might be a little more positive, too.
