Hardware How many of you have your Xbone preordered?

[retKHAAAN]

I never liked how Microsoft got into the game industry. They made operating systems while Nintendo made game systems.

Err...Nintendo started as a playing card company and subsequently ventured into taxi cabs, "love hotels", and instant noodles... And yet, it's a problem that Microsoft made operating systems?

 

[whinis]

Oh I am none too great a fan of the old embrace, extent, extinguish model having DirectX as one of its biggest victories at the cost of the then nascent 3d graphics API market for games (CAD and big boy 3d was and still is openGL country). On the flip side it was ripe for the plucking (at times the term S3 virge is likely to see me start rocking in the corner though it was not so common as other things that caused me hassle), equally to its credit much of its rise came not from a buyout and shady dealings as much as allowing developers to ply their trade and try as I might I can not knock that move on both the business and engineering fronts. That said for establishing Microsoft's credentials in the "they had nothing to do with games before the xbox" debate, as was the original intention of that post, I can not ignore DirectX.

Microsoft on the way out. I have read many great opinion pieces on the matter ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/29/microsoft_might_yet_win/ and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/01/microsoft_kills_technet/ being two plucked from a quick search of my history) and I have no doubt they are in interesting times. I am not sure this thread is the venue for that discussion though.

That was not the original intention of that post but rather that microsoft hasn't helped the gaming community much as many would like to claim and besides their own console have done enough damage that it might take years to repair. They are by far not the worst offenders however, that would either be shareholders who know nothing of the games and just want $.$ or the publishers who placate them for their quick buck.