After much anticipation, last week Microsoft finally unveiled their next-generation competitor to the PlayStation 4 and Wii U, the Xbox One, to a mixture of excitement and complaints. If Nintendo's launch conference at last year's E3 was widely lambasted for failing to offer much of interest, and Sony's PlayStation Meeting was praised albeit criticised for not actually showing off the console, Microsoft didn't make the same mistakes, though did offer up a few distressing ideas of their own that make the future of the brand seem rather bleak indeed. Though there's little doubt that the Xbox One is going to deliver some fantastic new IPs and brilliant takes on classic franchises, there are some disturbing indicators that the console is going to end up being bested by Sony's PS4, because Microsoft seems so keen to alienate a core base of gamers through their invasive tactics and insistence upon players. Here are 10 reasons the Xbox One has already lost the console war...
10. The Name
When I first heard the name announced for Microsoft's new Xbox, I audibly cackled because I couldn't quite believe it. After countless rumoured names that been thrown around - the Xbox 720, the Durango, the Xbox Fusion - for Microsoft to arrive at a name so bland and rudimentary is rather disappointing. Of course, a name only counts for so much - the Wii was widely mocked for its name, but ended up winning the 7th-generation console war - but there's one thing Microsoft seems to be ignoring, that the name Xbox One is already in use by a high number of players. If you talk about "the Xbox" now, people assume you're referring to the 360, and so the original 2001 Xbox is referred to by many as "the Xbox One" to differentiate them. For Microsoft to completely oversee this is, frankly, pretty ridiculous, and suggests that they're not as in touch with their player base as they like to think.