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The Acceptance of Mediocrity

This generation has seen the dumbing-down of products and services to an outrageous degree and the sad thing is that people are stupid enough to justify it. A company puts out a crap-game and instead of thinking carefully and wisely to ensure a quality product, they just patch it later on if there are problems they feel like dealing with. Why even finish a game to AAA quality if you can just patch it later? Look at some of the terrible games and products that were the result of poor planning, which we as consumers have to deal with:

- a number of multi-platform games made for the PS3 (and some for the 360) in which some were patched later on, and some were given the big Fork You (case in point, EA's/Valve's treatment of patching their PS3 games)

- the strap for Nintendo's controller, which has probably broken more glass and bruised more people than a hillbilly wedding reception.

- Red. Ring. O'. Death. 'Nuff said.

This in reality is bigger then a petty Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo squabble: this sub-par release of junk just to be sort-of fixed later is the future of products worldwide... or have you already forgotten about the lead/drugs/werewolves (kidding on the last one) in children's toys from China? Or how it seems that whole crops of food are getting salmonella every once in a while, grown from sub-par techniques? Anyways, back to games.

It's like they just sucker you out of your money, you get upset and then they go "there, there; I'll fix it for you AS MANY TIMES AS IT BREAKS. You don't even have to pay for it, if it breaks the way I say it should break." Wrong! I had to pay for it when I bought it, I'm just not GETTING WHAT I PAID FOR. I lose money on my investment if I have to Wait for a game patch, get my HDTV replaced because of the controller flying out of my hand, or have to wait for a console to return, only to turn around and replace it again in a few weeks.

I don't know if the thicker-headed fanboys (read: people me) are grasping the seriousness of the situation, but maybe if I place the quality level on another product, perhaps people may see the difference. Okie-dokey, here goes:

Let's say Midas sold a new line of breaks and twenty million people bought them, but out of the first ten million one out of three people had their master cylinder malfunction, causing the breaks not to work at all. Now, not all of the three million people who experienced failure actually died, many were just mangled, or were injured. Midas puts out a statement that in fact that it was only 200,000 people who actually were injured, killed or mangled, not three million, and that those 200,000 people were a low enough number to call it "not a big deal and people are blowing it out of proportion". But later on, many people start to complain, news articles start to pop-up out of nowhere stating that millions of people were mangled, or injured. After being outed by a company survey close to Midas, Midas finally puts out a statement stating that they will start up a replacement program to fix the breaks... except they never actually fix the breaks in a manner that will prevent the same thing from happening again.

Would YOU use those breaks?

Would you put your Father/Mother, Sister/Brother, Girlfriend/Boyfriend, Wife/Husband or child in a vehicle with those dreadful breaks controlling them?

I would hope not!

But that's what has been done when people ask about the 360's reliability as a console: despite the total lapse of quality, people are recommending it to people, despite the fact that they or people they know went through multiple consoles! Now, why do you think people are still going through multiple consoles?

Because people have accepted the fact that their console will fail, so if Microsoft realizes that, they know that they don't really have to fix the problem if people don't really care to have it fixed. Standing up against bad services and products only serves to help us as consumers... it doesn't help the people we made millionaires by consuming their crap products.

If someone forces you to bend over, you know what's coming, so your fight it.

If you bend yourself over, not only do you know what's coming, but you must like it... or at least accept it.

Right?


Anyways, it's 5 in the morning, I need some sleep. Lord willing, I'll probably see this tomorrow and laugh.

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Truplaya6470d ago

you cant compare this to brakes in a car, at least thats what i think you mean by 'breaks'. Faulty brakes in a car could be life threatening, the ring of death is just annoying, and could never threaten your life.

You need to get over it and realise your just talking about a games console. You didnt have to get one if they cause you this much stress.

pixelsword6470d ago (Edited 6470d ago )

I made the analogy because a baby has actually died from the XboX...

http://www.informationweek....

and it caused fires

http://www.theinquirer.net/...
http://www.llamma.com/xbox/...
http://cbs11tv.com/investig...

The 360 hasn't been linked to any deaths yet, but still the 360 is linked to at least one fire.

http://www.engadget.com/200...

So no, it's more than "annoying", it's deadly; and it's stupid to ignore things that can potentially kill people inside of their homes; that's like ignoring that one dude with the hockey mask and chainsaw when he sits down at your breakfast table.

So yeah, I did a *little* research before I wrote this. Not a lot, because it's my blog and no one's paying me; so as far as I've researched, it's true.

And secondly, I just wanted to "drive home" the word breaking (pun intended). On top of that, I didn't want to directly sully Midas because as far as I know they do a great job with brakes. I didn't want to have that word come back and bite me in the buns if this somehow got high on the google charts for some odd reason; so that was my creative solution. Since you put the word down, though, that's out of the window. Since it can't be changed, it just has to stay.

Mark Twain was known to say “Anyone who can only think of only one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.”

Win, Nugyen, when. Sounds all the same... well, close enough.

So yeah, since you said that, perhaps American educational system might be a little more useful than to make students consume and regurgitate facts without using the thought process to see if something deeper, even if a little, might be there. Next time though, try to see how a word is being used in a story... it might broaden your perspective... although I did spell "then" in the second paragraph incorrectly, but when in doubt, see Mark Twain. :P

I get this from a guy who spells his name "Truplaya". What a world. :D

Truplaya6469d ago

Ok, fair enough. You find the reliability of the xbox 360 a problem, dont buy one then.

Its not like you might need one to get to work, like you would a car.

Its a luxury item not a necessity, that was my point.

More people die from eating peanut butter or from household accidents in other ways each year than people who have had a 360 set on fire.
many laptops have been filmed bursting into flames too, and a 3G iPhone recently burnt someone when they left it charging; but you dont mention that.

Seems like another fanboy rant to me, but an educated, well researched one.

thisguywithhair6469d ago

Yes, it is a luxury item. Meaning that you spend money on it when you have extra money to spend. When you do that you still do expect that luxury item to do what it is supposed to do and not break down so easyily. The blog is pointing out exactly your indifference to this kind of shoddy craftsmanship. You spent your money on it. They refuse to hold up their end of the bargain by giving you a quality system for the money that you spent. Why are you not mad? Why do you turn it around by making it seem like he just plain doesn't like the XBOX 360?

"More people die from eating peanut butter or from household accidents in other ways each year than people who have had a 360 set on fire."

More people are killed by guns as well, so? You are diflecting the issue by saying that he should just be focusing on something else. Besides there are plenty of programs that limit peoples exposure to peanuts AND guns, but none that really force system makers to make a really good product unless it starts to hurt people. That is also fualty logic because MS knows that the XBOX 360 is a fualty product but they refuse to do anything about. It is only now that they are starting to fix things and even now it is taking far too long for the money that people spend on the system.

"Seems like another fanboy rant to me, but an educated, well researched one."

This is also just another way to deflect the argument. He siad something that you don't like so you turn it around into a fanboy argument even though he has backed up all of his arguments with pure facts. You on the other hand, are fighting back with pure congecture. Who is the fanboy?

Truplaya6469d ago

OK so he's moaning about the reliability of the 360. Not the first blog i've read on this, probably the 10th.

He is saying the 360 is a life threating device! - Way to blow it out of proportion

C'mon, using lines like "Would you put your Father/Mother, Sister/Brother, Girlfriend/Boyfriend, Wife/Husband or child in a vehicle with those dreadful breaks controlling them?"

- no one ever puts their life in the hands of a games console, well i hope not. So this is a terrible comparison to make.

Maybe its the fact that i have had a 360 for over 18months with no issues. my brother has a launch console and its never broken. I just think this guy is blowing things WAY out of proportion.

So, what is the point of this blog except to rip on the 360 for its reliability?

hopefully he does wake up tomorrow and laugh, if not here's a joke

"A drunken man walks into his bedroom holding a sheep under his arm. He looks at his wife lying in the bed and says 'This is the pig I have sex with when you've got a headache!'

The wife snaps back 'I'll think you'll find that's a sheep'

The guy replies 'I'll think you'll find I was talking to the sheep!"

thisguywithhair6469d ago

Not once is this guy blowing anything out of proportion, nor is he saying that people are putting their lives into their consoles hands. What he is saying is that there is a history with of fires and one death that can be traced to the XBOX. But, as of right now, there is at least one fire that can be traced to the XBOX 360. He is stating nothing but fact.

"Maybe its the fact that i have had a 360 for over 18 months with no issues. my brother has a launch console and its never broken. I just think this guy is blowing things WAY out of proportion."

I have a car where the brakes have never locked, I have never spun out of control on ice, and I have never run out of gas. I don't tell people to shut up or call them derogatory names (fanboy) when they complain about these things. You seem to be of the mind that if it doesn't happen to you then it must be blown out of proportion.

BTW: what is with that joke? Couldn't find a topic for it in the forums? Are you just trying to prove my argument that you are trying to change the topic by bringing up non-sensical and off topic sentences? Or maybe you just have nothing to say to a guy who has made you mad by calling out your console (not you, your console).

70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

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simulationdaily.com
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Jin_Sakai2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio2d ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing1d 23h ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster921d 23h ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit1d 23h ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing1d 23h ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster921d 21h ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

Tanktopmaster921d 21h ago

Let me be clear. This is sarcasm

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40°

Games Done Quick is coming to Europe for the first time with 3 days of Gamescom speedruns

The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.

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50°

Report: Injustice 3 in Development at NetherRealm Studios

Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.

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