@Fiendish-Beaver I think timed exclusives are a total folly. There are very rare exceptions, like FH5 on Playstation. But FH5 is a generational game, the single highest rated video game of its year.
Playstation tried timed exclusives (to PC after the window). All signs point to them retreating from this strategy back to full exclusives. Why? Because it's lose/lose.
The point of exclusives is to prop up your platform by having things, you know, exclusive to it. When everyone knows your games are coming out elsewhere later, it's not exclusive. You lose nearly everything you gain from making a game exclusive. It's not a game you can't play elsewhere - it's a play early perk.
On the other side, the idea is that you are going to pick up sales on the competing platform. Unfortunately the competing platform sales always suffer for two reasons. The first is the hype has died. All your advertising from a year ago is a distant memory. People don't care about the game anymore. Additionally, among some pockets of people who might have otherwise bought the game, there is resentment - why wasn't this on my platform to start? I'm getting sloppy seconds?
I have always felt this way, and from the start of Xbox's downfall, told people that if there is a period of timed exclusives for Xbox games it will be a very temporary window, and games will go to Playstation day 1 as soon as possible. Xbox will not advertise games for a platform with 20 million people, and then release it on a platform with 90 million people a year later. There's no universe where it's the long term plan. You go full exclusive, or you go multi platform, there's no middle ground win for a platform holder. The recent developments with Sony have just made my beliefs here concrete.
I do want to be clear that I don't think MS is going exclusive again. I am pretty sure Xbox is dead. But if they wanted to get back in the game, it would be expensive, just like the original Xbox. That's why I said it would be like starting over. To answer your question are there enough Xbox gamers to buy games? Probably not. Were there in 2001? No. You're in the phase where you need to spend a ton of money to build market share. I don't see them doing it. But that's what it would take.
@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah I don't think we were on leaderboards or anything that I remember but we mastered all the maps, I'm sure it's the game we played most as a group. The game really went from OK at launch to an all timer after all the changes and IMO it's the first one to surpass Gears 2 horde for me. Some of the launch stuff was pretty funny though, all those 4 JD + engineer runs where rounds lasted .5 seconds, stupid but fun. But of all the many changes, bringing back frenzy was the most needed. I hope E-Day comes out of the gate swinging this time.
@Fiendish-Beaver I t think that's a fine point, and sort of reframes the entire scenario though. If that is where we are at and Xbox is dead (I do agree with this), then exclusives shouldn't even be discussed. The only thing I can think of comparable would be Valve making Half Life Alyx exclusive, bit that's 1 game and they were trying to push a niche product, not wind one down.
But if we are going to talk about exclusives (and I don't personally see this happening, like you I'm one of the OG doomers here), then you are talking about spending a lot of money, and you wouldn't do that for no reason. It would be part of an enormous push.
@Fiendish-Beaver I'm not comparing Forza on Playstation vs Forza on Xbox. I'm comparing the gain from selling games (including Forza) on Playstation to the loss of pure profit they get from having a dominant platform and taking 30% from every 3rd party game sold on it. That's why I specifically quoted that section.
I think Microsoft will choose to continue to put their games on PlayStation even if that hurts sales of the Helix because I believe the sales of their games will bring in more revenue than they lose as a consequence of selling fewer Helix's.
This is what I disagree with. Every Helix not sold is a person not in the MS ecosystem. That's a person not buying all their 3rd party games on Xbox. That's a person not buying all their microtransactions on Xbox. 30% of GTA sales, 30% of GTA online microtransations. 30% of Roblox microtransactions. That list is endless. All of that is the best kind of money, risk free, pure profit. And my point was that in my estimation, what they've lost by selling out their ecosystem, going from 90M to 20M customers, is a much bigger loss than what they're gaining. (and to be clear, I don't think they're going to hit anything close to 20M next gen). And the only way to get back on top of that mountain is by taking the losses and making everything exclusive. Yes, they would be in the red. They would basically be a newcomer in the industry again. Breaking in is hard an expensive. That's where Xbox is at.
This is a difficult conversation to have in text and in a news comments section because it's not a simple A vs B, it's a chain of events looking backward and looking forward.
The lack of exclusives has massively hurt Xbox in terms of console sales, but has also lined the pockets of Microsoft in the process. I think Microsoft will choose to continue to put their games on PlayStation even if that hurts sales of the Helix because I believe the sales of their games will bring in more revenue than they lose as a consequence of selling fewer Helix's.
. I don't think this is true. I don't believe being a 3rd party publisher is more desirable than being a platform owner that just sits back and collects 30% of game sales as pure profit with no risk.
If this rumor is true (and being from Jez, I doubt it) then that would all but confirm I'm right. Microsoft's path to Xbox reclaiming its spot as a relevant console would be VERY expensive, and they sure as hell won't do it for the love of the game. They would do it because it's potentially more profitable.
Think about how much money they are probably in the red vs Xbox 360's almost 90m sold. 30% on the gta games, the mass effects, etc. 30% on all the dlc with that enormous customer base. Vs what, 70% of their Forza sales on Playsation?
I see their transition to 3rd party as a sad surrender, not some kind of more profitable 4D chess victory.
Lol, no CoD or Forza WHILE WERE IN THE PIE IN THE SKY RUMOR PHASE.
What a total waste of everyone's time.
Hey, we might bring back exclusives - but just the games no one wants. Hifi Rush and South of Midnight type games will be Xbox exclusive again, but not Forza. Incredible how this company can be so incompetent.
Man, I wish we had concrete numbers to see exactly how abysmally Xbox and Game Pass are doing. They bled out 3 million subscribers between 2022 and 2024, and things weren't even THAT bad at that point. I think under 30 million subs is easy money, and they could even be under 25 million at this point.
Nothing negative, but nothing has got me excited. Nothing that tells me Xbox isn't being sunset. How about an entirely new dashboard that doesn't focus on ads? We used to get those several times a generation. New color achievement pop-ups... These would be acceptable minor patch notes in between major updates like we used to get.
The venn diagram of people who have Series S as their primary console and people who watch Digital Foundry is 2 circles that do not intersect at any point.
Well... Considering how utterly atrocious 5 was, and how 4 still has a larger online player count today, and is still more fun to play, i'm sure we're all hoping this the return to form they said it would be.
Otherwise. It's player base will just drop as bad as 5s did.
Just making up a bunch of crap? FH5 has 3x-4x the players that FH4 has on Steam both currently and peak over the last 24 hours. FH5 is the 13th most played game on Xbox, FH4 nowhere to be found.
I can't tell if this is massively overconfident incompetence or just decent trolling, but either way it's unwelcome.
Endless Legend was a very good game, actually all the endless games are. I was just playing Dungeon of the Endless the other day. Wish I had time for this one.
Probably won't get to it due to a lack of time unless the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I enjoyed the base game, but not anything I'd ever return to (in that form).
Sounds like everyone who bought King of Meat is getting a refund. Imagine thinking that is cheaper than a simple end of life plan like releasing a dedicated server mode when the game shuts down. Ross Scott doing the Lord's work with the Stop Killing Games initiative. And things are picking up steam fast now, UFC-Que Choisir suing Ubisoft in France is terrific news.
XBLA had a real scrappy feel to it. It had a strong identity, as did Xbox Live in general. Xbox obviously still has indie games on it but there's no feel to it. It's just more games. The id@xbox brand is totally worthless imo. It's all so bland and corporate.
@Broosh @Kraven if you've had Xbox Gold for a long time double check that you don't already own them. Lords of the Shadow 1&2 and Mirror of Fate were on Games with Gold in 2019/2020.
@FraserG It's QTE hell decades ahead of that going big but it's worth it for the Don Bluth animation alone. You're going to see Dirk die a whole lot but every room has a new death animation so just think you'd be missing content if you sailed right through it
Huge fan of HOMM 2 and 3 and want to love this but the art style isn't doing it for me. I'll still give it a go just for the Paul Romero soundtrack. They also had John Van Caneghem consult which is awesome.
I’m so excited for a new FH. Everything Playground have teased us with so far is ticking all the boxes for me. I will gleefully be there on day four.
Same, and 🤣
I'm on the fence about the season pass, it was very worth it in the last 2 games, but man is it expensive this time around. Plus I have to convince my friends to buy it for it to be worth it which is going to be that much harder.
Gears 5 has the best horde mode in the series (and that is saying a LOT), but it didn't start out that way. I hope this time we hit the ground running.
Tons of hours into horde mode in 4 and especially 5, my co-op group will no doubt get lost in this one for years once again. My hope is that the campaign is a return to form now that they're dropping the cast of "Gears: The Next Generation" and returning to the characters that made the series great. The big question is, can they match the original tone?
While I agree with her that this slogan didn't feel like Xbox, I am extremely skeptical that what she and I think "feels like Xbox" are even remotely close. Time will tell.
WOW, great news for my wallet! I don't buy many games on day 1 but anything from Owlcat makes that list, very happy The Expanse will be on game pass and save me a few bucks. I'll definitely play the Bluey game with my daughter, and Frog Sqwad has Human Fall Flat vibes - I'll definitely check that out with my friends.
It's a microsoft ergonomic mouse and a microsoft compact keyboard. I've used the mouse in the past and it's ok. I do use a microsoft sculpt keyboard which I love and highly recommend to anyone who wants a comfortable split keyboard without spending hundreds.
It was a bad slogan, but most of them have been bad since "Jump In" which itself wasn't that great. People use this slogan as a boogyman for the death of Xbox when it had little to do with it. Their death spiral had begun months earlier when they announced they were going 3rd party. No slogan at that point would have turned the tide, sentiment in the brand was already torched to ashes.
Comments 1,952
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
@Fiendish-Beaver I think timed exclusives are a total folly. There are very rare exceptions, like FH5 on Playstation. But FH5 is a generational game, the single highest rated video game of its year.
Playstation tried timed exclusives (to PC after the window). All signs point to them retreating from this strategy back to full exclusives. Why? Because it's lose/lose.
The point of exclusives is to prop up your platform by having things, you know, exclusive to it. When everyone knows your games are coming out elsewhere later, it's not exclusive. You lose nearly everything you gain from making a game exclusive. It's not a game you can't play elsewhere - it's a play early perk.
On the other side, the idea is that you are going to pick up sales on the competing platform. Unfortunately the competing platform sales always suffer for two reasons. The first is the hype has died. All your advertising from a year ago is a distant memory. People don't care about the game anymore. Additionally, among some pockets of people who might have otherwise bought the game, there is resentment - why wasn't this on my platform to start? I'm getting sloppy seconds?
I have always felt this way, and from the start of Xbox's downfall, told people that if there is a period of timed exclusives for Xbox games it will be a very temporary window, and games will go to Playstation day 1 as soon as possible. Xbox will not advertise games for a platform with 20 million people, and then release it on a platform with 90 million people a year later. There's no universe where it's the long term plan. You go full exclusive, or you go multi platform, there's no middle ground win for a platform holder. The recent developments with Sony have just made my beliefs here concrete.
I do want to be clear that I don't think MS is going exclusive again. I am pretty sure Xbox is dead. But if they wanted to get back in the game, it would be expensive, just like the original Xbox. That's why I said it would be like starting over. To answer your question are there enough Xbox gamers to buy games? Probably not. Were there in 2001? No. You're in the phase where you need to spend a ton of money to build market share. I don't see them doing it. But that's what it would take.
Re: Gears Of War E-Day Direct Length Detailed As Xbox Games Showcase Reveals Get Locked In
@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah I don't think we were on leaderboards or anything that I remember but we mastered all the maps, I'm sure it's the game we played most as a group. The game really went from OK at launch to an all timer after all the changes and IMO it's the first one to surpass Gears 2 horde for me. Some of the launch stuff was pretty funny though, all those 4 JD + engineer runs where rounds lasted .5 seconds, stupid but fun. But of all the many changes, bringing back frenzy was the most needed. I hope E-Day comes out of the gate swinging this time.
Re: Gears Of War E-Day Direct Length Detailed As Xbox Games Showcase Reveals Get Locked In
Hopefully more than a few of those 30 minutes are dedicated to horde mode!
Re: Xbox's Studios Are Working 'Side-By-Side' With Microsoft On Project Helix
I know why they had to do it, but I feel like all this pre reveal chatter is going to hurt Helix's hype in the long run.
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
@Fiendish-Beaver I t think that's a fine point, and sort of reframes the entire scenario though. If that is where we are at and Xbox is dead (I do agree with this), then exclusives shouldn't even be discussed. The only thing I can think of comparable would be Valve making Half Life Alyx exclusive, bit that's 1 game and they were trying to push a niche product, not wind one down.
But if we are going to talk about exclusives (and I don't personally see this happening, like you I'm one of the OG doomers here), then you are talking about spending a lot of money, and you wouldn't do that for no reason. It would be part of an enormous push.
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
@Fiendish-Beaver I'm not comparing Forza on Playstation vs Forza on Xbox. I'm comparing the gain from selling games (including Forza) on Playstation to the loss of pure profit they get from having a dominant platform and taking 30% from every 3rd party game sold on it. That's why I specifically quoted that section.
This is what I disagree with. Every Helix not sold is a person not in the MS ecosystem. That's a person not buying all their 3rd party games on Xbox. That's a person not buying all their microtransactions on Xbox. 30% of GTA sales, 30% of GTA online microtransations. 30% of Roblox microtransactions. That list is endless. All of that is the best kind of money, risk free, pure profit. And my point was that in my estimation, what they've lost by selling out their ecosystem, going from 90M to 20M customers, is a much bigger loss than what they're gaining. (and to be clear, I don't think they're going to hit anything close to 20M next gen). And the only way to get back on top of that mountain is by taking the losses and making everything exclusive. Yes, they would be in the red. They would basically be a newcomer in the industry again. Breaking in is hard an expensive. That's where Xbox is at.
This is a difficult conversation to have in text and in a news comments section because it's not a simple A vs B, it's a chain of events looking backward and looking forward.
Re: Three Classic Gothic Games Have Just Been Announced For Xbox Series X|S
Are they high with these prices LOL
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
Fiendish-Beaver wrote:
. I don't think this is true. I don't believe being a 3rd party publisher is more desirable than being a platform owner that just sits back and collects 30% of game sales as pure profit with no risk.
If this rumor is true (and being from Jez, I doubt it) then that would all but confirm I'm right. Microsoft's path to Xbox reclaiming its spot as a relevant console would be VERY expensive, and they sure as hell won't do it for the love of the game. They would do it because it's potentially more profitable.
Think about how much money they are probably in the red vs Xbox 360's almost 90m sold. 30% on the gta games, the mass effects, etc. 30% on all the dlc with that enormous customer base. Vs what, 70% of their Forza sales on Playsation?
I see their transition to 3rd party as a sad surrender, not some kind of more profitable 4D chess victory.
Re: Xbox Is Having 'Very Big Discussions' About Exclusivity, Says Reporter
Lol, no CoD or Forza WHILE WERE IN THE PIE IN THE SKY RUMOR PHASE.
What a total waste of everyone's time.
Hey, we might bring back exclusives - but just the games no one wants. Hifi Rush and South of Midnight type games will be Xbox exclusive again, but not Forza. Incredible how this company can be so incompetent.
Re: Xbox Boss Declares Game Pass Is 'Too Expensive' And Needs A 'Better Value Equation'
Man, I wish we had concrete numbers to see exactly how abysmally Xbox and Game Pass are doing. They bled out 3 million subscribers between 2022 and 2024, and things weren't even THAT bad at that point. I think under 30 million subs is easy money, and they could even be under 25 million at this point.
Re: Rumour: Fable Has Apparently Been Delayed Internally, But May Still Launch In 2026
The amount that GTA is disruptive to the industry is incredible. Rockstar truly stands alone.
Re: Forza Horizon 4 Is Still Packed With Players On Xbox, And It's Easing The Wait For Horizon 6
Loved both but I spent much more time in 5 than 4 so that's my measuring stick for which one I liked more.
I did miss launching into orbit at every roundabout in 4.
Re: Rumour: Microsoft Might Not Launch Call Of Duty 2026 On Xbox Game Pass
This would be wonderful if it undid the price hikes - but we all know it won't.
Re: Talking Point: Are You Happy With The New Updates Coming To Xbox Consoles So Far?
Nothing negative, but nothing has got me excited. Nothing that tells me Xbox isn't being sunset. How about an entirely new dashboard that doesn't focus on ads? We used to get those several times a generation. New color achievement pop-ups... These would be acceptable minor patch notes in between major updates like we used to get.
Re: 'The Series S Version Can't Be Readily Recommended' - Digital Foundry Reviews Crimson Desert On Xbox
The venn diagram of people who have Series S as their primary console and people who watch Digital Foundry is 2 circles that do not intersect at any point.
Re: Xbox Boss Reveals New 'Dedicated Team' Focusing On Fan Feedback
The sad fact is we're on borrowed time if we get anything but exclusives.
Re: 'What Do You Want Added?' - Xbox Engineer Requests Ideas For New Console Features
HDR dashboard guy is my Twitter spirit animal. I've been banging that damn drum since the beginning.
Re: Playground Games Reveals Forza Horizon 6 Map, Here's How Japan Looks In-Game
Can't wait to get sucked back into this game with my buddies.
Re: Xbox Achievements Are Getting A 'Refresh' With Multiple New Improvements
I was playing Towerborne with my daughter and when she got an achievement the notification was pink. Kinda neat but not an Xbox is saved" moment, lol.
Re: Preview: We've Played Forza Horizon 6, And It's Potentially The Best Entry To Date
D33pblu3ch3ssmast3r wrote:
Just making up a bunch of crap? FH5 has 3x-4x the players that FH4 has on Steam both currently and peak over the last 24 hours. FH5 is the 13th most played game on Xbox, FH4 nowhere to be found.
I can't tell if this is massively overconfident incompetence or just decent trolling, but either way it's unwelcome.
Re: Xbox Offers Free Rechargeable Batteries To Fans Affected By Recent Controller Shipping Issue
Rechargeable AAs for me, nothing beats Eneloop Pros.
Re: These 19 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (April 7-23)
Endless Legend was a very good game, actually all the endless games are. I was just playing Dungeon of the Endless the other day. Wish I had time for this one.
Re: Talking Point: Which Xbox Console Do You Think Has Aged The Best?
Original Xbox, not hamstring by planned obsolescence. However the disc drives are total a** and you'll probably need to replace the original.
Re: Remember Call Of The Sea? Its Sequel Is Launching On Xbox Game Pass This May
To answer the question in the title, no I do not remember call of the sea.
Re: Starfield's Huge Update Arrives On Xbox This Week, And Here Are The Release Times
@Indicus I really should check out the Mercs DLCs, I've heard they're great. I loved both of the Clans DLCs.
Re: 'I Brought It Back' - Xbox 360 Voice Messaging Recreated For New 'Xbox Chatting' Website
M2AF this reminds me of much better days
Re: Talking Point: How Many Consoles Have You Bought At Launch, And Were They Worth It?
I've been more of a PC gamer most of my life but of day 1 consoles I want to say every Sega console minus Saturn, Xbox, and Series X.
Re: Starfield's Huge Update Arrives On Xbox This Week, And Here Are The Release Times
Probably won't get to it due to a lack of time unless the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I enjoyed the base game, but not anything I'd ever return to (in that form).
Re: Three Xbox Games Are Shutting Down Their Servers In April 2026
Sounds like everyone who bought King of Meat is getting a refund. Imagine thinking that is cheaper than a simple end of life plan like releasing a dedicated server mode when the game shuts down. Ross Scott doing the Lord's work with the Stop Killing Games initiative. And things are picking up steam fast now, UFC-Que Choisir suing Ubisoft in France is terrific news.
Re: Xbox's State Of Decay 3 Finally Returns, Signups Now Live For Alpha Playtests
For the sake of their jobs I hope they knock it out of the park with this one.
Re: Opinion: XBLA Was Amazing, But Xbox's Indie Program Is Better Than Ever Right Now
XBLA had a real scrappy feel to it. It had a strong identity, as did Xbox Live in general. Xbox obviously still has indie games on it but there's no feel to it. It's just more games. The id@xbox brand is totally worthless imo. It's all so bland and corporate.
Re: Deals: All 140+ Backwards Compatible Games In The Xbox Spring Sale 2026
@Broosh @Kraven if you've had Xbox Gold for a long time double check that you don't already own them. Lords of the Shadow 1&2 and Mirror of Fate were on Games with Gold in 2019/2020.
Re: Deals: All 140+ Backwards Compatible Games In The Xbox Spring Sale 2026
@FraserG It's QTE hell decades ahead of that going big but it's worth it for the Don Bluth animation alone. You're going to see Dirk die a whole lot but every room has a new death animation so just think you'd be missing content if you sailed right through it
Re: Deals: All 140+ Backwards Compatible Games In The Xbox Spring Sale 2026
$4.99 for Dragon's Lair? I spent way more than that getting past the first screen in the arcade.
Re: Five Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass In Early April 2026
I played Ashen the first time it was on game pass. I'd recommend it as sort of a lighter, minimalist souls like.
Re: Ubisoft Teams With Xbox To Bring 'Heroes Of Might And Magic: Olden Era' To PC Game Pass
Huge fan of HOMM 2 and 3 and want to love this but the art style isn't doing it for me. I'll still give it a go just for the Paul Romero soundtrack. They also had John Van Caneghem consult which is awesome.
Re: Talking Point: How Many Random Peripherals For Xbox Games Do You Still Own?
Alright, who has the Steel Battalion setup?
Re: Xbox Spring Sale 2026 Now Live In Full, 1000+ Games Discounted
Grabbed Core Keeper, I also have been wanting to replay Battleblock Theater (which I played on PC many years ago) so I grabbed that too.
Very tempted to pick up the Wizardry remaster, the Telltale Expanse game, and Tainted Grail.
Can't believe Age of Wonders 4 expansion pass 2 still hasn't gone on sale.
Re: Xbox Has Already Given Forza Horizon 6 Access To A Few Lucky People
GeeEssEff wrote:
Same, and 🤣
I'm on the fence about the season pass, it was very worth it in the last 2 games, but man is it expensive this time around. Plus I have to convince my friends to buy it for it to be worth it which is going to be that much harder.
Re: 'Race To The Bottom Pricing' Isn't Advisable For Xbox Game Pass, Suggests BG3 Director
This dude is insufferable and honestly Swen isn't far behind him.
Re: Five Things We Want To See From Xbox's Gears Of War: E-Day Direct
Gears 5 has the best horde mode in the series (and that is saying a LOT), but it didn't start out that way. I hope this time we hit the ground running.
Re: Xbox Games Showcase Announced For June 2026, Featuring Gears Of War: E-Day Direct
@Fiendish-Beaver And I'm fine with that, it's the tone that matters. Besides, Baird and Cole already got their prequel.
Re: Xbox Games Showcase Announced For June 2026, Featuring Gears Of War: E-Day Direct
Tons of hours into horde mode in 4 and especially 5, my co-op group will no doubt get lost in this one for years once again. My hope is that the campaign is a return to form now that they're dropping the cast of "Gears: The Next Generation" and returning to the characters that made the series great. The big question is, can they match the original tone?
Re: Remember 2004's 'Ghostmaster' On The OG Xbox? It's Just Received A Remake For Series X|S
Never heard of it. When I saw the thumbnail I thought it was Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
Re: Talking Point: Xbox GPU Members, What Do You Think Of 'Ubisoft+ Classics' So Far?
The last good Ubisoft game I can remember was From Dust, and ironically I don't think that's even on here.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 28-29)
Too many games at once right now. FF7R, darkest dungeon 2, monster hunter wilds, and now I got the itch to replay Elden Ring and here I go again.
Re: Microsoft Issues Statement On Why 'This Is An Xbox' Campaign Has Been Retired
While I agree with her that this slogan didn't feel like Xbox, I am extremely skeptical that what she and I think "feels like Xbox" are even remotely close. Time will tell.
Re: Xbox Announces 14 Titles Coming To Game Pass At March's Partner Preview Showcase
WOW, great news for my wallet! I don't buy many games on day 1 but anything from Owlcat makes that list, very happy The Expanse will be on game pass and save me a few bucks. I'll definitely play the Bluey game with my daughter, and Frog Sqwad has Human Fall Flat vibes - I'll definitely check that out with my friends.
Re: Xbox Uses March 2026 Update To Highlight New M&K, Play Anywhere & Streamable Games
@Balaam_
It's a microsoft ergonomic mouse and a microsoft compact keyboard. I've used the mouse in the past and it's ok. I do use a microsoft sculpt keyboard which I love and highly recommend to anyone who wants a comfortable split keyboard without spending hundreds.
Re: It Was Asha Sharma's 'Direction' To Scrub 'This Is An Xbox' Marketing, Suggests Report
It was a bad slogan, but most of them have been bad since "Jump In" which itself wasn't that great. People use this slogan as a boogyman for the death of Xbox when it had little to do with it. Their death spiral had begun months earlier when they announced they were going 3rd party. No slogan at that point would have turned the tide, sentiment in the brand was already torched to ashes.