Eurogamer, the site who claim to be the most popular multi-format computer games site in the UK, have criticized Microsoft’s 360 plans, saying they were lacking, and labeling most of the was said at the Xbox press conference last night as rubbish.
Their article ‘Xbox 360 fails to convince in LA’ goes into territory most games journalists and publications – even professionals – would never dare to venture into, in what is seen as a heavily PR-controlled media sector.
In at least some hardcore gaming circles in Ireland and the UK, Eurogamer are highly respected and trusted, their sister business orientated site GamesIndustry.biz have similar respect within the games industry worldwide.
The article mainly centers on Microsoft comments such as "gateway to gaming Zen", and "beyond real", and tries to knock MS’s plans to hugely expand the Xbox’s users base. Eurogamer’s stance to a growing trying-to-be-cool image coming from the Xbox team isn’t that different from the reaction of gamers to the 360’s MTV launch program, as evident on this thread on boards.ie.
The artical prompted a writer for an Xbox-only website to state on a online industry forum that it was the “most bias, and unprofessional article I have ever read on a site” of such a size, saying that “It’s unbelievable... and that’s not from an Xbox site perspective, that’s just plain down shoddy and unprofessional journalism”.
Meanwhile, GamesIndustry.biz’s approach to the same issue is quite simply ‘Xbox 360 is outgunned and outclassed by Sony's PS3’, with Rob Fahey, the editor of the site, saying “I don't want to beat on Microsoft too hard, because ultimately there are still quite a few Xbox 360 games I'm looking forward to; but it's hard not to feel that suddenly, Microsoft's hip lingo and celebrity endorsements seem to ring very hollow…. but Sony seemed to feel that its new console spoke for itself. It didn't need celebrity endorsements, or senior executives trying to be "down with the kids" - thank god..”
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