04.11.10
Microsoft is Accused of Lying Again, About Xbox
Deceiver at the Internet Movie Database
Summary: Heavy Rain director alleges that Microsoft is faking videos to accentuate perceived merits of its products; Xbox 360 is falling behind
Microsoft lies a lot. It probably would not even deny this. Several months ago, the chair of Denmark’s standards committee said that Microsoft “is lying” and last week we showed that Microsoft is lying about battery issues in Vista 7.
Today’s example is a little more subtle. Here are many reports about it:
1. David Cage: Microsoft Lied About Project Natal
Heavy Rain developer Quantric Dream said that Microsoft lied about Project Natal in its E3 2009 promotional video.
There were similar lies about DirectX 10 (sample pictures comparing it to DirectX 9), intended to sell Windows Vista. But on we move:
2. Did Microsoft Fake Natal Demo?
Cage adds that “I thought it was a little bit lying to present it that way, because it will let (consumers) think that they will (be able to get) something that they are not really close to getting.”
3. Heavy Rain Dev Says Microsoft Lying about Natal
4. ‘Heavy Rain’s’ Cage doubts Natal demo
5. Cage: Microsoft Lied About NATAL
6. David Cage: Microsoft Falsely Represented Natal’s Capabilities
7. David Cage ‘frustrated’ by Microsoft’s ‘sci-fi’ Natal presentation
8. Heavy Rain director: Microsoft lied in E3 Natal Video
9. Microsoft lied in E3 Natal video, says Heavy Rain boss
Heavy Rain director David Cage has claimed that Microsoft ‘lied a bit’ in its presentation video to show off Project Natal at E3 last year.
Well, it lies a lot, not “a bit”. Many small lies makes Microsoft a big Pinocchio, but there are also Big Lies.
“Microsoft even fired an employee who said the truth.”How about Microsoft’s lies regarding the error rates of Xbox 360? Microsoft even fired an employee who said the truth.
According to another couple of new reports [1, 2], Microsoft chose cheap components for Natal — a decision that could potentially lead to massive hardware problems that have already cost Microsoft billions of dollars and harmed the image of the product/brand.
Why does the Western (especially English-speaking) press give so much coverage to Xbox anyway? Because it’s the only major console that’s not Japanese? The BBC may be promoting Microsoft’s Natal [1, 2], but that’s just because it’s the BBC. Having taken so many employees from Microsoft UK, this should not be very surprising.
“Microsoft Is Letting The Lead Slip Away” says the headline of this new article.
Now currently in 2010 Microsoft is looking like the underdog and may actually be in serious trouble going into this years holiday season if certain changes aren’t made to compete against the new Sony Playstation Team.
Speaking of the Sony Playstation, some people may have noticed that Sony’s exclusion of “other OS” has led to a hack that might enable GNU/Linux installation (with full privileges) on the Slim, not just the old model. Sony’s attempt to suppress use of hardware that people are buying has only made things worse, as expected. █
“The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.”
–George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)
