HEAD BLOG

Microsoft seem unable to commit

Now you see it, now you don’t. Microsoft released their new branding device and company tagline yesterday.

And then withdrew it.

It drew the usual polarised opinions on Twitter and then, just a few hours later, was taken down. The tagline was for real but the logos, which showed the Microsoft product family, were not, in fact, new logos. Rather, they were an example of “a standalone treatment to show the flexibility of joined brands” (Engadget).

The opinions, the polarisation, the hate, all of these are de rigeur for any new brand these days. When opinions (such as mine) can be released and propagated within seconds, it’s inevitable. What’s interesting, to me at least, is that Microsoft chose to withdraw them.

Brand design is such a personal art. You either love the logo or you don’t really care. Even the haters will continue as usual once their bile has sunk back again.

So why would Microsoft back down?

When it comes to creating logos to reflect brands, many companies, large or small, want to please everybody. They want something that (as Steve Jobs once proposed) becomes a jewel. Everybody loves jewels. They sparkle, attract our attention and are worth a fortune.

What’s more, we love them instantly.

Open the box and what do you see? That’s right, treasure. And desire plays out upon our faces. It’s the reaction beloved of companies.

When that reaction is lessened, for whatever reason, a company can be thrown into turmoil. They sense a lack of love and fear that will reflect upon their business.

It’s easy to see why Microsoft would do the same.

With Apple being the… ummm… being so well loved by consumers, Microsoft feel threatened. Witness the constant faltering and self doubt over many of their product launches lately. They get buzz but then lose it through the self doubt and inaction. Apple announce a product and then release it. Apple love themselves, Microsoft don’t.

They need to realise that many people are happy with what they produce. It might not be passionate, it might not be vocal.

But they show commitment nonetheless. They should understand that self doubt is infecting their brand more than any perceived criticism.

A little self-love would inspire far more confidence than the efforts of analysts and graphic designers.

Microsoft kicked off the first big conference of E3 this year. It held the attention of the audiences with previews of upcoming game releases such as Gears of War 3 and Halo Reach and announced and all new slimline Xbox 360 but it was the Hands-Free Kinect presentation that was really the focus of the show.

Originally named Project Natal, Kinect is an upcoming motion control peripheral that requires no controller. It tracks your body movements allowing you to interact with games directly and was touted as being able to do a lot more than the Wii. Basically, Microsoft is jumping on the motion control train (and Sony seems to be following suit with Move) in order to grab a slice of the Nintendo pie. It makes sense, of course. Nintendo have shown that there is a lot of money to be made in the casual gaming market and any business would have to be very myopic to turn a blind eye to that.  Microsoft want in. They want some of those brand new casual gamers playing on their console and in order to do that they’ve come up with Kinect. I don’t think it’s going to work out.

It should be remembered that when Nintendo started marketing the Wii they moved into a blue ocean of opportunity where there was no competition. Whilst Microsoft and Sony were focusing on the more hardcore gaming crowd with the 360 and the PS3, Nintendo struck out to attract a brand new audience who had perhaps never been interested in gaming before. It resulted in the Wii selling millions. It also resulted in a lot of gamers who prefer a larger amount of depth and complexity in their games buying a 360 or PS3 instead of a Wii. If Microsoft want to sell to the more causal crowd they will be mostly be competing with Nintendo for customers rather than attracting brand new ones. They will have to convince them that Kinect is worth spending money on; which could end up being pretty expensive if the customer doesn’t already own a 360. They will probably have to convince them that they need Kinect even though it is probable they already own a Wii. Most importantly of all, they are going to have to convince them that the Kinect can provide a different sort of entertainment than the Wii.

Ingenuity. That’s what helped bring so much of the Wii’s success. Unfortunately, it seems to be lacking on Kinect. For every popular Nintendo title then Kinect has an answer. If you enjoy playing Mario Kart, why not have a go on Joyride? If you like using Wii Fit for exercise then give Your Shape a try! And it goes on – the answer to Just Dance is Dance Central, to Wii Sports is Kinect Sports, to Wii Sports Resort is Kinect Adventures. They’ve even got a giant tiger/kitten pet simulator called Kinectimals which is very, very reminiscent of Nintendogs. Nintendogs was released in 2005. Have there really been no original ideas since then? Do Microsoft believe that the controller free technology on Kinect is enough to push these games onto customers who are likely to already own similar games? Maybe they do and maybe they are right. Maybe they plan to make games in the future that really push the limits of motion control with new and interesting ideas. At the moment, I wouldn’t bet any money on it.

There is only one sure-fire way to create new gaming audiences and to put consoles in the hands of people who may not have wanted one previously – innovation. An audience normally doesn’t know what it wants until you invent it and tell them so – something Nintendo did very well with the Wii. To be fair, innovation is hard to do and it is easier to try and jump on a bandwagon for an audience that has already been proven to exist. Kinect is playing it safe by chasing Ninentdo’s casual gamer but it is unlikely to reap the grand rewards that Microsoft is hoping for.

Have Microsoft allowed too much time to pass between announcing Natal/Kinect and its release? From all the chatter at E3 it seems the veneer has worn thin and people have already moved on to the next big thing.

It’s been a few years since anyone at Head First attended E3. We tried it for a while, went along with the belief that decisions and impressions were made in equal quantity and that we would break into the States with our creative vision for how video games ought to be marketed.

The truth, however, is that E3 is a show for the public. It is designed to impress the journalists who then trumpet the products they fall for. It really is an amazing event for bringing the spectacle of gaming to the attention of the world.

Last year, that spectacle revolved mainly around Natal, a new take on technology championed by Nintendo through their groundbreaking Wii system. Natal, by Microsoft, blew everything else out of the water by appearing larger than life and selling itself on a dream.

It was a dream that managed to make Nintendo look as though they were just mumbling in their sleep. Here was the true vision of motion control, the future in vivid technicolor.

Microsoft had done what few people credit it capable of doing, they’d pulled an Apple out of the air.

Move on a year and much of the talk about Natal centres around the renaming to ‘Kinect’ an ugly portmanteau to many; and around fake families showing off the technology in demos that many commentators are labelling as disappointing. The buzz, hype and excitement of a year ago has been replaced by reality.

Practical limitations for gaming have been raised over this past year and the answers don’t sit well with the hardcore. Sony, touting their own motion controller now neatly called ‘Move’ are on full assault, pointing out that games need buttons and who wants to be seen playing with invisible guns like a five year old.

It’s clever marketing on Sony’s part who were seen as the poor cousins only last year with technology totally lacking in ‘wow’.

But timing really is everything and now the playing field seems a whole lot more level.

If Microsoft had announced, wowed and released within months rather than a year and a half then maybe they could have carried us along just as Apple seem to with each of their visionary but crippled devices.

That, however, isn’t the case and we’ve had a year to consider what we want (if anything) from motion controllers and are in a position to make calm, informed decisions. That means the money men must also address the economics of these devices, counting them against percentages of current ownership rather than, as once hoped, driving hard core consoles into the Wii owning public where fake families have been happily jumping up and down, waving their primitive sticks in the air, for years.

It’s coming soon and the way Microsoft seem to be promoting it, you’d be fooled into thinking this is an upgrade to Nintendo’s groundbreaking Wii. All the elements pioneered by Nintendo are there. The sofa, the smiling family playing nicely together, the bright lights, the large living room – everything has been designed to make you reach for your Wii-mote. Even the style of gaming is less of the hardcore action normally associated with Microsoft and more of the Grandparent/Kid friendly barnstorming Nintendo throw out.

It makes you think that all those Wii owners (and would-be Wii owners) will soon be upgrading on the promise of a controller free, gaming heaven.

I’m not so sure.

I think Nintendo is more than just a company producing games consoles. It is an approach and its philosophy goes beyond the sofa. When a non-gamer (or casual gamer as we all call them these days) sees a Wii they see simplicity. The Wii box is elegant but it’s unobtrusive. It’s something they can identify with because, unlike the Xbox 360, it doesn’t look challenging. I love the Xbox, it’s a great machine. But as someone with decreasing amounts of time to spend playing games it does throw up barriers to entry. An XBox game, by and large, has to be deeper and more satisfying than (say) Carnival Games on the Wii (great game by the way).

It may just be down to perception but the casual gamer doesn’t see the Xbox as a quick time filler. It’s an investment in time and energy. That’s not a bad thing of course. Millions of gamers wouldn’t want it any other way. Wii is just a different beast.

Flying in the face of convergence, a games console seems to be more than just the software it offers. Of course Carnival Games would work on Natal. It would work on most platforms. But delivering the right experience to the right audience is more than just a software issue. It’s a perception issue also and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft become grandparent friendly without alienating the more hardcore gamers out there.

An eye on the future

Natal is exciting.

I was excited when the Wii was announced (and remain so to this day) but Natal is something else entirely. A hands-free approach to gaming which can change everything.

At Head First, where we strive to find what is exciting about any product, that’s something to sit up and pay attention to.

What’s more exciting, however, is how Microsoft are beginning to crank up the interest in it.

On Wednesday, Sony issued a press release to inform the world that their version of the Wii motion sensor was delayed. For those of you who aren’t glued to video games, Sony are entering the same market as Nintendo Wii motion and Microsoft’s Natal system. Their answer, announced last year will arrive in the form of a wand device which would be tracked by cameras similar to those on the Nintendo Wii.

On its own that would have been impressive.

But then Microsoft blew everyone out of the water with Natal. If that were me, I’d have taken my wand home and sulked for a while, muttering about not being understood.

To their credit, Sony haven’t done that and without getting a hands-on experience I can’t tell whether it won’t be even more successful than Natal. I certainly hope it competes because I love what Sony does.

So what’s exciting about Microsoft’s approach?

Apart from the technology, which sounds amazing, it comes down to Wednesday and Sony’s press release.

Microsoft took their time, all of a handful of hours, and responded with a bold claim about Natal.

It was, they said, “fraught with risk“.

This is a great thing to say. Put yourself in a movie for a minute and listen to the dialogue when two heroes are faced with an almost impossible situation. They think of a plan. “It’s risky, ” they say, “but it might just work”.

That’s what Microsoft have effectively done. Showing great confidence in their product by making claims to the contrary.

It sounds like they aren’t going in quiet on this one.

Followers of The Guardian’s Games Blog will have picked up on its coverage of E3 – a vital event in the gaming year. Microsoft have surprised all (coming after having the wind taken out of their Bing sails slightly by Google Wave) with Project Natal. Certainly whilst I was raving about Wave, everyone else in the office  – being more serious gamers than I – were clucking about Natal. Read more…