Microsoft exec on Xbox One: No Internet? Get an Xbox 360
Amid the hoopla over the new One, an Xbox executive reminds people without Internet connectivity that the venerable 360 is still available.
Bummed out because the Xbox One requires an Internet connection? Microsoft has some advice for you: stick with an Xbox 360.
In an interview with Spike TV at the E3 show Tuesday, Xbox executive Don Mattrick responded to the complaints about the Xbox One's demand for an Internet connection. Mattrick described the $499 Xbox One, coming in November, as "a future-proof choice," saying that a console designed to be used online offers certain advantages, such as the ability to link games and entertainment.
And for those people without Internet access?
"Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity," Mattrick said. "It's called Xbox 360."
The interviewer then chimed in, saying "So stick with 360, that's your message...?" To which Mattrick responded, "Well, if you have zero access to the Internet, that [360] is an offline device." Citing one unusual example, the Xbox exec said he read a blog comment from someone who serves on a nuclear sub.
"I don't even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub," Mattrick said. "But I've got to imagine that it's not easy to get an Internet connection."
Mattrick makes a valid point here. Sometimes you have to sacrifice backward compatibility to stretch the envelope with new products. And it's not as if the Xbox 360 is going away. Microsoft has promised to continue to invest in its current console. On Tuesday, the company even launched a new Xbox 360 with a design mimicking that of the Xbox One.