Xbox One: five ways Microsoft can rescue the console

The starting gun on the next generation console race hasn't fired – with apologies to Wii U – and yet with a scant few months to go Microsoft finds itself playing catch-up. The Xbox One, successor to the much-loved Xbox 360, had a disastrous E3 showing that was followed by a series of reverse ferrets. So many in fact that, excepting the machine's dimensions, Xbox One now bears very little relation to the Xbox One revealed a few months ago.

Microsoft's Xbox division has been deeply harmed by this, because with hindsight the original Xbox One looks like an anti-consumer land-grab that went badly wrong. The stringent digital rights management (DRM), for example, was a licence-based approach designed to throttle second-hand trading – but also made it impossible to loan games to friends unless you registered them. This has been removed.

The always-online requirement, which meant the console wouldn't operate without checking in with Microsoft every 24 hours, has been removed. The restriction on developers self-publishing their titles has been removed. The Kinect camera was required for Xbox One to function, we were told, and now it isn't. Hell, Microsoft even backtracked on the headset; now generously included with your £429 Xbox One.

In the future, Xbox One will be used as a lesson in marketing courses – the epitome of what not to do when launching high-tech hardware. Microsoft has one more opportunity to sell the idea of Xbox One before its release, which comes on Tuesday 20 August at its Gamescom showcase. The last 20-odd months for Xbox One have been an ambiguous muddle, and this is the last chance to deliver a clear and simple message before launch; to convince us that the PS4 isn't the obvious choice. Here's the five things Microsoft needs to do to give Xbox One a fighting chance.

1. Honesty is the best policy

Just as harmful as the actual backtracking over Xbox One is the perception it has left of Microsoft's executive team – they told a lot of porkies about the machine's architecture when trying to justify the original functionality. These range from minor conflations of the truth, such as the claim Xbox Live's cloud processing would use 300,000 dedicated servers (just think about it), to obfuscation over issues like DRM and always-online. Then there are outright whoppers like "Xbox One and Kinect are one and the same." Turns out they weren't.

So it's time for some straight-talking: because after all, these people are trying to convince you to part with a lot of money. One advantage for Gamescom is that Don Mattrick, who led the original reveal of Xbox One, has since left Microsoft and so the event offers something of a fresh start. But major execs like Phil Spencer and Phil Harrison are now in the unenviable position of trying to convince people that everything they're saying this time is true. The combination of ambiguity, question-dodging and hedging on display in Microsoft's E3 interviews needs to go. A little more humility, and a lot more honesty, would go a long way.

2. Kinect – use it or lose it

Few outside of Microsoft are convinced by Kinect and, by forcing consumers to pay for one as part of an Xbox One purchase, it's past time the case was made. So far we have been told that Kinect 2.0 improves on the original in every way conceivable (not hard), but the crucial point is that Kinect was oversold and under-supported. The idea of Kinect is brilliant; the reality is bitterly disappointing.

If every Xbox One owner is going to have a Kinect, then it's time for Microsoft to show why you should want one – because playing the same old Minority Report montage is really old. No one cares about changing TV channels by waving their hands – this is a peripheral that needs a range of good games and showcases, but instead has Kinect Sports Rivals, aka the sequel no one wanted. At the moment Kinect feels like Xbox One's most acute problem, because it's a major cost factor, and at Gamescom, Microsoft will need to …

3. Justify the price

Sony has attacked Xbox One directly with PS4 – Jack Tretton had the smile of a man knocking in open goal after open goal at E3 – and one of the most important distinctions from that press conference still remains. A PS4 costs £350, and an Xbox One costs £430.

Putting the daft arguments about which console is 'better' to one side, the fact that should terrify Microsoft is gamers face a choice between two machines that will, let's be honest here, largely be used for the same things. And so far, there's no convincing explanation for why Xbox One represents an extra £80 of value. Kinect? Not yet, maybe not ever. The controller? It's a bit nicer than the Dualshock 4, but not £80 nicer. Xbox One feels overpriced next to the PS4, and Microsoft has to engage with that and come up with some strong justifications – because pretending Xbox One exists in a vacuum isn't convincing anyone.

4. Declare Independent's Day

In the current generation, no platform holder supported indie development like Microsoft did – with Xbox Live Indie Games, the 360 was the first modern console to offer a feasible route into the home. Xbox One, following a few climbdowns of course, now makes things even better for indie devs – but you wouldn't know.

Every Xbox One console can become a development kit, with the appropriate software. This is gigantic. PS4 devkits allegedly cost $2,500 (£1,600), though Sony is "handing them out like candy."

But sweet intentions simply cannot compete with an off-the-shelf console, and Microsoft has so far been rather evasive and muted about this amazing feature – as well as the specific indie devs they're wooing. Gamescom is a chance to clarify the self-publishing model and, more to the point, give us a little glimpse of the variety and vitality indie devs will bring to the console.

5. It's a games console, stupid

I don't give a toss about having a 'media centre' in my living room, and if there's one thing Xbox One lacks that's more worrying than all the above, it's a truly exciting 'next-generation' title.

Microsoft have boasted of 15 exclusive games for the launch year, but that's first of all another little lie: what this means in several cases is either a short period of exclusivity or simply an Xbox One version (e.g. Minecraft). And these titles include the likes of World of Tanks, Zoo Tycoon, Fable Anniversary, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3 – games that we've either played already, or series we know well.

It's not all familiar though. Capybara Games are a first-rate studio and its ambient rogue-like Below could be incredible. This sits alongside unknown quantities like Sunset Overdrive, Project Spark, Crimson Dragon, and D4, with the likes of Ryse bringing up the rear.

But Xbox One needs a monster – and not just another Halo or Gears of War. It needs something inspiring, the kind of title that looks and feels truly next generation rather than the same old stuff with a lick of paint. Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer has teased a "unique exclusive" for Gamescom, and the Xbox One needs a system seller – so bring it on. Show us that the backtracking and confusion and anti-consumer policies are a thing of the past, and that Xbox One can still light up gaming's future.