Polygon's Ben Kuchera just put up an interesting opinion piece pointing out that Microsoft's new Xbox One ads tacitly admit that the PS4 is winning — but promise that the Xbox team will fight back. The first ad uses a speech from 2006's Rocky Balboa, in which Rocky tries to pump up his son, and the second ad uses a Billy Bob Thornton speech from the Friday Night Lights film about trying your hardest. (The only thing missing is an exhortation to leave it all on the field.)
That's emblematic of a Microsoft that's trying hard to come back against the PS4's huge sales lead right now, says Kuchera:
Right now, Microsoft is doing everything it can. If there's a part of the system that's not working, it's gone. If there's a strategy that isn't paying off, they're losing it. Want the price to come down? Sure, here's a price drop. I can't remember the last time a company the size of Microsoft has pointed to a competitor and admitted that a rival product was doing a better job, before looking at themselves in the mirror and making a very public pledge to do better.
Of course, you could also just argue that these missteps were all due to Microsoft's insistence on trying to succeed in TV and the living room where everyone else has consistently failed, but then you'd just be saying I told you so.
And no one wants to do that.