Microsoft Talks Handhelds, Xbox Linux

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Canada.com interview with Xbox head honcho Robbie Bach, which shoots him some wide-ranging and perceptive questions about Microsoft's console strategy. Interesting answers include whether Microsoft wants to get into the handheld console market ("It's like starting a new business...we will focus on making the current Xbox successful."), and their views of Linux for Xbox ("..the numbers are not really that big. It's not a commercial as much as it is an intellectual property issue and we always pursue those.")

Comments

Re:Your Rights Vs. Microsoft's

[wfrp01]

Wow, that's beautiful.

As a citizen of the United States of America, we can expect to have certain rights. As employees/customers of an American corporation, we can expect diddley. And according to Microsoft, that's just the way it should be. The guy at least deserves credit for being forthright about where things stand.

It's not just Microsoft, though. We live in a democracy. We have a free market. Nonetheless, corporations whose modus operandi resembles that of a feudal fiefdom by and large dominate our working lives. And when we leave work, we owe them our allegiance as 'customers'.

But who cares? We all have bread on the table. A glass of wine. A Tivo. A comfortable chair.

Society today is as hierarchical, class-based, and inequitable as ever. Perhaps more so. The only reason people aren't storming the castles with pitchforks is that they're too busy watching TV. That's the scary part. Seems to me that things are just getting worse and worse, but nobody cares. Why should they?

The reason why, of course, is that they deserve better. And if wealth was distributed more equitably, they would have better. But people are just too damn content to agitate for change.

So Bill Gates will continue to bitch-slap mod-chippers, all the while crying about his constitutional 'right' to do what he wants. Asshole.

Expanding the console market...

[Blondie-Wan]

Pulling back from M$ and the X-Box for a moment to look at the broader gaming world...

From the article (emphasis in bold added):

Q. Who else do you want to sell the Xbox to?
A. What we haven't done as successfully is reach out into the broader market place. We just announced the Xbox Music Mixer with interesting non-gaming features, something that a variety of different audiences, like women, might want to engage in. Or getting text messages on your cell phone on your virtual league?s standings.

Q. What fires Bill up about the Xbox?
A. He looks at the whole concept and says how do we bring console gaming into the mass market. How do you enable the 90 per cent of women who don't play games, want to play? How do you make it easy enough in our generation can pick up a game console and have a great entertaining experience?
Q. Do you play?
A. Mostly with my 12 year old son.

I find it interesting that even someone in the industry, who obviously has an interest in drawing women to the hobby, himself admits he mostly plays with his 12-year-old son. I wonder if he's tried "selling" the women in his own personal life on it? Does his wife play? His mom? His sisters, or women friends?? (Granted, as he's in the industry, it's likely a lot of his friends, including women, are also in the industry, but aside from that...)

I frequently see articles on modern gaming demographics that say more women are playing video games than is generally thought, though the numbers seem to vary. Is this really the case? If so, why are so many of the games obviously targetted toward 12-year-old boys (or older males, who arguably have largely the same interests)?