Moore Dissects State Of The Xbox

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the C+VG article interviewing Peter Moore, Xbox VP and former Sega of America boss. This long, detailed, and intriguing interview covers a lot of interesting ground, such as Microsoft's online service versus Sony's ("Do they [Sony] have a service? Don't they just sell adaptors?"), the longer-term strategy of buying developers Rare ("If I thought by acquiring Rare we'd make all the money back in 12 months, that wouldn't be right"), and even a little more detail about why Microsoft aren't getting into portable gaming right now ("..we believe that the future is the social element of gaming, and that's going to be done through a console, not through a handheld gaming device.")

Comments

Wrong leadership?

[CashCarSTAR]

I think Microsoft in general is still far too biased to expect a revoultion.

Handheld gaming is not competition for the console market. I actually think that Nintendo is on the right track with the GBA, especially with the connectivity with the Cube. Not for playing games together, oh no.

Imagine a handheld system with a good flash memory, enough to capture a 16-bit game. Furthermore, imagine connectibility with a CD-based system, and the ability to download a game to the portable system. Not to mention, every company throwing an old game or two for downloadable play. Konomi offering the old Contra games, or maybe Laser Assault (remember that?) Maybe with the new TMNT game include one of the NES or SNES games. With Metal Gear Solid, include Metal Gear 1 and 2.

Furthermore, have the ability to copy over full multiplayer versions of games, to allow full multiplayer with one cart. Not a reduced version of the game, but a full multiplayer-only version.

Furthermore, I still contend that the purchase of Rare was a mistake. Rare is most certainly a great company...however, I wonder how much Microsoft is going to let Rare be Rare. Just a thought.

Fable and Halo 2 do not a system make. Of course, MS tends to want to put games like that silly volleyball game or Tao Feng on the same level. Whatever that means.

Re:Wrong leadership?

[Babbster]

Furthermore, I still contend that the purchase of Rare was a mistake. Rare is most certainly a great company...however, I wonder how much Microsoft is going to let Rare be Rare. Just a thought.

If you mean letting Rare be Rare by making good games, I'm sure that Microsoft is not only letting them but encouraging them to do so. If you mean letting them get the game just right instead of rushing, I'd suggest taking a look at other MS development teams and recent history - Crimson Skies was allowed to slip in order to make the game better (Xbox Live style) and they let Halo 2 slip into next year when Bungie indicated they didn't feel comfortable getting the game they want to make out by Christmas. To put it simply, there's no evidence that Microsoft has pressured anyone to rush out an inferior product (some maintain that Halo was rushed but I don't believe that was an inferior product) since they learned their lesson with Unreal Championship - while Microsoft has published some inferior games (Tao Feng for example) I don't think rushing was involved.

Fable and Halo 2 do not a system make. Of course, MS tends to want to put games like that silly volleyball game or Tao Feng on the same level. Whatever that means.

There's nothing wrong with a console manufacturer being an advocate for any and all games available for their system. It's the responsibility of players and game reviewers to separate the wheat from the chaff. The console manufacturers don't care what games their players buy except in terms of making exclusivity deals and deciding what to develop in-house - and that's as it should be.

Iraqi Information Minister?

[gmhowell]

I thought the Iraqi Information Minister was working for SCO, not MS. This interview was such a puff piece. Gimme a break. Let me bitch about a few things specifically.

First, the guy claims to have almost no knowledge of what Sony is up to, and seems nearly proud of that fact! For shit's sake, that's your number one competitor. You think the head of GM doesn't know EXACTLY what Ford is up to? He's either lying (Iraqi Information Minister) or incompetent.

He claims that MS has 'knocked Sony on its feet'. Uhh... How? You're number two in the US, number three in the world. From what I've read/heard, the only reason so many people bought the Live! thing from MS is that it's just about the only reason (other than Halo) to have the damned thing. One peripheral doesn't make up for a lack of decent games (relatively speaking). Then he speaks of vendor lockin (go through MS's service or piss off) like it's a good thing.

We're just fine without EA sucking our dick. Yeah. Right.

We're in a five year or longer development cycle. Hoo, boy, I hope for your sake that you won't be taking much longer than five years for your next console. It's clear from pricing and talking, especially by Sony, that the next consoles are clearly in the works.

Karaoke is going to be a huge thing. Even thought I just heard on NPR last Friday (on morning edition if you are curious) that that business is hurting. Hard.

He says the company never backs down. Yeah, why can't I get MS Bob XP?

"I have bigger fish to fry [than Sony's PSP]" Yeah. Sure you do.

I'm not saying things are 100% in the shitter for the Xbox. Far from it. But things are not as rosy as this guy presents. The interviewer was about as tough as Barbara Walters.

Re:social element

[Recoil_42]

one word: LANparty.