Xbox 2 To Be Unveiled on MTV May 12

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft confirmed this morning that the Xbox 2 will be revealed on live TV on May 12. MTV will air a half-hour long special to launch the system. 'It doesn't make sense to unveil the product behind a closed door, at a trade-only event,' according to Microsoft corporate VP Peter Moore. 'We wanted to talk directly to the consumer first.'" More coverage available on GamesIndustry.biz and Press the Buttons.

Comments

Music? Television

[Anonymous Coward]

Just as MTV revolutionized the way the world experiences music

Wait, wait... Let me get this straight, there is MUSIC on MTV!? This must be like MTV Europe or something...

Re:Music? Television

[jcuffe]

I think they had something like that a few years ago. Then I think they cut everything out except the 30-second snatches of "music" on TRL.

The thing that makes me sad is that MS views people that watch MTV as their target audience. I don't even want people that ingest that filth sharing any sort of demographic with me.

Re:Music? Television

[ackthpt]

Just as MTV revolutionized the way the world experiences music

Wait, wait... Let me get this straight, there is MUSIC on MTV!? This must be like MTV Europe or something...

I heard a rumor that they were going to rename it Hip-Hop and Dumb Hotel Heiress Network.

I used to do my Econ homework with MTV on, now I can't stand the stuff (MTV, not Econ.)

Re:Music? Television

[panaceaa]

Silly rabbit, the M stands for Microsoft.

Re:Music? Television

[Amoeba]

Empty-V: The Shiny Things Network

Re:Music? Television

[zardo]

The only show on MTV that draws my attention is cribs, and then after a while I find myself cursing at the tv, cursing god and cursing my mass produced crap hole of a house. Why can't I come home to Jessica Simpson sun bathing in the pristine pool in our backyard? Bad for the soul I tell you.

Re:Music? Television

[Mr.Dippy]

I really do miss the days when video games were considered underground and for hardcore nerds. I do take offensense that the current video game industry sees me as an ADD High school cheer leader who can't get enough music industry dribble contained in shiney package presented by Paris Hilton. Everytime I watch MTV my head hurts from the constant camera shifting and bright lights they use in every shot. I know it's probably really extremem but I'm going to pass up on Xbox 2. I'm not crazy about playing games online and I'm not crazy about the way this product is being marketed to me. Please, for the love of God, won't somebody bring back the Sega Genesis/Dreamcast and let people who actually enjoy playing innovative games do just that.

Re:Music? Television

[northcat]

Actually it *is* their audience. You might think that all gamers are intelligent beings who like games that mentally stimulate them, but mainstream gamers, just like mainstream-anything, are just mindless mtv-watching zombies who play anything that the media feeds them and play a new version of an American football game every year.

Re:Music? Television

[Fig, formerly A.C.]

"Good thing"?

Elijah Wood will present the half-hour segment that'll be jam packed with celebs gushing over the console,

Yeah, cause Frodo was an avid gamer in the movies. :P

Seriously, celebs know dick about politics, economics, or video games. I don't think someone with an artsy-fartsy theater background or "duh captain of duh team" is qualified to review a game system or games.

I'm taking all bets

[Shkuey]

3 to 1 it gets a BSOD while on live TV.

Re:I'm taking all bets

[macrom]

I'll just take that money from you now because we all know the Xbox gets a GSOD

Re:I'm taking all bets

[NanoGator]

"3 to 1 it gets a BSOD while on live TV."

Tee hee giggle snort. If it's funny 300 times, it's sure to be funny 301 times!

Frankly, I'll take a crash on Live TV over blatant lying about how many millions of polygons can be rendered per second. *Glares accusingly in Sony's direction.*

Re:I'm taking all bets

[NanoGator]

"And you look like a fucking moron to the console world after the lies the dumbfucks at MS told about how many millions of polygons the piece of shit xbox could pump out."

Bullshit. Show me where Microsoft claimed 66 million polygons a second.

"Keep your dimwitted mouth shut you pussy. Got that dweeb?"

Translation: I love Sony so don't be digging up dirt on them!

Re:I'm taking all bets

[NanoGator]

"Why would MS have to make the specific claim that the Xbox could do 66 million polygons per second in order to back up the foul-mouthed poster's case?"

That was more of a poke at Sony than it was a literal challenge. I'm not saying it never happened, but I don't recall MS claiming the XBOX was 6 times more powerful than it really was.

PSP

[Yeldarb-7]

The PSP "Launch Party" was a flop. Why shouldn't this be also?

Re:PSP

[matth1jd]

I knew alot more about the PSP when they had the launch party for that. What it looked like, how much it was going to cost etc.

Microsoft has been keeping pretty tight wraps on the details. People will probably watch this to just see what the thing is all about.

/Just saying

Re:PSP

[Foolomon]

Because Microsoft has a bug in Excel such that the spreadsheet that calculates the Neilson numbers will make it look like a success.

Re:PSP

[uujjj]

There was a PSP launch party?

Accessibility?

[ackthpt]

'It doesn't make sense to unveil the product behind a closed door, at a trade-only event,' according to Microsoft corporate VP Peter Moore. 'We wanted to talk directly to the consumer first.'"

So they put it on a Pay-TV channel? Ok, maybe I'm the last person in the USA without cable. I'll just have to wait for the regular network commercials to tell me how cool this thing is that I don't really need, but will feel strangely compelled to buy anyway.

The Rationale: "We'll introduce it on MTV because it worked for Bill Clinton."

Things to look forward to:

• Blue Music Video of Death
• Some unknown girl/guy in the special will eventually rise to stardom for no apparent reason than they look good and/or can dance and sing
• Days^H^H^H^HHours after the first XBox 2 hits a store shelf before Linux is up and running on one
• First worm to hit XBoxes, which will be virtually impossible to remove due to the closed nature ot the system

Remember when MTV was only about Music Videos?

Re:Accessibility?

[Politburo]

Things to look forward to:
Blue Music Video of Death
Some unknown girl/guy in the special will eventually rise to stardom for no apparent reason than they look good and/or can dance and sing
Days[You're a tool]Hours after the first XBox 2 hits a store shelf before Linux is up and running on one
First worm to hit XBoxes, which will be virtually impossible to remove due to the closed nature ot the system

Yeah.. cause all of those things happened with the first XBox.. ::rolls eyes::

Re:Accessibility?

[wankledot]

The intersection of people without cable, and people buying a new Xbox2 is pretty close to 0.

Re:Accessibility?

[gmikej]

Remember when MTV was only about Music Videos?

Nope, I started watching MTV during it's second year on the air. Totally missed MTV when its' focus was on Music.

PS: I stopped watching it over 10 years ago now.

Re:Accessibility?

[jcuffe]

Actually, the way that the XBox (and the PSP for that matter) was priced, Microsoft lost money on every unit sold, because their business model banked on making up the lost profits through LIVE subscriptions. This is why the community that was working on hacking the XBox got so many friendly letters in the mail, and it's also why Sony isn't planning on opening up the UMD format - they are relying on post-console purchase sales to make the profit. Selling the unit alone is not enough.

Re:Accessibility?

[BewireNomali]

exactly. marketing 101 ... you market to those who aren't buying your products. the average x-box gamer is 30 or something, and probably isn't watching mtv.

no need to market to you all, cause you already know what you want and why you want it. gotta get the impressionable ones.

it's crazy cause you all gripe about this lack of attention, but you should be honored a bit that the company respects your own ability to choose discretely... so they're not trying to subliminally cram it down your throat. instead you complain...

you just can't win.

Own hardware

[Virtual Karma]

with xbox2 MS might be venturing into hardware. Read this:

Recent news stories report that Microsoft may design their own chips for the Xbox 2 design. This means that the manufacturers of the current Xbox console may be out of the picture. For the Xbox 1, NVidia had won the bid to supply the graphics chips for the Xbox, and Intel won the bidding war against the CPU manufacturer AMD.

source: here

Re:Own hardware

[smackjer]

Xbox 2 is using IBM PowerPC technology for the CPU(s?) and ATI for video.

Re:Own hardware

[UnknowingFool]

Recent news stories report that Microsoft may design their own chips for the Xbox 2 design. This means that the manufacturers of the current Xbox console may be out of the picture.

I think you mean "spec" instead of "design". Chip design is not something that is within the realm of MS' ability. Sure they have bazillion dollars and can throw a lot of money at a problem, but designing chips takes talent and vast amounts of people that MS doesn't have and can't hire in time.

The last I heard, IBM was designing and manufacturing PowerPC chips for the Xbox2. In this way, the supplier - vendor relationship is no different than the Xbox. However, this time, the machine won't just be a modified PC with a modified Intel x86 processor. MS can be more specific about what the chip can do. In this way, IBM's relationship with MS is like Apple's relationship with IBM. Both companies tell IBM what they need the chip to do. IBM handles the details like where the memory and controller goes on the die, how the chip handles branching, etc.

Also ATI will make the graphics chips for the Xbox2. This was somewhat foreseable after the MS-nVidia relationship soured. But because ATI now supplies the GPU, there has been speculation that the Xbox2 will not be backwards compatible. nVidia's Xbox chips used proprietary technology that they probably don't want to license to MS and ATI.

Re:Own hardware

[JoshRosenbaum]

But because ATI now supplies the GPU, there has been speculation that the Xbox2 will not be backwards compatible.

You sure about that? I would imagine that MS would have an API accessing the graphics components, and that they would just need to change the back-end of the API. It seems far more likely that the backwards compatability problem will come from using a PowerPC chip which uses different machine code than an x86 chip, and would require all games to be recompiled/changed. NOTE: I have not read anything on this subject.

Bad move...

[Kjuib]

Releasing the game console right before starwars?!
Anyone who is going for the XBox2 Rush will be inline to see Starwars at some theatre that is not going to show it.

Definitely Next?

[Reignking]

The article (yes, I RTFA) calls it the XBox Next. Is it confirmed, then, that the official name of the new XBox is XBox Next?

Re:Definitely Next?

[kneecarrot]

There have been three semi-official names kicking around:

• Xbox 2
• Xbox Next
• Xbox 360

There have been no official confirmation of something being chosen, however. Personally, I think they'll go with "The Sony Raper".

Re:Definitely Next?

[Have Blue]

Don't forget "Xenon".

Re:Definitely Next?

[dwin902]

I believe I remember reading that Xbox 360 was a likely choice because it contained a "3", like the PS3. MS apparently thought that marketing an Xbox 2 would be difficult because consumers would think (subconsciously) that it was less advanced than the PS3. I've never really understood marketing techniques anyway.

It's that bad?

[Quasar1999]

Usually they build enormous hype by not showing it off to the consumer but rather showing it to select few reviewers, who then spill all sorts of happy, wonderful, everything is awesome, best thing since sliced bread reviews... everyone gets all hyped up, and by the time end consumers get to see the product for what it is, full of issues, the hype is so big that no one cares, and they sell millions...

Why switch the perfect marketing model?

Re:It's that bad?

[hollismb]

You do realize they'll still be showing it at E3 a couple days later, right? I'm all for this. Instead of waiting an hour to download some shaky handycam video because everyone else and their mother are trying to download it at the same time, I can actually watch a well-presented (at least in terms of video quality) show on television. Sounds good to me. Sure, it'll probably full of fluff and flashy imagery, but it'll at least answer a few questions. What does it look like? What is it called? When does it come out? How much does it cost? Is there the hardrive standard, seperately, or not at all? Will is get/save content directly from a PC on my network (ver likely)? How are the controllers different? Are they standard wireless? Is it backwards compatible? What are some of the launch games, and what do they look like? I'm betting we'll get answers to at least most of those questions.

closed door?

[deuist]

How is MTV open door? Most studio visitors will not have a chance to play the X-box. At least trade shows allow anyone with an entrance pass to try the products.

Re:closed door?

[Keeper]

Who said that it wouldn't be shown at E3? It isn't DEBUTING at E3; E3 is May 17-19.

"talk to" implies discussion

[Raindance]

"We wanted to talk directly to the consumer first."

Make that, "We wanted to talk directly at the consumer first."

Sadly, you can't "talk to" anyone via TV (especially MTV-style networks). Let's just call this an (admittedly clever) uni-directional advertisement and be done with it.

Re:"talk to" implies discussion

[n0dnarb]

Very "insightful", pointing out the obvious fact that your TV is not a two-way Orwellian telescreen. Does that mean I'll get karma for pointing out the fact that talking via TV ("especially MTV-style networks" or not) doesn't work that well?

Re:"talk to" implies discussion

[thehun101]

They have a name for those: Infomercials.

- the Hun

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Comment removed based on user account deletion

Subliminal Messages

[CypherXero]

From the virial marketing site: "chaos with penguins"

Shhhh, Microsoft has hidden a secret message in their viral marking website, ourcolony.net

bleh

[rwven]

I think largely, people aren't excited anymore like they used to be about console launches. Yeah, neat new technology or whatever, pretty visuals...saw it all last year on my PC... and on another note, whats this drivel about "bringing it to the consumers first?" They're just po'ed because sony got the 3pm slot at E3 and they got the 6pm slot... Typical MS PR cover...

Paid Programming

[razmaspaz]

Will this be the highest tune in ever for a paid advertisement that is not taking place during the Super Bowl? I mean really, I don't think MTV is giving away air time to Microsoft...right?

Re:Paid Programming

[wankledot]

Why wouldn't they? Can you imagine now much a 30 second spot during this show would cost? Existing Xbox games, gamer-focused products, etc. will pay big money to get their ads in. If I were MTV, I would be more than willing to give up an hour for a guaranteed demographic in a focused market (games) and very captive audience. MTV's salespeople would fall all over themselves selling ads during this to EA and any other game publisher.

Viral Marketing

[magicsquid]

This makes perfect sense. Microsoft has started another viral marketing web game for the Xbox 2 (similar to the original ilovebees for Halo2). Check out http://www.ourcolony.net/ The countdown ends on May 12th at 8PM eastern. BTW, the password is play.

The rewards give out tiny glimpses of the Xbox 2. So far only the controller has been seen.

Re:Viral Marketing

[br4inst0rm]

Yep, go here to learn more, and join in the fun! http://www.forum.immersionunlimited.com/viewforum. php?f=70&sid=e4cf577f9bd30ea40d8d399f5eb0264b Welcome aboard!

Re:Viral Marketing

[sux0rbiscuit]

Our Colony shows to be a pretty good campaign and we carry the news on Our Colony at IU.

Re:Viral Marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

The rewards give out tiny glimpses of the Xbox 2. So far only the controller has been seen.

What, they managed to fit the whole thing in one picture?

May 12 should be fine.

[bigtallmofo]

I don't mind this airing on MTV so long as it does not impede or interfere in any way with the airing of MTV's coverage of Spring Break.

I've seen pornography that was less graphic than MTV in those shows.

Wardrobe Malfunction

[amigoro]

Rumour has it that Bill Gates is going to suffer a wardrobe malfunction on the show and reveal to the world the true meaning of microsoft and why he is not trying to get perpendicular.

Core Audience

[geek_xyu]

Wasn't the original xbox supposed to be aimed at a more mature market? Instead here microsoft is targeting the Britany Spears/reality tv fans. Not much of a surprise but I don't think Microsoft has a clue what they are doing. They are just praying their new system doesn't lose money when it debuts like xbox 1 did.

Re:Core Audience

[javaxman]

Wasn't the original xbox supposed to be aimed at a more mature market? Instead here microsoft is targeting the Britany Spears/reality tv fans.

You either overestimate the sophistication of Xbox users, or underestimate the age of folks watching Real World/Road Rules Challenge XXXTREME or whatever they're showing on MTV these days. In either event, there probably is a good amount of overlap in the target audience. They're trying to hook eyes of 14-40 year-old bored people with disposable income and lots of free time. MTV is as good a place for that as you'll find, these days.

MTV -- Pimp my XBox

[the_skywise]

I don't think I need to add anything further...

Re:MTV -- Pimp my XBox

[Reignking]

That'll never happen -- MS will sue if you try to mod your XBox!

The list gets longer

[brontus3927]

The list just keeps getting longer of the things I have no interest in buying. I'm not really a console person in general, but I dispise XBox. I mean, that controller is just huge. I'm also the kind of n00b that moves the controller around, I've just never been able to kick the habit not since I was a kid playing on the Atari 2600. With the Xbox controller's heft, I might accidently kill somebody.

Re:The list gets longer

[lowe0]

2001 called... they'd like their jokes back.

MS introduced a smaller controller a long time ago.

Re:The list gets longer

[XSforMe]

...I'm not really a console person in general, but I dispise XBox....

People buy this as a game console? =)

Seriously speaking, Xbox rules, but once you load the "proper" software onto it. XBMC, DVDX and MAMEoX has turned my once overpriced paperweight birthday present (Xbox) into a work horse. With the proper software one can watch region free, NTSC/PAL DVDs. Watch TV / tune to radio from other countries, play classic video games and have a quick glance at the weather forecast.

Now that XBox2 is comming out, the original Xbox will be selling dirt cheap. This is a good time to buy one of these babies. You will not regret plunging those 200 dollars (including modding costs) into it.

Re:The list gets longer

[Jarlsberg]

Bleh, it's people like you that made MS change their controller. The original controller was really well designed and fits into my hands perfectly.

well.. at a trade show..

[gl4ss]

you might be given some hard pressed questions from industry experts asking if the plastic case actually is the machine and if it actually works.

a show on mtv would be just one way, them pulling all the strings and saying whatever they want of the device - without the possibility for anyone to ask questions about it.

Re:well.. at a trade show..

[Keeper]

Who said that they wouldn't be showing it at E3? They're launching it on a TV show, but that doesn't mean they aren't going to show it anywhere else.

This could be dangerous for MTV

[Anonymous Coward]

By showing what amounts to an ad, they might lose their position of artistic integrity they've developed all these years.

How will they get in a word edgewise?

[dr_dank]

In the past ten years since the ADHD league took over MTV programming, will this unveiling go as expected?

Bill Gates:
Welcome to the next level of home video game enter

ANNOYING POPUP!-HI THIS IS MEGAN FROM CRAPSMELL, NJ AND I LOVE JAY-Z, WOOOOO!

its processing power will make its extensive library of

RANDOM SNIPPET OF VIDEO!

the Xbox2 will retail for

HEY ITS CARSON DALEY, LOOK AT HIS HAIRLESS CHEST Aieeee!

Should read:

[superultra]

"We wanted to talk directly to the consumer first."

There must be a typo. Moore's quote, in light of Sony's recent attempt to upstage Microsoft at E3 by showcasing the PS3 3 hours earlier, should read: "We wanted to talk directly to the consumer, first."

Reading between the lines

[psplay]

The article reeks of Marketing squalk. Lots of hype and worlds longer than marmalade, lot of Wow and fizz, but not much substance. No wonder it's on MTV.

If there was something interesting to say about the product, don't you think they would have mentioned that instead of "behind-the-scenes video" and "jam packed with celebs"?

When a Mareketing Manager is "ecstatic about our alliance with MTV" instead of ecstatic about the product. I begin to doubt. Is it me or does this article give off vibes of overhyping to compensate for a poor product?

Re:In Other News...

[daeley]

Wait, am I thinking of a different channel? Please don't tell me the "M" is for "Microsoft."

The "M" is for "Marketing."

Marketing killed the video star.

Interested maybe, not, kinda?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm interested in Xbox2 only if it allows me to use it for:
- internet browsing front end
- music playback
- video playback (mpeg1, 2, 4, wm)
- video recording using external capture box
- games
- a .net virtual machine so I can run end user written code

Re:Interested maybe, not, kinda?

[corsican]

Dude, they have that already. They call it a "PC."

Reminder

[mattmentecky]

I see a lot of "jokes" being tossed about in relation to MTV rarely being about music, Xbox debuting is an example of this etc. however need I not remind you that this is not unique to MTV, for example CBS rarely broadcasts about Colombia.

Microsoft marketing genius

[PhatboySlim]

Am I the only one who sees this as a genius marketing move? How long have consumer electronics been debuted at trade show events without any coverage except on Tech/G4-Tv.

MTV may no longer play music videos, but they get great ratings, and specifically within those great ratings is the hard to reach demographic that the XBOX should appeal to.

Congrats to Microsoft for being the first to figure this out. Keep an eye out for Sony to follow their lead if this works out well.

MTV...

[FoXDie]

This is exactly the reason I can't get myself to accept the Xbox. They are catering to, as Penny Arcade put it nicely, the Generic Frat Fuck. http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-11 -08&res=l

I'll wait

[Tenebrious1]

I'll wait on buying it until Microsoft releases Xbox2SP1.

Good move by Microsoft

[Dark Paladin]

Already, they've put themselves into the name game for the mainstream media right before E3. It won't be "blah, blah, blah, Xbox and PS3 unvieled today", it will be three straight days of "blah, blah, blah, Xbox" - then when E3 hits, "And now lets' compare the PS3 to the Xbox".

While I have my issues with the Xbox losing a ton o' money for Microsoft and not having a big enough library for my tastes (let me state: my personal tastes, so please so replies about the 10 Xbox games that are the "bestest evah!", thank you), at least they're working harder on the marketing for the Xbox 2 - more Japanese developers are announcing products, better viral marketing.

Now that the Sony and Xbox lines will be compatible in power and graphics, it will come down to the games and other features (like Blue Ray and such). Eh - I'm patient. I probably won't buy either system for at least a year after they come out.

Maybe ;).

Kids watch MSNBC?

[cbreaker]

So, what kids do you know that watch MSNBC?

I guess they think the biggest money is in the kid sales. Maybe it is. But I know a LOT of twenty-somethings that buy all this stuff and we're not watching MTV.

MTV was good when they had Music Videos of all types. Not, if you actually catch a video, it's crap eyecandy with all booty and no originality. But now it's all these shows, every one packed full with teenage girls that scream at whatever the next boy band is. No thanks.

Re:This will be running a G5, right?

[javaxman]

How long before someone figures out how to get OS X running on one of these? Or, if it's easier to get a PPC Linux distro installed, then it's just a matter of

If we're taking bets, I'm going to guess ( for no good reason, without justification ) there's nothing like a Northbridge on this thing, so PPC Linux first.

Besides, you're not breaking a software EULA to get Linux working on your Xbox, doesn't that mean anything to you people ?

Damn, I need a sarcasm key for that last line.

And no, not a 'G5'. Something like it, but likely not actually a G5. A 64-bit PowerPC chip. Not a G5. Though the difference might be slight... it could be significant. The "Cell" for the PS3 is a PowerPC chip, too, but it's quite different from the PowerPC 970.

IBM wins the video game war, hands down

[USCG]

Kind of cool, IMHO that IBM has contributed to the Sony Cell CPU, and they are building the XBOX2 CPU and whatever Nintendo's next machine is.

Thank humanity for big blue!

SHOUT OUTS

[gosand]

ANNOYING POPUP!-HI THIS IS MEGAN FROM CRAPSMELL, NJ AND I LOVE JAY-Z, WOOOOO!

HI, this is Steve from Redmond WA. WHUT WHUT. I'd like to give a shout-out to my homies back home - BILL, CLIPPY, AND ALL THOSE DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Two things:

[Wraithfighter]

1: They aren't releasing it four days before E3, they're just showing it off with a few tech demos. Ya know, stuff that makes everyone go ooh and ahh and won't matter much because its all about the games, not graphical specs. Otherwise, Xbox and Gamecube would be the top-sellers in this generation, since they have the best graphics, instead of the PS2's lackluster visuals. 2: Just a note: The OurColony.net thing has a countdown timer that ends an hour and a half after this special, and its been pretty much proven that Microsoft is behind it all :). So two questions: 1: Why an hour and a half difference? Did they forget to account for daylight savings time or did MTV change the time? 2: What happens there when it hits 0?

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Stupid argument

[AvantLegion]

Marketing goes across the board to draw in the money of everyone they can get it from. It doesn't change the product in any way. They're not "catering" to anyone - they're marketing to everyone.

I'm SURE someone will hack it to do that stuff.

[TheLittleJetson]

Microsoft's horrible security track record is to our benefit when it comes to their gaming consoles. They put the copy protection routines from the first xbox on a removable chip (I think it was even flashable.)

The Xbox 2 is supposedly powered by 3 (three) PowerPC 970 (G5) chips, and some equally insane video processor. It would make quite the media-center PC if someone can hack it. I'm not so sure about .NET but I would expect to see Linux running on one of these, and a whole bunch of software shortly thereafter.