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J Allard Interviewed

Posted by Hemos on from the interesting-answers dept.

malchus6 writes "J Allard, one of the Xbox honchos over at Microsoft, spent an hour in an online chat answering questions regarding the upcoming release of the 360 including some pointed questions having to do with the two different price points, no wi-fi inclusion, his opinion on HD-DVD and more..."

4 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Revisionism at MS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    J Allard (Expert):
    Q: Why even offer the core package, its seems quite useless
    A: great question! the thing to remember that while we designed a no compromises game system, a huge percentage of our customers are not like the folks in this chat room. recognize that more than 75% of the folks on xbox have not played halo. by introducing the core system we are sending a signal to the market that we are committed to this part of the market just like with the xbox 360 premium bundle that we are committed to you.

    J Allard (Expert):
    Q: Why even offer the core package, its seems quite useless
    A: the significance of this message can not be understated. many of the publishing and retail partners want our commitment to grow the market. and as you have heard from us in our press conferences and such we are very committed to growing the market.

    1. Re:Revisionism at MS by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It may be more than just fun, however. Some of it is actually deserved.

      For example, out of the box, the $300 model can't save games. It doesn't have a hard drive, and it doesn't have a memory card. Compared to the xbox 360, this is most definately not BetterThanLastTime. The gist of the interview seems to be that the xbox 360 is, oddly enough, not designed for gamers.

      Personally I think that every single person who buys the $300 package is going to realize they can't save, become annoyed, and purchase a memory card. If every single person is going to get annoyed and buy one, why not include one with the unit and save annoying customers?

      There are many such things that are wrong with the useless $300 package. It looks to me like Microsoft is ignoring gamers (Or at least giving gamers second-seat) in favour of targeting the (possibly) broader "home entertainment appliance" market. I think this will backfire, especially with the more recent news that the PS3's "high" price might be $299, underpricing Microsoft's only out-of-box-useful package.

  2. Backwards compatibility by ChronoDK · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He forgot to ask the most important question - the only thing there is left to know about Xbox 360 - which first generation Xbox games will we be able to play? We know it's not all of them, but not how many or how few.

  3. Well, maybe something to remember by mcc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We at least know you won't be able to play any XBox 1 games on the $300 version. XBox backward compatibility requires the hard drive.

    --
    Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts