Courtnee
05-13-2005, 05:42 PM
Unveiling the Xbox 360 http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/feature/115575
by Richard Greenhill and Mike Smith
The vision
Meet the three pillars of the Xbox 360: always high definition; always connected; always personalized. Microsoft's newest console doesn't just herald a new age of graphical realism -- if you believe the hype, it marks a significant, permanent shift in the way we'll relate to our entertainment. Microsoft vice president J Allard introduced us to his new creation.
Allard is the first to admit that despite its successes, the Xbox was not a "magical product." What does he mean? "There were lots of seams in the experience," he told us. Obviously going from nothing to a comfortable second place in four years, cementing the first-person shooter as a mainstay of console entertainment, and mastering the delivery of online console gameplay along the way just wasn't enough for him.
Allard's looking at ways to sell the Xbox to your grandmother. He's aiming at mass market success on the scale of movies: a billion people, worldwide, involved with Xbox 360, and at a time when consumer expectations for technology have never been higher. No one's going to buy a device just for games, he says, and points to the convergence of cellphones and PDAs as an example.
So the Xbox 360 comes equipped to fill a niche he's hoping to carve. It's a high-powered entertainment nexus, a media hub, and a gaming platform, all rolled into one slick, Mac-inspired piece of desirability. It's equipped to be a video telephone or even a viewer for your digital camera's contents. Providing a device that's solely focused on the needs of the hardcore gamer is apparently not on Microsoft's agenda.
Instead, Allard outlines a future where 50 percent of Xbox 360 owners are online -- and not just to play games. Voice and video communication, content downloads, an online marketplace, and features to let users control and develop their own content. He envisages an open system -- "as open as possible" -- even if that does lead to problems with objectionable content.
Players of Project Gotham 2, one of Xbox Live's best racers, will probably be familiar with the "cat and mouse" multiplayer mode. Its creator isn't a Microsoft designer, and it doesn't appear in any of the menus -- it's just an idea that an anonymous Xbox Live player thought would be cool. The premise involves two teams of four: on each side, one player takes the MINI Cooper, and the others take high-powered sports cars. The only objective is to get your team's MINI across the finish line first. It was a huge hit.
This is the key to Microsoft's strategy. Xbox 360 games will be as open as possible to user-created content -- and offer tools to promote its creation and distribution. Down the line, Allard wants to create a Live Marketplace, where content can be both bought and sold by users, for real money. Somewhere, that anonymous Xbox Live player is adding "Pioneered Microsoft's next-generation content creation strategy" to his resume.
Allard outlined a story of a family-run Tony Hawk's Pro Skater competition. While her son is waiting for his scheduled game to start, Mom designs a T-shirt for his skater to wear. Dad's watching the competition on his PC in the other room. Maybe other spectators are judging, instead of faceless score calculation routines. High profile competitions might feature streaming soundtracks debuting music from a popular artist. Multiplayer gaming becomes a family activity.
by Richard Greenhill and Mike Smith
The vision
Meet the three pillars of the Xbox 360: always high definition; always connected; always personalized. Microsoft's newest console doesn't just herald a new age of graphical realism -- if you believe the hype, it marks a significant, permanent shift in the way we'll relate to our entertainment. Microsoft vice president J Allard introduced us to his new creation.
Allard is the first to admit that despite its successes, the Xbox was not a "magical product." What does he mean? "There were lots of seams in the experience," he told us. Obviously going from nothing to a comfortable second place in four years, cementing the first-person shooter as a mainstay of console entertainment, and mastering the delivery of online console gameplay along the way just wasn't enough for him.
Allard's looking at ways to sell the Xbox to your grandmother. He's aiming at mass market success on the scale of movies: a billion people, worldwide, involved with Xbox 360, and at a time when consumer expectations for technology have never been higher. No one's going to buy a device just for games, he says, and points to the convergence of cellphones and PDAs as an example.
So the Xbox 360 comes equipped to fill a niche he's hoping to carve. It's a high-powered entertainment nexus, a media hub, and a gaming platform, all rolled into one slick, Mac-inspired piece of desirability. It's equipped to be a video telephone or even a viewer for your digital camera's contents. Providing a device that's solely focused on the needs of the hardcore gamer is apparently not on Microsoft's agenda.
Instead, Allard outlines a future where 50 percent of Xbox 360 owners are online -- and not just to play games. Voice and video communication, content downloads, an online marketplace, and features to let users control and develop their own content. He envisages an open system -- "as open as possible" -- even if that does lead to problems with objectionable content.
Players of Project Gotham 2, one of Xbox Live's best racers, will probably be familiar with the "cat and mouse" multiplayer mode. Its creator isn't a Microsoft designer, and it doesn't appear in any of the menus -- it's just an idea that an anonymous Xbox Live player thought would be cool. The premise involves two teams of four: on each side, one player takes the MINI Cooper, and the others take high-powered sports cars. The only objective is to get your team's MINI across the finish line first. It was a huge hit.
This is the key to Microsoft's strategy. Xbox 360 games will be as open as possible to user-created content -- and offer tools to promote its creation and distribution. Down the line, Allard wants to create a Live Marketplace, where content can be both bought and sold by users, for real money. Somewhere, that anonymous Xbox Live player is adding "Pioneered Microsoft's next-generation content creation strategy" to his resume.
Allard outlined a story of a family-run Tony Hawk's Pro Skater competition. While her son is waiting for his scheduled game to start, Mom designs a T-shirt for his skater to wear. Dad's watching the competition on his PC in the other room. Maybe other spectators are judging, instead of faceless score calculation routines. High profile competitions might feature streaming soundtracks debuting music from a popular artist. Multiplayer gaming becomes a family activity.