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by Published on July 4th, 2012 01:12- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
We sit down with the corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios to talk about all things Xbox
Microsoft
www.microsoft.com
Microsoft's E3 showing this year didn't offer any huge surprises, but the content to satisfy the core was certainly there. More importantly, from a global business viewpoint, Microsoft its continuing its march into living rooms everywhere. The company makes no bones about it - with Xbox TV, Music, Kinect integrations and more and more video partnerships, the Xbox platform is quickly becoming a well-rounded entertainment center for gamers and non-gamers alike.
Following the press conference, GamesIndustry International met with Phil Spencer, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, to discuss the evolving Xbox strategy, the competition, Halo 4, the role of Kinect and much more.
Q: What is your general reaction to your competitors this year? Nintendo was showing off the Wii U while Sony was showing Last of Us, Beyond, etc. What was your overall thinking on those two camps?
Phil Spencer: I think, to not not answer your question, it is worth noting that there is another competitor that is not here that has a developer's conference next week (after E3).
Q: Apple?
Phil Spencer: Right, so if we think about where our ambition is, our ambition is to create an entertainment platform for everyone on the planet. We think there are a couple keys; having unique content on our platform. We started off with Halo, but we obviously have a breadth of content on our platform from big core games to things like the Nike fitness program that we showed, to things like Dance Central and our sports offerings. It's a real breadth of content on the platform. Live and the connected service is pretty key to what we do.
The partnerships that we're able to drive I think are important. I'd like to point out Nike yet again; it's them talking about what we do as opposed to us talking about us. It's nice, really validating to have a worldwide brand like Nike come out and decide that this is the system that they want to go and innovate on and we can go and create something that is uniquely different.
"If you look at our top franchises in our first-party, they do incredibly well relative to other first-party franchises"
Phil Spencer
Q: Was there anything in the other conferences though that stood out for you? People have said that SmartGlass is a reaction to the Wii U tablet. Is there any truth to that?
Phil Spencer: No, our SmartGlass was driven by the fact that people use multiple devices at home to consume content. Whether they're watching TV with their laptop up or sitting with their phone while browsing the web, we could use the power of Live to connect all these devices in an intelligent way and turn your TV into a smart TV. Your specific question on the other press briefings, I went to EA, Ubisoft, Nintendo and Sony and ours. Things that I thought and I am more of a positive than a negative; things I liked were ZombiU, they were nice enough to let me play. I thought that game played very well, and I saw the use of another screen and how that would work.
I think their Pro Controller makes a lot of sense with the platform they've built. They are building a platform that is effectively a 360 when you think of graphical capability. Now they are really making an on-ramp for the back catalog of games that are on 360. It is easy for those games to move over the Wii U. They've moved the buttons around, and they've made a controller that feels familiar for 360 gamers, so I get why they are putting those pieces together. I would have loved to see Zelda or Metroid or some of my favorite Nintendo franchises, which I didn't see.
For Sony, Sony has a big first-party. I didn't get a sense of what all their first-party studios are working on, but I thought God of War looked good. It's a franchise I like, I love the character and I think they do a good job with that. We are here to create entertainment, and we look at E3 and really wanted to create a breadth of content there. I felt good about how we showed up to really think about young, old, male, and female. We have more gamers than we ever have, whether they are on their phone, tablet, PC or console. We really want to embrace that huge community of gamers out there.
Q: It's nice to hear you say you've enjoyed some of the stuff from your competitors. Sometimes executives won't admit that.
Phil Spencer: I don't know if Microsoft cares - I work for Microsoft after all - but I own a Vita, I own a Wii, I own a PS3, and I play a lot. At the core, I'm in this industry because of the content we create and the experiences. I think there are great experiences that come from all over. I don't try to claim that everything that is ever created is something that we touch, that would be somewhat ridiculous.
Q: You mention Sony first-party, and they are sort of renowned for their studio system. You oversee the studios for Microsoft. I guess the knock on 360 is that you don't have as many first-party IP. It is a few select ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 01:10- Categories:
- PS3 News
Free-to-play is not necessarily a dangerous monster stalking the innocent gamer. But at times it feels like it could be.
Digging through the transcript of a 2011 stockholder meeting,Xbox360Achievements discovered the following comments from EA CEO John Riccitiello:
“When you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip and we ask you for a dollar to reload, you’re really not that price sensitive at that point in time,” he stated.
“So essentially what ends up happening, and the reason the play-first, pay-later model works nicely, is a consumer gets engaged in a property. They may spend ten, twenty, thirty, fifty hours in a game. And then, when they’re deep into a game, they’re well invested in it.
“At that point in time the commitment can be pretty high. It’s a great model and it represents a substantially better future for the industry.”
EA today said that it believes it is on the road to being a 100 per cent digital publisher.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/when-...-reload/098915 ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 01:06- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
Xbox 8, or perhaps Xbox ∞ (Xbox Infinity) could be the name of the successor to Xbox 360.
The speculation has arisen after Fusible reported that Microsoft had acquired two URLs – Xbox8.us and Xbox8.org.
Not only has it acquired them, but it fought to do so, winning two disputes with a Chinese resident who had already registered the pair. Microsoft has not, however, sought action against the Chinese owner of Xbox8.com.
Of course, with Windows 8 on the horizon, Xbox 8 may be nothing other than some sort of cross-compatibility. Or Microsoft could simply be protecting its IP.
Internal Microsoft documents have referred to the in-development system as both Xbox 720 and Durango. Xbox Loop has also been widely touted as a possible moniker.
Microsoft has also acquired XboxPhone.com, XboxTablet.com, XboxLiveTV.com and XboxCompanion.com. It is currently disputing the ownership of Xboxliverewards.com, Xboxsports.com, Xboxsmartglass.com and Xboxmusic.com.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...domains/098918 ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 01:03
Sony is to introduce a number of PS2 games for PS3 in Japan later this month.
The PlayStation 2 Archives service will arrive on PSN on July 25th. Its debut titles are Resident Evil: Code Veronica (Capcom), Kessen (Tecmo Koei), Siren (Sony), Dragon Force (Sega) and Shin Contra (Konami).
Prices range between ¥1,500 and ¥1,200, Andriasang reports.
Unlike other titles on the PSN Archive service – which currently offers PSOne, PC Engine and TurboGrafx games – the new PS2 selection will be playable only on PS3 and not PSP.
The roster will be updated monthly, with a number of upcoming additions having also been named – Gunstar Heroes (Sega), Dark Cloud (Sony), Castelvania (Konami) and Dead and Alive (Tecmo Koei).
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps2-g...s-month/098920 ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 01:01- Categories:
- DCEmu
Publisher’s hopes of illegalising the sale of pre-owned software have been dashed after the European Court of Justice ruled that the practice is legitimate.
It has also ruled that consumers have the right to re-sell their digital purchases,
The ruling is not binding but is designed to be used for reference when such matters arrive in the courts of EU countries. It dictates the direction of European law.
The Court’s decision was reached after it concluded that “the exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by a licence [that prohibits the resale of software] is exhausted on its first sale”.
“Under that directive, the first sale in the EU of a copy of a computer program by the copyright holder or with his consent exhausts the right of distribution of that copy in the EU,” it added.
“A rightholder who has marketed a copy in the territory of a Member State of the EU thus loses the right to rely on his monopoly of exploitation in order to oppose the resale of that copy.”
Perhaps more importantly for consumers, the decision also says consumers have the right to sell on software that they have downloaded, as well as those they have purchased on disc.
“The principle of exhaustion of the distribution right applies not only where the copyright holder markets copies of his software on a material medium (CD-ROM or DVD) but also where he distributes them by means of downloads from his website,” the ruling continues.
“Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right.
“Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy.”
The ruling comes as part of a dispute between Oracle and UsedSoft in the German courts.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/europ...ges-drm/098925 ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 00:56- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
The first playable demo for Resident Evil 6 is now available on Xbox Live for Xbox 360 owners.
Of course, you’re only able to access it if you both purchased a copy of Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma AND haven’t lost the DLC code that came on a slip inside the case.
The demo will be released on the PlayStation Network, but not until September 5th thanks to a timed exclusivity agreement between Capcom and Microsoft.
Fortunately there’s not that long to wait until the arrival of the main game itself, which hits Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 2nd.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/resid...ox-live/098926
...by Published on July 4th, 2012 00:54- Categories:
- DCEmu
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has questioned the relevancy of market research group NPD, which publishes sales data and analysis on the game industry, while proposing a future in which the publisher will see most of its revenue come from digital sales.
NPD's monthly retail reports, much like weekly sales charts, still focus on physical sales data - a leaning Gibeau believes is outdated, especially as the reports tend to depict an ongoing decline in game sales.
“It's an irrelevant measure on the industry," he toldGamesindustry.biz. "It's totally irrelevant. We don't even really look at it internally anymore."
With digital distribution now such a large part of the industry, Gibeau's point is pertinent - sales reports and charts would be unrecognisable from their current state if the likes of Fez, Minecraftor even Jetpack Joyride were accounted for.
It's rather more complicated than that, of course, especially given the wildly varying price points of today's games and, of course, the distorting effect of free-to-play. But Gibeau believes that EA will see most of its revenue coming from digital sales in "the near future."
"I think one of the problems with this industry right now is that people tend to look at it like they're looking at an elephant through a straw," Gibeau continues. "They only see a little parts of it and they're not looking at the total picture, right?
"Between Facebook, social, mobile, free-to-play on PC, Asia, consoles... it's a vibrant, growing, huge market. An occasional bad report from NPD, which measures a sliver of what's actually happening in gaming gives people an erroneous impression."
EA's recent push into more digital territory paid off for the company, seeing it return to profit this year after a $276 million loss the year prior. Given that success, Gibeau's comments are hardly surprising, but they're also leant real weight.
Even with the clear seismic shift that's taking place, however, retail remains an important part of any company's overall strategy and damaging relationships with the highstreet is something EA will have to be wary of - a point not lost on Gibeau.
"Retail is a great channel for us," he qualifies. "We have great relationships with our partners there. At the same time, the ultimate relationship is the connection that we have with the gamer. If the gamer wants to get the game through a digital download and that's the best way for them to get it, that's what we're going to do."
NPD president David McQuillan countered Gibeau's criticisms, playing down the relevancy of digital to today's market, citing group research which shows new physical software represented 56 per cent of consumer spending on games in the US during 2011 - that percentage rises to 70 in the fourth quarter of the year as the christmas release schedule hits.
"While digital is a growing part of the industry and something that needs to be addressed for the future, the current games industry is still largely rooted in retail and any industry player involved with triple-A content simply can't take their eye away from the retail environment," he explained.
“Successful companies are looking at how their products are performing within all channels, particularly retail. For that reason, we were surprised to read the comments by Mr. Gibeau that EA does not look at NPD data internally at all.
“While we will not comment on the specifics on our long-standing relationship with EA, we can say with confidence that we have daily dealings with all of our major publisher clients. And we know for a fact they're using the data."
Irrespective of whether EA, or any publisher for that matter, uses NPD's data, the continued absence of digital sales from mainstream reporting is becoming harder to ignore.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/ea-p...npd-irrelevant
...by Published on July 4th, 2012 00:51- Categories:
- Xbox 360 News
DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson has criticised the lack of innovation present in many firstperson shooters today, believing that too few studios take the need for technical evolution seriously.
"The FPS is a very hardcore genre, and the hardcore crowd of the FPS is probably bigger than some other genres," he tells us. "And that crowd has extremely high demands on what the games are and how they develop.
"If they don't see some kind of new, if not revolutionary then at least evolutionary, step of rendering in every game they will start to lose interest. And I think that is what's happening. Because a lot of franchises out there don't take this seriously; to actually make sure that we don't just challenge ourselves on the gameplay aspect, or perhaps some other area like distribution method, but also how it [feels], how it looks and how it sounds.
"DICE has a strong history, for good and for bad, of doing this. We constantly bash ourselves and say, 'We could have done that better'. It might just be a rendering feature but in the end it adds up to the complete experience of what we're doing."
Troedsson points to the coming tech transition - both to new hardware and more powerful engines - and a move away from modern settings as temporary salves, but warns against using thematic switches in place of broader ambition.
"I think we're going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over," he continues. "Y'know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future.
"But it's a bit cheap to just say, 'Okay, we're going to switch and go back in time or into the future and that will be innovation'. It will definitely drive the franchise forward for whatever game, but it's not true innovation, it's more a thematic change that has a perceived value to the gamers out there. But as a developer you can only make so many games in one particular era, and then you personally start to get a bit bored with it."
That propensity toward trends at the mainstream end of the market, rather than a greater diversity of themes, is, of course, what many critics of the genre would point to as its major problem. But it's hard to begrudge big-budget teams' need to minimise risk in the face of a cripplingly conservative buying public. And while Troedsson acknowledges that more needs to be done, spectacle remains high on his list of priorites.
"I think it's our responsibility as game developers to always push ourselves when it comes to the experience of games," he concludes. "To always make sure that when we put games in the hands of consumers that we are proud of what we've done.
"I'm not saying we're going to build an FPS that will make you cry, or anything like that [laughs]. But we want people to be amazed when they look at our games. And I think this is more important than becoming number one in whatever way you look at it - though naturally part of that comes from a very high level of competitiveness here within DICE. We want to make the best game that we can, and we want that game to be the best one on the market. If gamers think that, then we've done our job. We're not there yet, but we're working on it."
http://www.edge-online.com/news/dice...genre-gameplay ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 00:50- Categories:
- PC News
walterbyrd writes with a story at The Inquirer outlining the latest volley in the patent wars surrounding mobile hardware, this timeaimed at the new Aus-built Nexus 7 tablet from Google by Nokia, in which the company's spokesman says, "Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standards essential patent portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers. Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio. 'Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/07/...es-our-patents ...by Published on July 4th, 2012 00:48- Categories:
- DCEmu
Research In Motion is in trouble. The BlackBerry maker has been suffering from an identity crisis for the last six months, which has resulted in mass layoffs, lots of job shuffling, dramatic drop-offs in market share and a quickly decaying portfolio for investors. But not according to Thorsten Heins! The newly-appointed CEO published an op-ed in the Toronto Globe and Mail on Tuesday, and also appeared on a radio program the same morning, to deliver one message: 'There's nothing wrong with the company as it exists right now.'"
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/07...th-the-company ...
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