Xbox exec "invented avatars"
via Computer and Video Games
Xbox exec Don Mattrick has claimed that he created avatars way back in 1991.
I'm claiming to have invented avatars," the senior VP of the Xbox business told OXM in an interview about the upcoming 'New Xbox Experience'.
""I did 4D Sports Boxing! Do you know what 4D Boxing was? Hey, you should be writing this! That was me. C'mon! It's human, it's in 3D, it has a face... it was genuinely the first time there was something human-shaped in 3D! Look it up!"
While Mattrick's comments perhaps seem a little tongue in cheek, his company Distinctive Software did develop 4D Sports Boxing in 1991, and it does appear it may have been the first game to feature controllable human figures in 3D.
We assume he wants to put the point across because of the growing role of avatars in gaming, and because he's keen to stress that MS isn't simply copying someone else.
According to fellow Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg Microsoft's avatars "aren't exactly a new concept, but what is unique about them is integrating them so completely with our social network, and even integrating them into our games. Across the whole network - so you can use them in and out of games as your persona".
Anyway, whoever created avatars isn't really the point. The fact is, avatars look set to play an increasingly big role in gaming in the coming years. Aside from Nintendo's existing Mii characters and Microsoft's upcoming avatars, Sony's virtual world Home will also be heavily centred around avatars.
Personally it's all about the quality of gaming and not the amount of options you have for customising a 3D virtual representation of yourself, but if you like that type of thing there's plenty of it on the way for you.
