Sorry if this was already posted I hadn't seen it. Found this at Teambox this morning quite interesting read.
I think it would be cool if the Xpod HD came with some sort of development tool that let you modify certain aspects of the games in your library. I doubt that is the way they are going about this though. I don't know what to think about the microtransations and "advertising" at this point. You can read the rest and part one of the interview here.
http://www17.tomshardware.com/business/20050319/index.html
Mr. Allard, one of our readers wanted to know if Xenon will be able to accommodate other aspect ratios and formats other than just HD 16:9?
It's a little dangerous to use the term "HD Era", because there's lots of defining attributes that are not just visual quality. Unfortunately the short hand is a little dangerous - we're all visual people and visual thinkers, and we all have visual publications.
The easiest way to define the era is by the visual quality. You know, in 2D and 3D we had analog controls, and we went from cartridge to CD. The first person shooter genre was born. Da-dada-dada... Lots of things happened between 2D and 3D, and the same thing is going to happen between 3D and HD. I think about a highly engaged gamer that is connected in the community. He is playing a game where the design point was the AI as back up because HI is what actually drives the game.
HI? Human intelligence, right? Then you sub in an AI when you have to go take a bathroom break, the AI comes out of the field during the quarter or whenever to sub in for you. I think about that gamer that's got voice and video as a natural extension to the input to the game that he is playing. I think about the gamer that's got an avatar or a car that he has totally customized that really expresses who he is online, and I think about that and then the HD Era gaming experience.
You can have that experience, and nothing I just described - all exciting concepts and I'm not even being too creative about it - you can do all of that on a 1950's hand-me-down, rabbit-ears-sportin', RF modulatin' TV set. Maybe even black and white for crying out loud, and it would still be massively different than what you are playing now.
Now of course, the next thing you will want to buy is an HD TV and even a surround sound system to get the full fidelity of the experience. That's an important attribute, but you've got to be able to play in 4:3, you've got to be able to play in black and white, you've got to be able to play in mono. Those aren't the only things that matter.
One thing I got mixed feedback from was the economic system you discussed involving micro transactions. Some of our readers wanted to know if content will be tradable between users as in games like The Sims, "oh he's got a couch that I like," or RPG items like body armor?
Great idea! Right now we're in a kind of a "play it by ear" phase. Step 1, let's create the channels where the game creators can offer... Well, Let's talk about Halo - who would have known what a hit it became? We launched it on the Xbox, most people were skeptical and some did not think it was going to do really well. Six months after we shipped Halo, it was impossible for us to take the community feedback that said, "wow, those warthogs were really fun. We would like to go and have more vehicles like that," and go create more vehicles like warthogs and sell them online. So let's break down that barrier; let's create the opportunity for the developer to have an ongoing dialogue with the customer.
That's Step 1. The infrastructure allows you to get to Step 2. So in Step 2 what if the gamers themselves can create objects? What if my friend, the graphic designer, could design skater T-shirts for my skateboarder that I play online? So it starts out as a statement of self-expression. But now my friend's online and he's like, "hey where did you get the cool shirt?" And I'm like, "Oh, Genevieve made it."
"Really, I want to get one of those."
"Well give her a couple of micro-points."
Well now she opens up shop. Now Genevieve is an Xbox-er, she's a Live subscriber, she's an Xbox user, she's a player! Never picked up a game controller.
We have to redefine our definition of "play" to go reach out to the mainstream. It doesn't have to mean picking up a sophisticated controller, pressing all the buttons in a specific order and playing a 50-hour game beginning, middle and end. If that's our definition, we'll never get the world to play.
You know, the world started by picking up a very simple game controller and playing virtual ping pong for 15 minutes. So the world could get their head wrapped around that and it was a fine substitute for watching a sitcom. You don't need an instruction manual to have fun, you know. You just kind of figure it out.
Now Halo is a little intense. I don't know... do I want to watch Desperate Housewives, or wire this thing up, modify the button controls, invert my "Y", read through the manual, figure out this "Covenant" thing, and go spend 3 or 4 hours before I get the hang of it? That's not for everybody. It's for a lot of people, but not for everybody. As successful as War and Peace was, Harlequins have outsold it dramatically.
One reader emailed me with a concern about the message alert function presented in your keynote. He wanted to know if that could ever be the doorway for the introduction of pop-up advertisements, etc?
Well I will separate two things. One, you have got to be able to manage that alert system. So I want to be able to set a "Do Not Disturb" mode - whether playing a game or watching a movie, I don't want the Internet bugging me. I am in my experience, I'm doing my thing... bug off! That's Step 1.
Step 2, I think we have to figure out advertising. You talked about rising development costs, and asked me about that, and I talked a little about episodic or broadcast gaming during my Keynote. How are we going to bring some more money into the ecosystem to create bigger and better products? Look at the film Minority Report. Really high tech movie, really cool stuff. I loved those UI [User Interface] metaphors they came up with. We all kind of enjoyed the movie. But realize that they got funded by advertising. They've got several million bucks in special effects, I don't know the exact number, it couldn't have happened without advertising.
So for the creators to realize their dreams, I think there is an avenue for advertisers to come in somewhere, but they have to do it appropriately. Because our audience - more than any other audience, because it is an interactive medium - will vote. They can vote much more easily than a TV audience, because they've got their headsets on and they'll complain about it. So I think it will be tough for advertisers to figure out how to do it in the least intrusive and least obnoxious way that shatters their illusions. They've got to be really, really thoughtful about how they interface with the user. And I think it's really challenging, but if they can figure it out, there's a great upside.
Another reader was curious about the feedback developers have given you about all games having a common interface?
They love it!
Care to elaborate?
They really love it!
Another reader wanted to know what you meant by "community created content." Can we expect it to "be along the lines of Roller Coaster Tycoon with its pre-fabricated objects or more along the lines of a sandbox editor?"
That's going to depend on each game, but let's take one of my favorites, Project Gotham Racing. They modeled a big city, and then they cut six or seven tracks through the city. Now, what if they just gave me New York with no barriers? I can go out and drive around New York wherever I want, and that's how I make my track. When I complete the loop, I say "go" and that's J's track. You and I can now race on J's track. It's not a very hefty level editor, but it sure sounds like fun.
Take it to the next level. Now I want to put up my own billboards, right? And I want to turn Time Square into J's version of Time Square. I want to set up some cafés and stores using my friends' names, and other stuff like that. Now that sounds like a job for a PC. I may have to use programs like Photoshop, as well as ones that will let me bring in my own music for the cafés, my own sound effects. Now let's bring it to the next level. I want to do moon physics. I want to transport Gotham to the moon. Well, if the designers permit it, now you have got to write some code. Sounds like a job for XNA Studio. So I think there will be multiple levels of this community created content.
What will be interesting to see is if the community just creates this content for giggles, or if they then decide to monetize it. Now this micro-payment system comes into play as an economy in the background. And now Genevieve can sell her T-shirts in one of the shops in J's Time Square, or I can sell my moon level online and we can all become part of the creative process.
I think it would be cool if the Xpod HD came with some sort of development tool that let you modify certain aspects of the games in your library. I doubt that is the way they are going about this though. I don't know what to think about the microtransations and "advertising" at this point. You can read the rest and part one of the interview here.
http://www17.tomshardware.com/business/20050319/index.html
