ALLARD ON THE FUTURE OF XBOX - PART TWO

R420 wrote:

You're bringing Live to PC in addition to Xbox - can we expect dual
releases of products, as XNA is for both platforms?

Lester: I think on a title by title basis we're going to look at that,
especially if we do Live where it enables inter-op between Xbox and
Windows gamers. Then there will be a necessity to have both versions
available around the same time.

As anyone who ever played Quake III on the Dreamcast versus PC players can
attest, this is going to be a terrible idea in a lot of games. The gamepad
and fixed hardware is what levels the playing field in online console
gaming. Going up against PC players with mouse & keyboard and the latest
hardware (and possibly even hacks/cheats) isn't anybody's idea of fun.

But as long as they make it possible to create online gaming sessions only
open to other Xbox gamers, I guess it won't hurt.

-Z-

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/front_index.php?

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: ALLARD ON THE FUTURE OF XBOX - PART TWO

Will Xbox 2 have a hard drive? Will Xbox and PC gamers clash online?
All this and more inside

17:12 Amid the whirlwind that was last month's Game Developers
Conference where Microsoft chose to unveil its XNA game development
platform, we managed to corner Mr Xbox J Allard and general manager of
Windows technologies Dean Lester to talk about the newly announced
initiative and the future of videogaming. Part one of the interview
can be found here, if you missed it. For part two, read on...
Interview by Johnny Minkley

We understand you're not talking about hardware specifics for the next
generation, but M-Systems has recently gone on the record to say there
won't be an in-built hard drive in Xbox 2, (see here for details) and
that it is supplying high capacity flash cards as a substitute.

Allard: We're not talking about next-generation Xbox.

Other people, who are your official partners, are speaking for you on
the matter, though.

Allard: Some of the things I've seen quoted are patently untrue.

Do you refute what M-Systems has said?

Allard:: I'm not talking about it; I'm not talking about it... The
only thing I'll say about future Xbox hardware is: last generation
Xbox was the best hardware we could put together in the time that we
had to build a hardware system that supported our vision of DirectX -
the DirectXbox, which is where the name came from.

Next time we do hardware with Xbox, it's going to be the best hardware
components that we can put together that powers XNA. XNA is the
software platform that's going to drive the next generation.

We'll go grab great hardware partners and synthesise it together. We
have a lot more time and a lot more experience this time and
everything's going to be a lot stronger when the developers know how
to take advantage of it from day one.

Would you at least agree though that, three problems the in-built hard
drive brings to Xbox is that 1) It's allowed people to hack the
console; 2) It's added great cost onto the basic unit price; and 3)
It's a size issue - replace the hard drive with mass storage memory
cards and you solve these problems to an extent?

Allard: All interesting observations... [laughs] By having the guts to
innovate in hardware, we learned some of the great things it enabled
and put a lot of software into it. Soundtracks: we wrote a bunch of
software that allows you to have custom soundtracks. And we also
learned some of the challenges you face when you innovate with
hardware.

We know what gamers like about it, we know what developers like about
it and we have to take that under consideration.

Lester:I've just got one comment on the on-the-record thing: I've seen
at least two examples of people making definitive on-the-record
comments that contradict each other. The official source is sitting
there [points at Allard] and he's telling you there's nothing to say
right now.

[everyone laughs]

You're bringing Live to PC in addition to Xbox - can we expect dual
releases of products, as XNA is for both platforms?

Lester: Well again, it's up to publishers - we don't dictate their
release schedules.

From a first-part or second-party point of view?

Lester: I think on a title by title basis we're going to look at that,
especially if we do Live where it enables inter-op between Xbox and
Windows gamers. Then there will be a necessity to have both versions
available around the same time.

We're understanding just now the implications of what it means to
deliver a Live experience that enables gaming to inter-op. But again,
to bring both platforms up to this equivalent level, where they're
both first-class gaming platforms, it's a big deal.

The whole point here is that we really haven't been able to articulate
this unified vision before. We've alluded to it. Anybody that's spoken
to me over the last year or two has heard me talk about a vision for a
standardised controller, but I couldn't come out at the time and say
it's part of a greater strategy we have to bring unity across input,
technology, tools.

But today we can finally be forthcoming and say it's an entirely
unified gaming platform strategy that will allow both of those
platforms to co-exist for developers.

What about paying to play online on PC - is that a plan? Traditionally
that's always been free?

Lester: If Live is integrated into Windows, to have a Windows version
and for it not to have voice would be odd. Well then there's the
headset cost - so there's something there. So you're going to need
this to be on the service. You then also have the issue of, there are
lots of free services available on Windows, but the general quality
isn't that great to be honest.

You don't get guaranteed connectivity and quality of service; there's
no uniform ID or rankings. It's one of these things where, is there
enough value of doing all of those online things that have been done
before but doing them at this level of excellence that frankly hasn't
been done before? And I think that anyone who's used Live on Xbox -
that's the difference, it's so well integrated.

That suggests your leaning toward a subscription model...

Lester: Well, at some level there's some payment because if we want
people to have headsets they've got to pay for those. But an annual
thing? What do you think?

It all comes down to the fact that it's got to be compelling. People
have to got to say that it's so good, I'd pay to have that. Because
the other dynamic is, if it's free, and we've got Xbox and Windows
inter-operability, well, why not just use the free one?

Unreal Tournament without coaches and managers isn't really complete,
and the league mode in FIFA isn't that compelling. Imagine what we
could do with Formula One. All these scenarios are almost limitless.

So what I'm saying to you is, we don't know the answer, but those are
some of the factors that come into this. Plus you have the business
model as well. We need to work out how we sustain a service - which is
a very expensive service - to get that guaranteed data centre and get
that guaranteed quality of service and the billing - the relationship
with the customer and all these other things.

We've got a commitment to you, we're not just doing a free service
that we can pull the plug on tomorrow because we've decided we just
don't like this anymore.

What's the ETA on Live on PC? Will it coincide with the next
generation of Xbox or are we going to see it roll out before then?

Lester: It's not dependent on it.

So we can expect it before Xbox 2?

Lester: I think depending on what people want from us...

Allard:It's tough to talk abut XNA in some ways because people think
of it as a product announcement - like, when's it coming out?

Well, it's kind of here now, and it just gets better and better. The
nice thing about software and services is there is continuous
evolution, they just continue. So when I think about Live coming over
to the Windows platform, I think crawl, walk, run.

There's something that's different on the PC and it manifests itself
differently. And now maybe we have some components that only exist for
Windows online because it's a keyboard, mouse, web browser-enabled...
There's a whole bunch of stuff we can only do on that particular
platform.

I think it's possible in some ways that the Windows Live experience
does stuff that doesn't exist on Xbox to take advantage of what you
can do on the PC.

Lester: That's the thing with XNA. Because this isn't just for GDC:
the commitment is 10 years from us that we really want to think about
this as this generation, next generation, maybe a generation beyond
that, something that people can really count on.

As you look at those things, there are almost three classes of
components that go into it. There are things that are crystal clear
and are almost immediate. Then there's the class of next deliverables,
things like Live and the common controller - those are sort of the
next wave and things that are clear in terms of commitment but we're
not quite sure how we're going to do it.

There's a bunch of stuff next year that we're committed to that we'll
deliver - we know what it is, we just need to find out exactly how
people want it.

And then there's the generation beyond that, which is, we really
aren't quite sure what comes into that space. We know there's a vacuum
there in terms of... If any of these next-generation hardware
platforms are released with the level of complexity that we all know
is coming, there is no strong software story that coincides with that.

Frankly, whoever is releasing a hardware platform [like this] is
irresponsible, because they will put developers and publishers out of
business by creating this. It's almost like a da "We've built the
most complex hardware platform you've ever seen - I dare you to try
and write a game that runs on it".

And for the whole industry, for gamers, games developers, publishers,
platform providers, it's irresponsible to do that.

So for us, we know we're going to be delivering for many, many years,
but quite what components need to come first in that phase we're going
to find out today.

Some of your questions we'll answer in June, with the SDK for DirectX;
some of it is next year when we'll have Live and a common controller;
and some of it is then a generation beyond that.

You've got Live for Xbox and Live coming for PC allowing Xbox and PC
gamers to play against each other. Do you see other similar things
between Xbox and PC happening in the future?

Allard: I get less excited about the notion... We'll pick FIFA as an
example. Being able to play FIFA on Xbox or FIFA on PC or Windows and
being able to play the exact same game against your pals. It's
interesting, it's useful, we'll probably enable that, we'll talk to
our partners EA and see if they think that's an interesting idea. And
if they like it, we'll figure out how to do it.

On the other hand what I think about that's really exciting is, it
really opens up new potential when you add to it these portable
devices - they're going to get smarter over the next couple of years.

Imagine a game where you had a different view into the game or a
different role in the game depending what platform you're on. So if
you're on the PC, you think about Championship Manager, right, you're
managing the team and the league and all that.

OK, maybe that's what you're doing on PC, but you're actually managing
the footballers that are actually playing on console.

Oh and by the way, when you're on the subway and you've got your
portable device, there's a way for you to see what's going on in the
league, maybe you can execute some trades - maybe you can't do
everything that you can on PC but you can interact with it.

That's an exciting world, and I'm not a game designer so it's a crappy
example. But you look at that and apply that to RTS and action - RTS
on the PC and action on the console - that would be interesting.

And then apply that to Grand Theft Auto - on the PC you're the police
dispatcher or the detective in the game and you can have a top-down
view on the city. Or apply that to The Sims. You can apply this to so
many different categories.

What's really to me is, I've got a PC, it's 1600x1200, I've got a
keyboard and mouse, and I'm a single-player that's really focused on
this world map. And then on the console I'm sitting on the couch with
two or three of my friends and I want to go action, action, action.

And then I've got a handheld and I'm on a train or bus and I want to
kill some time, and I want to be connected back to that same world. If
you could have all three of those playing styles in those mindsets
connected into a common world... You know, what do you, genius game
designer, create? I don't know.
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R420 wrote:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/front_index.php?


I appreciate you posting the story. That is such a crappy site. I can't
believe they want me to register to see all the news articles. What a bunch
of crap. Their "news" ain't worth getting my personal information for free
so they can sell it to spammers.