Brevity
04-29-2002, 08:42 AM
Xbox Live Interview
David Hufford talks about the Xbox online initiative that will be revealed at E3.
Monday April 29, 2002 | Prophet
Xbox Communicator headset
With all the hype about console games going online, you can imagine that its a big deal when a company like Microsoft announces their strategy for enabling their console system to handle online gaming in a major way. Recently Microsoft began to slowly reveal thier plans for bringing the Xbox online -- they've code-named it Xbox Live, and at the front of the pack shouting out the praises of this plan Microsoft Xbox product manager David Hufford. We recently had the opportunity to talk to David about all things related to Xbox Live -- along with their plans for the Xbox at E3 and their freshly released controller for North American and European Xbox players. So without further delay, here's what David had to say about their online strategy:
GameSpy: Tell us a bit more about Xbox Live. What are the components that Microsoft will have to put in place, what will developers have to do on their end to support it and what components will gamers need in order for it to work properly?
David Hufford: Well, let me talk to you about how we're viewing Xbox Live: Really Xbox Live is about creating this community of gamers who want more out of video games. We're taking a service approach in putting Xbox Live together and everything we do on the service is designed to blow gamers away with new cool inner operable features. So in phase one of our service we're going to do things that enable you to find any type of player that you want to play at that given moment -- so if you just want to find any old random guy, you can get on our matchmaking service and find somebody 365 days a year/7 days a week. And if you want to find your freinds, we're going to make it real easy to do that at a moments notice. Imagine sitting on your couch in San Francisco and your best friend in LA or New England summons you to play a game on the service... it's kind of like instant messaging for games.. We're going to have those features across every single game that works on the Xbox Live service. And the Xbox Live service will be voice enabled, so that people can talk smack if that's what they choose to do or holler, or just strategize.. So there's going to be a core set of features that just work across every game -- when you buy a game that is Xbox Live enabled, you're going to know that it supports those core features. We're also doing a lot online with the service to make sure we deal with cheaters -- we ban cheating.. we know that that's a big hassle for people online and we want to take the cheaters out and let the good guys play. It is also designed to be secure and safe. You'll only have one password, so you don't have a list of passwords next to your couch or something that you have to look at every time you want to log onto the service.. So in a nutshell that's what we're doing in phase one. It's going to be a steady build; we're going to do a consumer beta test in the coming months and we'll be looking for a small pack of gamers -- pioneers -- to help us test the service, bang on the service, make the service better... and then we'll launch it later on this year..
GameSpy: Is it operational now? Are you testing it now?
David Hufford: We have the server room, it is up and running and developers are creating games for Xbox Live right now. They are testing servers, they are testing their games on the servers.. so all the hard work has started. It's actually been ongoing for the last six or seven months.
GameSpy: Are you going to have any type of legacy support for older games or are you going to reissue older titles to work with Xbox Live?
David Hufford: Any game that will be Xbox Live enabled will be logo'd on the box. We'll look at old titles and decide whether or not we want to add online features to them.. we'll look at those games and decide if that would make for a compelling Xbox Live game. So we're going to have to look at everything on a case by case basis.
GameSpy: That would be a good way for developers to create expansion products to some existing games for sure..
David Hufford: Well, that's what we're pumped up about.. that's why we packed in the ethernet port and the hard drive in there was so that we could enable new types of things to happen on the console that we didn't have before. I talked about the baseline features that we're going to have, but over time we're going to have downloadable content.. it's going to take off like a wild ride. it's going to be a lot of fun.
GameSpy: There was a mention of this sort of thing in an interview somewhere that you could quickly switch to another game.. and a vague mention of some type of digital distribution support.. are you guys ready to talk about that and how much of that is true?
David Hufford: No.. maybe you're talking about cross-game notification. For example, if you and I are playing and you hop on the service i'll know you are there and I can decide to quit playing NFL Fever and go over and play Unreal if that what I want to do.. but other than that, we haven't gotten too descriptive about what additional features besides the ones i've already mentioned.
GameSpy: So you're not going to be doing any kind of digital distribution? David Hufford: No. It's all about games. The thing is that everything we're doing starts and ends with video games and we're not trying to do anything but make the games' experience kick some serious butt..
GameSpy: Will Live use any components of The Zone or will it be a part of The Zone?
David Hufford: It is not modelled after The Zone. We are obviously broadband and we know that gamers want an easy access experience and an "always on" fast action gameplay experience. We're taking a lot of what we learned on The Zone about how to build communities, how to nurture them, letting the community rule itself -- that sort of thing... we're taking a lot of that knowledge and we've applied them to everything we're building with this service. The PC and the console are such different experiences and the people that play on those devices expect different things, so we're trying to make the Xbox Live service console-like; it's got to be simple and we know that gamers in the living room just won't tolerate the hassles that they do on the PC.
GameSpy: Do you think that Xbox Live is going to open the door for the massively multiplayer market; are there going to be any game of this nature and do you plan on showing anything like that at E3?
David Hufford: Well, we'll announce some games at E3. We know that the service side is super super important -- you've got to support it with kick ass games. So at E3 we'll "show a little leg" and unveil some new titles.
GameSpy: Just for the record, what are some of the key peripherals that are going to come with the Xbox Live retail package?
David Hufford: Well, we haven't talked about how we're going to market the product just yet. Some of those details will come out in the next few months.. we might share some of those at E3. So I would say stay tuned for any more information on that.
GameSpy: But we know its going to come with like a headset and other components, right?
David Hufford: Well, we are designing the Xbox Communicator. Now whether that becomes part of a first wave retail package or not -- those are the details we haven't announced and are not ready to yet. We're working through some of the fine details there..
cont...
David Hufford talks about the Xbox online initiative that will be revealed at E3.
Monday April 29, 2002 | Prophet
Xbox Communicator headset
With all the hype about console games going online, you can imagine that its a big deal when a company like Microsoft announces their strategy for enabling their console system to handle online gaming in a major way. Recently Microsoft began to slowly reveal thier plans for bringing the Xbox online -- they've code-named it Xbox Live, and at the front of the pack shouting out the praises of this plan Microsoft Xbox product manager David Hufford. We recently had the opportunity to talk to David about all things related to Xbox Live -- along with their plans for the Xbox at E3 and their freshly released controller for North American and European Xbox players. So without further delay, here's what David had to say about their online strategy:
GameSpy: Tell us a bit more about Xbox Live. What are the components that Microsoft will have to put in place, what will developers have to do on their end to support it and what components will gamers need in order for it to work properly?
David Hufford: Well, let me talk to you about how we're viewing Xbox Live: Really Xbox Live is about creating this community of gamers who want more out of video games. We're taking a service approach in putting Xbox Live together and everything we do on the service is designed to blow gamers away with new cool inner operable features. So in phase one of our service we're going to do things that enable you to find any type of player that you want to play at that given moment -- so if you just want to find any old random guy, you can get on our matchmaking service and find somebody 365 days a year/7 days a week. And if you want to find your freinds, we're going to make it real easy to do that at a moments notice. Imagine sitting on your couch in San Francisco and your best friend in LA or New England summons you to play a game on the service... it's kind of like instant messaging for games.. We're going to have those features across every single game that works on the Xbox Live service. And the Xbox Live service will be voice enabled, so that people can talk smack if that's what they choose to do or holler, or just strategize.. So there's going to be a core set of features that just work across every game -- when you buy a game that is Xbox Live enabled, you're going to know that it supports those core features. We're also doing a lot online with the service to make sure we deal with cheaters -- we ban cheating.. we know that that's a big hassle for people online and we want to take the cheaters out and let the good guys play. It is also designed to be secure and safe. You'll only have one password, so you don't have a list of passwords next to your couch or something that you have to look at every time you want to log onto the service.. So in a nutshell that's what we're doing in phase one. It's going to be a steady build; we're going to do a consumer beta test in the coming months and we'll be looking for a small pack of gamers -- pioneers -- to help us test the service, bang on the service, make the service better... and then we'll launch it later on this year..
GameSpy: Is it operational now? Are you testing it now?
David Hufford: We have the server room, it is up and running and developers are creating games for Xbox Live right now. They are testing servers, they are testing their games on the servers.. so all the hard work has started. It's actually been ongoing for the last six or seven months.
GameSpy: Are you going to have any type of legacy support for older games or are you going to reissue older titles to work with Xbox Live?
David Hufford: Any game that will be Xbox Live enabled will be logo'd on the box. We'll look at old titles and decide whether or not we want to add online features to them.. we'll look at those games and decide if that would make for a compelling Xbox Live game. So we're going to have to look at everything on a case by case basis.
GameSpy: That would be a good way for developers to create expansion products to some existing games for sure..
David Hufford: Well, that's what we're pumped up about.. that's why we packed in the ethernet port and the hard drive in there was so that we could enable new types of things to happen on the console that we didn't have before. I talked about the baseline features that we're going to have, but over time we're going to have downloadable content.. it's going to take off like a wild ride. it's going to be a lot of fun.
GameSpy: There was a mention of this sort of thing in an interview somewhere that you could quickly switch to another game.. and a vague mention of some type of digital distribution support.. are you guys ready to talk about that and how much of that is true?
David Hufford: No.. maybe you're talking about cross-game notification. For example, if you and I are playing and you hop on the service i'll know you are there and I can decide to quit playing NFL Fever and go over and play Unreal if that what I want to do.. but other than that, we haven't gotten too descriptive about what additional features besides the ones i've already mentioned.
GameSpy: So you're not going to be doing any kind of digital distribution? David Hufford: No. It's all about games. The thing is that everything we're doing starts and ends with video games and we're not trying to do anything but make the games' experience kick some serious butt..
GameSpy: Will Live use any components of The Zone or will it be a part of The Zone?
David Hufford: It is not modelled after The Zone. We are obviously broadband and we know that gamers want an easy access experience and an "always on" fast action gameplay experience. We're taking a lot of what we learned on The Zone about how to build communities, how to nurture them, letting the community rule itself -- that sort of thing... we're taking a lot of that knowledge and we've applied them to everything we're building with this service. The PC and the console are such different experiences and the people that play on those devices expect different things, so we're trying to make the Xbox Live service console-like; it's got to be simple and we know that gamers in the living room just won't tolerate the hassles that they do on the PC.
GameSpy: Do you think that Xbox Live is going to open the door for the massively multiplayer market; are there going to be any game of this nature and do you plan on showing anything like that at E3?
David Hufford: Well, we'll announce some games at E3. We know that the service side is super super important -- you've got to support it with kick ass games. So at E3 we'll "show a little leg" and unveil some new titles.
GameSpy: Just for the record, what are some of the key peripherals that are going to come with the Xbox Live retail package?
David Hufford: Well, we haven't talked about how we're going to market the product just yet. Some of those details will come out in the next few months.. we might share some of those at E3. So I would say stay tuned for any more information on that.
GameSpy: But we know its going to come with like a headset and other components, right?
David Hufford: Well, we are designing the Xbox Communicator. Now whether that becomes part of a first wave retail package or not -- those are the details we haven't announced and are not ready to yet. We're working through some of the fine details there..
cont...