cube comments on xbox online
Cube On Xbox Online
Nintendo executives comment on Microsoft's online plans for Xbox.
March 25, 2002 - In an interview with IGN GameCube, Nintendo officials Jim Merrick and Perrin Kaplan, in the course of discussing Nintendo's online plans, revealed what they believe are the details of the Xbox's online service. Although Microsoft has yet to announce details of the Xbox online program, Merrick, one of Nintendo of America's highest ranking technology executives, mentioned in passing that Xbox Live is the name and that the monthly access fee will be $14.95 in addition to some kind of up front fee.
For more information you can head directly to IGNcube or read an excerpt from the interview that deals with Nintendo's take on both Sony and Microsoft's online plans:
IGNcube: Sony has already announced its online plans. Microsoft, we hear, is brewing a good one. Where does Nintendo stand?
Perrin: Broadband.
Jim: Sony and Microsoft have two different strategies. Sony has made a very good announcement. I'm not sure they have the plan behind it, but they've made a good announcement. They're at one end of the spectrum with GameSpy and the Tony Hawk thing going on -- do your own thing. Microsoft is at the opposite end of the spectrum with Xbox Live for $14.95 a month and some unknown amount of money up front, and of that the publishers get nothing. So it's a good business plan for Microsoft -- not so sure it's good for the publisher. And I'm also not so sure it's good for the consumer. I mean, $14.95 a month is fine for someone who's used to playing Everquest on the PC, but for the console gamer we'll have to wait and see.
Nintendo, though, is not going to jump in just because Sony and Microsoft are doing something. You can't compete by following others.
As of IGN's 7pm (PST) publish time, no officials from Microsoft were available for comment in response to Merrick's comments. However, IGN Xbox has had sources go on the record and confirm Xbox Live as the proper name for the Xbox online service. It is widely believed, however, that Microsoft intends to reveal the bulk of their online strategy at the upcoming E3 Expo in May. IGN will have much more on Xbox's online program in the near future; a future that does not include Pokemon.
