X
Xenon
http://news.com.com/Gates+taking+a+seat+in+your+den/2008-1041_3-5514121.html?tag=nefd.lede
<snipped>
LAS VEGAS--Bill Gates is coming to your living room, whether you like it or
not.
Microsoft's chairman is setting the company on a course to provide software
and tools that will allow different forms of entertainment to blend.
Messaging will become a crucial part of Xenon, the code name for the next
Xbox. Microsoft will also work with television outlets like the Discovery
Channel and MTV Networks to create tools for delivering content, as well as
advertising, into the home.
What changes does this mean for Microsoft? Do you see yourself becoming,
let's say, more of a seller of content?
Well, the most explosive piece of content this holiday season was "Halo 2."
We sold 6.3 million copies, we've had 69 million hours of online game play.
And so is Microsoft a content company? Well, I'd say "Master and Commander"
is good--people have talked about how the story made them cry--that's
content, but it's also software.
The boundary there has always been a bit gray. Our main role is to provide
the platforms and the tools, and simply partner with the content companies
like MTV and let them do what they're good at. It's mainly in this
interactive realm that we need to come in and do some complete content
ourselves.
There's a big debate over whether games will surpass movies and TV as a
bigger portion of revenue in the entertainment industry. What do you think
will happen?
Well, there are a couple things to look at. Instant messaging will go from
just being a text thing to also being voice and video and music, so instant
messaging, particularly for young people but in general, is very, very
explosive.
And Xbox Live is really talking to your friends, doing things with your
friends. And as we bring in new game titles that are more approachable,
appeal to different demographics, the boundary between what's game playing,
what's socialization and what's communication--you will have really broken
down the barriers there.
We can make these hot, super great graphics games something that are easy
for people to use. That's a big initiative we have as we move to the next
generation of Xbox. Likewise, the connection between the Xbox Live and our
Messenger will be really simple so people can say, "Hey, come and play,"
"Oh, okay, I'm finishing my homework, I'm almost done, I'll get on and play
with you." And so even as they're connected up to each other, they don't
think of, "Oh no, now I'm gaming, now I'm communicating."
What are some of the primary goals with Xbox 2?
Broadening the market, having media capabilities that when there's a PC, we
connect up to that. This whole story of the Windows Media Connect and how
all the formats and rights management and that simple Media Center menu
that's just got TV, photos, music right there--those are common elements
we're bringing to all the home devices.
We didn't do Xbox just to do a video game; we did it to be part of our
vision of the digital lifestyle, and with the next generation, we really get
to go there. In the first generation, we had one simple goal, which was to
establish credibility as a great video game platform. We've done that.
Actually, the last few months in the United States, we outsold Sony with the
PlayStation. So even though they have the biggest installed base, we are a
very strong, credible No. 2 in that. As we go into this next generation,
it's much broader.
Yes, great video gaming but videogaming for a broader set of people, more
communications, more media, more connectivity. And at the same time, we move
up to things like high-definition graphics and wireless that the chip
breakthroughs allow us to get to.
So just for the games alone you'd go, wow, but the concept now of bringing
in your music, your media, connecting to the PC, connecting Xbox Live to
Messenger--that just makes it a very big deal.
It's a full entertainment center, basically.
That's right. So Media Center PC and Xbox become totally complementary.
You've seen a bit of that, where we let you take music from PCs and put it
into game titles, and we have this extender concept where the Media Center
can project through the Xbox, but that's just the start of what we can do
there.
One thing that's kind of intriguing in Xbox 2 is you're participating a
little more on the design of the silicon.
Well, we have some key partners that we've announced. ATI and IBM are the
key chip partners, and there are some others. But I'd say our sophistication
is much higher in this second generation. So every level, what we're doing
in tools, what we're doing in Live, the way we're working with the
publishers, the way that we've gotten involved in the hardware design--we're
being very coy about when and all that, but I'm certainly excited when it
comes time to show at how much smarter we are getting to do it a second time
with the team that's been built there.
Any interest in handhelds?
We are not in the handheld space. We watch the intense competition of Sony,
Nintendo, Nokia--whoever comes along with interest. Our portable gaming will
be focused on things like getting onto the phones, getting onto portable
PCs, but our Xbox team is focused on the TV-connected console. And the fact
that Sony's a little distracted with that may let us do all the better in
the next generation.
<snipped>
LAS VEGAS--Bill Gates is coming to your living room, whether you like it or
not.
Microsoft's chairman is setting the company on a course to provide software
and tools that will allow different forms of entertainment to blend.
Messaging will become a crucial part of Xenon, the code name for the next
Xbox. Microsoft will also work with television outlets like the Discovery
Channel and MTV Networks to create tools for delivering content, as well as
advertising, into the home.
What changes does this mean for Microsoft? Do you see yourself becoming,
let's say, more of a seller of content?
Well, the most explosive piece of content this holiday season was "Halo 2."
We sold 6.3 million copies, we've had 69 million hours of online game play.
And so is Microsoft a content company? Well, I'd say "Master and Commander"
is good--people have talked about how the story made them cry--that's
content, but it's also software.
The boundary there has always been a bit gray. Our main role is to provide
the platforms and the tools, and simply partner with the content companies
like MTV and let them do what they're good at. It's mainly in this
interactive realm that we need to come in and do some complete content
ourselves.
There's a big debate over whether games will surpass movies and TV as a
bigger portion of revenue in the entertainment industry. What do you think
will happen?
Well, there are a couple things to look at. Instant messaging will go from
just being a text thing to also being voice and video and music, so instant
messaging, particularly for young people but in general, is very, very
explosive.
And Xbox Live is really talking to your friends, doing things with your
friends. And as we bring in new game titles that are more approachable,
appeal to different demographics, the boundary between what's game playing,
what's socialization and what's communication--you will have really broken
down the barriers there.
We can make these hot, super great graphics games something that are easy
for people to use. That's a big initiative we have as we move to the next
generation of Xbox. Likewise, the connection between the Xbox Live and our
Messenger will be really simple so people can say, "Hey, come and play,"
"Oh, okay, I'm finishing my homework, I'm almost done, I'll get on and play
with you." And so even as they're connected up to each other, they don't
think of, "Oh no, now I'm gaming, now I'm communicating."
What are some of the primary goals with Xbox 2?
Broadening the market, having media capabilities that when there's a PC, we
connect up to that. This whole story of the Windows Media Connect and how
all the formats and rights management and that simple Media Center menu
that's just got TV, photos, music right there--those are common elements
we're bringing to all the home devices.
We didn't do Xbox just to do a video game; we did it to be part of our
vision of the digital lifestyle, and with the next generation, we really get
to go there. In the first generation, we had one simple goal, which was to
establish credibility as a great video game platform. We've done that.
Actually, the last few months in the United States, we outsold Sony with the
PlayStation. So even though they have the biggest installed base, we are a
very strong, credible No. 2 in that. As we go into this next generation,
it's much broader.
Yes, great video gaming but videogaming for a broader set of people, more
communications, more media, more connectivity. And at the same time, we move
up to things like high-definition graphics and wireless that the chip
breakthroughs allow us to get to.
So just for the games alone you'd go, wow, but the concept now of bringing
in your music, your media, connecting to the PC, connecting Xbox Live to
Messenger--that just makes it a very big deal.
It's a full entertainment center, basically.
That's right. So Media Center PC and Xbox become totally complementary.
You've seen a bit of that, where we let you take music from PCs and put it
into game titles, and we have this extender concept where the Media Center
can project through the Xbox, but that's just the start of what we can do
there.
One thing that's kind of intriguing in Xbox 2 is you're participating a
little more on the design of the silicon.
Well, we have some key partners that we've announced. ATI and IBM are the
key chip partners, and there are some others. But I'd say our sophistication
is much higher in this second generation. So every level, what we're doing
in tools, what we're doing in Live, the way we're working with the
publishers, the way that we've gotten involved in the hardware design--we're
being very coy about when and all that, but I'm certainly excited when it
comes time to show at how much smarter we are getting to do it a second time
with the team that's been built there.
Any interest in handhelds?
We are not in the handheld space. We watch the intense competition of Sony,
Nintendo, Nokia--whoever comes along with interest. Our portable gaming will
be focused on things like getting onto the phones, getting onto portable
PCs, but our Xbox team is focused on the TV-connected console. And the fact
that Sony's a little distracted with that may let us do all the better in
the next generation.