In a long interview published by Metro today, Microsoft’s European Vice President of Interactive Entertainment has spoken about the future of the brand. It’s no surprise that Chris Lewis played up the hopes for Kinect and was bullish about the chances for the core franchises this holiday season.
Perhaps slightly more surprising was how honest Lewis was about the Kinect implementation in their core titles like Forza 4 and Mass Effect 3. Rather than make a big fuss about how revolutionary they are, Lewis seems happy to concede that they are bolt-on aspects that don’t need to impact on the core experience. “There are Kinect experiences coming for that audience that won’t alienate that audience,” he said, in reference to the traditional games.
The headline answer of the interview, though, is the admission that the next Xbox console might overlap this current generation’s 10-year life cycle.
we think we’re a little over halfway with the life cycle of the console, but that’s not to say there won’t be an overlap…
That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, console generations have always overlapped for a few years. The PlayStation 2’s ten year life cycle, for example, matured just last year. Four years after its powerhouse successor went to market.
We’ve seen a marked increase in rumours surrounding new consoles from Microsoft so an announcement in the next year certainly wouldn’t be a surprise. It seems that Kinect is perfectly poised to pitch the Xbox 360 at a younger, more casual audience now that the hardware is becoming cheaper.
That leaves Microsoft’s much courted hardcore audience feeling somewhat under-provided for. Will a new console, with reboots or spin offs of the core Xbox franchises sate that desire? That’s something that only the guys at Microsoft can be sure of but signs are certainly starting to show.
What do you guys think, are you ready for a new generation to start winding up for a gala release?
Source: Metro
Sad Panda
I think the most important thing for the Xbox brand is to get some more 1st party titles.
Halo is getting old fast, I got bored quickly with Reach, and Forza can only go so far. Gears of War 3 is the only game I’m looking forward to in the next 12 months on 360.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an excellent piece of kit and I’ll often buy multiformat titles that my mates buy on the 360 for online reasons, but when it comes to exclusive titles it’s lagging well behind.
jayjay119
I disagree completely, first party support should not be MS’s main concern, last gen the PS2 was the dominant console despite having less graphical push than the XBOX or Gamecube because of its vast array of titles: This gen Sony Dropped the ball on that making the PS3 and expensive power house no developer wanted to work on for some time, giving the 360 the advantage of a big, mixed catalogue of games that people can take advantage of. Sony may have some good first party exclusives, but that hasn’t stopped the 360 outselling it. For what it’s worth I prefer the Playstation, but exclusives are not the all important make or break factor.
Sevchenko
that was the case. now that wide variety of x360 games are old and dusty while the ps3 has a continuous stream of great 1st party games coming. We’re not talking false figures here, just quality
Sevchenko
That was the case. Now that wide variety of x360 games are old and dusty while the ps3 has a continuous stream of great 1st party games coming. We’re not talking figures here, just quality
teflon
It only makes sense. This has generally been the policy with a successful console, with only those that weren’t so prolific being canned ahead of time. The NES overlapped with the SNES, the PS1 to the PS2, and PS2 to PS3, as examples.
Microsoft’s first foray with the Xbox was a loss leader to get a foot in the door of the industry, and their strategy was then to cut the ties, release early, and focus solely on the 360 after that. It worked out pretty damned well, which means that there’s no sense it doing the same from this generation to the next.
bacon_nuts
I don’t need a new console yet, Not sure 360 owners do either. It seems like they just need more exclusives. Although they do tend to do a little better on the download XBLA titles than the PSN does, but that wont keep a console going. Hope people don’t just end up rushing and making a massively overpriced console with a massive loss on each one like the PS3. I love it, but I couldn’t afford one for ages..
Awayze
Yeh well the new Xbox better be using a high storage DVD that is QUIET or somehow get rid of the noise it makes.
And no I don’t want to install a 6GB game all the time.
colossalblue
haha, that DVD drive is damn noisy… I think the new 360S models are much, much quieter though.
Kennykazey
Have you noticed the horrible noise the PS3 makes when it boots with a DVD in it? It scared me the first couple times, I thought it was broken, but if there’s a blu-ray or no disc in it it’s fine. Or is this just happening with me?
Dimpoc
I get a similar noise. Sound like the laser arm is slamming all over the shop.
kivi95
Well i expect to see the hd twins to release their consoles in 2013.
colossalblue
I think 2013 for MS and 2014 for Sony, with E3 reveals for both in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
It’s hard to know though, I honestly expected Microsoft to go with an announcement this year due to the way their key exclusives have slowed down over the last 12 months. I guess Kinect is doing enough business that they don’t want to squeeze it.
Jas-n
Haven’t read the article, but just wanted to say yes to the tagline, why do people presume the next XBOX will be named as the double 360? the original wasn’t the 180.
I’ll be hugely surprised if it was called the 720, rprised and confused.
KeRaSh
Well the problem is that marketing people think people associate the numbers behind a console with quality and progression and MS didn’t want to compete with a PS3 when their console would only have a 2 after it’s name. If they went back to normal naming conventions then it would be the PS4 vs. the XBOX3 which would make the MS product look inferior to uninformed people.
So they have two choices:
Progress with their current naming convention or find a comepletely new name like Nintendo does for it’s consoles.
xdarkmagician
You’re probably right about why they didn’t want it called Xbox2, just so you know I’m not arguing with you. :) MS named it the 360 because the 360 revolutionised extreme sports. Just jumping up and down was no longer exciting once people started spinning in mid air. I know the Xbox got it’s name from the X code, but MS has always tried to sell the Xbox as an extreme machine and really tried to captivate generation X with it. When they announced the 360 they stated that the xbox was the first step, but the 360 would wow the crowds, just like an athlete doing a 360. Now that consoles have evolved into media hubs, I expect they try to find a wider appealing name.
hazelam
somebody should set up a pool on the forum for the name of the new xbox.
tsa points for the winner or something.
Foxhound_Solid
Its a weird one. It feels like we are in the infancy of the hd gen.
Kaminari
“Are you ready for a new generation to start winding up for a gala release?”
The current gen has just begun. So no.
Dimpoc
So the future for the 360 is becoming a Wii HD. I seem to recall the original Xbox’s life cycle being very short meaning the 360 was released a year before the PS3. Do you think the Xbox 3 will be out a couple of years before the PS4? Then they would be out of sync.
hazelam
now i’m wondering if this is purely that guy’s opinion or if he knows something.
there’s got to be discussion internally about when the next xbox will hit.