Bach Explains MTV Showing – Seeks Casual Market

Speaking to assembled delegates from the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley yesterday, Xbox chief Robbie Bach made comments that hint towards a change in focus for the Xbox platform in future iterations. With the current Xbox seeing perhaps the most hardcore elements of gaming adopting it, it’s becoming clear that Microsoft must expand its appeal in order to live out its media-convergence mainstream dreams.

Speaking of the MTV ‘debut’ for Xbox 360 slated for May 12, Bach said, “This is the first time the industry is saying: 'Hey we want consumers to see this first. We think that is an important milestone for Xbox. It is recognition of this as a broad consumer market.”

And on mass-market console appeal, Bach had this to say. “Gamers used to be, on average, 12 years old. The average age of the gamer now is 28. If you want to be good at some of the games... you have to practice, you have to work at it. What we need is more experiences that are casual fun.”

If you’re too impatient to wait for a glimpse of the next-generation Xbox, check out the finalised hardware design here and various sneak peeks of software here.