Microsoft talks of Xbox music, TV, movies, snubs portable gaming
Robbie Bach: ‘I meet with Bill all the time.’
Robbie Bach
In an interview conducted on Friday of last week, Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft, made some amazing claims about the future of the console and what appears to be the formation of a wider media delivery plan.
When asked whether Xbox is becoming more than a gaming machine in the living room, Bach said, “Gaming is the centre of Xbox, but the definition of gaming and interactive entertainment as a whole is going to broaden. We believe music, movie, TV and video games is a powerful combination that will lead to new things.”
This is, as far as we are aware, the first case of a Microsoft executive singling out the specific roles for the Xbox, or more likely a future version of it, that we have witnessed, and reveals the company’s initial insistence that it would only ever be a gaming machine as untrue.
A media delivery box in the home is a good idea, and will be welcomed by most consumers. As to whether its healthy that Microsoft has control of it remains to be seen.
It’s also fair to say that the reason people are kicking up something of a stink about Microsoft’s trojan plans is because they were denied for so long, despite being painfully obvious.
Then, talking of the possibility of a portable gaming accompaniment to Xbox, Bach snubbed the possibility, a surprise to most analysts. “There is not a lot of leverage between console and handheld game players. It took Sony eight years to decide to get into the handheld space and Nintendo is pretty much demonstrating there isn't any leverage between Game Boy and GameCube. It’s like starting a new business. We will focus on making the current Xbox successful.”
Bach’s comments here seem a little premature to say the least. To state that Nintendo is not finding leverage in inter-console connectivity, when the firm has just announced that it is about to greatly increase the development of such software, could be seen as underhanded.
When asked whether Xbox is becoming more than a gaming machine in the living room, Bach said, “Gaming is the centre of Xbox, but the definition of gaming and interactive entertainment as a whole is going to broaden. We believe music, movie, TV and video games is a powerful combination that will lead to new things.”
This is, as far as we are aware, the first case of a Microsoft executive singling out the specific roles for the Xbox, or more likely a future version of it, that we have witnessed, and reveals the company’s initial insistence that it would only ever be a gaming machine as untrue.
A media delivery box in the home is a good idea, and will be welcomed by most consumers. As to whether its healthy that Microsoft has control of it remains to be seen.
It’s also fair to say that the reason people are kicking up something of a stink about Microsoft’s trojan plans is because they were denied for so long, despite being painfully obvious.
Then, talking of the possibility of a portable gaming accompaniment to Xbox, Bach snubbed the possibility, a surprise to most analysts. “There is not a lot of leverage between console and handheld game players. It took Sony eight years to decide to get into the handheld space and Nintendo is pretty much demonstrating there isn't any leverage between Game Boy and GameCube. It’s like starting a new business. We will focus on making the current Xbox successful.”
Bach’s comments here seem a little premature to say the least. To state that Nintendo is not finding leverage in inter-console connectivity, when the firm has just announced that it is about to greatly increase the development of such software, could be seen as underhanded.
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