Microsoft’s Peter Moore shows alarming naivety
Keynote speech misses point of social gaming.
Speaking in Europe this week, former Sega America admiral Peter Moore made some ridiculous comments relating to Nintendo’s portable gaming strategy. Now at Microsoft, Moore was MS’s highest profile speaker at the Games Conference.
"If I believe, which I do, in the social aspects of gaming, at the furthest end of the gaming spectrum against that is handheld gaming, because that's a very solitary, time-killing activity. It is not something you share. We believe that the future is the social element of gaming, and that's going to be done through a console, not through a handheld gaming device."
Given that Microsoft’s goal is to see the world hooked up to Xbox in their living rooms, using voice distortion to sound like a pseudo-butch robot, Moore’s attack on the social aspect of portable gaming shows naivety in the extreme, as well as a lack of first-hand experience that is, frankly, quite worrying.
Indeed, Game Boy gaming has been, over the past few years, the most intensely social gaming the world has ever seen. A year or so ago, had Moore walked past any playground, anywhere in the developed world, he would have seen throngs of children huddled around Game Boy Color consoles.
Today, Game Boy Advance gaming is social in a different way. The fact that the machine is portable means that it is carried with the user and shown to many people, all of whom can play, discuss, and enjoy.
As the next generation of handhelds come to fruition, BlueTooth gaming will come into its own, seeing strangers playing together in public places.
We could go on, but we won’t. Think on, Mr Moore. To aim criticism at the competition is one thing, but to show no grasp of the subject matter is another.
"If I believe, which I do, in the social aspects of gaming, at the furthest end of the gaming spectrum against that is handheld gaming, because that's a very solitary, time-killing activity. It is not something you share. We believe that the future is the social element of gaming, and that's going to be done through a console, not through a handheld gaming device."
Given that Microsoft’s goal is to see the world hooked up to Xbox in their living rooms, using voice distortion to sound like a pseudo-butch robot, Moore’s attack on the social aspect of portable gaming shows naivety in the extreme, as well as a lack of first-hand experience that is, frankly, quite worrying.
Indeed, Game Boy gaming has been, over the past few years, the most intensely social gaming the world has ever seen. A year or so ago, had Moore walked past any playground, anywhere in the developed world, he would have seen throngs of children huddled around Game Boy Color consoles.
Today, Game Boy Advance gaming is social in a different way. The fact that the machine is portable means that it is carried with the user and shown to many people, all of whom can play, discuss, and enjoy.
As the next generation of handhelds come to fruition, BlueTooth gaming will come into its own, seeing strangers playing together in public places.
We could go on, but we won’t. Think on, Mr Moore. To aim criticism at the competition is one thing, but to show no grasp of the subject matter is another.
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