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MS to take larger cut of best-selling Community Games
GameDaily BIZ got some details on the revenue sharing structure of the recently detailed Xbox Live Community Games. While we reported that developers could receive "up to 70%" of sales, Microsoft's Chris Satchell clarified the structure this way: "The better you're doing, the more we'll take." Sure, this sounds pretty cutthroat (newsflash: Microsoft is a business!) but the relationship here isn't dissimilar to traditional retail arrangements.If your Community Game performs well, it will be plucked from the crowd and placed in the "storefront" where it should enjoy a great deal of promotion and, in turn, sales. Satchell says, "The game will spend most of its time at 70%, but if we're promoting you and you're getting more traffic, there will be a 10% to 30% marketing fee." Once it's out of the storefront – bam! – "you're back to 70% again." In other words, if you want more of your hard-earned ... uh, Microsoft Points to go to Bobby Developer and not Johnny Microsoft, wait until things have settled down a bit and the game has left the storefront for the relative anonymity of the crowd. Then, swoop in, make your purchase, and consider The Man stuck.
MS considered 3D tech for Xbox 360
Think about this for a moment. Preparation for an evening long session of Halo 3 could have included snacks, beverages, console, game disc and a stereoscopic 3D display. According to a July 3 interview with GamesIndustry.biz, XNA's general manager, Chris Satchell, said Microsoft considered the tech for console gaming. In an excerpt from the interview, Satchell revealed that Microsoft actually looked into using stereoscopic technology (seen in the upcoming Ubisoft game Avatar and Texas Instruments' upcoming DualView TV) for gaming. Ultimately it was determined the need for special glasses made the idea impractical. "I think it is hard to be mainstream with asking people to wear headgear to play games," he said. We'd prefer the headgear above, thank you. While technology is being developed to overcome some original obstacles for stereoscopic displays, Satchell believes the possibility of the tech is, "very interesting." As Joystiq pointed out, we're officially one step closer to the "Holodeck," people! Awesome?[via Joystiq]
Fancast Xtra: the Microsoft blogger's breakfast
Microsoft has made the blogger's breakfast something of a tradition at GDC. Joystiq's Chris Grant attended last year, and this year I was proud to include myself in the same company. The blogger's breakfast is essentially a question and answer session for (you guessed it) bloggers. In attendance from Microsoft were Shane Kim, managing director of Microsoft Game Studios, and Chris Satchell, general manager of the Microsoft games group. In between bites of eggs and bacon, the two execs were bombarded with questions ranging from user created content and Xbox Live Arcade, to Peter Jackson and episodic content. We captured audio of the event for you all to hear. You can download the MP3 by hitting the "read" link. Subscribers to the Fancast will receive the audio automatically. Download and enjoy, but keep in mind you'll have to tune out the sounds of furious keyboard tapping, clinking plates, and the crinkling plastic of bloggers trying to unwrap delicious maple syrup.
MS: Less than 50% of 360 owners had Xbox 1
In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Microsoft's general manager of game development, Chris Satchell, speaks at length about the future of the Xbox 360 and its competition. He takes time to leverage the "set top box" ideal (as in, the 360 can do everything but make julienne fries), talks about Games for Windows and the ease of publishing titles for Windows and 360 simultaneously, and of course takes time to sully the competition. Perhaps the most surprising remark in the interview, is that less than half of Xbox 360 owners have an original Xbox. In other words, most 360 owners weren't Xbox fanboys to begin with, which means they're fresh from their PS2s, Gamecubes, and PCs. From a business standpoint, this is obviously a good thing, because it means the 360 is making a broad impact. Finally, Satchell takes a moment to sling a little mud Sony's way. Regarding Sony's online service, Satchell advises Sony to "copy Xbox Live a little more closely," adding, "My honest opinion is that it's pretty much a disaster. They keep saying that they have a free service. Well, if they don't have anything, of course it's free." Yowza. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.[Via Eurogamer. Thanks, Boff]
Microsoft confirms upgraded 360 for research
In an interview with Gamespot, Microsoft's general manager of their game developer group, Chris Satchell, confirmed the rumors and reported leaks concerning a future update to the Xbox 360 hardware. When asked directly about the possibility of an HDMI-enabled Xbox 360 somewhere down the line, Satchell said "If you want to get great HD, I think we've got a good solution for that. In the future it's interesting to see where standards evolve to." He then follows up this statement with "At the moment, everything you might have seen is just looking at our experimentation back in Redmond, not really a product that we're thinking about announcing."Rumors of an HDMI-enabled Xbox 360 have been kicking around ever since Microsoft introduced 1080P for the Xbox 360 via component this past September. Since then, everything from the Lost Planet "typo" to leaked shots of modified 360's have set off alarms across the internet. So while it's great to know that Microsoft is looking into every possibility, it's also hard to swallow that they won't be actively pursuing this opportunity in the marketplace .
A very special "hands-on" with Major Nelson
In episode # 191 of his famous podcast, Major Nelson talks to XNA's Chris Satchell and briefly discusses the masturbatory possibilities of the Vision Camera. Yes, you read that right.
