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Getting to know Microsoft's new Xbox lead, Phil Spencer
When Phil Spencer was appointed the new head of Xbox following the departure of longtime lead Marc Whitten, he promised a re-focus on gaming across all Microsoft platforms. That wasn't a huge surprise, of course -- most folks know Spencer as the Microsoft Studios guy; the guy who makes game deals; the guy who speaks at E3 about games during Microsoft's keynote. While that's all accurate, Spencer is also a longtime Microsoft employee, starting as a programmer and working his way up. In an interview with Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Spencer detailed that 26 year history and how it led him to the lofty position he's in today. Beyond the history lesson, Spencer teased out at least one juicy tidbit: "we've got a game we haven't announced yet, we're gonna show on stage at E3." Unannounced games at E3? Get right out! Joking aside, he said it's got a "fantastic setting" and a "soulful" feeling (comparisons were made to indie darlings Limbo and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons). Color us intrigued. Join us below for a bulleted list of quick facts about the man charged with running Microsoft's gaming division, and the full video interview from Microsoft.
Take a look at one of the first Xbox One retail units (video)
There are still a few months until its November launch, but the Xbox One is already ready for primetime, apparently. One of the first Xbox One retail units -- among just 20 or so in existence -- made an appearance this morning in an unboxing video hosted by Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, director of programming for Microsoft's Xbox division. In particular, the video features a limited edition "Day One" version of the console, which is more or less sold out at every major retailer (at least Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy). It's just below the break.%Gallery-195690% If you were one of the lucky few (thousand) to get in on Day One Edition pre-orders, you'll be getting the same stuff as standard edition pre-order folks, albeit with some extra "Day One Edition" branding flair -- the gamepad says "Day One Edition" on it and has a chrome d-pad, and there's an achievement exclusive to DOE owners. Both the standard and Day One editions cost $500, and both now include a wired Xbox One headset -- something that was previously excluded from the retail box. Also of note, the video's subsequent blog post reveals that Xbox One gamepads recharge using microUSB rather than the proprietary cable used for charging Xbox 360 gamepads. Moreover, when the One's gamepad is plugged in, the internal wireless radio is turned off and it transmits data through the wire (which was not the case with the 360 gamepad). This has interesting implications for the One's gamepad in PC applications, which we'll assuredly explore more in the coming weeks as Gamescom returns to Cologne, Germany for another year of Euro-style game news. Update: We've added some official press photos of the headset that comes in the box. Enjoy!
Get your hands and eyes to LA and put them on Microsoft's Xbox One next week
Microsoft's Xbox spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb is giving fans a chance to take a very early hands-on look at the Xbox One's new gamepad next week. On Monday June 10th, just a day before the official kickoff of E3, Hryb is taking to Microsoft's Century City company store and allotting a solid 90 minutes for controller touching, as well as ogling of the new box and its always-on Kinect. Wouldn't you know it, that's right during Sony's PlayStation 4 press conference! As the event is both free and full of loosed next-gen hardware, Hryb suggests showing up well ahead of time -- we'll be on-hand, snapping your picture and distributing high fives. He also teases, "one or two other surprises" as well, which we're hoping isn't a free Kin for every person who gets in.
Microsoft rolls out stockpile of Xbox Live apps for North American and European gamers
This afternoon, Microsoft's Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) announced the availability of several new Xbox Live apps for gamers across the globe. Customers in the good old US of A can add Rhapsody and Blip.TV to their menu of fine media streaming cuisine. Canadian Xbox Live subscribers now have access to both IGN and French entertainment site TOU.TV; merci beaucoup! Customers in Germany picked up Amazon's LoveFilm movie streaming service, while folks in the UK received an update for the application that makes finding content easier. Rounding out the Xbox Live world tour is the Netherlands, where subscribers can now scoop up the RTL XL app for quick access to the network's programming. Before you install that shiny new tile to your console's dashboard, it should be noted that most of these apps require paid subscriptions -- but you probably knew that already.
Microsoft gifting 10-year anniversary Xbox 360s to long-term Xbox Live loyalists
Microsoft's offering a hearty thank you to some of its longest running Xbox Live members with the handsome limited edition Xbox 360 seen above -- totally gratis -- celebrating this month's 10 year Xbox Live anniversary. Director of Xbox programming Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb posted an image of the box to his Twitter account this evening along with a tease that Redmond's hooking up more than just old-school XBLers. "I'll have details on how you can win one for yourself later this week," he noted. One lucky Kotaku reader already got their hands on the limited edition 360, which appears to be a Slim model -- it's unclear how much HDD space it comes equipped with. Hopefully it's more than enough to handle the 10 years of downloadable content it'll soon be holding.
GameDaily 'Persons of the Year': #1 - 3 and readers' choice
GameDaily concluded its "Persons of the Year" feature today by announcing Nintendo America's COO Reggie Fils-Aime took the top spot; Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb took the readers' choice award. Fils-Aime bested Activision CEO Bobby Kotick (#2) and Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos (#3) because of the Wii's phenomenal success in the States. GameDaily had previously announced #4 and #5, which went to Aaron Greenberg and Jeff Gerstmann respectively.Major Nelson -- guru of Xbox -- received the readers' choice award after politely directing his loyal readership to GameDaily's website. Before Major Nelson stepped up his campaign, Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond was in the lead. Too bad Raymond didn't win though, GameDaily ended up having "Men of the Year" awards rather than "Persons of the Year."Read -- 2007 Persons of the Year #1Read -- Persons of the Year: Readers' Choice Unveiled
Major Nelson on GHII DLC, Halo 3, Sony
Before the NYC Guitar Hero II event with Gene Simmons got into full swing, Joystiq got the chance to sit down with Larry Hryb (AKA Major Nelson) and talk about all things Xbox. Speaking about the highly priced Guitar Hero II downloadable songs, Major Nelson states that it's not analogous to iTunes. In other words, the interactivity, the licensing, and the testing all go into creating a price for the new tracks. Furthermore, since the tracks are on a new platform, all the contracts have to be renegotiated. Of course, Red Octane wants to make some money as well. When asked about the bundling issue -- i.e. "I have to buy two crappy songs to get the one I like" -- Major Nelson says that bundling was probably done to bring the cost down. By working on three songs at once, rather than individual songs, Red Octane could conceivably cut down on development costs, thus reducing the price to consumers. In other words, individual songs would likely be even more expensive.Major Nelson also discusses the upcoming Halo 3 beta, the competition from Sony, the Spring Update, and the Wii. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.See Also:Xbox 360 Fancast 010 (featuring Major Nelson)
Fancast: Got a question for Major Nelson?
We hinted at having a special guest on this upcoming Xbox 360 Fancast, and as it turns out, it will be Larry Hryb a.k.a. Major Nelson. We're thrilled at the chance to have him on our show, especially considering some of the current events this week. So, since we're going to be there, he's going to be there, and you're going to be listening, we figured you should be involved. So, do you have any questions for the Xbox Live Director of Programming? Obviously, inquiries about upcoming demos or patches may be a little tedious, so we're looking for unique and/or well thought out questions. You can either leave them in a comment, or shoot us an email at fancast [at] xbox360fanboy [dot] com.
GDC 07: Major Nelson and his Sony swag bag
Make no mistake, covering a conference is mind bending work. Getting a chance to stop and chat is a welcome respite. While waiting for the Microsoft RPG Panel to begin, we ran into Larry Hryb, better known as Xbox Live's Major Nelson. We had time to shoot the breeze about what's happening at GDC, including the super secret feature in Fable 2 (patience, it's coming). Before we ran off to do our blogging duty, we made sure to snag a picture of him holding his newly acquired and highly fashionable Sony swag bag. What was in it we can't say (a golden PSP perhaps) but we sure like those snazzy logos. Much to our shock and delight, Larry asked us why he hadn't been given the honor of appearing on the Xbox 360 Fancast. Soon, Major, very soon.
Live top ten: Sin City descends
Last week, Crackdown came on strong with bronze position on the Live top ten. Now it's swapped spots with Rainbow Six: Vegas as Call of Duty 3 continues to be just shy of the podium. GRAW 2's mulitplayer demo makes a return to take the Crackdown demo's position, which moved to 7th. Madden refuses to budge at sixth while Lost Planet and Oblivion get nudged to eighth and ninth, respectively. GRAW rounds out the bottom of the list while last, and obviously not least, Gears of War retains its top spot over all of Xbox Live-dom. Do you feel slightly confused? If so, our simple, yet eloquent list awaits your review after the break, complete with last weeks standings in parentheses.
Catch Major Nelson on G4
We wouldn't normally suggest you watch anything on G4 (Cinematech is alright), but tonight could be something special. Tonight, Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, will be featured on Attack of the Show's "The Loop" segment. The subject: microtransactions. Ooh, we smell a Lumines fight a comin'! If you'd like to watch, you can check it out at 7:00PM EDT (11:00PM GMT). Hey, it could be worse, right?
XBL downtime scheduled for Oct. 17th [update 1]
Major Nelson has sent us word that there will be a day scheduled downtime for Xbox Live and Xbox.com on October 17th. October 17th ... hmmm. Why does that sound familiar. Wait a minute! That's when we get Double Agent. What the hell, man! And not only that, October 17th is the second to last day of the PSU beta -- which is already delayed to begin with. So what the hell do we do now Microsoft? What the hell do we do now?!Ah well, guess we all gotta deal right? The boys at Xbox.com even suggest 10 things you can do without Live. And Major Nelson reminds us all that this is not the Fall dashboard update, though apparently "cool stuff" is being added. What that means is anyone's guess. Now we just figure out what to do. Anybody want to go bowling or something?[Thanks, Larry, AKA Major Nelson]Update: It's Xbox.com, not Box.com. Give me a break. I'm jet-lagged here.
