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Shane Kim on Shadowrun's $10 PC to 360 price difference
Some men should be given a reward for giving eloquent and elongated responses to questions without ever really answering them. Take Shane Kim, for example. When asked by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal why Shadowrun on the Xbox 360 cost $10 more than the identical PC version, Microsoft Games Studios' corporate vice president could have simply said "because we can." (Remember, folks, before Gears of War, Microsoft was selling their first-party titles for the old standard of $49.99.)Nay, this wordsmith saw a canvas on which he could be poetic! "[These] price points are our standard pricing for each platform ... This pricing structure is not uncommon in the multiplayer-only first-person shooter genre, as numerous titles have seen success at this price point and gaming model." Do we have an answer as to how Microsoft can justify screwing console owners out of ten dollars? No. Have we witnessed a moment of linguistic triumph? Yes. Brilliant!
Kim "realistic" on 360's performance in Japan
Speaking to Gamasutra, Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, says that Microsoft is "very realistic" about its prospects in Japan. Kim notes that Microsoft's approach was never to "win" Japan, but rather to do better than the original Xbox. Part of this strategy, of course, means recruiting Japanese talent like Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is creating both Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey for the console. Kim says the importance of Japan is motivated by more than financial numbers, but also by the amount of talent in the Japanese development community. Titles like Dead Rising and Lost Planet, says Kim, are illustrating to Japanese developers that Japanese titles can be financially successful in the west. Finally, Kim asserts that Microsoft's aims in Japan remain "realistic," and while Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey will be moderately successful in Japan, they will be successful in the west as well.
Microsoft's Shane Kim thanks Sony ... for screwing up
Microsoft Game Studios' corporate VP, Shane Kim, spoke to Gamasutra about the current video game wars. Surprisingly, he thanks Sony, but only to insult the company in the process: "Sony has helped us with their own missteps, and I'd be foolish not to say that it's not helping us. That's fine. I feel better about our competitive position than when we launched the platform."It's true that Sony has made a lot of mistakes over the past few months, causing some to say the brand has been "killed." However, it's clear that Sony's not out of the game quite yet. GDC has proved to be a significant turning point for the ailing PS3, and the next-gen wars are certainly far from over.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy][Image via Joystiq]
Shane Kim thanks Sony for all the help
Speaking with Gamasutra, Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, is nothing but smiles when it comes to discussing the competition. Kim speaks openly about Sony's mistakes involving the Playstation 3 and notes that these mistakes have had a positive effect on the Xbox 360. Kim states that he's more confident in Microsoft's position now than he was when the system launched, noting that Microsoft has already shipped 10 million 360s, garnered 6 million Live customers, and will have 320 Xbox 360 titles by the end of the year.Kim states that Microsoft is leading the games industry and that the Xbox 360 has the best exclusive content. He notes, however, that Sony helped Microsoft along the way: "Sony has helped us with their own missteps, and I'd be foolish not to say that it's not helping us." Double negatives aside, we think we get the gist of Shane's comment.Concerning Nintendo, Kim lauds the Wii's success and is glad to see Nintendo bring more gamers into the industry, nothing that he believes "it's Nintendo and Microsoft that are really generating the excitement for the industry." Kim doesn't see Nintendo as a direct competitor, but admits that Sony and Microsoft both have to woo the demographic that Nintendo has captured with the Wii.Expect to see the rest of Kim's interview later this week.
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.
Microsoft continues to support DS, but not PSP
1UP asked Shane Kim, Microsoft Corporate VP, about the possibility of Microsoft games appearing on handhelds. His answer? "We do it today. We don't publish those titles directly ourselves, we are creating intellectual property that have great appeal to customers of handheld devices. Whether you're talking about mobile or the DS -- you probably won't see it on the PSP, though."Why the Nintendo love? Well, Microsoft wants to target the kids that seem to shy away from Xbox's older demographic. Get those kids hooked on their properties on the DS, and then hope to reel them over to the 360: "Nintendo's fine. Particularly when you talk about some of our titles from Rare. A Kameo or a Viva Pinata on a DS makes a lot of sense in a lot of ways from a franchise perspective."However, wouldn't one of Microsoft's more mature properties, like Halo, fare better on a handheld that not only has better tech, but has an audience that would be interested in such a product? Unless Microsoft has handheld ambitions of their own ...
Halo 3 beta primarily a server stress test
Speaking with Game Informer, Microsoft Games Managing Director, Shane Kim, and General Manager, Phil Spencer, take some time to discuss the Halo 3 beta. Speaking of the Halo 3 beta, Spencer notes that it will scale over time. In other words, the beta will start out small and grow as time passes. In part, this is why MS chose to put the beta in copies of Crackdown. It's presumable that those who made it into the first two phases of the beta will be playing before those with a Crackdown disc. The idea behind this is to implement new systems on Xbox Live to insure that everyone has a good experience playing when the retail product finally launches. By slowly adding more people to the beta, Microsoft can gauge the stress placed on Live.Spencer adds that before Halo 2 launched, many were worried about the amount of stress it would place on the Live network. According to Spencer, "For us that's what the beta is about." While this doesn't confirm suspicions that the Halo 3 beta is more a stress test than it is an actual beta, it certainly adds fuel to the fire. We've discussed our own theories in recent posts and the latest Fancast, but we'd like to know what you think.Will the Halo 3 beta be an actual beta, bugs and all? Or, will it be nothing more than a glorified stress test (admittedly a kickass stress test that's fun to play)? Does it even matter?[Via HBO]
The Engadget & Joystiq Interview: Microsoft's Shane Kim
If you haven't already watched the video, now you can read the transcription of our interview with Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios. During E3, Vlad Cole and I got some time to sit down and ask him about some of the biggest questions facing Microsoft's early entrant into the next-gen console wars, like whether there are any more developer acquisitions lined up, which Xbox Live Arcade titles will show up on Vista with Live Anywhere, what are the plans for ad-supported gaming, and just how many paid subscribers does Xbox Live has. We're corroborating with several sources: is Peter Moore's [Grand Theft Auto 4] tattoo real?You know, I wasn't there when it was put on there, it's a very personal thing so I can neither confirm nor deny. Okay... so it's real. Prior to E3, people were really looking forward to actual demonstrations of the Wii controller. That was the big buzz coming into the show and, after they unveiled it, I think people were more or less satisfied with it. So how do you think you fared versus that intense excitement towards that controller?I think we fared extremely well. One of the big things we talked about yesterday was all the momentum we're going to have this next generation. We're going to have 10 million units in consumers' hands before the competitor even ships unit one. We're well on our way to 6 million connected members on Xbox Live and we're going to have 160 games in the market by the end of the year. We've got great momentum. We had Bill Gates attend E3 for the first time ever to announce the vision of Live anywhere. Again, demonstrating leadership in the online space isn't just about what we've achieved to date, but also about how we're going to take that forward across multiple platforms and devices. And finally, first and foremost, it's about the games and the content. Yesterday we started with Gears of War and ended with Halo 3, and we sprinkled in a little bit of Fable 2, Forza 2, Alan Wake, and, oh by the way, the Grand Theft Auto 4 announcement as well. So I think from the content standpoint we're definitely doing great there. So, better online, better content, and better pricing than some of the competition; we feel good about where we're at. Do you think it's important to win E3? I think most people say you have, at least in terms of the keynotes. I think it's always great to be recognized for what you're doing, whether it's at E3 or any other point. Sometimes I worry there's too much importance placed on that but since people are saying we won this year, I'll say it's a great thing we won E3.
The Engadget & Joystiq Interview: Microsoft's Shane Kim [update 1]
If you haven't already watched the video, now you can read the transcription of our interview with Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios. On Wednesday (in the middle of E3), Vlad Cole and I got some time to sit down and ask him about some of the biggest questions facing Microsoft's early entrant into the next-gen console wars, like whether there are any more developer acquisitions lined up, which Xbox Live Arcade titles will show up on Vista with Live Anywhere, what are the plans for ad-supported gaming, and just how many paid subscribers does Xbox Live has. We're corroborating with several sources: is Peter Moore's [Grand Theft Auto 4] tattoo real? You know, I wasn't there when it was put on there, it's a very personal thing so I can neither confirm nor deny. Okay... so it's real. Prior to E3, people were really looking forward to actual demonstrations of the Wii controller. That was the big buzz coming into the show and, after they unveiled it, I think people were more or less satisfied with it. So how do you think you fared versus that intense excitement towards that controller? I think we fared extremely well. One of the big things we talked about yesterday was all the momentum we're going to have this next generation. We're going to have 10 million units in consumers' hands before the competitor even ships unit one. We're well on our way to 6 million connected members on Xbox Live and we're going to have 160 games in the market by the end of the year. We've got great momentum. We had Bill Gates attend E3 for the first time ever to announce the vision of Live anywhere. Again, demonstrating leadership in the online space isn't just about what we've achieved to date, but also about how we're going to take that forward across multiple platforms and devices. And finally, first and foremost, it's about the games and the content. Yesterday we started with Gears of War and ended with Halo 3, and we sprinkled in a little bit of Fable 2, Forza 2, Alan Wake, and, oh by the way, the Grand Theft Auto 4 announcement as well. So I think from the content standpoint we're definitely doing great there. So, better online, better content, and better pricing than some of the competition; we feel good about where we're at. Do you think it's important to win E3? I think most people say you have, at least in terms of the keynotes. I think it's always great to be recognized for what you're doing, whether it's at E3 or any other point. Sometimes I worry there's too much importance placed on that but since people are saying we won this year, I'll say it's a great thing we won E3.
Who's got a Joystiq T-shirt?
Our limited-edition Joystiq T-shirts are rolling out to our biggest (and speediest) fans right now. Then there's our not as limited-edition Joystiq E3 shirts that we were giving out at the show. Did you grab enough business cards from Joystiqers on the show floor, like the Joystiq luchador did? Did you make it to the AOL booth during our short, one-hour handout? Or were you gracious enough to grant Joystiq an interview, like Peter, Perrin, Shane, and Miyamoto-san? If you're sporting a Joystiq tee, let us know what you think. Didn't get one? We'll be giving away the orange shirts on the site so keep your eyes peeled. And if you see somebody sporting one on the street, stop 'em and say hi. They're either Joystiq readers or one of us.Big thanks to Philip and Yann for the incredible designs. Seriously, we're humbled.
In the back of the bus with Shane Kim
I had a chance to chat with Microsoft Game Studios GM Shane Kim in the back of Microsoft's well-appointed Xbox 360 Blogger Bus. After three days locked in a PR room doing the same routine, Kim's answers are pretty standardized, so he didn't really reveal anything not covered in Joystiq's previous sit-down. (Then again, it's hard to ask clever questions when your mouth is stuffed with Red Vines). However, his mere presence in the backseat is evidence of Microsoft's commitment to building their online community via the blogosphere -- a commitment easily measured in the amount of Peanut M&Ms, sodas and pizza they shoveled our way during the course of E3. I asked Shane why Sony and Nintendo would risk alienating alternative media, and he said I'd have to ask them. I told him I surely would, as soon as I finished the Red Vines. Will MS's transparent, yet tasty, attempt to influence blogs pay off, or is this post evidence that it already has?
Joystiq Video: Shane Kim, General Manager, Microsoft Game Studios
We got the opportunity to interview Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios, and the man responsible for making sure that Microsoft produces killer games. Of course, we asked what we wanted answered, so you'll hear questions about: the Nintendo Wii, E3 dominance, Grand Theft Auto 4 on 360, developer acquisitions, Xbox Live Arcade, in-game advertising, Xbox Live subscription numbers, and more! Get the video[Video] Get the full interview[Cutdown1] Grab part one here[Cutdown2] Done with part one? Get part two here.[Cutdown3] You've made it to the final level.
