Microsoft's John Schappert

By Ellie Gibson Published 9 October, 2008

On NXE, winning in Japan and the economic crisis.

A year ago, who would have predicted that come October 2008 Xbox 360 sales would be exceeding PS3 in Japan? Or that Microsoft would be making the most headlines at the Tokyo Game Show? But that's exactly what's happened, which must be good news for John Schappert.

He's the corporate vice president of live, software and studios within Microsoft's entertainment and devices division - the boss of Xbox Live, in other words. As you'll know if you read our live text coverage, his keynote speech at TGS included some important announcements regarding the launch of the New Xbox Experience and a new Halo 3 standalone expansion pack.

Afterwards, Eurogamer and a few other journalists sat down with Schappert for a roundtable interview about 360's newfound popularity, NXE, the importance of innovation and more. Here's what he had to say.

Eurogamer: The Xbox 360 has been outselling PlayStation 3 in Japan in recent weeks. Why do think that is? What's finally made that happen?

John Schappert: First and foremost, it's great content. That's the backbone of our system and what drives people to pick it up. We've got great games - Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery are two locally-made Japanese RPGs exclusive to Xbox 360. I think that's a big driver of sales. People that own last-generation consoles are saying, 'Now there's a reason for me to upgrade.'

Secondly it's our great price point. We've got the most attractive price point of all the next-gen consoles; worldwide, we're less than USD 200. I think those two things combined have given us great success.

Roundtable: One of the arguments I've heard this week is that Microsoft hasn't committed; you've put an office here, but everything has to go back via Seattle. What are your plans for making that leap - having an office here and giving it autonomy?

John Schappert: I have not heard that complaint, and I've spent a lot of time this week with our partners. I think our Japanese office has done incredible work. The success we're seeing right now is because of the great work this team has done. I'd say they do it in conjunction with our offices, and this office - just like all of our regional offices - is managed for the local market.

'Microsoft's John Schappert' Screenshot 1

New Xbox Experience will launch on 19th November.

The message I've heard from many of our publishers is that they are very happy with our success in Japan. They're most excited about our success globally helping them to achieve success globally.

Roundtable: Turning to Xbox Live, would you use Live in the same breath as Facebook and other social networking services?

John Schappert: I certainly think we're much closer and more akin to that than another online service that just focuses on multiplayer gaming. We see it as the largest social network in the living room. A lot of the additions we've made with the New Xbox Live Experience are around socialising with your friends, going beyond just playing games with them. You can join a party together, you can go from experience to experience together, you can share photos, watch movies...

Xbox Live really does take a console which started life as a games machine and turn it into an entertainment hub. The New Xbox Experience turns the Xbox into a socially connected place where you and your friends get to live.

Roundtable: Why not just let gamers play games?

John Schappert: Because you still can. To me, social networking is about us getting together and playing games, having conversations, sharing photos, sitting on virtual couches... I think people have friends all over the world now, and Xbox 360 helps keep them connected.

The number of messages that are sent daily on Xbox Live is in the tens of millions. It's just amazing. People game together, that's how it started, but there are an awful lot of people who get home, start up their Xbox and they're not playing a game, they're chatting.

In no way are we abandoning gaming. That's the fundamental that makes all of this a possibility. But I think gamers are entertainment consumers, and want to do more than just play games and get disconnected from their party. They want to stay together and be social. The average Xbox user has friends in the double digits.

Roundtable: Are there plans to monetise the social networking? Online ads, subscriptions...

John Schappert: We've had ads on the Xbox 360 for a couple of years. I think our ads are a plus for the service in many ways, because they're tailored to our users. The clickthrough on our ads is very high because the advertisers advertise great products that our digital consumers like. We're pretty particular with who we let advertise on Xbox Live as well.

So yes, there are ads, there will be ads. We have nothing to announce with respect to subscriptions.

Roundtable: What about getting, say, Nike involved, so you could give your avatar Nike trainers...?

John Schappert: Ah-ha... We have nothing to announce about that right now. I will say however we have great customisation on the avatars, and when we launch, that's not the last lot of clothes and so on we'll release. There will be frequent releases - for free - of new content.

Roundtable: It's going to be a very difficult Christmas with the banking crisis and the effect on the economy. What's your outlook?

John Schappert: The economy is something that affects all of us, and it's something I hope stabilises. That said, we've seen strong demand for Xbox 360, and I think our price point is a great price point.

Roundtable: So you think that lower price point is going to help you?

'Microsoft's John Schappert' Screenshot 2

Every element of Live has been overhauled.

John Schappert: If people are looking for a console this Christmas, that price is something they will be looking at. It's going to be a hard Christmas, as you said; we've got a great price point, though.

Eurogamer: One criticism that's been levelled at Microsoft is that you tend to follow rather than innovate. It's been suggested there are elements of the Miis in the New Xbox Experience, and perhaps a little bit of PlayStation Home. What makes this different?

John Schappert: I probably can't go on a little rant. Can I go on a little rant?

PR Man: Sure.

John Schappert: The innovation criticism is almost ironic to me. You've got the Xbox, which is the console that pioneered hard drives, broadband gaming, online gaming, Achievements and gamercards. It's the console that arguably pioneered first-person shooters in your living room, wireless controllers... I could go on.

I think we've earned our chops in terms of innovation. The games division has some brilliant people who have done amazing things, and who have shaped the industry forever. I think we've done a great job of innovating and we continue to lead.

With respect to Avatars - Miis are wonderful. Nintendo has done great things. But avatars are just a logical extension of what we've had already. We've had a gamercard and a gamer pic; I want to take that to the next level. Now we've got Live parties, we launched the first video store... So I get a little riled there. I think we've done some great things for the industry and for gamers.

I might also add that gamers recognise it. We've done pretty well and we're really happy with our success so far, and proud about what we're launching next.

John Schappert is corporate vice president, Live, software and studios, entertainment and devices division, Microsoft. He looks a bit like the man who puts the poison in the drink in The Princess Bride, only much more handsome.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (69) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Whatsfor #1 3 years ago

    Nick, you well and truely are a troll of the scumiest variety!

    For some reason I picture that you are like the youtube video of angry german kid while you type these comments. Only you probably masturbate at the same time.
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 13:29

  • Negotiator #2 3 years ago

    MS have innovated in the online aspect more than any other console company, as Schappert explains at the end, and also shuts Ellie up.

  • The-Bodybuilder #3 3 years ago

    Other than the "re-invented fps for consoles" comment, everything else is pretty fair.
    Ofcourse, the raving fanaticism that is gaming and gamers won't see it that way, so I expect a 200+ cry from many gamers.

  • Widge #4 3 years ago

    Is NickNukem HairyCrack with a NEW ID?

  • rotmm #5 3 years ago

    I think the greatest "innovation" with the coming of the new experience is going to be Primetime. It has the potential to be massive and a true system seller for those that enjoy watching quiz shows and are more than happy to sit texting and phoning for those TV competitions. Avatars are also essential for it to make an impact.

    However, as nothing like that has ever been tried in the console space before, it also has the potential to crash and burn spectacularly. ;)

  • rumrum4444 #6 3 years ago




    Schappert is a winner !


    We gotta love this guy !


    But i still miss pete moore and i wish hw could come back tu us, M$ users.



    .

  • gabsta69 #7 3 years ago

    The princess Bride is such a quality film.

    " My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!!!" lol

  • Doctor_What #8 3 years ago

    Hello again Nick. Could you stop the fanboy trolling please? Thanks.

    John Shappert needs to learn some maths or economics: "worldwide, we're less than USD 200". Not in the UK. So worldwide, except where it's not? Snappy John, very snappy.

    He's very defensive about innovation isn't he? Surely the better answer would have been 'when we see things that we think work well, we make them work better and integrate them into our wider framework', rather than 'we did all this stuff first (on consoles)'. MS have done a decent (although still not amazing) job of pulling many threads together into one fabric. It's better than Sony's service, but it's also infinitely more expensive.

    Still, considering the amount of crap that people in his position usually spout in interviews, that wasn't too bad.

  • anomagnus #9 3 years ago

    mans got a point about first person shooters

    apart from golden eye, did any fps really hit the stratosphere?

    ps2 was hardly known for its Stirling selection, was it?

    the wireless controllers is a stretch, but if thats the only thing you can quibble about, its a fucking win for MS

  • CunningLinguist #10 3 years ago

    Does anyone actually read this shit? It's just PR.

  • GamesConnoisseur #11 3 years ago

    I m still stratching my head regarding X360 outselling PS3, how long would that continue?

    I do get a feeling that PS3 will regain ground but still an indication that Sony is not so loved, especially at the higher price point compared to the rival consoles (Yen value of PS3 is still pretty reasonable cheap in the currency exchange rate).

    FFXIII is only available for PS3 in Japan and that would make a difference if nothing else, but bet that Sony would have expected PS3 be selling multiple times of X360 by now (considering that both Xbox and X360 are not ever going to be critical mass in Japan) and would be embarrasingly satisifed to be just ahead by a percentage?

  • Doctor_What #12 3 years ago

    @ anomagnus: I liked Quake 3, Half-Life, and Deus Ex on the PS2. They're some of the top FPS titles though they weren't console exclusive. It's too much of a stretch for him to dismiss Golden Eye. The PS2 and Dreamcast could also go online for games. I could've sworn someone else did wireless controllers too. Copying harddrives from PCs was hardly a giant leap in console innovation... Which doesn't really leave a lot on his list of 'true' innovation but, as I said before, they've done a decent job of pulling it altogether. I thought my time on Xbox Live was okay, but not so superior that I wanted to pay for it compared to the free service from Sony. That's just how I felt, some people seem to think it's amazing though, so each to their own.

  • AndyboyH #13 3 years ago

    Nintendo did wireless controllers first with the wavebird, but admittedly they didn't have rumble. And that's the decent wireless stuff.

    MadCatz and the like did IR controllers (I had one for my megadrive, I seem to recall) but they were terrible.

  • Widge #14 3 years ago

    @The good Dr.

    Gamecube had wireless controllers, once those came out then you got a load of 3rd party people doing them cross console.

  • chrisjm #15 3 years ago

    200.00 USD = 115.371 GBP. apparently sainsburys are selling for £100.

  • DrDamn #16 3 years ago

    @anomagnus
    You can't really say he's got a point "apart from". When talking about innovation. As mentioned Golden Eye led the way as did the Wavebird. On those two points.

    As for the under $200. They are here when you take tax out of the equation - which is the only way to sensibly compare prices across the globe.

  • ShakaCarnage #17 3 years ago

    John Schappert taking over from the 'too American and too cocky' Don Mattrick? INCONCEIVABLE!

  • Xerx3s #18 3 years ago

    John Schappert: I probably can't go on a little rant. Can I go on a little rant?

    PR Man: Sure.

    :D

  • MilkYMoO #19 3 years ago

    The 360 outselling the ps3 is'nt actually a big thing nowadays, is it?. Nobody expected the 360 to do well in japan anyway, but I'm sure nobody guessed the ps3 would be such sales disaster there either.

  • samaran #20 3 years ago

    'The average Xbox user has friends in the double digits.'

    this statement is amazing

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #21 3 years ago

    Okay, so there was GoldenEye, but I still think there's an argument that FPS=PC up until Halo. It's debatable, but in Schap's defence, he admits that himself.

    Wireless controllers is a little fuzzier; yeah, MS was the first to offer them as standard (more or less), but if PS3 or Wii had released before 360, I still think they'd have had them.

    Overall, that was a surprisingly good interview for a PR dude :-)

  • Xerx3s #22 3 years ago

    "Nintendo did wireless controllers first with the wavebird, but admittedly they didn't have rumble. And that's the decent wireless stuff. "

    What he means is that the 360 was the first console to launch with wireless controllers as standard. I've also never seen a wavebird as standard controller in the package of the ngc but that may just be a regional thing.

    Apart from the things he mentions, they also introduced the concept of worldwide distribution. Worldwide launch. Worldwide most games are released simultaneous, especially the big hitters. This imo, has been the best improvement for gamers in Europe in a long time.

  • Widge #23 3 years ago

    Halo was the best console FPS since Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, and was so for the rest of the generation. The rest were just pretty nonedescript. I'm sure I've read good words about Black though, never tried it myself.

  • Xerx3s #24 3 years ago

    "MadCatz and the like did IR controllers (I had one for my megadrive, I seem to recall) but they were terrible. "

    The Atari 2600 already had wireless controllers back in the 80's. I own a pair with antenna's. \0/

  • Xerx3s #25 3 years ago

    I wonder how long ms will keep on 'winning' in japan. Surely it can't last that much longer. Even so, the sales are dreadful and say more about the state of the ps3 than the quality of the 360.

  • Doctor_What #26 3 years ago

    @ Widge: I loved Black and had far more fun on that than Halo, but it doesn't have the mass appeal that Halo had. Very much a personal taste thing.

  • chrisjm #27 3 years ago

    what about the wireless bazooka controller :-D that was so OTT.

  • Vice.Destroyer #28 3 years ago

    'The average Xbox user has friends in the double digits.'

    this statement is amazing

    My eyebrow raised as well, especially considering there is a 100 friends limit on your friends list. The only ridiculous thing said in the whole interview, so I'll let him off.

  • miiiguel #29 3 years ago

    I really don't know if selling more than PS3 is anything to brag about, but at least MS is trying hard to improve its Japan's market share. Why doesn't Sony do the same, I fail to understand.

  • Whatsfor #30 3 years ago

    @Xerxes

    Please explain the state of the PS3 sales?
    Population PS3 Sales Ratio
    Japan 127m 2.4m 1:52?
    UK 61m 1.4m 1:43?

    Not that far out...

  • Whatsfor #31 3 years ago

    Chrisjm: what about the wireless bazooka controller :-D that was so OTT.

    I still have one of them in the attic!

  • Quint2020 #32 3 years ago

    I agree with him about the innovation thing, Nintendo, Sega and Microsoft have all done things that have changed games consoles forever and for the better, Sony on the other hand.....

  • TheWretched #33 3 years ago

    Your pioneering is all n well, but EVERYTHING you said was there in one form or another already... You just made it a wee bit better (same with Windows... until the bog that calls itself Vista came along).

    Achievements are ... well new, but nothing that I'd say is REALLY needed. And the rest is actually NOTHING new.

    And where are Avatars a logical extension? They are a sad ripoff and nothing else.

    And all of your so called innovation has nothing to do (except multiplayer, which I find is more often a drag than not, and that has been on PCs ever since MUD came along) with playing games per se. And that is what a console is about, foremost. Harddrives in consoles is very nice (especially to the non-gamer^^) but what advantage did it give you in terms of Xbox vs. PS2?

  • DrDamn #34 3 years ago

    @Quint2020
    Eyetoy, Singstar, making it a hell of a lot more acceptable to have a games console in your living room...
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 15:05

  • Evolution #35 3 years ago

    Yeah I have to say his claims of innovation are somewhat comical, but they were the first people to have a decent, mainstream online service.

  • DrDamn #36 3 years ago

    Innovation is not simply the core ideas but also about how it is implemented and hangs together. That's what makes things like Live and LBP innovative when arguably the core ideas may have been done before. Making things better & more accessible is innovative if the end user experience is different because of it.

  • macmurphy #37 3 years ago

    Xerxes has beat me to it, but yeah I had an IR wireless controller for my Amiga. Worked OK and I did feel like a popstar playing games from my bed though back in the day a second TV was about 14 inches and you could see the square root of fuck all, but it was OK.

    I think X-box do follow a bit, they bought Rare, they try and just pay loads of wedge to get the best developers from other systems to build for them, and their new avatars are shameless Mii ripoffs. But then anything good gets robbed, rumble features, analogue sticks, analogue triggers. Everything has to start somewhere, and I for one think their Live service is genius, certainly compared to the thieving ballache that is the Wii (no PS3 so I'll not gob off, only to say that even though Live costs I'm happy to pay for it).

    There's a bit of me that thinks Microsoft is an evil big money making machine that ponces ideas in a shameless quest for world domination, and there's the other bit that just quite likes his X-box and doesn't give a toss where the ideas started.
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 15:12

  • GamerG #38 3 years ago

    Bang on the money MS... Bang on!

    When's Sony's conference I want to hear how the are going to fight back against the MS price cuts and chrimbo line up.

    dare I say £229 PS3??

  • Spydy #39 3 years ago

    quote: The innovation criticism is almost ironic to me. You've got the Xbox, which is the console that pioneered hard drives, broadband gaming, online gaming, Achievements and gamercards. It's the console that arguably pioneered first-person shooters in your living room, wireless controllers... I could go on.

    I think we've earned our chops in terms of innovation. The games division has some brilliant people who have done amazing things, and who have shaped the industry forever. I think we've done a great job of innovating and we continue to lead. /Quote

    - A HDD add-on was first introduced my the PS2 in Japan way before the XBOX was released.
    - Broadband gaming?....please. I was broadband gaming on the PC effing years before XBOX.
    - First person shooters in the living room. Like Goldeneye then, yeah?
    - wireless controllers? Nintendo had them years ago.

    Acheivements and GamerCards are good, but hardly innovative.

    MS don't know how to innovate. Period. Never have and never will.
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 15:28

  • Razz #40 3 years ago

    What a c*nt

  • Xerx3s #41 3 years ago

    "Your pioneering is all n well, but EVERYTHING you said was there in one form or another already... You just made it a wee bit better (same with Windows... until the bog that calls itself Vista came along). "

    Following that line, neither did nintendo or sony. Sony wasn't the first to use disc based media. Nintendo wasn't the first to use things like waggle or avatars. You can basically tear any innovation EVER MADE on consoles apart. What a silly statement.

    People say that ms copies mii's but mii's on the other hand are just copies themselves. <a href='http://www.wee-mee.com'&g t;here</a> you can find one from ms i.e. that was launched years before the wii. The ms doesn't innovate but nintendo/sony do is just ridiculous beyond words.
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 16:22

  • anomagnus #42 3 years ago

    guys, you can throw out comments all you like, but 3 or four decent FPS's before the xbox arrived is basically fuck all

    his point is, and you can only avoid it if your actually going out of your way to do it, is that the XBOX brought everything togeather

    yes, there were FPS's before halo, but they were rare, the console market was NOT known for them, and they were seen as sole purview of the PC gaming market

    his talk on the hardware side of things is equally relevant. He's not saying they invented hardrives, but sure as fuck, they made them ubiquitous in the console market, as for the smart ass talking about broadband gaming, again, yes it was available on the PC, but internet gaming in the console market was fucking awful until the xbox 360

    as much as many of you cannot accept it, microsoft brought it all togeather for the first time. In that regard they truly did innovate.

    They took everything the pc did, and put it in a console. that was their innovation.

    On there second attempt, compared to the three consoles sony has had, plus an extra 13 years in the market, they have utterly kicked the shit out of them

    PS3 might win in the long run, but the point being, it should never have been a competition

    but god forbid that MS might EVER do something positive, lets all break out the sony flags and pretend that gaming was created by sony, and only sony can innovate

    yea sony, thank you for your over priced, feature reduced platform in europe, thank you for shitty conversions, and shit hardware, thanks for shoving your dick down my ass and telling me how loyal i am while you burst my ass hole

    fucking grow up, MS made mistakes, but i'd be fucking curious to see the state of the console market right now without them



  • DrDamn #43 3 years ago

    @Farticus
    Eyetoy and Singstar sold games to people who didn't buy games by presenting them in a way which worked for them. That was innovative. Others have followed (see 360 camera and Lips). They sold consoles off the back of both.

    > "making it a hell of a lot more acceptable to have a games console in your living room..."
    > That's not an innovation, that's just selling a lot of consoles.

    How they went about it was - selling a lot of consoles was the result of the approach. Similar to Nintendo this gen they saw a big market beyond the gaming nerds and went after it by doing things differently. Release games with slick design and licensed music, putting games consoles in night clubs. The PS brand became a much more acceptable name to people over Sega and Nintendo which were largely seen as toys. It's the approach which was innovative and we wouldn't have the same gaming market we see today without what they did.

  • DrDamn #44 3 years ago

    Who did dual analog sticks first? Got a feeling it was Sony but not sure.

  • Xerx3s #45 3 years ago

    "MS are the innovators of console online, yeah yeah, dreamcast, but MS brought it to the masses"

    Well, ms worked on the DC. It's most likely why peter more got the job there at ms.

  • DrDamn #46 3 years ago

    @anomagnus
    "but god forbid that MS might EVER do something positive, lets all break out the sony flags and pretend that gaming was created by sony, and only sony can innovate"

    I agree with your main point that MS have brought a lot of things together and that is innovative. I'm not sure where the Sony point comes in cos I can't see anyone saying that. Each of the main manufacturers have innovated, either with more tangible obvious points such as the Wiimote or with the less obvious things like the approach and overall package.

    What's being argued over are a couple of specific points - like wireless and FPS's. They are arguable but I think most would agree there was something successful there first. There are aspects of these points he made which are valid though. Elements of Halo and standardisation of wireless controllers I would count as innovations.

  • HardCoreGamer999 #47 3 years ago

    @Dr Damm
    MS was the first to launch next-gen console with all the elements such as wireless controllers therfore they are innovative
    It's not the invention y a manufacture that counts but the risk to put it on market that makes it an innovation
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 16:41

  • DrDamn #48 3 years ago

    Which is what I said ...

  • Whatsfor #49 3 years ago

    I think quite a few people who have posted here need to use a dictionary to see the difference between "inovator" and "inventor".

  • #50 3 years ago

    im confused, is the 360 winning it in Japan? I thought they had a hard time over there.

  • DrDamn #51 3 years ago

    They are certainly making a better fist of it this time. Compared to last time they are winning. Off the back of a couple of titles they are even outselling the PS3 - in recent weekly figures, though still a ways behind in totals. In terms of where they were expected to be at this point the 360 is doing a lot better than the PS3.

    Cold hard total numbers say Wii is winning though :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 16:51

  • Whatsfor #52 3 years ago

    They have "won" the past two weeks. "Won" meaning they came 4th behind DS, PSP and Wii.

    Lifetime sales in Japan
    Edited by 1 at 09/10/08 @ 16:54

  • Whatsfor #53 3 years ago

    they have merely been in a long line of franchises following a trend toward custom peripheral based gaming.

    Like the Wii?

  • DrDamn #54 3 years ago

    Eyetoy sold plenty of consoles - and the innovation was who they sold them to. My sisters bought PS2's off the back of the Eyetoy titles. Didn't change anything? What about MS's big push into casual gaming at E3 this year - Lips, You're in the Movies and SceneIt. See anything familiar in there?

    Again it doesn't matter if EyeToy is still relevant - it brought people into gaming who wouldn't have been there before and some of them stayed. If the Wii dies a death and is labelled a bit of a fad does that make what it did any less innovative?

  • DrDamn #55 3 years ago

    Innovation can be big and small. It was more the affect of the innovations I mentioned in terms of acceptance of consoles than the difference these things made to the game experience. Innovation doesn't have to be massive to count.

  • DrDamn #56 3 years ago

    I don't think Sony have made any of the massive tangible innovations in gaming btw. They are very few and far between. That's not to say they are not innovative though. They have managed to lose most of that this gen though.

  • citizenHUNTER #57 3 years ago

    I'll add my two pence worth... but I generally think Microsoft, while maybe not being at the absolute forefront of all of these things, did, even with the first Xbox standardise many things (once they redesigned the initially wank controller), and with 360 we have a great online service, incredibly awesome wireless controllers that I've never had any issues with. Remember they also spearheaded the move to HD which to be honest I'm not sure would have been something that would have happened this gen, it never felt like it was on the cards until Microsoft committed to it, and Sony would have had to follow. Also, let's not forget that MS standardised Dolby 5.1 surround sound compatibility in ALL games on the first Xbox. Many consumers won't even be taking advantage of all of the benefits of their current 360 or PS3 but it's very nice that for the people who're lucky enough to have great HD home cinema set-up they're getting the best out of their equipment and not still stuck with 480 lines of resolution still, and I would definitely say in large part that's Microsoft's doing. Their OS business is cack but with gaming consoles they're actually pretty damn good at it (yeah yeah, RROD issues aside, they rushed it and it showed but considering they did rush it, when the console's working it's great! :p)

  • JamieR #58 3 years ago

    What? i think golden eye was the pioneer of the first person shooter and that was on the n64

  • illusiondance #59 3 years ago

    yup, this guy is an ignorant caaant.

    as stated here-abouts all they did was standardise and pour an infinity of money into otherwise loss making enterprises. (as they do still)
    its definetely a fun machine but salesman talk like this is repulsive.

  • The-Bodybuilder #60 3 years ago

    Why the debate over who innovated who? Clearly SEGA are the real innovators.

    Hardware:
    First for global online gaming as standard? check (remember, not even LIVE came out on the first day).
    analogue triggers? check
    memmory card/vmu? check
    ability for broadband use? check
    harddrive for console? check (was actually planned for the DC, but never saw the light of day due to.....the obvious reason of early death).
    First to plan for a motion controller? check (as some people know, sega planned a wiimote like controller, before thier early demise)

    Gaming:
    Cell shading? check
    First game to have every NPC with thier own voice over? check (shenmue)
    First game to have a true, persistant wolrd where every NPC had thier AI? check (shenmue)
    First online puzzle for consoles? check
    First online rpg for consoles? check
    First to use motion caption in games? check
    First to make a TRUE 3d game (not just a game with polygons, or isometric game)? check

    Arcade:
    First to have motion control for an online cabinet? check.

    It's all Sega, baby. :)

  • bad09 #61 3 years ago

    The Bodybuilder, I think I love you.

  • onyxbox #62 3 years ago

    Like some one else said here... it's just more bullshit PR?

    Does anyone really believe anything any front man says about anything (Sony/Nintendo or MS)?

  • davisorle #63 3 years ago

    lol @ Whatsfor

    At least he made a comment on the article subject. You are the one wasting ur time just to comment on him... Sad aint it?

    Anyhow. The convo was alright. No fuck ups in his answers, prety confident ofc with all the success and the recent sales boost... Great stuff coming up. Wish there was more to it tho... Something is missing and i don't know what that is yet...

  • The-Bodybuilder #64 3 years ago

    @badboy09
    I love me too. ;)

    @ simakpierrce
    It's established the dreamcast as the greatest ever console, to be remembered in folklore and tales for generations to come.

  • Bitkari #65 3 years ago

    So, tell me about your price point.

  • Xerx3s #66 3 years ago

    "Does anyone really believe anything any front man says about anything "

    Well, as a pr man he obviously holds little credit but what he says is true enough in it's own right.

  • David_Snakes #67 3 years ago

    I'm with anomagnus on the Let's-Stop-Hating-Microsoft movement. They've pushed console gaming farther than anyone else by a long shot

  • FladgeMangle #68 3 years ago

    Speaking as somebody who finds it incomprehensible that anybody would willingly give their money and alliegance to the great beast Microsoft, it's pretty clear that they've successfully out-gunned, out-manoeuvred and undercut Sony in this generation.

    The baffling thing is that Sony don't seem to be bothered. They're certainly not reacting effectively to the rampant undermining of their console empire. Perhaps they're just sulking...

  • RedSparrows #69 3 years ago

    Oh this thread is delicious.

    The most tickling thing is when some poor soul makes a list and decides to commit their incredible critical skills to demolishing it, in some vain hope of...I have no idea what.

    OMG MS SUX OMG

  • wayneh #70 3 years ago

    I'm one of the people who traded in a 360 to get a PS3 and I must admit there are times I really regret it. I got my PS3 at the start of the year and bought into the Sony hype 'look at what we have got coming soon'. I really miss LIVE and the cross voice chat etc. and was quite happy to part with my money for what was an excellent service. MS have definately revolutionised online gaming with LIVE making it very easy to bring people together and HOME looks like it could be a complete disaster. My only criticism is that the 360 is not wireless or HD out of the box like the Wii and PS3. I won't be trading in my PS3 any time soon but if they keep cutting the price of the 360 I might just buy another one.

    /sulks about trading in 360 but too stubborn to admit I was wrong in getting a PS3 and hoping it will suddenly come good