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Microsoft's Shane Kim Interview
Xbox 360 Interview by Ellie Gibson
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Eurogamer: But you obviously had a say in the deal of making it exclusive to Xbox 360 in Europe...
Shane Kim: Yeah, I think we have a marketing partnership with them where that's a good thing for us. But we would not be involved in setting the price of the product, right? We've had exclusive content in on our platforms before, and there's been no differentiation in pricing. As far as simultaneous release of product... I can only speak for Microsoft Game Studios, but that's been a big priority for many years. I can't remember the last time we had a release that was not virtually simultaneous with Europe.
Eurogamer: But do you think it's a fair statement to say Europe generally gets things later and more expensive? The movie store, for example, took a lot longer...
Shane Kim: Yeah... On the one hand I'd say Microsoft feels bad about that. On the other hand it is fairly complex, actually, to secure rights in many different markets. I don't have enough appreciation for that because it's not my part of the business, but what the Xbox Live guys have to go through to get the rights and then to ingest all that content... I do understand. The reality is it's getting there later, but it's not as simple as localising the title. I'm glad I don't run this part of the business because securing the rights to that video content is a pretty heinous effort. It's pretty challenging. So that explains some of the timing delay.
Eurogamer: With regards to today's Spring Showcase, Gears of War 2 is obviously a Really Big Deal. This year it's going up against Killzone 2 and...
Shane Kim: Not this year.
Eurogamer: Sorry, yes. But when Gears 1 came out, there wasn't really a direct competitor on PlayStation 3. Now Killzone 2's coming, Resistance 2's coming...
Killzone 2 - running scared, if you ask Kim. Well, he didn't say that, but you could see it in his eyes.
Shane Kim: They launched with Resistance and we've sold nearly 5 million units of Gears of War 1. I think we won that battle. That's why I believe it's going to be the biggest title this holiday. Killzone's out of the holiday, despite some of the earlier statements that were made. We'll see what happens with Resistance 2, but we've gone head-to-head before. I still feel very confident in the quality. You're seeing it here - what Epic is doing with Gears of War 2 is taking a very good title and really extending it even farther, in my opinion. So I still think we're in very good shape to have the biggest hit of the year in the holiday.
Eurogamer: CliffyB has said it's bigger, better and more badass than Gears 1.
Shane Kim: Yep.
Eurogamer: As we've been touring the Spring Showcase today we've been trying to establish on a scale of one to ten, how badass is Gears of War 2?
Shane Kim: That's actually a better question for Cliff.
Eurogamer: He said 12.
Shane Kim: [Laughs] Well, that's Cliff's maths, so what can I say? It's better for the creators to talk about what they're feeling is on the topic. I will say this: I think we all challenge ourselves. Epic really took the challenge on. Look, we don't just want to churn out a sequel.
Gears of War 2 has a lot riding on it, but fortunately it's extremely badass.
Eurogamer: You want a more badass sequel.
Shane Kim: We want a more badass sequel, right, whether that's 12 or 11 or ten. We just want it to be more...
Eurogamer: Badass?
Shane Kim: I think if you look at most if not all the titles we've done, we've created franchises and then launched future sequels. We've always tried to take the approach that the sequel has to be better than the previous version. Whether that's Halo 2 or Halo 3, Forza 2 or Fable 2 and what Peter [Molyneux] is doing with that - and again what Epic's doing with Gears of War 2... I'm not sure you'd say Forza 2 was more badass than Forza 1, but that is our general philosophy when it comes to sequels. We're not trying just to churn those out and milk the franchises,
Eurogamer: Do you have a sign above your desk, 'Make things more badass'?
Shane Kim: No. I prefer to communicate that orally.
Shane Kim is corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios. Ellie Gibson is very tired and needs a week off to recuperate please.
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Comments: 1-44 of 44 in total
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Vice.Destroyer
15/05/08 @ 07:13
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I know that we are all getting a bit tired of the GTA overload, but I find it quite strange that nobody is even beginning to describe what this DLC will be.
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Triggerhappytel
15/05/08 @ 07:19
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The last half page is a bit of a waste of time. I do generally agree with MS's philosophy on sequels, though - they do seem to take their time and make sure the quality is high. However, much of this interview is the usual stuff; saying how well they are doing, blah blah blah.
I agree with what you are saying, Vice, but don't forget the game itself has only just launched, so R* will still be very much working on the DLC. I think we'll know more within about 8 or 10 weeks. EDIT - I agree about the Japan comment. I found his blank refusal to admit defeat interesting - have they even got any more games like Blue Dragon/Lost Oddysey left?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/08 @ 08:21
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WickedDeeJ
15/05/08 @ 07:20
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Kudos to Ellie for bringing up the Rock Band issue. I can't imagine Chris Lewis is at all happy with how the price was set, since it pretty much ruined the 360s price-cut.
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most recently on 15/05/08 @ 12:12
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"The fact that almost two-to-one people are buying Grand Theft Auto on Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 speaks volumes. I think a large part of that is because they understand we're going to have additional content to complete the Xbox 360 later this year."
Somehow I don't think so... most people only own one machine or the other so which version they bought was very much dependent on that not the DLC. I don't think PS3 owners rushed out and bought an Xbox 360 just to play GTA IV''s exclusive DLC on somehow. The only reason for this 2 to 1 split is because there are more Xbox 360s out there since it launched a year earlier. I can't believe Shane Kim is naive enough to think the DLC is the main reason for the larger share of sales, I suspect many people aren't even aware that there's DLC on the way. LOL |
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alimokrane
15/05/08 @ 07:34
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YOu spent the third of the interview joking around about Badass instead of asking proper questions ? how lame is that ...
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Showing a good trend in interviews but more critical questions in terms of japan and such would be nice.
I don't think it's really possible to be critical about a point that's really noone's business but Microsoft's (or the shareholders). It might interest you what's happening there, but it's not really something you can criticise, is it? |
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"Yeah, pretty dull interview. Couldn't give a fig about all the sales and marketing talk."
Aye, it's starting to resemble a real-life version of Gears of War; macho men slinging business victory taunts to each other, finding cover if they get beaten with a higher sales arguement, but hitting back with promising that they'll win with sequel 3156 (which, of course, is much more badass) when going up against this or that... it's all based on money, childish platform conflicts and unfortunately, not about the games themselves at all. Give me a gamessite, EG.
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most recently on 15/05/08 @ 08:53
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Pretty decent interview, to me. Not the most thrilling, but then, not all interviews are. But I actually kind of like Shane Kim..he seems like a fairly switched-on guy, happy to have a laugh and admit where things have gone wrong and what MS need to do to rectify that. He doesn't tend to resort to the PR speak and competition-slamming that most PR guys seem to do.
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kangarootoo
15/05/08 @ 08:48
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I wish guys at his level wouldn't use the word "win" when talking about console sales. It supports the fanboy myth that that sort of crap actually matters.
Make product, sell product, make profit, be happy. |
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The interview was a bit inaccurate with one of its question. David Reeves did not say that 'THE DLC' would also come to the PS3, he said he expected there to be some DLC also on the PS3. So he did not claim that Microsofts exclusive DLC would come to the PS3, but that he thought RockStar would create further DLC which would appear on the PS3 (and probably also the Xbox360).
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I did notice something a little worrying about the last section of the interview and no it wasn't the badass stuff. That was a clever swipe by Ellie at Microsoft and Epic making these dumb statements like GoW2 will be 12/10 in true Spinal Tap fashion only trying to be ironic which our colonial cousins should never attempt.
No, what worries me is the existence of the numbered suffixes to these games we're all so excited about. Metal Gear Solid 4, Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Resistance Fall of Man 2, Killzone 2 etc. Last year we saw some amazing new IP come out in the form of Bioshock and, to a lesser degree, Assassin's Creed. Where are we seeing that this year? Can only fill me in on some new IP games for this year as right now I'm struggling... |
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designerheadache
15/05/08 @ 12:43
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@Raz76
off the top of my head, also White Knight Chronicles, GRID and Prototype |
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"European gamers are saying, why are we being shafted here? Why do we always get things late and why are they so much more expensive? With Rock Band, there's a more than 100 per cent mark-up - how is that fair?"
'Tis a pity Ellie wasn't this forceful with interviewing that Harmonix bloke instead of cracking jokes about Steps. |
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Fable 2, Mirror's Edge, Alan Wake, Vina Patna 2, Alien Vs Predator, Dead Space, Left4Dead, Banjio & Kaziooe, Too Human, Gears Of War 2, Ninja Gaiden 2, Splinter Cell Convection, Halo Wars, Dead Or Alive 5, Cry-On, Fallout
...I'm in gaming heaven 2008.
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most recently on 15/05/08 @ 19:31
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kangarootoo
16/05/08 @ 09:07
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People that hate other peoples' grins need to watch more comedy on TV, and maybe go for walks in the park.
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muscleblade
19/05/08 @ 12:23
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@TRUTH
I have never heard of Vina Patna 2 LOL Alien Vs Predator and DOA 5 hasnt been announced as far as i know. |
Comments: 1-44 of 44 in total
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