NXE manager: "We can do it again"

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 November, 2008

Why make new consoles anyway?

Xbox Live product unit manager Jerry Johnson has told Eurogamer that Microsoft is prepared to do another New Xbox Experience in 2-3 years if there's demand.

"If our customers want it, and the market wants it, we can do it again. There's no date set on it though," Johnson said in an interview published this evening.

He's also confident that despite the damaging downtime Xbox Live went through last Christmas, the 19th November launch won't cripple the servers.

"I can tell you that when Robbie Bach is on the phone on Christmas Day calling people asking what the hell is going on, and that's coming down from Steve Ballmer... that's the kind of attention it got last holiday.

"Many things have changed since then, and we realised the kind of growth trajectory we were on and had to prepare for it," he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, we asked Johnson whether he knew of any changes to the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU, which goes for GBP 129.99 over here but only includes a 256MB memory unit. NXE would eat up half of that, leaving little room to manoeuvre.

"I think the clear message is that if you want to get on Live then you should go out and buy a hard drive to actually enjoy that entire experience," he said.

Check out the full interview to find out what's next after NXE, and be sure to check out our New Xbox Experience hands-on preview based on a week of playing with the beta on our office machines for more.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (29) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Law07 #1 3 years ago

    So he just said if you want our product go buy the more expensive product? Screwing like more than half of the new consumers who bought the arcade?

  • Stoatboy #2 3 years ago

    No, he said if you want to get on Live you buy the more expensive product (or upgrade). Reading comprehension ftw!

  • mkreku #3 3 years ago

    So why not just include a hard drive in every package and stop selling the Arcade version?

  • MonkeyMagik #4 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

  • MonkeyMagik #5 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

  • Pirotic #6 3 years ago

    I hope they make it clear on the arcade packaging that it's not suitable for xbox live, else people who go for the cheaper system are going to end up more out of pocket after buying a rip-off hdd than if they had just plumped for the 60gb pro unit to begin with.

  • bdaggers #7 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

    ^ peer pressure

  • Kill_Crazy #8 3 years ago

    @Pirotic

    I always thought the Xbox advert that says about the movie downloads was a bit off because at the end it says from £129.99 but you've got nowhere to store them.

  • mcmonkeyplc #9 3 years ago

    Errrm should they include the NXE out of the box for all new systems?

  • jonsaan #10 3 years ago

    The arcade pack is a great idea if all you want to do is play some games. Just because you buy an arcade pack doesn;t mean you can;t buy a hard drive when you want to does it~?

  • rock27gr #11 3 years ago

    mcmonkeyplc:
    Errrm should they include the NXE out of the box for all new systems?



    My though exactly; but I guess any system manufactured after a certain date will indeed include the update by default?

  • Xerx3s #12 3 years ago

    "So why not just include a hard drive in every package and stop selling the Arcade version? "

    The arcade pack is one of their best selling products. Clearly there is a lot of demand for a cheapo version.

  • Quiiick #13 3 years ago

    @ MonkeyMagik
    No, it's not called choice! It's called marketing!
    The only reason the arcade exists is for MS to be able to say: "you can get a 360 for €/$ 199.99!"

  • Penguinzoot #14 3 years ago

    No, it's not called choice! It's called marketing!

    It would be easy to think so, wouldn't it? Funnily enough, much to my own surprise, the old Core and newer Arcade packs actually sell very well on their own merits. You can be fairly certain that if the Core/Acrade didn't sell, the SKU would have been withdrawn a long time ago.

    Edit: Just noticed Xerx3s basically said the same thing.
    Edited by 1 at 01/11/08 @ 15:43

  • Ryze #15 3 years ago

    Bollocks.

    The movie ads state: 'HARD DRIVE REQUIRED'

    The Arcade works great on XBL

    The 360 has an HDD-less version, precisely in order that the price can be reduced to where it is now.

    While there's an HDD in the PS3, it'll never sell for £100 or less without Sony being punished with further debt.

  • shotgun44 #16 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

  • convercide #17 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

    Sorry I'm late to the party. Someone already said that? Oh bugger. I'll get my coat.

  • Tonka #18 3 years ago

    No, it's not called choice! It's called marketing!

  • akirawow #19 3 years ago

    buy wow goldcheap wow goldwow goldcheapest wow goldwarhammer goldwarhammer powerlevelingwar goldwar powerlevelingwar power levelingcheapest maple story mesos

  • curtlikesmeat #20 3 years ago

    There's a spammer sneaking about in the bushes!!


    GETTTT HIMMMMMMMMM! *throws tomato*

  • WinterSnowblind #21 3 years ago

    "No, it's not called choice! It's called marketing!"

    Same thing. When the marketing guys at Sony decide to make a £200 Playstation 3, I'll get one. Until then..

  • drumbaby #22 3 years ago

    ...you'll keep sending your Xbox back to the menders?

  • drumbaby #23 3 years ago

    "We can do it again"

    But if it was any good in the first place you shouldn't have to.

  • Ryze #24 3 years ago

    ^ tell that to teh P$£ firmware geeks.

  • yegon #25 3 years ago

    "We can do it again"

    But if it was any good in the first place you shouldn't have to.
    ------

    True. That said, I distinctly recall being impressed by the dash when I bought a 360 at launch. Point being, it may be great for a few years, but these thing things age, badly in the case of the original 360 dash. Then again, we'll have the Xbox 720 before this is past it's sell by date anyway.

    I can't wait for the ability to install to hdd, just to kill off the constant grinding of the optical drive more than anything else. The rest I can take or leave tbh.
    Edited by 2 at 02/11/08 @ 12:06

  • GamesConnoisseur #26 3 years ago

    Peter Moore said they had to withdrew Xbox 1 earlier as every successful sale hurt them more 'COS of the HDD being included from day 1. So apparently its why they took the route to offer different SKU this gen. HDD-less Core/Arcade SKU is selling quite well as others said and thus still being offered.

    Cant help but still feel that with only using bog standard DVD against HD optical space having HDD included for all SKU would have levelled the playing field more for X360 owners.

    Still X360 hold its own more than enough, NXE makes for a more quieter gaming experience, and now anyone complaining of the 'Aircraft noises' etc can have no longer a vaid excuse!!

    Aircraft noises =DVD spinning solved
    RROD = hardware revision/warranty extension solved
    Hatred of all thing MS = Brand loyalty to Sony impossible to solve, require severe reprogramming of the mindset!
    Edited by 1 at 02/11/08 @ 17:03

  • Feanor #27 3 years ago

    So we all have to buy big hard drives at inflated prices because the 360's DVD drive is as noisy as a busy airport? That's fantastic.

  • Mr_Brown #28 3 years ago

    I'd complain about this forcing people to have HDD if they want to go on live, but I have a Elite Xbox with 120gb HDD, so I'm alright.

    Seriously though, I borught a Core to begin with (consoole shortage at launch) and I seriously cannot see how anyone could be happy without an hardrive really, for game saves and profiles alone.

  • Marshall2008 #29 3 years ago

    They have launched a LIVE upgrade kit for £59.99 which includes a 60GB HDD, 3 month gold subscription. Available in the UK from 19th November.

    So if you did buy a core/arcade sku their is an upgrade pack for you. Or pickup a preowned HDD from game/gamestation.

  • onyxbox #30 3 years ago

    because not everyone wants live - its called choice...not too hard to understand really

    because some people are stupid enough to buy the gimped version of the console... or like me...they want a backup for when the inevitable happens.

    I think MS should launch a 360 without a HD or controller or any leads... you know just the box... for around £70... it would be interesting to see how many people would buy one as backup :-D

    ... quite a lot I would imagine.