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> http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=9165
>
> Microsoft on the HD Era, the Competition, Next-Gen Storage Medium and More
>
> Chris Satchell, J Allard's right-hand man on the XNA project, sits down for
> a VERY lengthy chat. Chris talks about the recent HDTV giveaway, making
> developers more efficient with XNA, Microsoft's approach vs. the
> competition, and next-gen storage considerations. Could it be that Xbox 2
> will stick with DVD9? That and more inside...
>
>
> GameDAILY BIZ: Let's start by discussing your background. What's your role
> at Microsoft?
>
> Chris Satchell: I'm currently the general manager of the XNA team, so I'm
> really leading the XNA effort, working with J [Allard] who's the chief
> architect. I got into games and started programming when I was nine. I've
> been writing games since I was about nine-coming up on about ten years
> professionally. All the way through school I got up early and programmed
> before and after school. And then after my degree, I was doing research into
> distributed artificial intelligence systems. Eidos then offered me a
> position doing AI research for them, so it was kind of like, "Wow, I can do
> this fun stuff and get paid and work in games?" So I went to work for Eidos;
> later on I went to work for Silicon Dreams and ended up as a technical
> director and in 2000 I moved to the U.S. [from the U.K.], worked for Trip
> Hawkins at 3DO, first as an engineering director and then as an executive
> director running a number of that team.
>
> In 2002 I moved to first-party at Microsoft where I got to work on some
> really cool franchises like Project Gotham Racing, RalliSport Challenge,
> Fable... and I spent my last year their really as director as engineering,
> ramping up all the first-party for the next-generation. Then last November I
> got the opportunity to go work with J full-time and lead the XNA program,
> which to me is pretty awesome because working at first-party we've got some
> great studios doing some awesome work. And I looked at it and said, "Wow,
> I'm really passionate about the game industry, but I don't want to be the
> person that's making the next great game-what I want to be is the person
> that's giving them the technology that makes them better at it, so that's
> why I'm really getting into XNA because it's really those underpinnings that
> allow them-game developers-to focus on their game.
>
> BIZ: Coming off the J Allard keynote where you guys partnered with Samsung
> to give away 1000 HDTVs, I thought that was very cool. Where did this idea
> come from?
>
> CS: What we realized is that we've been partnering with sort of
> non-traditional companies, meaning companies outside of the normal gaming
> sphere, so when we were talking with Samsung, J and Peter [Peter Weedfald,
> senior VP of Samsung America] were like, "What can we do to show how serious
> we are?" Because Samsung really views games as the driving force behind HD
> set adoption. Then it was just one of those, "Why don't we just give
> developers HDTVs if we're serious? We do lots of marketing and advertising,
> so why don't we do something for the community and do something fun?"
>
> BIZ: And who came up with the idea of using Forza?
>
> CS: That was me [laughs]. Well my wife's the program manager on Forza.
> Actually, the engineering side on this was the team I started when I first
> came to MS, so I was working on Forza for about a year and a half before I
> became director of engineering-I keep really close contacts with teams or
> old friends. So I thought, "What would be more exciting, how could we do
> it?" You know how you go to a baseball game and you see the plane races on
> the jumbotron screen, and I thought that would be cool, but we could do it
> with Forza.
>
> [ "Absolutely you can create next-generation games using DVD9... what
> we're doing on our next-generation console are compression techniques that
> are even better." ]
>
>
> BIZ: Looking at the Xbox lineup in 2005, Dale Strang formerly of Ziff Davis
> told me that one of the reasons the magazine Xbox Nation was shut down was
> that Ziff Davis felt it would be a fairly light year for Xbox releases as
> Microsoft prepares to launch its next-generation console. How do you view
> the Xbox release schedule this year?
>
> CS: I'm actually really excited about our lineup this year. Even just
> looking at the first-party-we've got Jade Empire coming out, and that's got
> such a huge buzz around it (awesome game from BioWare); we've got Forza
> Motorsport, which is obviously a game that I'm really vested in, and I think
> it's an amazing racing game. It's got so many new features and actually sort
> of portends to the next-generation because you can completely customize and
> trick out your car and share them online. So we've got some really big
> titles, and we've got Conker coming out from Rare, with the whole
> multiplayer side of it-I'm a Conker fan back from the N64 days. From
> first-party we've actually got three of our biggest games ever coming out in
> '05 and then we've got amazing third-party support as well, so I feel really
> good about what's going to happen with Xbox in '05-our sales continue to be
> strong and we've got amazing momentum off Christmas. It's still a really
> great business for us and for our partners.
>
> BIZ: In his keynote, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata just confirmed
> backwards compatibility for their next console, the Revolution, and Sony in
> past comments has made it seem like PS3 will likely be backwards compatible
> also. Does this put pressure on MS to also feature backwards compatibility
> in Xbox 2?
>
> CS: I think we have our plan that we're going to execute and to be honest,
> the other two manufacturers, we don't react to them. They've got their
> plans, we've got our plans. The worst thing we could do is sort of get
> unfocused from what we're doing. I mean what we've done is looked at: what
> consumers are going to be in the HD Era and what will they want? We've
> designed a platform, the entire platform, to be targeted at what they want
> and allowing publishers and developers to get the content through. If we
> started thinking about other people's plans and started second-guessing or
> reacting to them, we wouldn't be able to execute our own plan. As far as
> actual features, we're going to roll that up and talk about it more at E3.
>
> BIZ: With next-gen games being even more massive in size, a larger storage
> medium for game content would seem necessary. Sony has already confirmed
> Blu-ray for its next-gen PlayStation. What are your thoughts on this, or is
> it possible to do next-gen games on the current DVD standard?
>
> CS: As you know I can't get into the specifics about hardware, but
> absolutely you can create next-generation games using the DVD (DVD9). We
> haven't gone for any particular HD standard because Hollywood doesn't know
> which HD standard they're going with; that's still up in the air. And what
> we've decided is we're not going to wait for them to work out what it is.
> We're just going to start leading with the HD Era of gaming right now, with
> our next-gen console.
>
> Some of things we've worked on [at MS R&D] are more advanced compression
> techniques, so we already have excellent compression with Xbox... what we're
> doing on our next-generation console are compression techniques that are
> even better. And that's great because you can have a lot of storage and if
> you look at the specs for some of those storage solutions, the problem is
> the storage is great but the bandwidth might not be there. And if you've got
> tons and tons of data and you put it through a little pipe, well you've got
> an issue there because it takes forever to get that data. If you use
> compressed solutions, you're actually making more effective use of that
> pipe, that bandwidth. So what we did is we did a lot of work on advanced
> compression techniques. However, there's another side. We looked very
> carefully at how much data current gen games use... when we mapped it out,
> we realized that we do actually have enough room to do these real next-gen
> experiences... and even better you've got great bandwidth and can load your
> games faster.
>
> But there's another reality that comes into this. Some companies talk about
> huge storage solutions, but the thing that they need to ask their developers
> and publishers is, "Can you afford to make this much?" What's the point of
> having all this storage if you can't afford to build it? Next-gen content is
> really expensive. What's better is focusing on giving people tools to be
> really creative and then giving them good software solutions so they can
> make more effective use of hardware like our compression techniques we're
> using.
>
> BIZ: If you examine the approaches taken by your competitors in the current
> generation and how they plan to move forward in the next-gen, how do you
> feel it compares to Microsoft?
>
> CS: Best way to look at it is to think about what we're doing first, and
> then what our competitors are doing. Our approach is really simple: If
> you're going to provide a real platform for people to deliver on, you have
> to provide three elements. You have to have absolute killer hardware, and
> you heard in the keynote about the teraflop processor, so we've got the
> hardware. But you have to have the software and there are several parts to
> that. You have to make sure your systems are familiar. As our developers are
> ramping up over from Xbox through to our next generation of Windows, what
> they spend their time on is delivering great content and building their
> game, not wrestling with new libraries, new codes, new tools... or anything
> else. So that's why you also have to have new solutions to solve the
> problems developers are having as they grow their teams, as things get more
> complex. That's where XNA Studio comes in. Also, you saw the guide; when
> you've got these services you have to give consistent user interfaces to
> them and you want to make these new consumer experiences, so you have to
> make sure the OS does that, otherwise you're putting more and more
> requirements on the developers. So you have to wrap up that software part.
>
> The next part is you have to have services-it's not enough to have just
> hardware and software. You have to have services like the marketplace or
> microtransactions, like the music playing, because that's what the
> next-generation of consumers is looking for. The key for us is you have to
> design all of that together... if you don't do it together you're not
> delivering the whole platform. So our goal is simple: deliver a whole well
> balanced platform that's easy for developers to exploit.
>
> Now, I used to develop for PS2, before I got to MS... and I really don't
> believe our competitors are as focused on that whole platform as we are. So
> they deliver parts of it, and what they are going to find in the HD Era is
> if you don't deliver the whole package, you're not doing a great service to
> developers and publishers, because that's what matters. A cool box of
> silicon is just a cool box. I'll still buy it because I'm a geek [laughs],
> but the reality is that if they can't deliver their vision then it was
> pointless. So I think that we've got the right plan and we're going to
> execute and giving the whole platform so they can really realize their
> visions. From talking to developers and being around the show, I don't know
> if our competitors are as focused on actually enabling developers as we are.
>
> BIZ: It's clear from Nintendo's keynote that they are trying to broaden the
> market by creating non-traditional games that may attract non-gamers as well
> as appeal to core gamers. What, if anything, is MS doing to appeal to gamers
> outside the core group?
>
> CS: One thing I will say is that I didn't get to go the keynote
> unfortunately, but did you ever used to play Dogs & Cats on Windows like six
> years ago?
>
> BIZ: No, I never did.
>
> CS: In our office we used to play Dogs & Cats on Windows and I find it funny
> that it's being purported as a new concept because we used to play basically
> the same thing six years ago on Windows. It was like a little virtual dog
> and you could play with it and it would learn and grow up and the key in the
> office was never ever leave your dog unattended and leave the room, because
> we would like run over and spray it with water and abuse it while people
> were gone [laughs]. But you've got a really good point, which is growing the
> market. And how do we focus on that? Because if you just focus on the
> technology you're not going to grow the market.
>
> I think Nintendo has a really interesting approach. They do some really
> innovative games. What we do is we look at the HD Era consumer, let's look
> at what's important to them. What's come from them really loud and clear,
> study after study, they want the hig-def visual and audio-that's a given,
> they expect that-but what they want is to be always connected to that
> community no matter what digital entertainment they do, whether it's games,
> whether it's films or music, they want to have a digital connection to their
> friends, the groups they're with. They want to be able to reach out with
> just a couple button presses and go and be in video chat/voice chat/IM,
> whatever it is, and also they want to personalize everything. Everything's
> got to be on their terms; everything's got to be customized; it's got to be
> remixed.
>
> So, we're hearing that all forms of consumers are really getting into this,
> one way or another. This is all a huge trend. So what we did is we said,
> "How do we enable that trend?" And I think that's where our service part
> like marketplace and microtransactions (where you can buy small pieces of
> content and customize your characters)... and a user interface that's
> standard, so that they can easily get to these things, comes in. We think
> that to broaden the market what we need to do is enable the services that
> our consumers are telling us that they absolutely have to have... and do it
> in an easy, consistent way through the guide, through that user interface...
> and if we do that, we're going to broaden the market because people want to
> be connected and they want to personalize. So, we're going at it a different
> way [than Nintendo], but I think we're heading toward a broader market on
> our next-generation console as well.
>
> BIZ: Obviously XNA is a huge part of next-gen for MS. Do you think XNA will
> help improve developer quality of life by making the game creation process a
> bit easier?
>
> CS: I think XNA will definitely make teams much more efficient... and I
> think that by enabling them and having all their tools from the middleware
> community plug in and having all that collaboration done digitally and be
> integrated so you don't waste time... so you can just do your creative work,
> I think that's got to make things more efficient; they can create better
> content using less time. But we can't control how publishers, and we
> shouldn't control how publishers, spend that time. So we're going to make
> them more efficient. You can take it a number of ways. Some people might put
> more features in or more content in; other people might ship earlier; others
> might use less people or just have a more balanced life... if you can take
> that inefficiency away and really enable their creativity, it's got to be
> good for how much they produce in a given time. It's just going to help with
> that lifestyle.
>
> BIZ: Microsoft has done a great job with its first console, but what lessons
> have you learned since the start of Xbox production up until now as you head
> towards next-gen that will aid you going forward in this industry?
>
> CS: Well, there are some big lessons that we learned, like you have to
> listen to developers and publishers and give them what they need. That's why
> we do a monthly update of all our development software that developers use,
> because we constantly want to expand the service, fix any problems, make it
> more productive, optimize it; and we do it every month so we can keep
> listening to feedback. The biggest thing we learned was to make sure to get
> feedback often and early... make sure you integrate that feedback... think
> about the software the developers are going to run, think about the games
> they are going to build, listen to them about what they need and then make
> that your design point.
>
> We also learned some smaller things like if you're going to give a service
> like with music that everybody's going to use, everybody wants, it's not
> enough just to listen to consumers. You actually need to kind of build it
> yourself because you're putting extra requirements on the developers... so
> if you're going to provide a whole row of new services you need to do the
> work yourself and push it into the operating system and have it consistent
> across every game... The reality is developers hate [TCRs] even though they
> know they're useful; we don't like them because we have to test them all, so
> one thing we learned is you have to take that pain off developers and again,
> by providing a consistent user interface that we build and that we run in
> the OS you can take that burden off.
>
> I would say another lesson is keep things familiar. We really need to keep a
> development environment that works. Last time it worked well because it went
> from Windows to Xbox and a lot of people had good skills that applied. When
> we did this we had to work really hard, though. Even though we changed all
> the hardware out, we had to keep the software consistent so developers could
> just reuse it.
>
> And I guess our last lesson is make sure you have the right tailored content
> to different regions. So you've seen the great press articles from MGS
> recently... Sakaguchi-san, Okamoto-san, Mizuguchi-san... that's part of our
> learning process, as we've expanded through different parts of the world we
> realized we needed content that's targeted completely at that market, that
> really resonates with them. And you can see we're leading the charge there
> with first-party.
>
> BIZ: Chris, it's been a pleasure.
>
> CS: Cool, thanks for taking the time to talk with me today.
>
>

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> http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=9165

quote:

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> On 16/3/05 2:24 am, in article o5qdnUZkF6d7BarfRVn-sA@comcast.com, "MS
> Will
> Destroy Sony Computer Entertainment" <msdestroysony@sonysucks.com> wrote:
>
>
> It was confirmed last week that this would be the case, if you're going to
> clog up the groups at least give us news we haven't already been
> discussing
> for ages.

quote:

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> If he cared what people thought of his posts he'd kill himself.

quote:

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> Thanks for the post it was a great read.Your posts clearly add value
> to these usenet groups.
>
> Keep up the great work.