Joystiq interviews David Reid, Director of Platform Marketing for Xbox
by Vladimir Cole 
{ Oct 4th 2005 at 6:31PM }
Joystiq: Folks are understandably a little confused about what exactly the Xbox 360
launch lineup looks like for this holiday season. We know that the exact list is still being finalized, but can you
give us a sense of how many titles are definite for Xbox 360's Nov. 22 launch here in the US? How about the UK
launch?
David Reid: You bet. First we're thrilled to reaffirm that as we announced at E3, we're still on path for Xbox 360 to have the greatest launch lineup in console gaming history. It will start with 15-20 titles available on launch day, which is Nov 22 in the US and Canada, and Dec 2 in Europe and will continue with a steady pipeline of great titles through the rest of 2005 and beyond into 2006.
David Reid: We confirmed from Microsoft Game Studios that Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, and Project Gotham Racing 3 will all ship in this launch window in 2005. We also announced several new titles at X05.
Joystiq: But those titles are just thatannouncements at this point and not part of the Holiday lineup, right?
David Reid: Yesthe other titles we announced from Microsoft Game Studios are on track for 2006. The new announcements include Mass Effect developed by Bioware, Too Human from Silicon Knights, and Crackdown from Real Time Worlds. Those three join Gears of War from Epic as all exclusive Microsoft Game Studios titles for Xbox 360 in 2006.
Joystiq: Got it.
Joystiq: How do you decide whether or not to include a game for launch? Whats the absolute cutoff date for inclusion in the launch window? Or (another way of asking the same question) when will we know for certain what the launch list looks like?
David Reid: Final launch list is nearly completedwe are in the final laps of certification and expect to have a definitive launch day list in the next few weeks. But we are waiting until all titles pass through certification to announce the launch day lineup.
Joystiq: Excellent good to hear.
Joystiq: Can you characterize the strength of pre-orders for Xbox 360 to date? Strong? Within projections?
David Reid: We cant disclose specific numbers but we are very excited with what were seeing so far on Xbox 360 preorders. Very much what we expectedvery strong demand overall. We definitely expect to see Xbox 360 as the hottest consumer electronics product this holiday.
Joystiq: With all of the excitement surrounding the Xbox 360 launch, its understandable that some retailers are taking advantage of the opportunity to test the waters with mega bundles that cost $579 (Wal-Mart), $1200 (GameStop) and even $4499.68 (GameStop). Is Microsoft concerned about the level of these prices? Might sticker shock deter some gamers from next-gen gaming before theyve really had the chance to try it?
David Reid: Actually what were seeing is not all that unusual for a new consumer electronics launch. Think of it as similar to what we saw with the original Xbox launch where the rabid early adopting core gamermuch like your audience at Joystiqis ready for the ultimate gaming experience and ready to dive in.
David Reid: There will be consumers who arent interested in everything on day one of course and they will buy Xbox 360 at a later stage in the lifecyclethey normally arent folks who are lining up for a launch midnight madness event.
David Reid: On pricing: one thing to keep in mind is the consumer coming this holidaymost of them are those rabid gamers who are looking to buy the Xbox 360 with every accessory, every game and so forththe bundles are in many ways exactly what they are looking for.
Joystiq: How fully functional will Live be at launch? What multimedia content is being prepared and will be available by Xmas? How are people with current Live subscriptions going to switch over to the new system? Is a big system download in the works for current Xbox systems to work with the new Live features?
David Reid: The great news on Xbox Live is it is a seamless service across the original Xbox and Xbox 360. So youll be able to easily migrate your account onto Xbox 360.
David Reid: Xbox Live will be fully functional on launch day with every Xbox 360 title live enabled with voice chat and connection into your friends list, digital identity and the Xbox Live Marketplace. We dont have any specific announcements on multimedia content for this holiday at this time.
Joystiq: How are you planning to unveil the Xbox 360 across the globe? Will there be physical launch events (ie. Central London, NYC, Tokyo)?
David Reid: Weve got a very exciting launch event in the works but unfortunately nothing I can announce just yet
Joystiq: Is there anything we havent touched on regarding launch that youd like to mention in closing?
David Reid: surejust reinforcing that were well on our way to having the greatest launch lineup in console gaming historygamers have a lot to be excited about with the Xbox 360 launch coming soon!
Joystiq: Ok sorry for the follow up when I indicated that we were at the end but what does greatest mean?
Joystiq: Is it sheer number of titles?
David Reid: Its the number and quality of the titlesyouve got an awesome lineup of exclusives from MGS like Kameo, PDZ, PGR3, more exclusives from the top publishers: Call of Duty 2 and Quake 4 from Activision, DOA 4 from Tecmo, Oblivion from Bethesda/Take 2 and then the cross-platform games like EAs full lineup with Madden, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Tiger; Ghost Recon 3 from Ubisoft, Tony Hawk American Wastelandthe list goes onthose cross platform games will look and play best on Xbox 360.
David Reid: Thats what we mean by greatestthe best support ever from the publishing community and our own exclusive 1st party titles
Joystiq: Sounds like it should be fun. It also sounds like youve got your work cut out for you. I suppose we should let you get back to that.
David Reid: Terrifichas been a blast chatting with you.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
From the questions-I-didn't-ask-but-am-wishing-I-had department:
"But as we learn here at b-school, bundling is a pricing strategy designed to capture more consumer surplus. In other words, bundling is putting more money in the pockets of retailers. Is this detrimental at all? At what point does bundling foment backlash? We've already seen comments on Joystiq that indicate our readers think some of this bundles abso-stinking-lutely ridiculous."
For next time!
Conrad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Hehe, great interview. Hopefully we'll hear about the launch events soon.
Craig @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
The Question that I want answered is: When is the Xbox 360 coming out with the HD-DVD drive. I do not want to buy the 360 on launch and then be dissapointed 3-6 months down the road. I would have to buy a whole different 360 to fully experience my gaming experiece and I just think that is ridiculous. Hopefully, Microsoft or some 3rd party will install the new drives for a fair price.
metal_gear_jello @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I doubt you'll see an HDDVD drive any time soon, at least officially from MS. I doubt they would want to support a format prematurely, especially in light of recent news, HDDVD may not be the way to go in the long term. if you want an HDDVD player, get a standalone.
Props to the guy mentioning Canada for the NA release.
Anyways, what happened to all the Japanese games? They aggresively target the Japanese market and all they have is DOA 4 to show for it? I want to know what's up with Lost Odyssey.
adam fuller @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
hd-dvd won't be on the xbox 360...which is fine...because hardly anyone will actually need it. remember a few years back when everyone was trying to figure out what the next "high quality" cdrom was going to be? whether it be super audio cd's or what have you...well yea. nothing became of that! it will be well over 5 years before hd-dvd becomes anything close to standard (even common place at all), and by that time i bet you we'll have our hands on x-box 3...or 460 (ha).
soco @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
i think something like HDDVD is needed, specifically because so much shit in HD takes up tons more space. if people want true HD games, it's needed. however, i think there's a possibility, that should there be an upgrade, MS might be able to do this by using the harddrive attachment slot. making the extension drive L-shaped so that it sits on top of the 360, and still provides a connector for the HD. probably never see that, but i assume it's at least possible.
Andy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Pc gaming has delivered HD gaming for years without the need for HDDVD so 360 should be able to handle also.
Conrad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Hey guys, we've asked the HD-DVD drive question in the past and got little other than an expected marketing/pr type response.
http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000317051684/
The specific quote is in the second to last paragraph and in response to a question about HD-DVD in the xbox 360 peter moore said:
"HD-DVD is still a question, and we may do something."
So its still up in the air.
Nikki @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Developers talk about developing for the Xbox 360
Developers speak about what's its like to develop for the Xbox 360: technical challenges, how they took advantage of the 360's increased graphical and sound capabilities, developing for Xbox Live and what it's like to work with Microsoft.
http://www.xb360info.com/xbox/interviews/147
Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
@#6:
Soco, you're an idiot. Sorry. Games in HD don't require the extra disc space, most current-gen games don't even come close to using a majority of the DVD. All that's required for HD games is greater processing power, which the 360 delivers in spades. Extra storage space is only needed if you're going to deliver more *content*... which I don't see them doing anytime soon. Same amount of content, better-looking. The graphics card and three parallel processors handle the looks. Sure, the instruction sets may be a bit more robust, but will not require anything greater than a current-gen dvd to hold them. What's also nice is that it's a 16x DVD-ROM as opposed to a 4x DVD-ROM in the current Xbox, which means faster load times on the 360.
The only reason MS has said "It's still up in the air" regarding HD-DVD is to keep the opposing fanboys at bay. It's an unnecessary format which will not be added to the 360, especially in the "Hard drive slot" (as if, sheesh). Sony's inclusion of Blu-ray is an extremely costly publicity gimmick.
Not a lame propaganda eater... @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I have few to say, most to the editor(s) of this site, 1st you should call this site "XBox Mongoloid Swallower" since all the articles you publish are at least biased toward the M$ box, thers's few to say about that stupid parrot device(it only mimicks what consoles have been doing for 2 decades but louder...as if a poem has better quality shouted than murmured...), that doesn't hold the editors from publishing bla bla propaganda articles about the Redmond tech. stealer (aka Bill Gates) machine. This is pure no news, adding 2,3,7,9...aricles about the same topic, as if this piece of hard ware was of some relevance. Would M$ enterteinment division (the same applies to $ony) be independent, this wouldn't exist anymore: 4,5 Billions of loss in little more than 3 years what a record...lol, but as money health always meant little to me in analising a game quality, M$ device is worst even in the game only perspective, their next device supports a Nintendo born star Joana Dark as ambassador and flafship...lol, the pad delivered is an outrageous plagia of the Nintendo ones, see the colors of the buttons...
About your biased articles , just 1 recent exemple is your MetaReview: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Nintendo DS), we can read that (to your view) it is not a insta-classic, dimishing the fact that the game had excellent reviews, and even better feedback from the gamers, we end reading the article with a feeling that the game is not worth it, but reality is that for exemple P$P does not have 1 single game that nears Castlevania, in consequence if this game is not worth it , what game is worth buying on P$P??? As with the article about the problem with feature creeping, this negative aspect of video gaming isn't a classic Nintendo deviance, $ony & M$ don't matter much more than rehash old games(look now your character has 1230 polygones instead of 1217 in the last episode,whaaaa, everyone stand up & clap & be amazed, because that's what's important in videogame since we can not inovate...lol), it does not impeach you of stamping a huge pic of Mario...look it's bad & it's Nintendo...look it's good & it's Micro$soft...you make me laugh, seriously, I guess Stalin could use your expertise in Propaganda: open the link of Nintendo Revolution & first thing you see is...guess what??? of course an interview of a Micro$oft guy
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Joystiq interviews David Reid, Director of Platform Marketing for Xbox
Related entries: Culture, Nintendo Revolution
lol,lol & lol
If you there behind this site knew the slitest thing about videogame and life in general, you would never hype the X-Blok 360( the name speaks of itself... do a 360 turn & you are.... exactly at the same spot heading the same way, if you use degrees to give a "new" or "inovative" aspect to something, you use 180, 90... that are real changes of path... not 360 that leaves you in the same spot...lol) since the Redmond dudes are already in monopoly situation in the PC market, with all the well known negative aspects of it, I don't see why anyone would want the same situation with the console market, let's put it this way: "Children,Game monopoly is bad M'kay, Console monopoly is bad M'kay, Bugged beta software is bad M'kay, Micro$oft will make you pay tomorrow the big buck they aint makin' today M'kay.." already console prices rose with the entry of $ony & are rising as the software with M$, give Monopoly to Billy Gates & no soon you'll have 799$ beta consoles bugged to the spine with beta games, that will force you to download, patch, upgrade etc.
Don't you love Uma Thurman??? 'cause all the way she knew she had to KILL BILL...clever girl!
jason @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
I guess that if videogames are the most important thing in your life, you will rush out and pluck down $579 for a console and a few accessories at Wal-Mart. I am a more casual gamer so I think I will pick up a used gamecube, Zelda and Metroid Prime, for under $100. I'd also like to get a discounted copy of Battalion Wars, as that looks very fun.
plastic. @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
To #11:
Comprehensible language skills and an actual foundation to your argument would really, really help. Thanks.
As for the bundling of Xbox 360 products, it's just demand vs. supply. If there are a million people in this world willing to put down $600 bucks for their Xbox 360, why not let them? Get over it. If you don't want to spend that much, don't.
Not a lame propaganda eater... @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
to #13
As for my language skills , you should have shut up & try to understand what I said instead of patronising... I'm nor american nor english, never been in an anglosaxon country in my life, my english despite your disdain is ,I think quite acceptable since i learnt it at school, I'am curious about your french, mais oui mon ami, parle-moi un peu dans la langue de Moli? que je rigole doucement, on fait peut-?e moins le fier maintenant cou-rouge... or let's say about your Portuguese(1st tongue spoken worldwide...) ent?pa,n?me dizes nada em portuga tambem, logo vi quem eras, s?rganta...may i continue to US 2nd spoken language... claro que si hermano, te estas mesclando la cabeza co?sin embargo me quedo esperando tu respuesta... I can go on & on but I think i made my point...(sorry for some mistyped words)
As for foundation to my arguments...the biased view articles are well explained, just browse the site and you'll find tha articles i'm speaking about,the only part i did not back-up is the M$ monopoly part, for that I didn't feel I had to expand the subject, it's a comment section not an Economy class, I you don't know why monopoly in a market is a bad thing, go to school...just for you to know Micrsoft is the leading company in industrial spying as they have access to Echelon( if you don't know what it is, go find out, I don't have this blue/red pill thing to enlighten you...)try to know what is really happening in your world instead of relying on Fox to get informed, I hope you don't believe the US army is in Irak for the good & democracy of the country... A good thing would be to boycott Micro$oft since they're getting money from the US Army to develop games, and trust me, it's not for making Pikmin kind of games, Propaganda is out so loud, that even blind people can see it!!!
Come on, use YOUR braincells instead of PS Cell-one, you'll get better results...
A pissed off customer @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
Well I work for one of the major game stores, and Microsoft is deciding the screw the customers to keep interest in the system. We have 100 prepaid resevations, but our store will only receive 22 units. We just found out today. Microsoft is delibrately keeping the shipment numbers low, and will leave it up to the retailers to deal with the murderous crowds. If this is hwat MS really is doing, they can go someplace very hot.
kuroshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
First Ms is not responsible for your store preorders. Many retailer ( Gamestop, EB, Gamerush) reserved far beyond thier allotment, in the belief that they would be able to obtain more. MS also has no need to keep interest high. They could sell all the machines they could possibly get into stores before the holiday. The demand is thier already, and they are trying to get as many sells as they can. Your theory make no sense. Just imagine your store had cases of Halo 3 in stock, but you kept it in the stock room and told customers you were sold out. You could then sit back and say look at all that demand. In the meantime you have no sales and no money. It doesn't work, it doesn't happen. Hot new products outpace supply. this is not the first time. Tickle me elmo, white power ranger, the list goes on. This will not be the last time either.
kuroshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
wow that's a lot of hate. Ms is a capitalist company just like sony, and believe it or not, nintendo. They are all just in it for the money. Nintendo loves you no more than MS or sony. They need you to buy products so they can make profits so they can pay shareholders. If nintendo was so altruistic, why don't they just give you the machine and games? Ms may have stole the console idea, but it wasn't from nintendo. Atari, intellivision, and colecovision were all there first. Nintendo had no problem pushing them to the side and walking on there bones. Not so pretty I guess. Nintendo has a little blood under thier fingernails too. Free market economy, wake up, we get the companies we pay for. The ones we don't go out of business and the gamecube is losing money faster than the xbox. Fortunately they have the handhelds to make it back up. The DS is amazing.
kuroshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:07PM
wow that's a lot of hate. Ms is a capitalist company just like sony, and believe it or not, nintendo. They are all just in it for the money. Nintendo loves you no more than MS or sony. They need you to buy products so they can make profits so they can pay shareholders. If nintendo was so altruistic, why don't they just give you the machine and games? Ms may have stole the console idea, but it wasn't from nintendo. Atari, intellivision, and colecovision were all there first. Nintendo had no problem pushing them to the side and walking on there bones. Not so pretty I guess. Nintendo has a little blood under thier fingernails too. Free market economy, wake up, we get the companies we pay for. The ones we don't go out of business and the gamecube is losing money faster than the xbox. Fortunately they have the handhelds to make it back up. The DS is amazing.