Spring Showcase '08: Shane Kim Interview Feature

Amongst the hubbub of demo pods, lounges, and giant projected logos, Microsoft's Xbox 360 Spring Showcase was also the place for Shane Kim, the Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios, to reveal his (partisan) thoughts on where the console was heading - amongst other things.

Recent months have seen a rumbling of activity from within MGS and the rest of the Xbox 360 juggernaut, as Sony's PlayStation 3 gathers momentum across both North America and Europe, and both sides faced off in the run up to the launch of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. Claims that the Xbox 360 was losing steam, and that it was practically stagnant alongside the relentless pace of Wii and the blu-Ray championing PS3 were also backed up by a price drop in the designated 'key battleground' of Europe.

Shame Kim tries to tell a different picture however; one which paints the Xbox 360 price drop as part of a long-term strategy timed with the launch of GTA IV; one where the long-rumoured motion controller remains speculative; one where the race between PS3 and Xbox 360 is tight in North America, but all to play for in Europe. Sitting relaxed and confident at the San Francisco event, Kim admits that the price drop has stimulated sales of the Xbox 360 across Europe - although it also helped that GTA IV launched just weeks after. Spinning the stimulation as a 'reinvigoration', Kim states that:

"Since we reduced the price of Xbox 360 in Europe, we've seen a lot of reinvigoration - let's call it that - we've seen sales pick up, and the market share of games. Our challenge is to sustain that; the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV has certainly helped us in Europe as well as the US."

It's also clear that the price point has helped get more Xbox 360 units off the shelves at retail and into the lounges and bedrooms from Aberdeen to Athens, at a time when PlayStation 3 sales are becoming ever stronger across the continent. Admitting that Sony had increased the pace, the VP comments that, "The race is pretty tight [in Europe]...I think you can look at the data and say that Sony had some momentum there. The price reduction was important for us...it was a clear opportunity for us to get to a price point where more consumers would buy the Xbox 360."

So the price drop was a reaction to Sony's momentum? Not so, says Kim, adding that, "It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction. In general, and we're not alone in this, everybody is trying to get to the mass-market price point. For us, we had the ability to make that move in the Spring rather than wait for the Holiday, which was nice, particularly in advance of the Grand Theft Auto launch." Kim is also prepared to paint a picture where, "Everybody likes to quote their own numbers, and I have to admit that they've [Sony] made certain claims before."

Away from the issue of the March price drop, Kim is obviously looking forward to the future, reassuring that the Xbox 360 won't follow the fate of its predecessor, and suffer from a death faster than a speeding bullet: "We've said for a long time that we expect the Xbox 360 to have a long tail. Clearly we didn't do that with the original Xbox; that was a strategic decision to launch the Xbox 360 in 2005. We feel very good about the trajectory of the Xbox 360, and we expect it to have a very long tail. We don't have any experience with that, but that is out hope for this generation."

That long tail will no doubt be helped by comments from both Kim and Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack that the three parts of the Too Human trilogy are expected to make their appearance on the Xbox 360. The fact that Remedy Entertainment has hidden away Alan Wake more successfully than a secret in the Vatican also shows that there's still more to come from Microsoft Game Studios in the middle-term. So what's the latest on Mr Wake's 'psychological thriller'??? "We're managing that project with Remedy very carefully...Alan Wake is pretty ambitious. It's taking a very different approach to both story-telling and gameplay." The game isn't the only title that MGS is keeping close to its chest; Peter Jackson's collaboration with the publisher is also in full swing, and it seems like both parties are already looking beyond the so-called 'Halo Chronicles':

"The first collaboration we have is with Halo, which is a pretty safe thing. The second ting we're going to be doing with Peter [Jackson] is going to be targeted at a much broader audience...Hopefully we'll get other people to tell stories...How do you do things [like Lost or 24] in an interactive way. The core audience may not call them games, but it's interactive entertainment to a broad audience."

The death of HD and the creeping incursion of blu-Ray (thanks mainly to PS3) has for a long time brought questions about Microsoft's decision not to include a next-gen DVD system in the Xbox 360. Some have argued that this will stifle the prospects for the console, all the more if it's to enjoy the long tail that Kim is promising...not that Kim would agree: "We've shipped titles that require multiple discs...but I don't think the volume is so drastic that everybody should be going 'Microsoft has made a huge mistake by not putting in a blu-Ray drive'...I do think you'll see more titles that require multiple discs, and the challenge for developers is to create a good experience that doesn't require constant disc-swapping."

For now however, there seems to be a more noticeable question: that of Microsoft's attempts to widen its share of the casual audience, an audience that has taken Wii to its hearts. New brands with a broader appeal, such as Rare's Viva Pinata and Scene It: Lights Camera Action, a casual line up on Xbox Live Arcade, and a price drop that sees the Xbox 360 Arcade SKU on offer for less than a Wii, form a triple-headed assault - but one aspect remains hidden in secrecy and hearsay: is Microsoft working on its own equivalent of the Wii-remote? Over to you Shane:

"I'm not going to comment on rumours and speculation, but I will say this. We have a lot of research and development going all over the place, not just in software, but in hardware. We've had a ton of success with accessories...it's a story that doesn't get told enough...there are opportunities for us. We're an R&D company too."

Kim at least acknowledges that copying Nintendo's championed Wii-remote isn't on the cards for Microsoft, at least not exactly...and here's why:

"If we do 'me too', people would see it for what it was."

It doesn't mean that there isn't something on the cards however, especially if a leaked list of supposed additions to the console this Spring is anything to go by.

Trying to wrest a grip of the casual market from Nintendo is an obvious stone wall for Microsoft, but they're determined to continue. Let's face it, the executives at Redmond have even said that Wii is the foundation system before new gamers make their way onto Xbox 360...sounds similar to research that says there's a link between recreational drugs and a progression onto the more hardcore substances to us. Kim acknowledges that the strategy to win a greater share is complicated, stating that, "It's a multi-dimensional challenge for us...there isn't a silver bullet; I wish we had the Halo for that audience."

However Microsoft tries to expand its casual gaming horizons, there's little doubt that the core audience of Xbox 360 owners are the gaming hardcore, with action games aplenty. So it comes as no surprise when the MGS boss reveals what he feels will be the first-party game for the format in 2008: "I do think that Gears 2 is our biggest title for this Fall, just based on the success of the original...it's one of the most anticipated titles...I certainly have high hopes for what Peter [Molyneux] has done with Fable 2 [too]."

So do we Shane, so do we.