KINECT LAUNCH GUIDE INTERVIEW: CHRIS LEWIS, MICROSOFT
[INDUSTRY VIEW]
Yves Guillemot Ubisoft, CEO
“The new [motion sensing] machines are very good because they provide a chance for more people to play. Nintendo showed that it could make lots of money and also serve lots of customers, so now everybody wants that part of the cake. “So that’s what we love – it’s not just an investment in this generation, it’s building on the next one, too. The next generation of consoles will automatically use all these motion-sensing innovations and so a lot more people will be able to play with the future consoles.”
Out of control
Microsoft says that by doing away with the controller it can extend the lifecycle of Xbox 360. Christopher Dring speaks to Microsoft’s European VP of Interactive Entertainment Chris Lewis to discuss the potential impact of Kinect
There is a lot of buzz for Kinect at the moment, although some of the really core gamers are yet to be convinced. What do you make of the reaction to Kinect? I think we have seen a euphoric reaction to it. The key is getting people in front of the technology and experiencing it. It’s only when you start to play that it really comes to life. That’s why we’re doing so much trial around the UK and other parts of Europe.
Your PR and marketing teams have been making a lot of noise about Kinect. How much is this costing Microsoft? Well I’m glad you are hearing a lot of buzz. From the announcements at E3, right through to Gamescom where we announced the date across Europe, it is about building that rolling thunder of awareness, buzz and trial in the market. I can’t speak numbers. But we understand the need to target a broad, younger, older, more female audience. But by necessity that means we are targeting those people through different media, and working in new ways with our online and
36 October 29th 2010
print campaigns. And that requires us to spend significant sums of money to achieve the awareness we crave.
How does this campaign compare to the launch of Xbox 360? It is different in terms of the type of consumers that we are looking to connect with. That said, we are still committed to the core gamer. That is the audience that defined us. It is not about moving from the core to the broad. It is about ‘and’ not ‘or’. Halo: Reach, Fable IIIand Gears of Warare fabulous blockbuster titles for that audience and there will be more to come.
Are the launch games reflective of what we might see from Kinect over the next few years? You will see some deep, pure Kinect games at launch. Dance Central from Harmonix and Your Shape from Ubisoft scored very well at E3. But over time I think we’ll see hybrid-type experiences, where you have a game that naturally lends itself far more to a controller, but has Kinect experiences built into that where you can use body gestures to control aspects of the game.
www.mcvuk.com
We know we need to target a broad, wide, younger, older, more female audience. And that requires us to spend a lot of money. Chris Lewis, Microsoft
“
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112