The long silence: why Microsoft needs to reveal its next Xbox, and quickly

April 8th, 2013, 19:41 Posted By: wraggster

Patrick Bach, executive producer, DICE
Can you talk about the two next-gen consoles?
“No.”–Amid a torrent of damaging rumour and speculation around its next console, someone, somewhere at Microsoft is calm. They insist that they won’t be rushed into revealing their plans for 360’s successor; that it’s all under control. We’ll show it off when we’re ready, they say. Having their hand forced by Sony’s PS4 event would be a sign of weakness. It’s good to keep people waiting. It builds anticipation.They’re wrong. The messaging that Microsoft usually seeks to control so tightly has taken on a life of its own in the last few months. Instead, our next Xbox story and a multitude of leaks and sources reported across the games media have filled that void – and the picture being built of the next Xbox in the minds of the games-playing public is a poisonous one.–Jade Raymond, managing director, Ubisoft Toronto
Do you think Microsoft need to get a move on and confirm their next console?
“Are they working on a new console?” [laughs]
This silence… is it frustrating?
“It’s funny because you know the last generation we were working on Assassin’s Creed 1 and I remember we were talking about it like three years before we got the consoles and everything. So I guess it’s a different approach this time, but in some ways it’s good because in games we’re always excited by the next tech. There’s still a lot of innovation happening on the current consoles and there’s a lot of innovation happening on different platforms, so it’s nice we’ve had a bit more time to focus on stuff that’s still coming out on the platforms that we currently have.”–What is the next Xbox? It’s a restrictive, always-on console bloated with DRM and flooded with ads. It doesn’t want you to play second-hand games on it. It’ll break the moment your internet connection has the slightest wobble. It’ll be a trojan horse – designed to seduce the games playing public into buying one before taking over their living rooms, pushing videogames into the background in favour of gaudy mainstream entertainment.The truth? 360’s successor will be Microsoft’s own connected entertainment hub – in and of itself, that’s no bad thing. Microsoft will never completely abandon the core games-playing audience it has built its Xbox business upon; the next console will be powerful, and play host to excellent, big-budget blockbuster releases. Its online services will mark a more aggressive push into the broader entertainment market. The next Xbox will be a formidable piece of hardware, and a worthy competitor to Sony’s PS4.–Suda 51, CEO, Grasshopper Manufacture
Will your next game be on next-gen consoles?
“We’re considering both. Naturally we are interested in developing games for the next-gen platforms. We are investigating the specs and all that right now.”
How much do you know about next-gen? We all know that these consoles are coming, but no-one seems able to talk about them.
“I’m not really sure how much I can talk about that. I do know certain information about it but I am under NDA so I can’t say exactly what it is.”

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