Xbox Rocks America + the Interview with Microsoft\'s Ed Fries...

[BizioEE]

ieMagazine: What is it about the Xbox that makes it a smarter purchase than the Nintendo GameCube and Sony PlayStation 2? Why would you recommend consumers to choose Xbox this holiday season?

Ed Fries: Xbox simply delivers more power: double the graphics capabilities, double the power, double the sound and an amazing lineup of games available on day one to play. With Xbox, games will never be the same.

ie: In terms of your first-party lineup, how satisfied are you with the titles that will hit the market in 2001? Did you get what you expected from your in-house development studios?

E.F.: I’m really proud of the depth and breadth of games our development teams will deliver at launch. We recently came off a preview tour with game editors, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for our launch lineup over not just how well these games played, but with the variety of titles we’ll have ready around launch. Halo plays like you’re in the middle of a science fiction novel–it’s destined to be a hit in the action category; NFL Fever 2002 is giving television a run for its money it looks so real; and Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee has great characters in Abe and Munch and massive environments that can only generated with the Xbox hard drive. With videogame titles like Project Gotham Racing, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, and Fuzion Frenzy thrown into the mix, our launch lineup looks simply amazing.

ie: Nintendo has always been known for creating such strong first-party titles and legendary franchises like Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Pokémon. On the other hand, Sony with the exception of a few games has taken a downward turn in the first-party department. How would you rank Xbox’s first batch of in-house developed titles against the competition?

E.F.: I rank Microsoft-published games among the best ever for a console launch. We’ve got a lot of very talented teams working on some ambitious projects, and they’re all turning out better than anyone expected. And just as important, Microsoft is publishing games from all the key genres–action, sports, racing, party games. Gamers of all ages and all interests won’t beat a loss for titles to choose from.

ie: There has been some talk around the industry that certain Xbox first-party titles are being rushed in order to make the launch date. Why do you think some people are saying this?

E.F.: Who knows how these things get started. Xbox is absolutely on track for a very successful launch, and gamers should be excited about the breadth and depth of titles they’ll be able to choose from come November 15.

ie: When we last spoke at E3, we talked about the how Microsoft and Sony were really targeting the same type of consumer. Throughout our chat we discussed how the respective companies’ first-party lineup could be the difference maker, since both consoles have such strong third-party support. How much of an effect can the Xbox first-party lineup have on Xbox hardware sales, especially in the first year of the console being on the market?

E.F.: In this industry, it’s all about the games. And in the first year, even more so—you only get one chance to make a first impression. Gamers will be blown away with Microsoft-published games. With Xbox-exclusive games like Halo in the action category or NFL Fever 2002 in sports, gamers will have plenty of incentive to rush out to get an Xbox.

http://www.iemag.com/news/daily/11_5_01/index.asp

What do you think of the X-Box Launch ?  I think it\'s very good...
I\'ve watched Halo and DOA3 on my TV and I was impressed...

GRRRRRRRR

why is it that people do interviews of products WITH PEOPLE THAT MAKE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is why i hate the media

Xbox simply delivers more power: double the graphics capabilities, double the power, double the sound

my penis can do all that and more, mr ed fries

nothing against the xbox, but i\'d like to see the same interview done with a ninendo or sony representative

[BizioEE]

Originally posted by mm


nothing against the xbox, but i\'d like to see the same interview done with a ninendo or sony representative

Here it is :

Julian Eggebrecht: "GameCube is stronger than the PS2 and on par with the Xbox."

Planet GameCube: What are your thoughts on the competition? GameCube vs. PS2, GameCube vs. Xbox?

Julian Eggebrecht: On a technical level, GameCube is stronger than the PS2 and on par with the X-Box.  
This means porting from PS2 and X-Box to the GameCube is very, very easy. This will work to Nintendo’s advantage because third parties can easily implement a multi-platform strategy if they want to. GameCube has the huge price advantage going for it and it is arguably the easiest of the three to develop for. I hope that this, combined with the strong first-party titles and third party exclusives like Rogue Leader will give Nintendo an edge in the fight.

Planet GameCube: If there was something you could change about the GameCube hardware, what would it be, and why?

Julian Eggebrecht: Nintendo struck the balance almost perfectly, so aside from increasing every feature hundred-fold we don t have any complaints.

Planet GameCube: Is Rogue Leader using sub-pixel anti-aliasing?

Julian Eggebrecht: Yes, it’s using the GameCube’s 3-point sub-pixel anti-aliasing and of course the excellent deflicker hardware for the interlaced output.

Planet GameCube: Are you happy with GameCube\'s memory bandwidth? Have you ever had to back-track and maybe trim some effects or textures down due to lack of bandwidth?

Julian Eggebrecht: There never were any problems with bandwidth. It really is the single-most impressive feature about the hardware  and makes very reliable predictions about performance possible.

Planet GameCube: How flexible and useful is Gekko in assisting Flipper with custom lighting and geometry? Are you using this feature? Does it compare to the vertex and pixel shaders on the Xbox\'s graphics chip?

Julian Eggebrecht: Maybe without going into too much detail, we don’t think there is anything visually you could do on X-Box (or PS2) which can’t be done on GameCube.  I have read theories on the net about Flipper not being able to do cube-mapped environment maps, fur shading, self-shadowing etc... That’s all plain wrong.  Rogue does extensive self-shadowing and both cube-maps and fur shading are not anymore complicated to implement on GameCube than on X-Box.  You might be doing it differently, but the results are the same. When I said that X-Box and GameCube are on par power-wise I really meant it.  

Planet GameCube: In a recent IGNinsider article, Greg Buchner revealed that Flipper can do some unique things because of the ways that the different texture layers can interact. Can you elaborate on this feature? Have you used it? Do you know if the effects it allows are reproducible on other architectures (at decent framerates)?

Julian Eggebrecht: He was probably referring to the TEV pipeline. Imagine it like an elaborate switchboard that makes the wildest combinations of textures and materials possible. The TEV pipeline combines up to 8 textures in up to 16 stages in one go. Each stage can apply a multitude of functions to the texture - obvious examples of what you do with the TEV stages would be bump-mapping or cel-shading. The TEV pipeline is completely under programmer control, so the more time you spend on writing elaborate shaders for it, the more effects you can achieve. We just used the obvious effects in Rogue Leader with the targeting computer and the volumetric fog variations being the most unusual usage of TEV. In a second generation game we’ll obviously focus on more complicated applications.

[BizioEE]

...but you didn\'t answer...what do you think of the X-Box Launch ?

Originally posted by mm

nothing against the xbox, but i\'d like to see the same interview done with a ninendo or sony representative

SHAME ON YOU don\'t you realise that thats the medias biggest secrets !!!!!!!!!!!!

now i hope you realise is that all the hack journos have to do a proper job and write it as it is rather than use the same text over and over and over again.......

Double the power? hmmm, i thought it was supposed to be 4 X more powerful, what happened?

[BizioEE]

Originally posted by Toxical
Double the power? hmmm, i thought it was supposed to be 4 X more powerful, what happened?

...maybe he was referring to GC ?   :nut:

Originally posted by mm
my penis can do all that and more, mr ed fries

Hey we must be twins!

[BizioEE]

I don\'t know why...but I feel this thread will explode tomorrow...

[BizioEE]

Damn rastalant,you\'re playing Halo,DOA3 and Project Gotham ?!!!.....tell me your thoughts!  I\'m getting an US X-Box too and I have to choose two games....

Play the games and come here to tell me ! :fro:

Hey we must be twins!

ROFL! rob
made me spit orange soda all over my keyboard when i read that, thx

I saw the word penis and I knew there was a joke I could make about something.

[BizioEE]

I see the X-Box is Taboo...no thoughts about its Launch...

I don’t\' know about EB, but this one gaming store at the mall still had some XBox\'s at closing time yesterday at 8:30PM.
When the PS2 came out, there were none left anywhere in my area, sales clerks would ask me if i knew someone or had an extra one.  I\'m really looking forward to seeing how many XBox\'s sold ...

I think your looking forward and seeing how many XBoxs didn\'t sell.

Ace