Possibility of no Xbox2 Announcement at GDC or March

[Megadrive1988]

http://news.com.com/2061-1043-5553364.html?tag=xtra.ml

No Xbox 2 announcement in March?
January 27, 2005, 11:12 AM PST

Xbox

OK, so maybe we jumped the gun with our prediction that the next version of the Xbox would be revealed at the Game Developers Conference in March.

Organizers of the conference announced Thursday that Microsoft Vice President J. Allard, one of the top dogs in the Xbox division, will deliver a keynote address at the event, scheduled for March 7 to 11 in San Francisco.

Allard will "discuss Microsoft's commitment to the next generation of interactive entertainment," according to the announcement from conference organizer CMP Media.

Based on previous events and a general sense that Microsoft is unlikely to rely on a third-tier executive to announce a product so vital to the company's future, we'll take that to mean another not-too-specific presentation on coming technological advances.

GDC is the forum where Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled the original Xbox in 2000.

--David Becker

 

[GwymWeepa]

I think they'll wait for E3, make a huge splash, since that's the biggest gaming event around, and have thousands of people play it and hype the heck out of it with positive word of mouth.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Here's the main body of the GDC email that I just got:

Microsoft Keynote -- The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity

Prominent Microsoft executive, J Allard, corporate vice president, will deliver a keynote address at the 19th annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) on Wednesday, March 9 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of Moscone West.
In the Microsoft keynote, entitled "The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity," Allard will discuss the importance of pushing the industry forward; taking advantage of new technology to not only revolutionize the game experience, but also the development of the games themselves. Allard will set the stage for how consumer and technology trends will converge to create an unprecedented growth opportunity for the industry.

"GDC's motto has always been that the game industry starts with the game creators," said Jamil Moledina, director, Game Developers Conference. "We are honored to have a visionary like Mr. Allard share his knowledge and thoughts on the industry's future at the GDC, where the entire development community will be all ears."

Allard brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the conference. In 2003, he was recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as being one of the most promising executives to lead the entertainment industry. He currently drives games platform initiatives for Microsoft, overseeing hardware, software and online services strategies specifically aimed at unleashing game creativity.

The keynote will anchor GDC's new Vision Track, which is designed to empower developers to anticipate the future of interactive entertainment.

 

[eastcore]

Here's the main body of the GDC email that I just got:

Microsoft Keynote -- The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity

Prominent Microsoft executive, J Allard, corporate vice president, will deliver a keynote address at the 19th annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) on Wednesday, March 9 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of Moscone West.
In the Microsoft keynote, entitled "The Future of Games: Unlocking the Opportunity," Allard will discuss the importance of pushing the industry forward; taking advantage of new technology to not only revolutionize the game experience, but also the development of the games themselves. Allard will set the stage for how consumer and technology trends will converge to create an unprecedented growth opportunity for the industry.

"GDC's motto has always been that the game industry starts with the game creators," said Jamil Moledina, director, Game Developers Conference. "We are honored to have a visionary like Mr. Allard share his knowledge and thoughts on the industry's future at the GDC, where the entire development community will be all ears."

Allard brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the conference. In 2003, he was recognized by The Hollywood Reporter as being one of the most promising executives to lead the entertainment industry. He currently drives games platform initiatives for Microsoft, overseeing hardware, software and online services strategies specifically aimed at unleashing game creativity.

The keynote will anchor GDC's new Vision Track, which is designed to empower developers to anticipate the future of interactive entertainment.

Gates my allow Allard to showcase the X2. Or not.

 

[passerby]

Between E3 and expected launch we have ~5mths, should be sufficient for marketing to do their bit. Maybe. At least, studios working on launch titles hope so!

Funny thing is that XBNext is an 'open secret', as most studios already have official details and tools. So this GDC is an event where everyone knows about it, but just don't/can't talk about it in official presentations.

 

[megateto]

Seems that I will have to renew my gamespot subscription in order to view this years E3 main conferences.

3 new consoles announced in less than a week???

 

[London Geezer]

Seems that I will have to renew my gamespot subscription in order to view this years E3 main conferences.

3 new consoles announced in less than a week???

Well you can rest assured that when one company makes any kind of announcement, the other two will also wake up and announce "something", be it a new game from their best franchise on current consoles or something more next-gen-y.

 

[megateto]

Well, we already have confirmation from Nintendo's part; if MS is really going to launch later this year, I guess the best time to announce something THAT big is E3, and Sony... I think I remember that slide stating "PS3 first showing" at this years E3.

 

[London Geezer]

Well, we already have confirmation from Nintendo's part; if MS is really going to launch later this year, I guess the best time to announce something THAT big is E3, and Sony... I think I remember that slide stating "PS3 first showing" at this years E3.

"PS3 first showing" could mean anything. Even showing the logo will draw lots and lots of attention.

Besides, if Sony or Nintendo can't show anything this year, they'll surely counter any Xbox2 announcements with:

GT4 R-Spec Epilogue Rio de Janeiro: Carnival Edition, and then GT4 S-Spec Post-Epilogue Rio De Janeiro: Carnival Edition - After Party. Released as separate packages. Then announce the release 3 days later of GT4 T-Spec After-the-Post-Epilogue Rio de Janeiro Edition: Carnival Edition - I'm Still Hungover.

FF78-4, completely revamped. Totally open-world, you have no random battles so you could in theory meet the final boss after 5 minutes of play time (which is actually after 30 mins of putting the disc in, u know, cutscenes and all), the problem would be, you'd die before even seeing the boss as you need to be lvl 87 to even get a first turn hit. So u'd still have to fight the same number of battles you had to fight in previous games, they're just not random anymore. But hey, at least it's completely free-roaming!! People wanted innovation afterall!!

GTA:Essex Chav Edition (Aimed at trackie-wearing brit girls, the heroine is a little girl who grows into a chav and then a pub owner/local gangsta with 5 daughters by the age of 20, all to be raised into local chavs/gang members, the youngest one will get pregnant at 12 and marry at 18 years of age the gangster of the rival faction, cue much crying, blood, broken pints),

Mario: Lollipop (collect all the 500 lollipops and Mario gets a pink hat with rainbow flag attached), Nintendo's way to make Mario more "social". Mario discovers he's gay and the game is centered around his own struggle in a world full of mushroom heads and horny princesses. Link will be among the guest stars.

Zelda: Trapped Air - Will This Princess Ever Stay Out Of Trouble, Not Getting Paid Enough To Save Her Every 2 Years Or So. The "street cred" version of Zelda, an open ended game where you can decide whether to save the princess once again, or just wander around killing mushrooms and complete side missions, including open a cornershop. The look will still be cell shaded but in a Simpsons way. Mario will be among the guest stars.

Which will be enough for many fans.


[NOTE: Please do your best to take the above as what it's meant to be, my funniest post for ages]

 

[megateto]

You sure know how to make a little boy sad, don't you??

I bet you were the kind of boy who told all his classmates about Santa as soon as you knew about it .

PS: That chav thing.. I keep on reading about it and seems that right now over there it's just like a plague.. is it?

 

[London Geezer]

PS: That chav thing.. I keep on reading about it and seems that right now over there it's just like a plague.. is it?

Plague is contagious. I'm not sure chavness is contagious, but it's still the evil of the 21st century.

 

[Miksu]

Finnish gaming-siite has a news up where they say that Microsoft has send a pr-mail, where they state that they are announcing XBOX 2 at the E3.

 

[Phil]

Finnish gaming-siite has a news up where they say that Microsoft has send a pr-mail, where they state that they are announcing XBOX 2 at the E3.

I wonder if Sony will take that opportunity as well to announce PS3 officially to the public, knowing that Microsoft has this in mind.

 

[Mythos]

IIRC, ain't Sony announceing the PS3 at the end of March (Japanese event)?

If Microsoft doesn't announce Xenon at GDC 2005 then there console stragety becomes more reactive off of what others may show. Insecurity?

 

[AlNom]

Mythos: certainly seems like it.


edit: insecurities I mean.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Waiting until E3 is the best strategy. Just like Nintendo did with the Cube in 2001. They brought out the Cube with Rogue Leader, Luigi, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Starfox Adventures and blew everyone away. MS is probably planning the same thing.

 

[zidane1strife]

If Microsoft doesn't announce Xenon at GDC 2005 then there console stragety becomes more reactive off of what others may show. Insecurity?

Well, that's risky, if they wait till e3 they probably lost the "top announced tech, best gphx evah in media " window, assuming they don't outclass the ps3 and it's announced in march. Not to mention their tech specs may very well seem less impressive if there's a prior announcement for a higher spec'ed product.

Ps2 at least had some time to shine prior to xbox announcement, and I think it gave it a healthy boost, and future-hype-shock-absorber(aka, it's not the same to be announced as UBER unmatched with Best graphics, as being announced as weaker with me-too gphx at best, again, assuming they don't exceed the competition that is.). Xbox 2 could very well use such.

ed

 

[Tweaker]

Finnish gaming-siite has a news up where they say that Microsoft has send a pr-mail, where they state that they are announcing XBOX 2 at the E3.

I wonder if Sony will take that opportunity as well to announce PS3 officially to the public, knowing that Microsoft has this in mind.

Looks like they will
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20050128112857.html

 

[vliw]

I wonder how can Sony show Ps3 without NVIDIA Graphics Chip.
Maybe some technical features, but nothing more....imho

 

[AzBat]

Mythos: certainly seems like it.


edit: insecurities I mean.

True, but if Microsoft is able to show off the final design, games, announce pricing and ship the console 3 or 4 months after E3, then it won't be so reactive compared to Sony and Nintendo. In fact, it could look the other way around. Whether or not they're doing that I'm not sure. I already assumed that if they were shooting for a holiday launch, they would have already announced by now. Maybe they're trying to keep Sony and Nintendo on their toes?

Tommy McClain