Why the head of Xbox global content believes XNA will salvage a floundering industry - full, amazingly frank comments inside
13:15 Microsoft corporate vice president Peter Moore made some surprisingly candid remarks on the state of the Japanese games industry last week, speaking to us following the world unveiling of XNA at last week's Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Responding to a question on the reaction of Japanese developers to XNA - Microsoft's software tool package created to drive next-gen development - Moore deflected attention away from Xbox's failings in the Far East, stating: "As successful as PS2 and GameCube are on a market share basis, the Japanese market is flattening out and declining."
Moore elaborated that the big Japanese developers and publishers now "look at our platform on a global basis... They look and see we're clearly number two in the US, clearly number two and challenging hard in Europe, and they take a holistic approach."
In surprisingly frank remarks, Moore outlined why he feels it is a necessity for Japanese companies to work with Xbox, saying: "They have no choice because they can't survive on Mahjong games shipping for 100,000 people anymore - they have the same issues that we're resolving with XNA now: they need to develop large-scale global games to stay in business."
Moore also slammed what he sees as the lack of creativity in the East, believing "the nation that basically invented this business" is running out of ideas and falling behind the West:
"Last time [I was at Tokyo Game Show] I thought I saw the same game 15 times over - a guy with a sword running around. There's a lack of creative juices which they admit themselves... It's the western developers and publishers who are really driving innovation."
With this in mind, Moore firmly believes XNA is the key to wooing Japanese developers, publsihers and, ultimately, consumers, to an Xbox platform, something which has so far spectacularly failed to happen in significant numbers, despite success in the US and Europe.
Either way, Microsoft clearly believes XNA will kick-start a massive reversal in the company's fortunes, Moore predicting: "I'll be over there [Japan] in a couple of weeks doing publisher tours, talking about [XNA] - they're going to welcome it with open arms."
Bold words indeed; we'll find out soon enough if Japan is ready to take Xbox seriously the second time around. For the full Peter Moore interview, be sure to check back later this week.
krit
a guy with a sword running around. There\'s a lack of creative juices which they admit themselves... ... 有道理呢...
krit
唉... 可惜这个游戏我还没有打通... 感觉最后一关，一我的实力是过不去了...
sunix
IGN E3最佳游戏综合评选:
最佳创新设计――Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand 我们的太阳(GBA)