Spencer Clarifies His Statement About 1080p Resolution, Talks About New IPs, Gears of War & More

Spencer on resolution, frame rate, 4K gaming, Gears of War, new features and new IPs.

[JeffGUNZ]

The best thing MS did was make this man the head of Xbox.

[MasterCornholio]

I agree.

It still stuns me why Microsoft chose Mattrick over Phil. Things would have been very different if Phil was in charge.

Anyways I'm glad he is doing a fine job but I have to admit that he messed up a little with Tomb Raider.

@gamerfan0909

"People have a distorted view of what Mattrick accomplished at MS."

I didn't imagine the things he did with the Xbox One and I'm sure plenty of Xbox fans are happy that he's gone.

"He also spearheaded Kinect 1 which did 26 million sold in hardware and is responsible for Xbox live being in 40 plus million homes."

You think that anyone's happy with that especially with all the crappy Kinect games they the Xbox 360 had? Phil was correct in removing Kinect from the Xbox One bundle since many people dont like it. Oh and Kinect didn't sell 40 million FYI.

[gamerfan0909]

Mattrick was a very highly thought of executive in EA when he was brought in and he increased Xbox's usebase from what it was in the beginning to over 80 million homes. He's also the main guy people point to for building the relationships with Activision and EA. He also spearheaded Kinect 1 which did 26 million sold in hardware and is responsible for Xbox live being in 40 plus million homes. People have a distorted view of what Mattrick accomplished at MS.

[darthv72]

@gamerfan...just to be clear, don't confuse the number of units sold as equating to the number of homes.

I have three 360's myself and they were not purchased due to RROD. I like to collect variants so having the original white, the black elite and the newer slim all contributed to those total sales.

As far as Phil is concerned...there is much ground to be made up in regards to getting the gamers to take notice of the system and its games. Making all sorts of bundles helps but securing their own legit exclusives on top of helping 3rd parties to develop the best they can make using the xb1 are very high on the list.

[hello12]

Master@ He didn't mess up anything. Sony fans are the ones reacting. Why would an x box fan be upset by this? After gamescom i see lot of people switching sides least people claiming they owned a PS4 and have decided to buy a x box`1 now. They regret their decision of buying a PS4. Dont take my word for it you'll find all this on x box reddit.

Higher frame rate is better than 1080p . It just is.

i'll take a 900p 60 frames shooter over a 1080p 30 frame shooter everyday. Thats just me. The 360 native resolution was 480p jeez . If you care so much about resolution why you own a console that barely has any triple aaa 1080p 60 frame games. Go and buy a PC knock yourself's out.

[NeoGamer232]

@gamerfan0909
How much of the 80 million was based on momentum MS had from Peter Moore's leadership? Peter Moore was the one who brought GTA IV DLC exclusively to X360, and made sure Gears was an X360 exclusive.

The relationship improvements with EA and Activision were probably more about Peter Moore than Mattrick. Moore made MS 3rd party friendly. Mattrick kept the ball rolling.

Kinect was something Gates talked about many years earlier. Obviously MS had been working on it for many years before Mattrick joined.

It's not like Mattrick came in and everything changed. It changed over a period of time that started long before Mattrick came in.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Mattrick was good for Xbox in that he really did help spear head the 360 into the system it turned into. So he should get some credit there.

The problem with Mattrick was and is that he thinks like a suit more than a gamer. It wasn't evident early on as the 360 had so many good things going for it but as he got more control of it you saw the suit in him taking over more an more. He is and was very old guard in thinking.

Mattrick had major influence on the design choices for Xbox One and it showed from their early plans. Its original plan felt like something derived by a suit who follows the stock trends among others rather than really looking at what made the 360 successful and he ignored many of the danger signs that were showing at the tail end of 2012 imo

Xbox is 100% better for not having him there and Spencer leading the charge.

[redwin]

@neogamer, I totally agree. Moore was the original dreamcast guy that came to MS and got the ball Rollin in xboxlive because it didn't work well with sega. Then he left MS and now is working with EA and now we have EA access. This is all his plan, he got this hole generation of online gaming stated. I remember the other consoles saying: you don't need online gaming, you don't need a hardrive, you don't need broadband. Just like they are saying you don't need the power of the cloud. Lol. Maybe they are right, but when we try it, we like it then we want it and for that I'm thankful .

[ABizzel1]

I agree with him on higher framerate vs resolution, but framerate is extremely important for any game. No one wants a game that's unplayable due to bad framerate, but a solid 30fps is good enough for most games.

4k gaming is technically possible on smaller PSN / XBLA games, but full fledged retail games aren't going to happen. PS360 games should be capable of hitting 2k, as long as they keep the original framerate and keep graphics improvements to a minimum (just improve textures, lighting, and effects).

I'm interested in seeing the XBO TGS and Japan launch. I have low hopes for MS success in Japan, but I want to see how hard are they going to try.

Exclusives
Mistwalker should be showing an IP
Scalebound footage
Phantom Dust footage
Japanese Indie games

Possible Exclusives
Dynasty Warrior Xbox Heroes (I called it first)
Dead or Alive 6 (could be exclusive, because MS can easily pay to make up loss PS4 sales)

Multiplats demoed
Tomb Raider (taking dat money, but congrats to MS as businessmen)
Resident Evil Remake (same as Tomb Raider)

Other games
MGSV
Tekken 7
Final Fantasy 15
Kingdom Hearts 3

What would be a Megaton for MS at TGS?
Monster Hunter Exclusive / Timed Exclusive

[bouzebbal]

i don't like this guy.. he's as fake as all his fellow colleagues..

i remember him say no more than 6 months ago that Gears of War has become irrelevant and a few weeks later they buy the licence. this is my problem with MS, they end up biting their tails everytime and talking in all directions.

[turdburgler1080]

Don mattrick is just tanking zynga's stock. That guy is a cancer to the gaming community.

[donthate]

Don Mattrick did a lot of good things for gaming and I agree with gamerfan that fangirls has a distorted view of him, but fangirls in general has a distorted view.

Phil Spencer is great, but I sincerely hope he will include more Kinect features into gaming. I loved it on Mass Effect 3, and a drop in resolution (even optionally) to get new experiences would be awesome.

They way we interact with games need to evolve beyond just a controller!

Don't get me wrong the controller is awesome, but why not move it forward.

[Mega24]

Marc Whitten did more then the Mattrick cancer did. Now his gone, to make Sonos a better place.

[Kosmacz]

While i agree Phil is better in terms of PR i doubt it would be anything different. Microsoft strategy is not a strategy of one single man. It's a strategy of corporation, and it was agreed by a team at least. It's just stupid to think that Phil would change anything. We don't even know what was he really thinking these times.
He in fact was saying things in line of Mattrick strategy.

[ThatOneRiggaNob]

so true but even a rat could do a better job than mattrick.

[gamerfan0909]

Look up what Mattrick did for 360 before and after he became the head executive there instead of going off of 1 bad year.

[ThatOneRiggaNob]

I know what he did for the 360 but we're not talking about the 360 now are we? This is about Xbox One NOT Xbox 360.

[fr0sty]

Mattrick definitely looks like a rat...

[Imalwaysright]

"instead of going off of 1 bad year"

Not sure if serious -_- The man almost destroyed the brand itself with the draconian policies he wanted to implement. What he accomplished last gen wouldn't mean nothing if he went ahead with them and all the years and billions that MS invested into to making the Xbox a competitive brand would have gone down the drain. There is a very good and legitimate reason why he was asked to leave the company.

[kickerz]

Splinter :)

[mixolydian_id]

I do think that Matrick has taken a beating that he probably doesn't deserve.

Im not a fan of getting on the bandwagon, nor a fan of being deliberately opposing.

But surely he's done a fair bit more for the platform then people will know. Industry execs travel the world, away from their family and bare the brunt of overwhelming ridicule/praise. They're an accompanying face to the product, almost a poster boy!

There are a lot of people responsible for the Xbox reveal "mess" (though I preferred the DRM version) but he is simply just a face, a representative of a large group of people that pooled together to create a new vision.

Phil's doing great... but he has simply picked up the pieces and followed the feedback instructions.

If Mattrick had stayed, he'd be doing the exact same... but would be an easy target for haters.

It's better he take his experience elsewhere because his name (and the xbox brand) was sure to receive further bashing. They did the right thing cutting him loose, it had gotten political.

Now the xbox team as a whole, have done a great job and I respect the way Spencer communicates their work to the masses. Biggest and most death defying xbox 180 in history. They certainly did not bounce back from the windows 8 debacle so quickly.

That is all

[insomnium2]

My god you think it was up to Mattrick to decide on wether to implement DRM and such? I'm at a loss for words here folks.

Don took the hit for the corporate eff up and now he gets all the BS talk and blame thrown at him too? Come on people you are not that stupid are you?

[DeathOfTheFanBoy]

Agreed, he's a gamer and he's likable, pretty much the opposite of Don, he was a right smarmy git!

Can't wait for GoW news!

[MasterCornholio]

I agree with you especially after Son almost destroyed the Xbox brand with his stupid policies. I think its fantastic that Phil is in charge because he's the only one who can turn the Xbox brand around. Just look at all the improvements that he did already.

[dragon82]

You do understand that he probably wasn't the only person behind those policies right? As the figure head he is just the fall guy when things go bad. This applies to anyone in that role. The President takes the heat for the rest of government branches because he is the figure head. Same goes in business. No one person is singlehandedly making all the decisions.

[brotherlymoses]

And including Kinect with every xbox one

-said no one ever!

[christocolus]

@jeffgunz

I couldn't agree more. The guy is so straightforward.,doesn't shy away from discussing sensitive topics. I'm really happy he is at the helm of the division and also glad to see MS developing and owning more ips. This could also mean more studios will be created& maybe aquired. However they plan on doing it is their business, i'm just glad MS is finally stepping up to creating more ips.

I'm also looking forward to the reveal of gears.

[Flamingweazel]

Spencer was behind all the DRM, TV deal, The PR gaff about tomb raider. He was 8 years hea dof MS meagre first party studiios, ruined rare, he was championing all the DRM< SPin and bad PR last year...Xbots have short memories.

[Software_Lover]

If people stop taking EVERYTHING people say out of context and then blasting it all over the internet, they wouldn't have to clarify.

And just to clarify (lol), this happens in everything. Politics, sports, everything. It just depends on the agenda the person doing the reporting is about.

[GiggMan]

I agree.

[gamerfan0909]

I can't begin to fathom what a next gen Gears of War would even look or play like. I'd probably soil myself with that reveal.

[tgunzz]

Right with ya!! I just hope that they capture the grit, and intensity of gears, and there will be no problem at all. Looking for to the constant introduction of new IPs as well...

[OpenGL]

It is pretty exciting to think about, Gears of War 1 was one of the first games that was truly "next-gen" when it released in 2006, hopefully a new game in the franchise would be equally impressive.

[LazyGoron]

"Agree on IP, we need to own more.
-Phil Spencer

Not that it means anything, but I love how he uses "own" in relation to attaining new IP. Funny with all the talk about MS "buying" exclusives throughout the years that he would say "own IP's" as opposed to create them, fund them, help them, nurture them. I don't know what word he could use but using "own" is very ironic.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

They plan on buying more timed exclusives. MS could be talking to a developer right now but whom that may be and what game they trying to get, we don't know right now.

[christocolus]

They plan on buying more timed exclusives? Wth? He said “We need to own more ips” and all you got from that is they are buying more timed exclusives?lmao. You guys are hilarious.

Did you read the article at all?

[imt558]

@christocolus

Quote :

They plan on buying more timed exclusives? Wth? He said “We need to own more ips” and all you got from that is they are buying more timed exclusives?lmao. You guys are hilarious.

Did you read the article at all?

Did you read CVG article, the full interview?
http://www.computerandvideo...

Quote :
I don't know if you're going to see a tonne of them from just availability, because a lot of third-party publishers will just go out and do them on their own.

So, MS wanted to buy ( and still want ) 3rd party exclusives, but they said NO!

@KNWS :

Quote :

He didn't mess up anything. Sony fans are the ones reacting. Why would an x box fan be upset by this? After gamescom i see lot of people switching sides least people claiming they owned a PS4 and have decided to buy a x box`1 now. They regret their decision of buying a PS4. Dont take my word for it you'll find all this on x box reddit.

Better to gave us link instead spew bull****.

[gamerfan0909]

Who cares how the IP ends up on the system. I could care less if they bought some studio out for a couple of thousand and had them make a game or if they bought an exclusive for a couple of million. Makes no difference to me as long as I get good games.

[LazyGoron]

Well yeah I am not saying that having, creating, owning new IP's is bad. IP's are good regardless for consoles regardless of "how" they got there.

I strongly believe there's something to be said for "the way you do your business". I love new IP's for my PS4/Wii U and want X1 to get good exclusives because the more and better X1 exclusives are, the harder the PS4/Wii U devs will try to up their own game.

That said... I personally prefer the way Sony and Nintendo "do their business". That's my opinion so that's how I've spent my money. I don't like the 180's MS has pulled over the last year, I don't like that early adopters of X1 were screwed over for an attempt at quick sales, I don't like that MS thinks it better to trick customers with wording than to be honest with them, I don't like that every other company provides "sold to customer" numbers and MS shows "shipped"

I could go on but if MS was a person, they'd be the shadiest person on the block!

[boneso82]

Why not just let 3rd party devs release on all platforms so that all gamers can enjoy that game.

Do you think MS paying for 3rd party exclusives is good for gamers? Do you think that MS think it's good for gamers?

Paying a large sum of money to essentially deny the vast majority of the gaming community from playing a 3rd party game is... is... is... the practice makes me so annoyed i can't repeat the neccessary adjectives on here!

(Just incase your wondering, i own a 360, PS4 and PC, not a fanboy)

[incendy35]

Fund, Help and Nurture do not pertain to owning something. Create and attain are good words, but only cover distinct aspects of owned IP. Own is the correct word to use in that context and means nothing more than what it says.

[rainslacker]

You may be reading too much into the use of that one word.

I agree with your sentiment, but there are many ways to own an IP, whether it be buying them, or creating them.

[Spotie]

I think it's more about how it looks. Rather than creating and developing IPs, they seem to be prone to buying them, like Gears.

Microsoft is, obviously, under a lot of scrutiny; stuff like this doesn't help them.

[cruzngta]

Hes 100% right. What good is a high rez count if the frames are dropping. I would rather have a game at 900p and a locked 60 than 1080 and an inconsistent one. In a perfect world 1080/60 is what every game should be but we dont live in a perfect world and that is just the way it is. Even the PS4 has a few games at 900p and a host of them at 30fps including the long delayed Driveclub which looks amazing graphically in 1080p. They still wound up going with 30fps cuz they knew they couldnt push the visuals like that if they didnt. People are way to caught up in all of this shit and need to get a life or get laid.

[bleedsoe9mm]

give me 60fps , then the highest native resolution you can , but i seem to be in the minority .

[jts1891]

Definitely. 1080p is nice, but it's purely visual. Framerate not only effects how a game looks, but also how it plays.

[ATi_Elite]

.Give me Ultra Graphical settings with MSAA

.Then give me between 50 to 60 fps LOCKED

.and for that GLORY I'll sacrifice resolution and drop down to 900p or 720p

FPS and Ultra graphics are the most important to me and then and only then do I do high resolution if I have the PROPER POWER to achieve it.

[tee_bag242]

I'm with you. But that's also why I haven't picked up either console yet and continue playing on PC. Too many games locked at a slideshow 30fps

[cruzngta]

Lets wait and see a year from now when Halo 5 and the next Gears are starting to show what they look like. In time the XB1 will really start to showcase what it can do and the PS4 as crazy as some of its games look now will do even more as well.

[Saleem101]

I'll take resolution first sorry... Battlefield4 and cod look really bad on xbone compare to ps4 version...

[BillmadeAGate]

No 4K games this generation ? WTF do we have 4k hdmi cords for ?

[OC_MurphysLaw]

4k video and movies...not 4k gaming.

[BillmadeAGate]

* Face meet Palm *

[Clunkyd]

You should be face palming to your own comment.

4K is not even a standard yet on video and you're talking about 4k gaming already?

[Whitey2k]

As much as I think phil is a good person but at the same time I still think they are bad as each other! Resolution will always play a big part I mean look at ps4 a few games will b 1080p against xb1 with the same effects or same rez with better effects and if phil used hes noodle more to compete with sony he needs to buy studios instead of splashing hes cash on 3rd partys that suppose to be neutral

[gangsta_red]

Buying more studios doesn't equal competing or even winning against Sony.

Especially if those studios take up to two years to make a game and that game is not even guaranteed to succeed, make a profit or a return to justify the cost of these new studios.

[Doletskaya]

topic about resolution again?

[mochachino]

PS4 owner here...Spencer is completely right, framerate is more important than resolution in most cases.

A game that's 720p at 60FPS is much clearer when moving the camera (which is all the time while playing) than 1080p at 30 FPS. 30FPS blurs, 60FPS maintains a crisp image during movement.

[jts1891]

Agreed. When I played the Last of Us: Remastered at 60 FPS and then locked it down to 30, I was stunned by how much worse the game looked. It was blurrier and had lots of jagged edges, despite still being 1080P.

[LazyGoron]

Same here, have a couple games that allow a "capped" framerate... and damn was I blown away in TLOU for PS4 when I would switch between the two.

It's true, once you see a game running at 60 FPS you don't ever want to cap it at 30. I have no idea who these people are who can't tell a difference between 60/30 FPS.

[tee_bag242]

And this is the reason I sometimes come off as a PC fanboy. Truth is I love consoles too but I love 60fps more.
If games on consoles simply offered a choice like FF and TLOU did I'd be over the moon.

[Hardcore_gamerxbox]

He's the one made me to keep my Xbox one and be a royal fan again I do believe in him and choosing him as a Xbox division leader is the best thing happen in Xbox industry so far

[Petebloodyonion]

In my book, Gameplay will always triumph overs graphics and resolution!

[JediDiah]

I own an Xbox One but do I really trust theses guys? NO!!

[AllAboutGaming]

What about when you can have 1080p AND 60FPS? I wonder if there is a console that does that?

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Phil for president he understands everything

[Artemidorus]

The real problem is in about 3-4 years time when 4k becomes popular in the mainstream and these consoles are providing 1080p games.

Yes they will still sell and still continue but it may force consoles companies to create an upgrade sooner rather than later.

I can't see people with these machines in ten years.

[rapidturtle]

I know that COD Ghosts has some major slow down issues on the PS4, but doesn't on the Xbone.

[Macdaddy71]

Spencer is a gamer Friend, I think it has to do with his age!!! He is in out time n understand what we want as a gamer hisself,... I feel better bout buying my Day one X1 with him at the lead,.. I do have a ps4 but it's ran by neck ties that don't care bout me, Spencer speak to you

[MAULxx]

All Phil has been doing is doing what Playstation does & downplay the fact Xbone struggles to match PS4 game performance.
Copy paste Sony's moves & spin all the weaknesses.
Corporate MS at it's finest.