TGR: Major Nelson Interview

TheGameReviews.com had the chance to talk with Major Nelson about various topics ranging from Xbox Live Pricing to the future of Xbox Live.

[Relin]

He's right in that Xbox Live is in the perfect position to explode financially. The sooner they get a solid digital distribution framework laid, the more money they can make.

[cain141]

I like how they are willing to keep everything fluid. Should enough consumer response happen, they check about bringing it to us...

[ry-guy]

I never understood the need for Home. I'm glad Xbox does not feel the need to jump all over that and is in a position to re-evaluate in the future to see if they need to go back.

When I turn on my Xbox it is either to watch movies or (more importantly) to play games. I don't need to go stalking peoples achievements and see what they have.

[Relin]

Home, as far as been shown, is simply a 3d interface for the same stuff that Live does. It just includes a social networking level that strays from the Live platform. You're not required to walk around to get everywhere, since an in-program menu allows you to skip from place to place as though it were just a menu.

Simply put, Home looks better than Live, but doesn't use the same menu navigation. We'll see how people react, but I'd be really surprised if it flopped.

[Zhuk]

Major Nelson has become a major gaming icon and celebrity in the gaming industry, I personally enjoy his podcasts and watch Major's Minute every week, he has become a great asset to the Xbox team as the face of Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE.

Sony and Nintendo would do well to replicate the kind of success that Major Nelson has pioneered with his role in the gaming community

[niall77]

Major Nelson is always bashing the wii or ps3, at least moore was more mature

[Relin]

He didn't bash either the PS3 or the Wii in the interview... in fact, he complimented Sony on being a strong competitor. He's been a little rough on them in the past, agreed, but honestly, that kind of talk has been snapping back at those who say it. In that regard, Sony seems to have the best policy: talk as little about your competitors as possible.

Now, if they could only stick to that ;)

[Close_Second]

...great potential however, they need to drastically look at their pricing model for playing on-line. I have kids and they want to each play on-line when they log in. However, there is no way I am paying for XBL membership for each of them. Also, using a shared account means that they can't track their own performance.

I have however set them up on-line accounts for the PS3...much more cost effective in that respect.

[Relin]

I think that's the biggest flaw with XBL: they charge for the one thing that should be free. They're doing the right thing in charging for premium content, like movies and downloadable titles, but online play? They could do just fine by adjusting their model to offer more to Gold members (more free content? exclusive content to Gold members? offer demos to Gold before Silver?) and take online play from the table.

Until Sony's online steps up a bit more, Microsoft really has no reason to do that, so I can't exactly blame them for their choice. I just really hope the PSN starts to bloom, because both markets will benefit greatly from the competition.

[eddierivera]

Nintendo and sony are doing just fine, even making a profit. I think that corporate greed is among one of the reasons why it isnt live,, they are charging people the cost of a video game,, 10 million time 50 is what? My god, why does it have to be this way?

[InYourMom]

is too low on the corporate ladder to speak about much. He seems to talk more PR speak than anything so I never found his information very useful or even informational. However, he does a good job at providing a face for corporate MS and I think the "casual" crowd appreciates him for it. Plus he makes for a good whipping boy when thing's go wrong. =)

Read the interview and it was just what I expected, a whole lot of nothing. There momentum and excitement has definately died since Peter Moore left.

[Relin]

I suppose, but it's really rare that anyone gives out anything solid unless it's in an official announcement. That includes Peter Moore.

[thegamereviews]

We have an interview we did with Jeff Bell coming soon that has tons o juicy stuff :)

But, in relation to Major, I think there were some really neat things he said and it was all done in a very candid way. However, he does mention the Xbox Browser in the testing labs.

[Zhuk]

This is great news, I am looking forward to that interview, Jeff Bell is another one of my favourite people on the Xbox 360 team, he's an amazing guy