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Indie devs comment on Xbox One

S

shinobi602

Member
Rami Ismail, Vlambeer

“We think it’s interesting that Microsoft is taking the Xbox away from gaming as its core business, but it was sort of weird watching this event go down. We did see some indie developers in the opening video, so there obviously is an indie strategy somewhere, but I don’t think we know a thing about Xbox One and gaming – they still have to show their hand with regards to that at E3. The whole presentation felt sort of awkward, but the D-pad looks really nice. Sadly, at this point the thing we’re looking forward to most for the Xbox One is Skype on our TV.”
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Philip Tibitoski, Young Horses

“As an indie and developer the Xbox One reveal didn’t really say anything to me. The stuff with fantasy sports is cool and all, but I was more interested in seeing how the marketplace/store might have changed or how discovery was being handled. This reveal was for a different audience and I’ll be interested to see what they talk about at E3 when they’re ready to talk software.

“Are they opening up avenues for smaller developers? We’ve seen efforts from the other big players like Steam Greenlight, or what Sony has been up to with PS3 and Vita, or even the recent announcements of PS4 indies like Hohokum. Mobile is open and Sony is opening up while making developer-related processes more simplistic to focus on games. What exactly is Microsoft planning for this to be on parity with others? I can’t tell from what they’ve revealed so far, except that there are smaller developers shown in the opening video reel.”
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Ben Kane, Going Loud Studios

“While it wasn’t the content I hoped to learn about, I do accept that Microsoft’s living room strategy has many facets beyond gaming, and that’s what today was about. I’ll wait to hear more about Xbox Live, digital distribution, the marketplace, and where indies fit in. I don’t think there was a message here for indie developers, but I also don’t read anything nefarious from that. The presentation was simply directed at a different aspect of ‘living room entertainment.’

“An Xbox Live Indie Games successor, whether direct (a premium-but-open service where anyone can make and sell games) or spiritual (a more open XBLA-style partnership hopefully with a much lower barrier for entry) would be at the top of my list for things I’d like to see at the E3 presentation.”
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James Silva, Ska Studios

“As a consumer, I’m excited. We use an Xbox 360 as an entertainment hub anyway, so getting a more robust, snappier version of that is a win. And lag-free Kinect is something I really, really wanted the instant Kinect 1.0 debuted, so that’s great.

“As a developer of semi-simple 2D indie games, I’m looking forward to playing with one, though our style isn’t going anywhere – it’ll just end up with some more gratuitously excessive particle systems.”
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Brian Provinciano, Vblank Entertainment

“Their intention from the first Xbox was to own the living room, and the evolution of the 360 showed this trajectory in motion. The Xbox One is them realizing this vision. The problem is, they’re leaving core gamers behind. You would’ve thought that the reaction to their E3 2012 press conference would’ve been a wake up call, but they’re on a different course. They see more money in general entertainment, media and ads than core gamers. They see dollar signs with subscription fees. They want the revenue stream that cable providers and phone carriers have been enjoying. I’m certain that the Xbox One will launch with the base price plus a 2 – 3 year contract. The unfortunate thing about this is that many consumers will be fooled by the lower price point, even though they’ll end up paying more in the long run.

“They’re preaching TV services to gamers and gamer press, the exact group of people who will be least receptive to it. Microsoft’s direction isn’t in line with E3, it’s in line with CES.

“Despite delaying their announcement a month, they still failed to capitalize on the opportunity to recalibrate after the PS4 announcement. I’m quite surprised by how limited their attempts were to one-up the PS4.

“Prior to this conference, I was expecting that at least during the E3 presentation, Microsoft would pander to indies in some way. They remain the only platform which prevents self-publishing. I wouldn’t expect anything other than just talk from them, but I was expecting them to address indies nonetheless. However, after this, I could see them leaving indies out completely. After all, they have their eye on the average consumer, not the core gamer. Average consumers aren’t as versed in the ‘indie’ game scene.”
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Phil Fish, Polytron

“What a giant load of shit that was! All buzzwords! They talked for an hour and basically said nothing. What does ‘always ready’ mean?”

“There was absolutely nothing relevant to me in that presser. Nothing about digital distribution or indies. Nothing at all.”
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http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/21/microsofts-message-to-indies-with-xbox-one-it-was-sort-of-wei/
 
S

SPDIF

Member
This wasn't a conference for them. If they want more information on the development side of things they'll have to wait until BUILD.
 
M

Margalis

Banned
XB1 is rejuvenating the reputation of Phil Fish, Leigh Alexander, Wii U...it's like the fat friend you stand next to if you want to look attractive by comparison.
 
C

cosmicblizzard

Banned
lol, Fish is still an asshole, but one perk of that is having the balls to say stuff like this. Just hilarious seeing all the neutral-nice quotes, and then that.
 
T

The_Monk

Member
Yep, it was expected they would not be pleased. I was not happy with this too.

ijW9KbFN8WmTW.gif
 
U

Ushae

Banned
So basically wait till E3? Got it. That initial trailer with all the devs in it, should have hinted at MS's direction.
 
A

Alphahawk

Member
I love how everybody is kinda being cordial and weaving around the issue and then Phil just comes and and says what they were all thinking.
 
A

akira28

Member
"always ready" means it'll never turn you down when you want a hot and heavy session of hardcore gaming. That kind of feature is priceless, really.
 
R

ReaperXL7

Member
Yeah indies devs on twitter have been going to town on twitter after the reveal. Its going to be really interesting to see where this goes because right now it looks like Microsoft snowballed allot of bad rumors/press into something worse if twitter feeds/facebook/ and gaming sites are anything to go by.

There have been some positive voices here and there, but the vast majority seems pretty negative about the whole thing. E3 should be tons of fun!
 
N

newjeruse

Member
BlazingDarkness said:
The problem is that this wasn't a conference for ANYBODY. It was directionless, shallow and completely damaging.
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It was a conference for EVERYBODY...or something.

This isn't E3. A system debut is as much about articulating your vision to consumers as it is to developers. The contrast between the Playstation Meeting and today is stark. And if that's unfair that's no one's fault but Microsoft's.
 
1

140.85

Cognitive Dissonance, Distilled
They’re preaching TV services to gamers and gamer press, the exact group of people who will be least receptive to it. Microsoft’s direction isn’t in line with E3, it’s in line with CES.
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There's the core of it.

Why even do this? Wait a couple weeks and do the reveal at E3 with examples of services AND games. It was just a bizarre choice of approach that didn't benefit them in any way.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Was wondering what the Indie reaction was. Makes sense, wonder if they've been locked out of development too. Or at least, not getting the access they get with Sony.
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
They really needed to explore the process of development to release. It was a gaping hole in the presentation especially now given how many developers there are out there on so many open platforms.
 
S

SPDIF

Member
BlazingDarkness said:
The problem is that this wasn't a conference for ANYBODY. It was directionless, shallow and completely damaging.
Click to expand...

Well it certainly wasn't a conference for gamers, I'll agree. But it was a conference to introduce the next Xbox to the general media.

Since they basically confirmed they wouldn't be showing many games today a couple of days ago, I didn't go into todays event expecting many games. That's probably why I'm one of the few people not freaking out.

Now, if they don't bring the games at E3, then it's time to panic.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
It is amazing how much extra push Sony is putting toward Indie's this gen. Yet another in a long list of ways Microsoft fucked its unveil. Sony is now the de facto Indie system of choice lol

Oersted said:
He must have missed all conferences in existence.
Click to expand...

Except Sony's, since they spent an inordinate amount of time detailing how their new platform benefits Indies :p
 
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