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Xbox Original Programming

jbug617

Banned
Don't know if this belongs in gaming because it's about shows but here is the write up by MS.
http://news.xbox.com/2014/04/ent-xbox-originals-unveil

Confirmed Projects

“Halo” television series

The “Halo” television series is a groundbreaking original series based on the award-winning “Halo” franchise. Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer Steven Spielberg will executive produce the live-action TV series, created in partnership with 343 Industries and Amblin Television.

“Every Street United”

“Every Street United” is an unscripted series of eight, thirty-minute episodes and a one-hour finale, featuring legendary soccer players Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids, focused on the global search for soccer’s most gifted and undiscovered street stars scouted across eight countries (United States, England, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands, Ghana and South Korea). The series culminates this July in a 4v4 street game finale in the shadow of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

Each episode will feature unique and incisive narratives about the grassroots street stars and the communities that shaped them. Industry veteran and eight-time Emmy-Award winning producer, director, writer and editor Jonathan Hock (“Streetball,” “30 for 30: The Best That Never Was”) is directing the series. Emmy-Award winning producer Mike Tollin and Mandalay Sports Media are executive producing. Professional soccer luminaries, Henry and Davids, will serve as coaches for the 4v4 street game in Rio. “Every Street United” will premiere in June 2014. All episodes will be available through Xbox Video for Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 8 (PC and Surface) and Windows Phone 8.

Bonnaroo

Xbox owners around the globe can experience the magic of the 13th annual Bonnaroo music and arts festival with a live concert destination on Xbox Live Friday, June 13 through Sunday, June 15, 2014, brought to viewers in partnership with Superfly Presents. With the Bonnaroo app, fans can enjoy live music like never before, with a virtual experience featuring the best performances, multiple stages, biggest artists and amazing SuperJams, and explore this year’s lineup to see the best of Bonnaroo’s past with exclusive performances. Fans can also join the conversation with fellow virtual-Bonnaroovians and get connected to their friends and the festival. Xbox is the exclusive broadcasting partner for Bonnaroo and the only location to get all of the interactive features.

“Signal to Noise”/“Atari: Game Over”

Xbox is creating a new six film documentary series, “Signal to Noise,” (working title) with two-time Academy Award winning producer Simon Chinn (“Searching for Sugar Man” and “Man on Wire”) and Emmy winning producer Jonathan Chinn (FX’s “30 Days” and PBS’s “American High”), through their multi-platform media company, Lightbox. The series will expose little known stories of how modern technology has radically altered the way we interact with our world.

The first installment, “Atari: Game Over” (working title), explores the fabled Atari mystery, dubbed “The Great Video Game Burial of 1983.” As the legend goes, the Atari Corporation, faced with overwhelmingly negative response to the E.T. video game, disposed of millions of unsold game cartridges by burying them in the small town of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Fuel Entertainment took an interest in the legend, and in December 2013, with help from local garbage contractor Joe Lewandowski, acquired the exclusive rights to excavate the Alamogordo landfill. Fuel Entertainment then brought the opportunity to Xbox Entertainment Studios. The team will head to the landfill in question to determine if the story is true, interviewing a cast of characters related to the game and its mystery along the way. “Atari: Game Over” is directed by writer/director Zak Penn (“X-Men 2,” “Avengers,” and “Incident at Loch Ness”). It will air exclusively on Xbox One and Xbox 360 in 2014.

“Humans”

“Humans” is a bold new drama co-produced with UK broadcaster Channel 4. Award-winning UK production company Kudos (“The Hour,” “Utopia,” “Broadchurch”) will produce the hour-long, eight-episode series, which will share a premiere broadcast window on the Xbox platform and Channel 4 in the UK in 2015.

Executive produced by Jane Featherstone (“Life on Mars,” “Broadchurch”) and Derek Wax (“The Hour,” “Sex Traffic”), and written by British writing team Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley (“Spooks,” “Spooks: The Greater Good”), “Humans” is an English-language adaptation of Sveriges Television and Matador Film’s acclaimed Swedish series, “Real Humans.” “Humans” is set in a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’ – a highly-developed robotic servant eerily similar to its live counterpart. In the hope of transforming the way they live, one strained suburban family purchases a refurbished synth only to discover that sharing life with a machine has far-reaching and chilling consequences. Casting for “Humans” will begin in May 2014, and production will commence later this summer.

“Halo” digital feature

343 Industries and Scott Free Productions are creating a "Halo" digital feature to be released later this year. The project will be executive produced by Ridley Scott and Scott Free TV President, David Zucker. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan ("Battlestar Galactica," "Pillars of the Earth," "Heroes") will direct.

Shows in Development

“Deadlands”

Xbox Entertainment Studios has committed to a script based on the successful pen-and-paper role playing game created by Shane Lacy Hensley. “Deadlands” is a genre-bending alternative history of the Weird West, filled with undead gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers, mad scientists, secret societies, and fearsome abominations.

“Extraordinary Believers”

Xbox Entertainment Studios is developing an innovative, hybrid stop-motion show dubbed “Extraordinary Believers” (working title) with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, creators of the Emmy-Award winning “Robot Chicken,” the longest running stop-motion show on television. The executive producers on the project are Seth Green, Matt Senreich, and creators/writers/executive producers are Eric Towner and John Harvatine IV.

“Fearless”

“Fearless,” (working title) is an unscripted series currently in pilot production starring Paul de Gelder, an Australian Navy bomb clearance diver and shark attack survivor who takes on an adrenaline-fueled quest to aid individuals who risk their lives to make the world a better place. “Fearless” will be produced by Australia’s International Emmy-Award winning production company, Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder (CJZ).

“Gun Machine”

Xbox Entertainment Studios acquired the rights to “Gun Machine,” a hardboiled detective thriller based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Warren Ellis. Ellis will executive produce with Brett Conrad (“The Killing,” “Sons of Anarchy,” Netflix’s upcoming “Marco Polo”) who has signed on to write the pilot script about a detective tracking a serial killer who is tied to a mysterious collection of guns used in infamous New York murders.

Untitled JASH Comedy/Variety Half Hour

In this unique comedy format developed by Xbox Entertainment Studios with JASH (a comedy collective founded by Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, Tim and Eric and Reggie Watts), the biggest names in comedy will showcase the people that make them laugh. Each week, a different comedian will host/curate a show featuring new and unsung talent, in various video formats. Sarah Silverman will host the pilot episode and Daniel Kellison (“Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Crank Yankers”) will executive produce. The series has a pilot commitment and will begin shooting in June.

“Winterworld”

Xbox Entertainment Studios and IDW Entertainment are co-developing a limited event live-action series based on Chuck Dixon and artist Jorge Zaffino’s seminal graphic novel series “Winterworld,” in which our world has been encased in ice from pole-to-pole. The surviving humans have formed tribes that war, enslave and trade with one another in an effort to survive the infinite winter. Ted Adams and David Ozer from IDW Entertainment, and Rick Jacobs and Dave Alpert from Circle of Confusion (“Walking Dead”) will executive produce.
 

Leflus

Member
You blew it, OP

The title should have been: "Xbox Originals coming to Xbox 360, Xbox One and other Microsoft devices".

On-topic: Some of those shows actually sound fairly interesting. Hopefully they won't turn out to be duds.
 

jaypah

Member
Some of this shit sounds pretty interesting. What happened to that Nas thing they were doing? Yes, yes, keep your "L" jokes to yourself.
 
Some potentially interesting stuff there, not bad for a start. And a thing just occurred to me - what if the extended ending to the alleged Halo 2 Anniversary is a live action show/short?
 

ironcreed

Banned
I'm getting an Xbox One, but I think they are screwing up big by going down this route. People are not going to buy a $500 Xbox in order to watch shows when they can watch Netflix, etc on devices they already own. I'm expecting this to blow up in their face.
 

Akai__

Member
Rumour about Ridley Scott working on something Halo related is confirmed now. I wonder what it is, though? Maybe an other TV show, but why would they work on 2 TV shows for Halo?
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Sounds like they have a lot of talent on board. Can't wait to see how it all pans out, especially the Halo stuff.

I'm getting an Xbox One, but I think they are screwing up big by going down this route. People are not going to buy a $500 Xbox in order to watch shows when they can watch Netflix, etc on devices they already own. I'm expecting this to blow up in their face.

They won't be able to watch any of this original content on other devices though, so it makes a better value proposition for someone looking to buy a system.
 

wes-

Member
Will they make it available "for free" to gold members? That would be a step in the right direction.
 
These shows sound far more interesting and diverse than I ever expected. The investment is certainly there, that's for sure.
 
Some of those sound really interesting. Headlands, Machine Gun and Winter World especially.

Humans will also be one to keep an eye on, the Swedish show it's based is really good.
 
I'm getting an Xbox One, but I think they are screwing up big by going down this route. People are not going to buy a $500 Xbox in order to watch shows when they can watch Netflix, etc on devices they already own. I'm expecting this to blow up in their face.

People can use a lot of devices to watch these shows. Win phone, XB1, 360, Win 8, Surface... not too bad, but personally, i'm not interested and i have a feeling this will fail big. Microsoft just don't have it in the entertainment field, there are way bigger, more experienced players.
 
These two sound great

“Deadlands”

Xbox Entertainment Studios has committed to a script based on the successful pen-and-paper role playing game created by Shane Lacy Hensley. “Deadlands” is a genre-bending alternative history of the Weird West, filled with undead gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers, mad scientists, secret societies, and fearsome abominations.

“Extraordinary Believers”


Xbox Entertainment Studios is developing an innovative, hybrid stop-motion show dubbed “Extraordinary Believers” (working title) with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, creators of the Emmy-Award winning “Robot Chicken,” the longest running stop-motion show on television. The executive producers on the project are Seth Green, Matt Senreich, and creators/writers/executive producers are Eric Towner and John Harvatine IV.
 
I saw Major Nelson's tweet and read "Xbox Originals coming..." and got so excited that it was X-Box (OG) and XBox 360 games for Xbox One. Alas. It's television.
 

ironcreed

Banned
They won't be able to watch any of this original content on other devices though, so it makes a better value proposition for someone looking to buy a system.

Actually, they will be alienating a wider audience who would rather watch programs on their tablets, etc. This crowd is not going to go buy a $500 box just so they can watch Xbox TV.
 

Tagg9

Member
I have no interest in documentaries personally, but Humans sounds interesting. It's not actually an exclusive, though, as it airs on Channel 4 in the UK.
 

tkalamba

Member
Rumour about Ridley Scott working on something Halo related is confirmed now. I wonder what it is, though? Maybe an other TV show, but why would they work on 2 TV shows for Halo?

I'm going to assume one will directly lead up to the Halo 5 launch, much like what they did with Halo 4 and the Infinity mini series.
 
Halo series sounds like it's pretty far off...

Even Humans is citing a casting/production date for something that won't be this year.
 
I'm concerned that Major Nelson is spending too much time in the desert, and not in meetings with third-parties securing exclusives...
 

KissVibes

Banned
Please be more like Netflix than Amazon in terms of show quality. Winterworld sounds especially interesting, but everything listed sounds VERY solid. Microsoft is making some solid moves here.

I'm concerned that Major Nelson is spending too much time in the desert, and not in meetings with third-parties securing exclusives...

Major Nelson is a PR man.
 

Castef

Banned

passport_b.jpg


(by the way, very interesting list)
 
Deadlands sounds cool and I can see Meshuggah destroy legions of dirty hippies with swedish uber metal without having to be near them at Bonnaroo!
 

ironcreed

Banned
People can use a lot of devices to watch these shows. Win phone, XB1, 360, Win 8, Surface... not too bad, but personally, i'm not interested and i have a feeling this will fail big. Microsoft just don't have it in the entertainment field, there are way bigger, more experienced players.

That will obviously make it more accessible. But who will care is the larger question? They are dipping their toes into a territory that is already dominated and I think they are making a huge mistake.
 

KissVibes

Banned
That will obviously make it more accessible. But who will care is the larger question? They are dipping their toes into a territory that is already dominated and I think they are making a huge mistake.

Dominated by whom? People will care if the quality of the shows are good.

It's like they talked about this ALL the time since the announcement of the Xbox One!

But...they haven't?

i know, i see it too but these projects were most likely set up a while ago when Mattrick was still pulling the strings. I expect his taint to linger for at least a year before Spencer ideas start filtering through.

The Xbox division has been more than games for years and it isn't like Spencer will decide "Nah, fuck that" one day. Getting into original programming is a good move because if done well, adds additional revenue streams and opens themselves up to more consumers.

I totally foresee Xbox 360 becoming a download-only & streaming media box within the next two years and video content will be very important there.
 

Southside Jim

Neo Member
Have to say: sounds intriguing to me.

Bigger picture, with Amazon and Netflix already going down these original programming routes, there seems to be a trend, namely: it's all about the subscription.
 
Damn you Microsoft for trying to provide original programming that ads value to the subscription service everyone pays for!

I mean, seriously, one of the biggest complaints about Xbox Live is that it doesn't offer much value, and now some of you guys are mad because they're trying to offer it. It boggles my mind.

Sony: 'We made Breaking Bad.'
BREAKING BAD, FROM THE GENIUSES WHO BROUGHT YOU, THE TESTER.
 

guek

Banned
Honestly think this is a waste of resources since I have a hard time believing MS will commit to this venture as fully as they'd need to in order to make it a success.
 
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