Speaking with Edge, former Lionhead boss and Microsoft exec Peter Molyneux wins some brownie points for his hopes on what the next Xbox will offer.
Peter Molyneux on the next Xbox: “I don’t want another way of looking at Facebook” [Edge]
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29 responses to “Nobody Wants The Next Xbox To Be “Another Way Of Looking At Facebook””
But what about ordering pizza! :3
Also, if it electrocuted immature sexist homophobic kids every time they said something appalling, we wouldn’t say no to it.
I had a thought the other day about the next batch of consoles…
I’m not too keen on them you see. I’d prefer something that lets me play my PC down on my TV, meaning I can use Steam and only have to buy a game once. I hope this is what Steam Box will let me do; I keep referring to it as a “LAN cloud-gaming console” and such.
But what if Microsoft have noticed this trend (because I’m not the only person who wants it), and the next XBOX will actually let you do this. What if the next XBOX has a cloud-gaming model that lets you stream the games from your PC?
…woah.
Most modern video cards already have a HMDI-out, so you can plug them straight into your TV.
PC’s upstairs, TV downstairs.
HDMI wall plates. Just run the cabling down through the wall.
OOH I must do this 😀
Wireless HDMI; I love living in the future.
It’s what I do, it’s a wonderful experience. My pc is now my media center and has been for what, 5 years now? Music, games, pc needs like word processing, browsing etc. It’s a brilliant thing 😀
Molyneux is wrong. The more services you can seamlessly integrate into one place, the less likely people are going to go elsewhere for those services. Think about how a casino is designed to make you forget about going outside.
Hell, think about smartphones. Once people have an iPhone in their pocket they can make calls, send texts, access email, listen to music, check twitter, browse the web, do their banking, shopping, whatever. This doesn’t necessarily sell the phone to people who don’t already want one but it does keep people who do have one using it constantly.
People won’t buy an Xbox because they can use it to access Facebook, but as long as Microsoft don’t compromise the console’s ability to play games, people will still buy it for the same reasons they bought the Xbox and Xbox 360 – and they’ll keep using it because they don’t have a reason to stop.
I think part of his argument is actually: How much of the retail price tag goes into paying for features that are irrelevant to it’s ability to play games?
“Just give me what I’ve paid my $299 for…”
Also, I don’t know one person in my friends list who used their XBOX for Facebook. As you put it, they all pulled out their smart-phones…
Only because they have to stop what they’re doing to use it. The integration is terrible.
Exactly. Improve that in the next gen and the majority of people aren’t going to moan about the extra features they “don’t need”.
i tried Twitter on my 360 once, and Bing on it once also. needless to say, i never went there again. more crap i don’t want in my system. one i could remove, the other (Bing) is still taking up a whole space on my dash that could be for something i’d actually appreciate.
Let me fix your post for you:
‘The more services you can seamlessly integrate into one place, the less likely STUPID AND LAZY people are going to go elsewhere for those services. Think about how a casino is designed to make you forget about going outside.’
You nailed it with the casino reference. A money trap for the seriously hard of thinking who lack the will to live. If Microsoft want to release the console equivalent of a pokie that drains granma’s food money then let them do so, and release it to the evolutionary mistakes who will be best served by it.
The rest of us would like something to play games on, rather than make money for zuckerberg.
Hence why the console will still be a success as long as it’s still good at playing games.
I don’t really understand the mentality involved, but it is Molyneux. If he’s saying that he doesn’t want these things at the expense of gaming, then sure. If he’s saying he doesn’t want them to be in-your-face features that get in your way, okay. But why would anyone not want their device to be able to do more things, maybe even giving you the option of ditching other single purpose devices?
I have never used a single app on my 360, i dont use it stream or download movies or tv, i dont check facebook and I don’t use it to chat with friends on skype. I use it to play games. That is what my 360 does, as a side benefit it also plays my dvds and my portable HDD. Yet ever since the removal of the blades my 360 is not a games console. If i want to find a game/play a game/search for games it becomes the most over crowed piece of junk around with simple things buried 20 clicks deep behind everything else.
So i get his point exactly, i want a games console, built from the ground up for games. I want the main screen to be ABOUT games, anything and EVERYTHING else needs to be put aside. I don’t want to have adverts about some shit new movie. I want the focus of my GAMES console to be games. I like Peter here, fear what this next gen will bring because it will likely be the opposite.
I’m not opposed to these other things but games need to be the focus. If i want to visit facebook or skype someone i should have to dig deep, the games should be the first priority not the other way around like it is currently. Most importantly though, I don’t want to pay a few $100 extra for features and other junk that is not for playing games. If i wanted a cable box i would buy one same goes for everything else that may or may not be added.
I won’t be using whatever console I own – now or in the future – for anything that is faster/better if typed on a keyboard.
I now own, and will always own, a PC and a smartphone. The next gen consoles are going to have to work very hard to do better at the things those two devices do, or cover something they don’t cover between them.
Wireless keyboard for your console?
Yeah, it’ll need to be something like that. Though I tried that with the PS3, using mouse and keyboard to play Dust, and doing it on the couch/coffee table was awkward to say the least. I had to reconfigure my living room to find a comfortable position to control from, and it still couldn’t beat my comfy computer chair.
I quite enjoy using it on the XBox, but only for communication. Haven’t tried mouse+keyboard combo for games – didn’t realise any would support it.
I’ll have to buy a spare one to plug into the xbox, I’ve never used it on that before. On the PS3 there’s only a few games will ever support it, and even then, the ones that claim to did so very badly. 😛
Though I won’t say he’s “wrong”, I don’t share his sentiment. I do want Facebook and Twitter on my XBox, but what I do not want is the “I have to switch of my game to browse my feeds” problem.
If all I had to do was press the guide button to access social stuff I’d be all over it.
Obligatory cheap shot: I wouldn’t put much stock into what Molyneux has to say anyhow, regarding his latest contributions to gaming.
I don’t want Facebook, or most ant other app on my 360. However, queuing, playing and controlling YouTube videos using my paired phone is fantastic.
I’m sure plenty of people use just one app they love. When it comes down to it, Microsoft have given us an abundance of choice. If gaming options are not compromised in any way, then why is choice bad?
Microsoft should try to focus on providing a teaching and learning platform for children and their parents or siblings to interact in the living room, with a more positive educational tool. I just think of all the random shit I know about that I learned from video games or other media in the living room. Such as guns n killing and shit.
So I was at my friends place the other night, we were going to play some black ops II zombies, he was all set up and we got the other ps3 started up, called his dad in to join us and it updated… then installed updated. I made a comment, which scared me afterwards – My N64 didn’t do this!
It didn’t, it couldn’t, and I am grateful for that. I really don’t care for having to download updates whenever I turn a console on, especially when I barely play any games online and am happy with how things are, working fine. I know some updates are important and can help with certain issues, but I don’t want to download a bunch of crap, I don’t want to have to be signed in to play my games (thank you 360). I JUST WANT TO PLAY MY GAMES!… I must be crazy
The PS3 integrates with facebook as well as the obvious browser.
The PS4 will fully integrate with Facebook, to the point of revelaing your details.
WiiU has the web browser as well as MiiVerse. Looks like Peter is screwed.
i can’t believe the world is still DESPERATE to attach whatever they have to Facebook. i haven’t bothered with it in over a year, and have zero desire to return to it, ever. i thought the world had moved on from it already, but maybe i’m mistaken. anyhoo…
i love that Bill Gate’s pre-360 launch speel was all about consumer creations, and total customization of the experience and other such bullsh!t. ever since the console has pushed aside any and all customization aside of what you can buy your avatar & even squashes your themes – some many people paid points for – with walls and walls of ads in front of them.
the next console all i want is an asskicker of a games machine, more personal customization akin to what i can do with my PC, a larger focus on indie games, a few video/music apps for sites of MY choosing, eg: vimeo, soundcloud and the ability to have age-appropriate online matches – im over 20, i don’t wanna be playing douchy whiny 11 year olds, especially in adult-oriented games.
lastly, i’d like the removal of after-sale paid unlocks posing as DLC – what’s on the disc should be unlocked for FREE through progress made during the game as it used to be back in the day – or better yet – all those achievement points you rack up – they can be spent on unlocks, perhaps?
i’ll happily pay for post-disc-pressing DLC if it warrants my attention, but grifting loyal customers the way publishers have the last couple years for content on a disc you paid $60 or more for has simply got to stop.