The following is excerpts from the transcript of the online chat with Microsoft's J Allard that Major Nelson posted on his blog. Some of the answers I thought bore a little extra scrutiny, so I've added some comments below.
Major Nelson is hosting on his blog a transcript of the recent online chat with Microsoft's J Allard. A lot of emphasis was placed on the recent announcement of two versions of the Xbox; a premium one with all the bells and whistles, and a "core" system $100 cheaper with no headset and no hard drive.
Microsoft wants to know if you've ever heard of a little game called "Halo 2". If you have, fill out their survey.
Microsoft's Peter Moore is interviewed over at SPOnG about the Xbox and the Xbox 360 and Microsoft's digital entertainment strategy.
Eric Trautmann wanted to thank all the Halo fans who purchased The Art of Halo, which has sold quite well and earned him his first-ever (and apparently "big fat") royalty check.
Major Nelson has posted a link in his blog to an eight-page article at Design Interact about the process used to develop the Xbox 360's color-coded user interface.
Jason Dunn at Digital Media Thoughts has put up a hands-on review of the Xbox 360, focused mainly on its features as an entertainment system.
Yahoo is reporting that Microsoft has stated at its Tokyo, Japan Xbox Summit today that the Xbox 360 will launch in the US, Europe and Japan in time for the 2005 holiday season. The Reuters report says that previously a six week delay was expected for those territories, and other news outlets, including SPOnG, are still saying this delay will occur.
Kiziko has news that Microsoft is denying rumors about the Xbox 360's Japanese launch being delayed, perhaps to match the expected PlayStation 3 release date. The new console is still slated for a holiday 2005 launch simultaneously in North America, Europe and Japan.
Microsoft celebrity blogger Robert Scoble confirms that the recently published photos of a near-production Xbox 360 (plus a few extra wires, apparently for "power supply testing") are, in fact, real, and that he arranged for the employee's son to play with the console, and knew that he would podcast about it.
SPOnG says that production of the Xbox 360 will begin this August. Rumors of constrained availability due to high preorder rates have also been circulating...
Kotaku today asks if female gamers are going to generate the extra revenue needed for the industry to grow, based on
TotalGaming is reporting that a recall on Xbox power cables now has been issued for all units made prior to January 14, 2005. The article and link included cite UK phone numbers and the UK replacement cord program.
Rampancy's roots lie next to Bungie's, which is to say, in an Apple orchard. Halo was originally announced at MacWorld in 1999 as a game that was supposed to ship on Macs (and PCs, of course) in early 2000. Of course, lots has changed since then, and for those who still have an interest in Macs at all, as I do, this week was full of discussion about the interesting news that Apple will begin making computers with Intel CPUs next year and conclude 2007 by converting their entire line.