Shane Kim Says Nintendo Shows Microsoft What It Needs to Do

Also commits to supporting the 360 for one day more than the lifespan of the PS3.
By Garnett Lee, 11/17/2008

  VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi reported on a number of interesting remarks made over the weekend by Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft's games group, at the Play conference at the University of California at Berkley's Haas School of Business. Kim pointed to the new Xbox Live Experience due out this week as one way they hope to improve at reaching gamers beyond the hardcore market. Making Live easier to navigate should get more people socializing online and checking out the videos and music available on Live. For such an important part of the Xbox 360's fall, it was somewhat disturbing then to see that with regard to the update he said, "God willing, it will work." Not exactly the vote of confidence 360 owners want to hear as they get ready to update their systems.
  Taking it a step further, Kim said, "I believe to be the leader interactive entertainment, we have to expand well beyond gaming." While he didn't define where that expansion would take place much more clearly, he did admit to the leadership role taken by Nintendo in this area. Kim said that rather than bash Nintendo, he loved them for showing Microsoft what it needs to accomplish in expanding the audience. For instance, on the subject of fitness games he said, "I can tell you how that conversation goes at Microsoft. They say, 'I don't think that's a game,' but the guy at Nintendo says, 'I don't care. I'm selling a whole bunch of that stuff.'"

  On the 360's continuing competition with Sony's PS3 he said that including the Blu-ray player had cost the PS3 by virtue of driving up the cost of the machine. Kim kept to the company line that they have no plans to make a Blu-ray version of the Xbox 360, and added that in the long run he expects digital distribution of movies to be more important anyway. He also reinforced Microsoft's long-term commitment to the 360. When asked how long they'd stick with it, Kim responded, "One day longer than the lifespan of the PlayStation 3."
Source: www.1up.com