Talking about stuff with Xbox NZ
Modern Warfare 2 is generating a lot of interest this week: it's already grossed something like US$550m in its first week of sales, and tomorrow, Saturday, at 11.30am, I'll be talking on National Radio about the game.
No doubt the airport/terrorism sequence will be a topic of discussion. If you've got nothing better to do, tune in and have a listen.
OK, 
with the launch of Facebook, Twitter and Movies on Demand on the Xbox 360 this week, I caught up with Tom Hunt, Microsoft NZ's Xbox category manager, for a chat to see how things went and what's planned for the future.
GC: So, Tom, it's a little busy for you guys at the moment, isn't it?
Tom Hunt: Yeah, but in a good way, man, in a good way.
GC: Do you have any figures on how well the Twitter/Facebook beta stage went?
TH: I haven't seen any stats on it and whether we release any stats, but it was really to make sure that it worked as good as possible.
GC: So when it kicked in on Tuesday, that all went according to plan?
TH: Yeah, I haven't heard anything to the contrary. I've been playing around with it on my home console and as moving between my Facebook and Twitter, and I was buzzing out. I was like a kid at Christmas.
GC: It seems a natural progression for Live, doesn't it?
TH: Yeah, I think so. I think Hammer [last week] put it right [when he said]: it's all about convenience. If you're sitting in the living room with friends and playing games and then you want to see what everyone is up to on Facebook or Twitter it's just nice to be able to have the choice, isn't it, to fire that up from the TV screen rather than go to the PC, or wherever it is in the house.
GC: The Movies on Demand service launched as well this week. Was it 100 movies at launch?
TH: Yeah, it was 100 at launch and aiming to release stuff weekly and there are two more studios that are really close to coming online for us in New Zealand, so that should add a pretty nice spike to the catalogue. I think it's going to continue to build and we'll go from there.
GC: Will there be the option for users to eventually buy the movies outright?
TH: At this stage the service is just focused on the rental model and I'm not aware of any other plans. We'll see how it goes with the rental model and take it from there.
GC: Do you think a service like this will threaten the local DVD shop? Or can the service work together?
TH: I think they'll do just fine. I remember when my grandfather told me that websites would be the end of newspapers, but I think he's been proven wrong there. So, I think it's just more choice and convenience. There are some nights that I wouldn't be bothered getting in my car and getting a video, but I would download one, but there are other nights when I would get in my car and rent one.
GC: Obviously with the updates and the more studios that come on board, there will be more blockbuster titles that will appear on the service?
TH: Yeah, that's definitely the aim. I was talking with my colleague in Australia and had that question and he said it comes down to the studio. As soon as a studio allows a digital launch, it will launch on our service. So it's depending on the studio and the country. So it's physical movie gets this date, DVD gets this date, then digital gets this date. I know in Aus there are titles that are very close.
GC: Are the movie titles that they are getting in Australia are they the same titles that we will get here, or is there a different model?
TH: The IP is different by country but we hope that the two countries stay aligned.
GC: Can you say what big titles we will be getting before Christmas or the end of the year?
TH: I could ask the question but I don't have any visibility on what is launching outside of this week. The next cab off the rank? I'm not sure what that is, but we will ask Australia when will we know more titles.
GC: Obviously a big appeal of the service is being able to watch movies in high definition, do you think that the varying speeds of NZ broadband internet could hamper the chance of users getting the full HD experience?
TH: I think it's good that we've got the download option. What that does is you start downloading and once it feels that it has sufficiently buffered, it starts playing if you want. So in a sense downloading doesn't have to be a full download then you start watching. That will give you greater flexibility if you've got slower broadband. I think that's a really good workaround and I also think it's great that the service offers all that upside potential and as people's broadband increases, their experience will improve.
I'm glad that we can offer the service. I think it would have been a real shame if we had said, "The broadband's too slow, let's not offer it." We said let's get the service up and running. There will be people right now who can use it just fine and in the coming years, more and more people will be able to tap into that. I think it's important that we are in the market now.
GC: OK, for those people who still have a small data cap, if they watch a couple of movies, that's going to blow their allowance. Are you in discussions with ISPs over plans or deals to address data caps?
TH: Yeah, it's definitely on the radar. It's something that has been done in other markets and it's something that we are keen to look at for NZ. Tivo is a good example, right? I think that is a pretty compelling model and I think it is something that we will look at.
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downloaded facebook on my box a couple days ago all i need now is a keypad .does anyone know if i can put my computer keyboard into the usb port in my xbox????
Hadleigh.. dont think so as you'd have peeps playing RTS on a mouse.. and they sell the little mini keyboards for your controllers. It wouldnt be microsoft if you could!! You have to pay! Haha stink 1.
BUT I do like the facebook, I thought I wouldnt but I do. The missus especially loves how she can now have a slideshow of her photos on the tv when guests come around..
@hadleigh, yes you can. I used a bog standard MSoft USB keyboard for Twitter on Xbox 360 and it worked flawlessly. I'd say it would be the same for Facebook. Much better than using the joypad to type, IMO.
oh nice.. good to know
sweet i might have to give it a try
I haven't rented a dvd for years, but if Xbox Live did sort something out with my ISP where renting movies off them didn't count towards my data cap I would definately use it
I rented V for Vendetta to try out the movie service. The points worked out at about $7 for the HD version- A bit steep I thought. First up it wouldn't stream so I had to down load it. Then I realised it was going to take a couple of days to down load and cost me $9 in data. The video store is only two blocks away and renting the same movie for $5. Until MS can work out an un-metered download deal this service just isn't worth it.
@Peter, agreed. I think it's a great idea but it won't threaten the local DVD shop anytime soon. I hope ISPs and Microsoft have some fruitful discussions about unmetered content: it'll be a win-win for everyone then. They should use the Tivo situation as a model.
Iinet in aussie and m$ have a deal in place which includes free xbox live traffic for their customers. Here's hoping the same sort of deals come to NZ!
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Downloaded Facebook the other night, very cool to view your photos on. It's pretty scary how you can scroll through a huge list of "friends" and see all their pictures in all their -so close you can see the hairs up their nose on the big screen- glory ^-^