Microsoft's Shane Kim on All Things Xbox

"I've been around the industry long enough that I've experienced the launch of Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3, the Xbox 360. [Project Natal] feels as big, if not bigger, than any of those things."
6/18/2009 12:11 PM | 0 Comments | Page 4 of 5

Crispy Gamer: I remember, back in the '90s, getting a demo of a mouse and someone telling me that the mouse would be over soon, because eye tracking would become ubiquitous and Microsoft would lead the way. That never happened. But is that the kind of thing that evolved into Project Natal?

Kim: I don't know about that specifically. But, trust me, there were a lot of people inside the company that were trying to say, We gotta do something like the Wiimote. Thankfully, we didn't go down that path.

Crispy Gamer: Well, that way lies madness, in a sense, because the Wiimote is kind of old technology.

Kim: You called it that. I did not.

Crispy Gamer: If you look at "Game Over," the old David Sheff book about Nintendo, one of the things the Nintendo developers said back then -- and I'm paraphrasing -- is that Nintendo tries to make the best use of old technology.

Kim: Instead, this is a whole new ballgame.

Crispy Gamer: How did Steven Spielberg get involved with this?

Kim: Steven and Don [Mattrick] have been friends for a long time, a decade or more. Their association goes back to Electronic Arts. As Natal was becoming more and more real and ready to take out on the road, we took the opportunity to share it with a few folks, including Steven. To have his endorsement means everything -- because here's one of the master storytellers in history saying, This is the next frontier.

Crispy Gamer: Will he be working with you on product?

Kim: Steven has a relationship with Electronic Arts. And that's not something for us to interfere with. But it is nice to get his endorsement. He recognizes the potential and sees the magic. What we showed at the E3 briefing was great: Ricochet and Milo. But those are just the initial apps. We've barely scratched the surface.

The more we can put these in the hands of developers -- and we already shipped dev kits to them -- the more we're going to see things we haven't even imagined yet. That's where a guy like Steven, who's a visionary, can really perceive the future.

Crispy Gamer: You mean for this to be core gaming and not just casual gaming?

Kim: I envision this to be applied across gaming, hardcore and casual, across entertainment, across social networking, across everything you can do in Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

Crispy Gamer: When will get to use Project Natal? How far down the line is that?

Kim: Well, it can't come soon enough. But I can promise you we won't ship it until it's ready. By that I mean, not only is the hardware and the software ready. But we have to have great experiences.

Crispy Gamer: It sounds all-encompassing, business-wise.

Kim: This is like the launch of a console. So, we didn't launch the Xbox 360 without trying to have a great launch portfolio of games that would help people to buy the system. And this is great because we don't have to force you to buy a new console. Thirty, 40, 50 million people are going to have Xbox 360s and they won't have to buy new consoles to enjoy Project Natal. We have a huge advantage because there's a built-in, addressable install base. But we have to have great experiences.