View Full Version : J. Allard talks, IGN listens
Deadend
10-23-2005, 10:53 PM
IGN has a fairly recent interview (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/660/660456p1.html) with J. Allard that was fairly interesting, not in that it gave concrete numbers, but in that Microsoft seems to be in a state of "Oh god, oh god, I hope this works."
Allard also wishes to apologize in advanced for your Xbox 360 not being there. Really, he does.
He also wants to know what’s going on with the PS3. He seems like quite a cool fellow, possibly due to his nice paragraph long answers to life's pressing questions (about the Xbox 360).
Here's a tasty little treat.
Q: Your shipping schedule is very ambitious. Nobody has tried to ship to three different territories simultaneously and for a good reason. It's very difficult. You've got chip manufacturers hopefully churning out perfect chips, and how is your yield of good to bad chips? Then you have assembly, manufacturing, shipping all over the world. So, how are you going to do it? How many units will you ship to North America, and how many do you plan on shipping total in North America?
We have a term for this. It's a very technical term. It's called a very hard problem. It's just hard. So, the first thing is, I cannot comment on the numbers. You can try all you want, but I won't give any up. Partly because we're only in the beginning of manufacturing. The ramp rate we're aiming for is very, very steep. We're hoping to manufacture them at a rate that's much more aggressive than anybody's done before. And it's going very well.
Rirath
10-24-2005, 05:41 AM
"Allard: I hope that Sony is nervous. Honestly, because our launch lineup looks great."
Wish I shared that opinion.
"The only [ps3] I have seen doesn't have holes in it. You can't have a 200-watt-plus system and not have air flow through it. You know?"
Little does he know...
http://www.ps3grill.com/
I find it easier to stomach Allard when there are no pictures of him to be found.
And when compared to the launch of most past consoles(which is the only way to rate it) their launch lineup does look great. Most people who bash it seems to want a launch lineup that is equal to a Christmas rush a year or two after it's been on the market.
phantomhitman
10-24-2005, 06:03 AM
"The only [ps3] I have seen doesn't have holes in it. You can't have a 200-watt-plus system and not have air flow through it. You know?"
Little does he know...
http://www.ps3grill.com/
lol
little does anyone know that cell technology doesnt need air, it produces its own nanobites that come out and use little nanofans to cool it :rolleyes: Even though I love Sony and the old ps2, I hope their top secret work is going smoothly or else the will get raped by the 360. :eek:
NoName
10-24-2005, 06:25 AM
I could have sworn that I've read this interview before... Just less fleshed out.
Still, the last sentence was priceless...
Nobody has tried the boomerang yet. I hope they do something better than that.
Reanimated
10-24-2005, 07:21 AM
I don't see any of the "oh god, oh god I hope this works", but thanks for the dipshit editorial anyway.
Roc Ingersol
10-24-2005, 07:34 AM
Yeah, I coulda swore I already read this interview.
Heretic Machine
10-24-2005, 08:02 AM
Wow, he's so smart. I mean check this out, "A global launch is hard!", "We're just starting to manufacture these things!" Ya, good idea guys, wait until about a month before launch to put the damn things together.
Deadend
10-24-2005, 08:45 AM
I don't see any of the "oh god, oh god I hope this works", but thanks for the dipshit editorial anyway.
You didn't get the feeling about that from the way he talks about the goal of shipping worldwide? He seemed to think things are going to go wrong at every level, and with things being perfect they could just barely pull it off.
JediSanf
10-24-2005, 09:02 AM
This is interview is pretty close to verbatim from a Gamespot interview back in late August (link (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135302.html?q=Allard) ).
The Gamespot piece was, however, no where near the powder puff treatment he got from IGN
For him, a man whose brain moves about 20 times faster than the average human
I could nitpick the article, mainly because his shiny head fills me with rage (but not the same rage that occurs every time Sony issues a press-release). Did anyone else notice though that he managed to blame the devs for poor work because THEY got the kits late?
Basically what happens when you get final hardware late, you're sloppy. With all deference to the developers, you've got to take every out you can and so they're not applying all their talents
Now that's the kinda guy I want to work for.
saran_js
10-24-2005, 09:19 AM
Hmm...thinks rather highly of himself and his product doesn't he.
But then, me thinks he is playing reverse psychology here. Looks to me like he is the one afraid of Sony and their PS3, and he's just planting seeds of doubt and FUD in to the populace in a very subtle way.
Ask a question about something and he goes off on a tangent to bitch talk about features of the PS3 which he thinks is retarded.
DOH... this is all market speak. He isn't even getting real about details.
Basically, I think that users will probably be screwed over. What usually came free with the game will probably be chargable, ie. new costumes for your avatar, etc. etc.
When it comes to public relations he's a salesman. Maybe he's afraid, maybe he's not. Either way his sales pitch would be the same.
JazGalaxy
10-24-2005, 09:46 AM
I like how he kept saying "the games come in hot" in the disc size question...
I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool...
ChypeFlux
10-24-2005, 10:34 AM
Partly because we're only in the beginning of manufacturing. The ramp rate we're aiming for is very, very steep.Ouch, I wonder if they can ensure proper quality controls with a super fast ramp rate like this? I sort of doubt they can...so I'm going to guess the first batch is going to have a lot of problems..
Of course, I have no basis for this...though it does make more sense to slowly ramp up production and ensure that the final product coming off the line is of the desired quality.
fitbabits
10-24-2005, 10:55 AM
I think I may be the only one here who actually likes J. Allard and respects his opinions!
JediSanf
10-24-2005, 11:43 AM
It's not that I dislike the man personally, I haven't met him yet. It's that the earring always seems like it's taunting me with "leetness".
Maybe I'm just jealous.
Cyrano
10-24-2005, 01:11 PM
At least he admits that developers are having a hard time fitting their games on the DVD. That's pretty honest for a salesman.
Actually, Allard just sounds like an arrogant dumbfuck who doesn't know what he's talking about. This guy is actually worse than Kutaragi.
fitbabits
10-24-2005, 01:37 PM
Actually, Allard just sounds like an arrogant dumbfuck who doesn't know what he's talking about. This guy is actually worse than Kutaragi.
Zing...8, 9, 10.
net7runner
10-24-2005, 02:04 PM
Anyone else think that Allard sounded just a leeeeetle defensive/exhausted/barely in control of sanity?
Interesting scenario: Xbox360 release is a bomb.
Prerequisites (ish):
-Supply problems (no one can buy one, etc.)
-Hardware issues - easily broken DVD drives, WiFi interference making controllers unusable, some other critical and usolveable problem.
-Perfect Dark 0 sucks
-Other release games are lackluster, perhaps due to rushed release
-Extended period of poor game support (i.e. between release games and fully-fleshed out standalones)
These are all possible, if unlikely. However, such events could damage the 360 brand name and scare consumers away, especially if competitors like Sony can add some FUD to the mix.
So what then? Could the PS3 then have a good chance? Maybe, but if it comes in with a $499 price tag it still might get beat out by a cheaper b0rked 360 (let's face it...most people just look at the pricetag and the brandname anyway).
And then there's the Revolution. Smack Nintendo all you want, there hardware always works. That and their game support is fantastic. If the Revolution can manage to be cheaper to boot...maybe Ninendo could be top dog again? Call me crazy.
fitbabits
10-24-2005, 02:11 PM
...maybe Ninendo could be top dog again? Call me crazy.
Crazy! Nintendo will only be top dog again if Sony and Microsoft drop out of the hardware business completely. And that is the truth!
↓
The above is meant to be sarcastic!
I've played the 360, and I can you right now, it feels like a mass-produced, plastic piece of shit. The original Xbox feels like a much better made console; 360 feels like it was made in Taiwan. Cheap plastic.
Also, the games look like current-gen Xbox titles running in 720p, and some don't even look fit to call Xbox games. The upgrade is almost unoticeable.
I say this thing is going to be a complete bomb and the lineup is terrible.
Oh and before you even think of flaming me, just look up my record on supporting Microsoft.
fitbabits
10-24-2005, 02:24 PM
I've played the 360, and I can you right now, it feels like a mass-produced, plastic piece of shit. The original Xbox feels like a much better made console; 360 feels like it was made in Taiwan. Cheap plastic.
Also, the games look like current-gen Xbox titles running in 720p, and some don't even look fit to call Xbox games. The upgrade is almost unoticeable.
I say this thing is going to be a complete bomb and the lineup is terrible.
Oh and before you even think of flaming me, just look up my record on supporting Microsoft.
I'm curious - did you play one of the in-store kiosk things or the 'real' thing?
I'm curious - did you play one of the in-store kiosk things or the 'real' thing?
The hell is this shit. I played the kiosk, which is the 'real' thing, whatever that means.
fitbabits
10-24-2005, 02:32 PM
The hell is this shit. I played the kiosk, which is the 'real' thing, whatever that means.
So when you say the Xbox 360 'feels' like mass-produced plastic shit that's made in Taiwan, you're referring to the controller alone?
So when you say the Xbox 360 'feels' like mass-produced plastic shit that's made in Taiwan, you're referring to the controller alone?
Well, yeah. What else are you actually gonna touch when you play the system? Sure, you'll pop a disc in, but that's about it. Also, the controller is made out of the same plastic as the system.
Achilles
10-25-2005, 01:31 AM
Also, the games look like current-gen Xbox titles running in 720p, and some don't even look fit to call Xbox games. The upgrade is almost unoticeable.Right. Which ones are you talking about exactly, the ones that aren't fit to be called Xbox games.
Achilles
10-25-2005, 01:41 AM
King Kong lolSo your contention is that some games, implying more than one, look worse than Xbox games. And those games are King Kong. And that the rest look as good as Xbox games. It's also a horrible launch lineup (compared to the PS2's, Game Cube's, or Playstation's for example) But J doesn't know what he's talking about, and you do. Gosh man, enlighten us. Which games would you have gotten for the 360s launch and what game should they use as a graphical bar?
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