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Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg

On price cuts, the HDMI cable and the Christmas period.

Tom Bramwell avatar
Interview by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated on
EurogamerOver the next few months, Sony has Uncharted 2, God of War III, Heavy Rain, ModNation Racers, Ratchet & Clank and Gran Turismo 5 coming out, and you guys have Halo 3: ODST, Alan Wake and Forza 3, so in effect it's the first winter where they're in danger of outgunning you on software depth. Are you confident you can maintain the install base gap of seven million units you have over them, or do you expect things to be a bit closer when we get to next spring?
Aaron Greenberg

Well again, I think if you first look at this holiday, we shape up really well versus Sony. Sure they have Uncharted and Ratchet, but if you want to play Halo 3: ODST, Forza 3, Left 4 Dead 2 or the GTAIV exclusive games you are only going to find those on Xbox 360. Then you have to add all of the exciting offerings we are bringing to Xbox LIVE with Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and instant-on HD movies in 1080p.

But of course if you look beyond this holiday you add in even more exclusives like Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2, Crackdown 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Halo: Reach and Project Natal. I truly believe Xbox 360 is uniquely positioned to deliver the leading games and entertainment experiences both today and tomorrow.

EurogamerThere was a bit of a palaver recently over Valve having to charge for Left 4 Dead downloadable content on Xbox Live even though it's free on PC. They told me that it's because Microsoft insisted on charging for it in order not to upset the Xbox Live economy. Can you explain the thinking behind, if not that decision specifically, then that kind of decision? Most people would assume creators should be the ones to choose what their work is worth, not the platform holder...
Aaron Greenberg

To be completely honest I am not familiar with the circumstances around that, so cannot really comment.

He may not be here in 2009, but Alan's providing spring backup.
EurogamerIsn't Scene It?'s recent announcement as a multi-platform game embarrassing for Microsoft, having made such a big deal out of it - and the family-friendly peripherals - at E3 2007?
Aaron Greenberg

Not really, we were happy to be able to bring to market two exclusive and successful versions of Scene-It. Now that our exclusivity agreement has expired we are still looking forward to new versions of the game coming to Xbox 360.

EurogamerIt's been a few months since you announced Project Natal now. How have third parties responded to it, and have you confirmed development of any third-party games using the system or is everyone still prototyping? (If confirm - Any game series we might have heard of?)
Aaron Greenberg

Project Natal is going amazingly well. Our biggest challenge has been fielding all of the requests we have been receiving based on the overwhelming reception at E3. As you can imagine, right now our focus has been getting development kits in the hands of the creators and working closely with those folks on bringing to life some of the great concepts they have. We have not announced any official titles or specifics around publisher or developer support at this time.

Aaron Greenberg is director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

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