Adjacent to MSN Music, was a small team in the next hallway. They were working on a gaming platform which was launching later that year called Xbox. One of my first experiences with video games was with a Sears Video Arcade, a rebranded Atari 2600, that my Mom bought us. From the moment I saw those blocky pixels on the screen and the 8-bit beeps and bloops I became an avid gamer. So, being at Microsoft while this new platform was being created so close by was fascinating. I would hear snippets about Xbox: A game demo, a hardware schematic or logos. I wanted to be part of the team that launched this product. It felt like everything I had worked on, everything I believed in, everything had come together to bring me to that moment in time.
So, here we are. Twenty years. I remember the first day my wife and I moved into our home in Washington. I came home from work to an empty house that still smelled like paint. We had moved 2,954 miles away and the moving truck hadn’t arrived yet. We were eating Chinese take-out. I looked at my wife sitting cross-legged on the floor across from me and asked, “Well, what do you think? Did we make a good decision?” She smiled and said, “I think the best things we’ve ever done are going to happen here.”
Twenty years at Microsoft, three gaming platforms and one three year-old daughter later, she was absolutely right.
As usual.
Congrats, regardless of the lame opinion Majors gets from other forums he seems to really love games and Xbox and I always enjoy his podcasts and videos. He is a real asset to the Xbox team. Him and Phil are the best front men in the gaming business, I know both have other major responsibilities but as far as fan out reach and interaction and standing front and center for their brand they are the best we have today.
I love Major Nelson. He likes the sort of games I do he talks passionately about them and is a genuine gamer.
I loved his podcast in the e and Laura days, it was so good. They’d talk gaming but then also life, food and other stuff. As someone living in the UK it was a great insight into life on the West coast and of course MS.
@XboxP3 I know you put a stop to the non gaming stuff on the podcast or at least didn’t like it but I feel this is the only thing you’ve done or suggested that I don’t agree with. It was absolutely brilliant listening to the them talk about their lives and food and tech and gaming in the round. It had real character and was my favourite podcast back in the day. I’m sad that it went more ‘corporate’ recently and honestly think you should reconsider that. I’m sure you had good reasons but damn if I don’t miss how it was. It was also good for business because I’d end up buying many of the games they discussed as I knew their tastes and where they intersected with mine.
