Just watched the first episode, I think I’ll watch one a day. This is damn interesting and I learn a lot of new stuff. Had no idea PS2 was marketed as going against PC, those claims back then were wild.
Love this kind of stuff!
PS2 was, at least here in Brazil, also marketed as the only dvd player you’ll ever need bc it can play DVD games and movies. This and piracy makes the PS2 arguably the best selling console in the country even today. The only competition is Sega Mega Drive, I guess.
1 Like
Episode 2
So it seemed that Xbox wasn’t going to happen, then someone asked “What about Sony?”. Microsoft had owned the den and the office, and the thought of Sony owning the rest of the home is offensive to Bill. And then soon Bill and Steve just said…let’s do this!
I don’t know, I just loved that part.
And the part about GDC and how all three Xbox units were not working. Shit I can’t imagine how that must have been for the team, and especially for Seamus.
I also now begin to understand why Oddworld Abe’s Oddysey went from PS2 game to Xbox launch game. I remember hating MS for that because I was very much a PS2 fan, lol.
Oh man, that E3 2001 part. Back then I wasn’t focused at all on Xbox, it was all about PS2 and GTA 3 for me, so I had not seen that E3. A lot went wrong there, holy shit. Had no idea the road to launch was this rockt. I find this all incredibly interesting. But it was also super awesome to see that launch with all the gamers and Bill.
Oh also, passing on GTA 3…Jesus.
3 Likes
Tbf, (evidently) Sam Houser from R* showed up to meet with them for 30 minutes. He spent 25mins pitching another game and only 5 mins pitching GTA3. MS was apparently not impressed with the first pitch and kinda brushed off the 2nd one. That first pitch was for a game based on…Austin Powers. >.>
Wtf. how are you not going to show your best thing for the majority of the time? This is crazy. Where’s this from?
1 Like
Seamus Blackley tweeted it a few days ago.
Wow, so a Austin Powers games got the majority of the time, a game that never saw the light of day? Lmao.
1 Like
Sometimes even developers don’t have a clue of what they have in store. XD
3 Likes
GTA was born from a bug so it’s not that surprising lol
?
Watch the first 7 minutes of this documentary
3 Likes
Really good documentary. The only problem I had is that they largely skipped 2014-2018. They went from speaking about Phil taking over with Kinect removal to acquisitions in 2018.
2014-2018 were easily the worst Xbox has ever been. Game studios closing (Lionhead was touched on), games cancelled and projects not hitting critical success. This wouldn’t of been so bad if it wasn’t created by Sony absolutely killing it over these years with Bloodborne, UC4, Horizon, Spider man and GoW just off the top of my head.
I feel like 2013 tore a hole in Xbox, but those 4 years of content stagnation (barring a few outliers) ripped it wider and wider. If the game catalogue had been as rich and diverse as Sony’s, Xbox probably would’ve bounced back.
Would’ve loved to of seen internal opinions on that period knowing that the competition was doing so well.
4 Likes
Agreed!
The introduction of Kinect was not a good time for core gamers, but it was also the lack of real strong exclusives except for Halo 4. Gears Judgment was not a good Gears game. Had that investment into new studios happened back then Xbox One would have looked waaaaaay better games wise, even if they messed up with everything else. Would have been good to have seen them acknowledge this too.
Also the fact that Phil for years was still answering to someone above him that made the final decisions and that was the reason big new studios weren’t being acquired. Soon as Phil was promoted and only answered to Satya is when this big change happened, it’s old news for us but would have been nice if they had covered it. After all this all part of the Xbox story.
There was also Dead Rising 3, GoW4, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Ori and Halo 5. But these were battling against negative reception of Ryse, Recore, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2 and Sea of Thieves.
yea also didnt help that fans of gears and halo were underwhelmed on gears 4 and halo 5
1 Like
They did go over the key moments of their history. It would be great to see more of other smaller pieces. Kind of like The Undertaker’s Documentary where they aired the extras. Usually those moments are for those who are hardcore fans that really want more. I wouldn’t say they’re minor, just not as main core focus. Basically, the core audience got what they wanted with Xbox documentary, and for those who wanted more, either get it from articles (like regretting Lionhead closure) or pray for another documentary or even bonuses.
For those who want more I can definitely recommend the roundtable video linked to in the OP of the Xbox History thread. The podcast episodes with Seamus Blackley mentioned later in the thread would also be worthwhile:
2 Likes
one of the best docs i have ever watched, i watched the whole 6 episodes in one setting. good job Arron and the team
2 Likes
yeah me too i want to to see the turning point, why we are in gaming meeting with Satya and Phil.
also this is pretty good interview
1 Like
I just voted. If you enjoyed this doc as much as I did, I encourage you to do the same.
3 Likes