Q & A with Microsoft's Chris Lewis

Hi gang,
By quirk of fate it turns out that one of our friends is PA to Chris Lewis, who is VP of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment division for Europe, Middle East and Asia.

At a BBQ the other week I asked our friend whether Chris would be interested in doing a Q & A for the site, and he has kindly agreed.

So, please fill this thread with your questions concerning Xbox, Kinect, etc, and I'll pass them on. Bear in mind that this will doubtless be done via the MS PR department, so although I'm happy to slip a couple of contentious ones in, they'll probably get a no comment or a PR non-answer.

Fill yer boots guys and gals !

JJ

Given the reliability record of the 360, how are you planning to convince people to stick with the NextBox ?

Kinect has obviously been targetted at a more general audience at launch. More dedicated gamers have cited the lack of a secondary controller as a possible stumbling block to more in-depth gaming. How do you plan to address this ?

Is Peter Molyneux the greatest guy in the history of game development?

Who does he think will be the next 'great' developer within microsoft?

Why have microsoft bought so many studios but released so few 1st party games/killed of popular franchises e.g. Midtown Madness?

Considering the Xbox 360 is now 5 years old, do Microsoft expect Kinect in it's current form to have a long-term life span?

Before I think of any questions, what does this "actually" mean?

Basically he's one of the top guys in Xbox Europe.

He gets paid a lot of money and has authorisation to order the 'disappearance' of any of his underlings?

Might be out of this chap's remit but worth a try:

With the retirement of the original Xbox Live service I've recently realised that I've lost my Xbox Live Arcade games and the DLC I paid for from my original Xbox. I now have no hope of ever retrieving this content, meaning I'll never again be able to race Paris or Longbeach in PGR2, or be able to play the extra Ghost Recon 2 content... In addition I've lost a full copy of Mutant Storm.

Now we're into a generation that has a fully developed system for distributing downloadable games and add-on content what, if any, guarantee can Microsoft give that when it's time for the next iteration of Xbox the downloaded games and content don't just disappear into the ether again?

That one might sneak in there m_e !

When are they going to announce the real price for Kinect rather than the one for LOLZ they did yesterday?

OK, if you were going to ask a cheeky question, I would go with something along the lines of "given that Shane Kim so often appeared out of the loop in interviews when he was working directly at MGS, what is the communication like between Xbox US and Xbox Europe? Do you ever feel like MS focuses too heavily on the US market, in terms of anything ranging from marketing and PR (see the emphasis on guns, guns, and more guns at this year's E3), to the content of the its first party games?"

Are Microsoft ever going to try to get Rare to make something really good again or have all the talented people buggered off now, knowing that if they had stayed then they would now be a hollow shell of their former self?

Now the Kinect price has been revealed, do you think that it's going to be a contender in this year's Xmas "waggle game console" stakes? A 360 slim plus Kinect is a tad pricier than a Wii with a couple of controllers after all.

Where the hell is Rallisport Challenge 3?

Cheeky question: C'mon give us an exclusive on the real NextBox, not the slim. What's going on behind closed doors?

Is he worried about the seeming lack of new exclusives for the next year, Sony seem to be taking over on this battle.

Good stuff guys - keep 'em coming !

What, in his opinion, have been the highest and lowest points of the 360's life?

Does Kinect have a major role in the future of the Xbox brand? Can we expect the successor to the Xbox 360 come with a Kinect controller as standard?

Are you worried by the current talk of publishers moving to a subscription based model for the online multiplayer content of their games? Wouldn't such a move put pressure on Microsoft to reduce, or remove, the cost of Gold Live membership?

Bump !

Nothing from you yet Hairy !

OK - have sent off the questions ! I've reworded some, but the intent is unchanged. Let's see what we get back. Hopefully it won't be some PR washout...

Update central - Xbods have been busy getting ready for Gamecon in Germany this week, so the questions will be looked at next week when things have calmed down.

JJ

Cool beans.

Goddammit - apparently Mr Lewis has answered the questions (very frankly I'm informed) but they're now being pushed through the MS PR department, and with Kinect release imminent it's apparently very hectic. Sorry it's taking so long.

Ahhhh good glad this is still happening. Looking forward to those "frank" answers though :)

I just heard from our friend at MS that Chris' answers were 'disappeared' by Microsoft's PR Department, who were supposed to be providing their own answers but got frightened because the questions were apparently 'highly technical'.

Pathetic effort, and to paraphrase Stevas, "Fuck you, Microsoft".

Sorry chaps.

I blame Rhythm entirely :)