Moore: Xbox 360 Needs To Broaden Appeal

Author: by Staff, Brandon Sheffield

As part of an in-depth Gamasutra interview, Peter Moore has been discussing the need for broader Xbox 360 appeal, commenting "...as much as we love our hardcore guys... we've got to get fun back in the living room on our platform." When asked: "What do you think Microsoft could be doing better right now?", Moore, who has since announced that he's leaving Microsoft to head up EA Sports, commented: "The only thing after this week is that we've got to continue to accelerate and broaden our reach into the broader market. We've been making a lot of strides, and I know that we have some announcements between now and the holiday that we've kept for Tokyo Game Show." He continued: "As much as we love our hardcore guys -- they're going to love Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV and all of the incredible games that we've got -- at the same time, we've got to get fun back in the living room on our platform." He added: "We need to accelerate that reach. That's the only thing we're looking at, in terms of what our competitors are doing. I think Nintendo is doing a phenomenal job in providing that fun, unexpected experience, to their credit." Moore particularly referenced the E3-announced Scene It controller, a buzzer-style peripheral which will come bundled in multiples with the quiz game, commenting: "You can bet that there are going to be more games that are going to take advantage of that controller. That takes a little bit of the intimidation factor away. Typically, when you pass a controller to someone who's not a gamer, they don't even want to touch it, because look at all those buttons and pads and sticks and triggers. The thing's damn complicated. We wanted to do something for anyone who could use a remote control with a TV, which is just about everybody." The full Gamasutra interview with Moore also includes the 360's future, the battle between HD and Blu-ray, the Zune and potential Microsoft handheld devices (as a preview, he says we'll be waiting a "long time"), and virtual worlds. More importantly, we finally got the bottom of that age-old question – is Peter Moore the Devil?