Former Xbox Engineer Slates Microsoft

Nat Brown, one of the founding engineers on the original Xbox, says the Xbox has been “Failing to innovate” while predicting ” idiotic moves” in it’s future.

Taking on his personal blog, Brown slated Microsoft for two main issues: User experience and indie content. He wrote “Why can’t I write a game for Xbox tomorrow using $100 worth of tools and my existing Windows laptop and test it on my home Xbox or at my friends’ houses? Why can’t I then distribute it digitally in a decent online store, give up a 30% cut and strike it rich if it’s a great game, like I can for Android, for iPhone, or for iPad?” He adds, “ “Membership” would cost you $10,000/year and a ton of paperwork, with Microsoft holding veto power over your game being published… Microsoft, you are idiotic to have ceded not just indie game developers but also a generation of loyal kids and teens to making games for other people’s mobile devices.”

He also wrote about how he found the Xbox User Interface to be “creaky, slow, and full-of-s***”, uploading photographs of the Xbox menus for saving games and updates, and jokingly adding “Hi, I’m Xbox. I’m too dumb to update safely. I’m too dumb to know if more updates or restarts may, may, may, may be needed”.

He then goes on to talk about how Apple are already a major force in the gaming industry and, along with Android, are beating Microsoft in the “living room battle.” Brown said that he would be “the first to write apps for Apple-TV” when he can, “and I know I’ll make money.”

Do you agree with his view that Microsoft are “living in a naive dream-world”? Or do you disagree with Brown?

http://leviathyn.com/games-2/news/2013/02/13/former-xbox-engineer-slates-microsoft/