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In a recent interview, Microsoft new
director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, Aaron
Greenberg, expressed his opinion that sooner or later, Wii fans are "going to want tograduate to an Xbox 360 experience"
When
asked about Microsoft's new direction of bringing more casual games to
Xbox 360 - which was once perceived as the hardcore gamers' console -
and the feasibility of offering both casual and hardcore games on the
same console, Greenberg replied as follows:
"Yeah,
absolutely. I think that there's a difference in the type of customer
that is buying the Wii. When you think about it, there's a difference
between trying to be the number one console with nine year old gamers,
and being the console that offers the most experiences from 13 to 33."
"I
think for us, we don't really see the Wii as a direct competitor, we
actually very much complement the Wii experience. It's obviously clear
that we're going head-to-head with the PS3 in this generation. I think
what Xbox will be able to do as well as the Wii is grow the market."
"In
this generation we're seeing record revenues for the U.S. and globally
for the business, and we're seeing more people buying and playing games
than ever before, and the Wii is definitely part of that. And as they
grow that pie, that benefits us too, because those customers are
eventually going to want to graduate to an Xbox 360 experience."
However,
later on in the same interview, Aaron said that Wii buyers are not
gamers and that they buy it only for its novelty value; just like
buying a karaoke machine.
"You see they're not buying games on it, right?", he said. "They're
buying it, it's like something they break out when people come over,
and it's maybe a fun thing, but it's almost like the same people that
buy a karaoke machine, you know? They're not really buying it for
games, they're just buying it as a novelty."
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