Chris Lewis Q&A
After a busy Leipzig show and a tirade of meetings, we caught up with European head honcho for Xbox, Chris Lewis. Find out what senior VPs at Xbox play with their kids along with some tidbits on football and X06 in our Xbox.com interview!
Wednesday’s announcements bode well for football fans on Xbox 360. With such strong titles exclusive to Xbox 360 going into Christmas, what will you be playing this festive season?
You’re absolutely right – the Leipzig announcements represent fantastic news for fans of football gaming! FIFA 07 and Pro Evolution Soccer 6 are Xbox 360 exclusives meaning that Xbox 360 has become the only place football fans can enjoy next-generation versions of these titles for the next twelve months. The reaction from gamers and the media has been fantastic - we’re really excited to be owning next gen football in this way. And as for me - I love my racing games so I’m really looking forward to Test Drive Unlimited and my kids are eagerly awaiting Viva Pinata so I’ll definitely be playing that too.
With the success of the Xbox Cup in Germany, can we expect more similar events this year for Pro Evo and FIFA fans following this announcement?
The Xbox Cup was a great success - we had a wide mix of people that entered and took part. From football fans who weren’t necessarily the best at video games, right through to committed gamers who came through from the Xbox Live route - what they all had in common was an absolute passion for football. And so we successfully brought football fans together, in Germany, the home of the 2006 World Cup, and really showed how sociable gaming can be. As for what’s next on the tournament calendar I can’t divulge secrets I’m afraid so you’ll just have to wait and see! But don’t worry - it’ll all be good!
Can we expect to see any exclusive Xbox Live Marketplace content to tie in with Pro Evolution and FIFA on Xbox 360?
When you think that there have been more than 30million downloads from Xbox Live Marketplace since launch and that over 80 percent of connected consoles are downloading this content, you realise just how many people out there are loving what we have to offer. So you can be sure that we have people behind the scenes working globally to provide great free and paid for content. We have a great schedule of content coming for Xbox Live Marketplace but I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
With Pro Evo, FIFA, Forza II, and more, exclusively available on Xbox 360, how is the Xbox community being catered for? Can we expect to see any more leagues and special events such as Game With Fame?
Yes - the Xbox community are our biggest and oldest fans and they’re very important to us. We’ve got some great Game With Fame opportunities coming up soon and Developer Showdowns - so you should keep your eyes on the Xbox Live Calendar to find out what’s coming up. Also, I don’t need to remind you that with September just around the corner and X06 coming up, you can be sure we’ll be making some announcements soon.
Finally, with X06 coming up and even more exciting announcements from the Xbox team, what are your predictions for Christmas in Europe?
I believe we’ll be bringing even more gamers into the Xbox 360 family - we're predicting having sold ten million consoles by Christmas worldwide, so that's a lot of Xbox 360s. We’ll have 160 next generation games available - the biggest and most diverse choice out there for gamers - from Gears of War to Viva Pinata. And while the competition are just getting started, we’ll be working hard on bringing even more, fantastic and high def experiences to gamers in the new year. We own next-generation football, we are the next generation, we're here now, and it's going to be a great Christmas.
