| SHANE KIM INTERVIEW
The next station our group attended was an interview only station and we had the opportunity to speak with Shane Kim. Mr. Kim made it clear that every title we saw showcased would ship this year. Most of these titles are likely to hit this fall in what will again prove to be an expensive fall for gamers.
Mr. Kim was asked about the Wii-like controller rumors that have been floating around the internet. The official party line is that Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation. That being said, MS recognizes that its accessory division has been a great success and profit center. They spend quite a bit of money on R&D to come up with great new accessories. While he did not come out and say it, chances are MS has prototypes of thousands of different accessories; including Wii-like controllers. Instead of acknowledging anything like this, Mr. Kim simply said that we will likely see quite a bit more accessory and hardware stuff from MS.
Mr. Kim was asked about BluRay and whether the 360 would ever support it. He said emphatically no. Instead he indicated that MS is committed to and believes the future will be digital distribution. This includes media as well as games in the future. MS is focused on LIVE and all that LIVE has to offer gamers (and non-gamers).
Mr. Kim recognized that to reach the mass market MS needs to make it as easy and as accessible as possible. While he didn’t say it, I imagine that if this means that the dashboard has to be revised to make it easier to reach the masses, it may be revised. He also indicated that IPTV was still in the works but he did not have any specifics.
I asked him when I would be able to engage in micro-transactions myself and sell my shirts like the girl in the commercial before the 360 shipped. He laughed and indicated that this is likely a long way off. He said MS must first focus on allowing developers and game companies to engage in these micro-transactions with gamers and then they would consider extending that to a situation where there could be transactions between gamers themselves.
He pointed to Forza as an example of where transactions between gamers already existed. The auction house allowed gamers to use Forza bucks to buy and sell cars they had created. The question is, do they want to flip the switch and allow this to be done with real money. Right now they are not ready, but obviously the infrastructure seems to be there. | 
