"Flees"?
That's a headline I'd expect to see at a website like Slashdot, not Blues.
I'm assuming Fries wanted to be the next Gabe Newell. He wants to make games instead of approve them. His duties at Microsoft didn't include that type of work, so he left. I find it troubling (although completely expected) that all the gaming news websites are trying to insinuate some kind of grand controversy surrounding the situation.

So this is the evil one who is responsible for imposing the cancer on the PC gaming world known as X-box.

*raises riot shield*

Seriously, it's got room to grow but I just casually realized the last 4 of 5 console games I've played intently were all xbox. Granted, they could have been played on PS2, but Live is pretty fun (and relatively painless).

I find it troubling (although completely expected) that all the gaming news websites are trying to insinuate some kind of grand controversy surrounding the situation.

You may be missing the fact that Fries and Flees rhyme?

The guy that posts these things will try to slip in a pun or hacker stuff every once in a while as well. For example, see the Driv3r Trail3r news item.

Get it?

-TPFKAS2S
http://www.braglio.org

The guy that posts these things will try to slip in a pun or hacker stuff every once in a while as well.

And thank goodness he does. I think Blue has started to drink while he updates, because these puns have become much much much more prevailent in the last few months

-DSR

No, the rhyme didn't escape me.
I just expect more from Blues than the same "Micro$oft is teh SaTaN! HaHA, Th3Y CaNT k33p EmPloYEEZ!" that is so prevalent elsewhere.

God forbid this guy goes on to make his own games. If he's the guy approving the craptacular stuff coming out of Microsoft Games Studio, then all of his games will be equally bland and unentertaining. At least in my opinion anyway. Freelancer, snore snore.

This comment was edited on Jan 14, 00:39.

Being an Xbox owner, I am dissapointed that he is leaving. I thought he did a good job with the Xbox considering it was its intial entrance into the market. I think he did a rather good job on which titles to go with and which should be scrapped or reworked. I hope they get someone better to fill his shoes, but I must admit I did like his work. If they hire someone who sucks I just wont buy and xbox2.

Hmm...Jamil, Fried headed the entire gaming division at MS, which was hardly contained to just the crappy material you mentioned. He spearheaded the xBox's arrival in the console market, cementing into place and essentially knocking a hole in the Japanese dominated game market. If you can identify another American whose been able to scale such an indominable mountain the past ten years, then by all means, please introduce him/her to us.

um Xenos Overdrive, give me the bottomless pit of money that MS has, including dropping trash sacks full of cash in the laps of game devs to target their game to the x-box, and a willingness to lose money over as many years as it takes for the hardware to get entrenched...

then I'll knock a hole in any market you want.


Scaling indominable mountains?

Sorry, but to suggest that the x-box legacy is some kind of business success story worthy of admiration, is like saying the bombing of Hiroshima was a brilliant military maneuver. Both were very effective, but pure brute force.

Here, for your enjoyment, are my top 10 reasons why someone might leave Microsoft:

10) Finally realized Seattle is cold and dreary.
9) Tired of stealing ideas from other companies.
8) New macho culture encourages NFL-style butt patting.
7) Milking a monopoly isn't particularly exciting.
6) Tired of catching crap because you bought a PS2.
5) Bill hurt your feelings.
4) All the good chicks are already taken.
3) Good hygiene is considered optional.
2) You're tired of saying, "Sieg Heil!"
1) The options gravy train has left the building.

- Stinky Joe Young

Bob and Xenos Overdrive:

You both have good points and, IMO, both are valid. On the one had it does take some huge balls to enter into the console market as well as huge amounts of cash. There simply is not another way to do it. But simply having tons of cash doesn't guaruntee success. One cannot overlook the importance and ease of migration the Xbox represents to developers who've primarily built only PC games in the past. If I were Ion Storm or Bioware and I knew that with only 20-40% more work I could release my PC-only title on a console with an audience of millions the decision is very easy. Contrast this with developing games for the PS2 and GC which have very different development systems and requirements (from traditional PC game development). This is a very shrewd decision on MS's part and Fries deserves some of the credit.

The downside is (as has been already pointed out) that the games are designed with this cross-platform constraint which forces the PC side of the equation to become simpler or more "console-ish". To me, and apparently others, this flies in the face of what makes gaming on the PC the ultimate form of gaming (freedom, customizations, mods, hacks, user-made maps, community, etc). As long as people are willing to make games that take full advantage of the PC as a platform I will be content. I will still play my XBox, but it is still a very different animal.


This comment was edited on Jan 14, 10:35.

Well, not to nitpick, but MicroSoft is located in Redmond, WA; not Seattle, WA

This comment was edited on Jan 14, 13:39.