Apple Hires Former Xbox Live Marketing Head

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First they hired Nintendo's PR guy now they have the former head of Xbox Live marketing working for them? Hmmm, kinda makes you wonder what Apple has in the works, doesn't it?

Burrowes is Apple’s new head of App Store Marketing for iTunes Europe. Prior to that, he worked at Microsoft for seven years, leading product, business, and marketing management of Xbox Live across the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. And as MVC notes, Burrowes was one of the main people promoting Microsoft’s recent Xbox dashboard update, which brought more social integration and premium content to the Xbox platform.
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Only once answer fits.. Return of the PIPPIN!!

267733-apple-bandai-pippin.jpg
 
I'd be willing to bet we see "iGame" sometime in the next two years. Prepare to have the gaming industry completely steamrolled by a console geared towards mindless hipster sheep.

:(
 
Kevstra said:
I'd be willing to bet we see "iGame" sometime in the next two years. Prepare to have the gaming industry completely steamrolled by a console geared towards mindless hipster sheep.

:(
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As compared to those aimed at the frothing profanity spewing unparented youths of today (seriously, have you gone on XBOX live?). At least the games will only be 0.99 cents.
 
txfeinbergs said:
As compared to those aimed at the frothing profanity spewing unparented youths of today (seriously, have you gone on XBOX live?). At least the games will only be 0.99 cents.
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He has a point :p

If Apple comes up with a game console it'll be some proprietary piece of bull crap and everyone will flock to it because of some flashy marketing...... hmmmm, Xbox....Wii... PS3 even..... Meh


I'd be concerned if PC gaming wasn't already hobbled by all the other consoles. Maybe Apple will bump the bar up instead of down. I just made myself laugh with that statement...
 
ViperGrendal said:
He has a point :p

If Apple comes up with a game console it'll be some proprietary piece of bull crap and everyone will flock to it because of some flashy marketing...... hmmmm, Xbox....Wii... PS3 even..... Meh


I'd be concerned if PC gaming wasn't already hobbled by all the other consoles. Maybe Apple will bump the bar up instead of down. I just made myself laugh with that statement...
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Apple will bump the bar down. Cause are traditional violent, and I'm sure Apple will have restrictions on how violent they will get.

I doubt Apple will make a traditional game console. Especially with so many people claiming that consoles are doomed. We will most likely see some sort of game console + iOS device hybrid. Something that Apple will update often, but still be closed like iOS. Like iGame, iGame 2, and iGame 2GS.

The idea would be that gamers would have access to all the apps that iPhone and iPad has, but controls that would be aimed at gamers. Apple realizes that a lot of iPhone and iPad users play games, and there's a strong market for it.
 
If they're want to penetrate into the gaming scene, they should start bringing in devs to port PC games to their platform. I doubt they'll go with consoles, it's a dying breed anyway (reverse psycho - lots of PR saying that consoles aren't dying, still starting, etc...)
 
txfeinbergs said:
As compared to those aimed at the frothing profanity spewing unparented youths of today (seriously, have you gone on XBOX live?). At least the games will only be 0.99 cents.
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Good point... I suppose I am just imagining a further departure from my favorite type of gaming... PC gaming.
 
if MS REALLY wanted to boost PC gaming they would port Direct X in full over to OS X
but they wont
 
My first thought was a gaming console too, but after a bit, it doesnt feel right that they would put out a console. First off, they hired only PR and MARKETING heads. I think something else is brewing but i cant figure out what it is, but one thing i do know for sure.............Whatever it is, the hipsters will camp outside of a apple store for 2 weeks in the snow just to buy one at an absolutely absurd price.
 
ViperGrendal said:
If Apple comes up with a game console it'll be some proprietary piece of bull crap and everyone will flock to it because of some flashy marketing...... hmmmm, Xbox....Wii... PS3 even..... Meh
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Not to be a stick in the mud, but proprietary is pretty much expected across the board in a console. The system is closed. Both parts and programs designed for a Wii will not fit into or run on a PS3, for instance. Yes, the software developer can port their game over to a competing console (with sometimes considerable effort) but consumers can't just pull a disc from one machine and drop it into another with the expectation that it will work. In the unlikely event that Apple does release a console, it'll be just as closed as every other system and no one will exactly be shocked by such a thing.

Given that their hiring is PR and marketing related rather than engineering oriented, I expect that Apple is simply looking for people who can effectively sell the mobile gaming appeal of their current devices. Let's consider that the current target audience of iStuff is a casual gaming crowd and let's also note that people generally don't associate Apple products with gaming. The hardware, on the other hand, is as capable as the rest of the industry's hardware as CPU and GPU capabilities are comparable across laptops, tablets, phones, etc. Since the equipment is already in place, it would be cost effective to open a new marketing angle so existing iStuff can be sold to a population segment that might not be looking to Apple to fill the want.

I really think that consoles are not going to remain and may already not be primary platforms for entertainment. People might be gaming a lot more on their mobile devices than they are with a console for various reasons like the appeal of being able to integrate gaming with mobile communications. Angry Birds topped 500 million downloads last November (source: http://theweek.com/article/index/221016/angry-birds-astounding-popularity-by-the-numbers). Consider Microsoft's initial release of WinMo 7 and how gaming was demonstrated and given just as much lime light as social networking features during the presentation. It may not be all doom and gloom for the console as we know it today since the hardware can be much more powerful when its not constrained by the physical and electrical limitations of a mobile device, but a company in Apple's position that would ignore the potential of marketing their hardware to more hardcore gamers at minimal additional engineering expense is a company that's ignoring a potential revenue stream.
 
I suppose if someone has expertise in making people buy shit they can get free everywhere else...
 
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