流媒体西部2009主题演讲2:马克·威顿, Xbox LIVE

马克·威顿, 微软Xbox LIVE的总经理, 用他的主题演讲来解决四个关键领域:内容, 社区, curationand控制.

“我们生活在一个拥有数百个频道的神奇世界, thousands of DVDs and millions of bite-size content on YouTube and other locations,惠顿说。, noting that there's no longer an excuse to say "there's nothing to watch" or play.

"For so long we've been focused on the infrastructure in the living room,惠顿说。. “技术和连接的细节花了10年时间才解决. Those technologies issues are now solved and it's no longer about the size of format (4:3 ratio or 640x480, as two examples) but about the ability to consume and interact with content on any device they want to."

One example Whitten used to show how technologies have matured is based around the Xbox console. 微软昨天推出了更新的Zune视频市场, 哪一个似乎提供即时的1080p流媒体, 完成5.环绕立体声.

“这项新技术允许章节跳过和快速前进,惠顿说。, “所以这项技术只适用于普通用户."

Asked later in the question and answer about how to get significant cable or broadcast television on the U.S. 游戏控制台, as it has been integrated in the UK with the initial Sky rollout we covered a few weeks ago, 惠顿谈到了内容合作.

"What you see in Sky rollout is our vision of how the world should work,惠顿说。. "But we don't need to own the content so we're very open to partnerships. My goal is to use those partnerships to get the Xbox into the living room in all houses, 让它成为头号输入."

"The entertainment you may want may not be a hollywood blockbuster," added Whitten. "公会 is an example on a highly-downloaded / watched piece of content on Xbox that an indie studio created.惠顿随后转向社区.

"The technology is there but we've made it difficult for users to share a 社区," Whitten said. "We've been focused on 社区 and connectivity from the time we shipped the initial Xbox, and we don't talk about Halo gamers as an audience: they are a 社区. 但是当我们谈论电视节目时, 我们用观众这个词, 所以我们需要想办法把观众变成社区."

To get there, Whitten said, we need to focus on smart devices and super-deep connections.

"What we found when we redefining the UI which also shifted the user base from just playing games to using significant movie viewing and now live television,惠顿说。, adding that Halo and other games stay "fresh" because of the interactivity.

以Facebook拥有3亿用户为例, Whitten noted that consumer often shift between technologies to get to connected.

“对我们来说，这不是发现趋势的问题, but about consumers forcing technology to play games and connect with others,惠顿说。. “想想即使是一种非媒体技术, 全球定位系统(GPS), was expanded from military uses to today's use of allowing use to connect to each other."

One example of the multiple uses of technology was demonstrated in a chart Whitten titled "A Day in Xbox LIVE" in which he showed details of usage from this year's Superbowl game. Xbox LIVE saw a huge dip in online 社区 during the game, but rebounded directly afterwards.

“那些人到哪里去了?.500万用户玩了几个小时?惠顿问. “他们在比赛期间使用Facebook和Twitter进行交流, as statistics show all the major moments in the game corresponded to spikes in social media."

Whitten也使用了 与星共舞 这是一边看电视一边用手机投票的一个例子, and then a laptop to connect to other friends watching the show via Facebook or Twitter.

“手机一直都是联网的,惠顿说。, "but it wasn't until the smartphone that deeper 社区 interaction was possible beyond a one-to-one phone call. Our integration of Facebook means that consumers can now use an interactive console to interact with others beyond just gaming."

"Now when I see Premier Football League games on the weekends (available via Xbox LIVE in the UK), 社区用户的减少没有超级碗的例子那么可怕,惠顿说。, 因为Facebook的整合.，我。 上周在我的Bit o Tech博客上写的.

惠顿随后转向策展.

"How do we make it simple and easy to find the right choice between millions of options?惠顿说。. “我们必须超越传统的EPG, 从搜索转向推荐和评级."

As part of this curation, Whitten noted Amazon ratings and social media connections. 在Xbox上播放天空电视台的直播电视, Whitten noted the EPG has a "heed map" to show what others friends are watching at the moment. He said that feature was one of the reasons the Sky rollout saw a massive uptake when it was launched last month.

“我们进行了硬发行,惠顿说。, ，但最终却让人们加入了这项服务, 因为它很受欢迎. This is the reason that most software-as-a-service solutions (SaaS) do a long beta, 扩展系统并检查错误. We've learned a great deal from this, but we're now at 100% of fulfilling all requests."

Asked later in the question and answer about the hardest part of his job, 惠顿又提到了对技术的大规模吸收.

“转向服务, 而不仅仅是一个产品, 迫使我们决定如何作为一个社区的忠诚的管理者,惠顿说。. “这不仅仅是一对多的广播, 它还与用户之间的多重一对一关系有关, and we're constantly working to make the system more intuitive for everyone."

惠顿的第四点, 控制, was based around the Project Natal 控制ler-less technology that Microsoft dubs as "A New Way to Play."

“我们正在超越后面的控制器端口, 到设备前的人类控制器,惠顿说。. "We can use visual inputs, such as voice, body movement or number of people in a room."

但没有提供有关技术的细节, 是作为视频的一部分播放的吗, the 控制ler-less technology appears similar to the iMatte reverse-matte technologies that have been used for presenter / projector integration and also similar to a 3-D motion EPG guide shown at last week's NewTeeVee Live.

"This new 控制ler-less technology is fundamental to all the other details we talked about before this - content, 社区与策展,惠顿说。.

惠顿最后向参加活动的人提出了一个挑战.

“既然我们已经解决了技术问题, 我们需要使用这些工具来解决更大的问题,惠顿说。. "We're not in the golden age of tv, gaming or the internet, we're at the beginning. 在五年内, 你无法分辨出这三者之间的区别, because we'll have built something deeper than what's been done to date."