manred
Animal Collective
Once again our old friend job postings pops up, bringing with him rumblings of a new iteration of Microsoft's Xbox Live platform. The listing, posted back in January of this year, is for a Program Manager in Redmond Washington.
"Want to be involved in the next release of Xbox? Join the server-backed games team, part of the Xbox LIVE team that's responsible for creating a completely new way for mainstream audiences to enjoy the Xbox and LIVE."
Aren't job postings fun? Right there in the first paragraph we get "the next release of Xbox" and "mainstream audiences", hinting at a more user-friendly version of Xbox Live. Remember, what seems simple to you and I is still completely foreign to all of those non-gamers out there doing whatever it is they do, so a simpler way to interface with online games via the console could be in the cards. But wait, there's more...
"We are looking for a passionate Games Producer to help implement our first generation games that will run in this new environment. Specific job responsibilities include Managing internal and external development of the games, contract negotiation and management, technical design reviews and scheduling. You will also interact with our content team and help them bring their designs to life. As we're a small team, we want independent people that are driven for results and able to wear multiple hats to get things done quickly."
Very interesting indeed. Now they do mention they are a small team, and I doubt that a small team would be in charge of completely reinventing Xbox Live from the ground up, so what could they be doing? Perhaps migrating web-based gaming to Xbox Live, allowing gamers to play games directly via the service without downloads, sort of like the MSN Games website, but right in the console? Many cable companies already offers such services, so it wouldn't be too far fetched to see Microsoft going that route. Hit up the jump for the full job posting, and hit up the comments section to offer your own expert opinion.
Source
Seems pretty interesting...