“But, now the public has definitive confirmation”
That is indeed true. However as I said, it’s likely the information could’ve been recovered from elsewhere, such as NPD. This is certainly a quicker and cheaper option!

“This interview certainly leads to that conclusion as this Microsoft exec had plenty of opportunity to hedge his statements about the possibility of such a Blu-ray player but didn’t even acknowledge the possibility. That is a significant departure from Microsoft’s earlier statements.”

To be fair though, that’s mostly down to interpretation, just like my comment. A radicle departure doesn’t mean too much though. It could be to shake us up, to go “oh, we were never expecting that” upon a release of such peripheral. It could be as you suggested though. At this stage, it’s hard to tell just who of us is accurate. Perhaps neither of us are!

“Considering the previous XBOX’s lifespan of only four years coupled with the high rate of hardware failure on the XBOX 360 and the PS3’s recent resurgence from the dead, and it is most likely that Microsoft will abandon the XBOX 360 in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the next version to try to stay ahead of Sony. It would also give Microsoft a major new platform on which to push DirectX 10 as Vista has failed to take hold partly because XBOX 360 ports to the PC don’t need it.”

Hmm, I don’t think it’d be prudent to judge MS on their previous console. It joined late, it didn’t have very good share in the system…both of those have changed now. They may push it for considerably longer, so long as there is long-term profit and considering the mechanical issues are on a decrease and profit is on an up, if they deem it economically viable, I’m fairly certain they’d go for it. This IS MS we’re talking about afterall. That is one alley we can judge on from past experience.

“to put pressure on the person being interviewed to be more forthcoming”

Most developers and publishers will know of the characters likely to interview them, so there’s a reciprocal piece of expectation right there. There’s also the changing of NDAs in terms of what information can be revealed at what point. Some may end up being contradictory to previous information, for example. As such, I think the first answer is likely just the beginning, but if they can’t give more than that, they can’t give more than that and no amount of re-phrasing is going to get an answer. See my above comment in my previous reply about that (and yeah, the number is a bit off, but it’s an exaggeration to make a point, one I don’t feel you got).

“I didn’t say Microsoft was alone in that. My point is that the only way to cut through it is persistence as this interviewer did.”

Fair enough. However if my full sentence was digested, you’d see I was clearly saying what kind of spin we’d be expecting. With that in mind, we can pretty much guess what the spinning is. Persistence does help in some cases, but in this one, don’t really see it happening. We got a figure which could’ve been obtained anyhow and I don’t really think it was worth it, unless the interviewer purposefully wanted to make Mr. Schappert seem like an idiot, which may or may not have been a hope.

If you reply to this, which I hope you do because you raised some good points, please do not presume you know my character from so many lines of text on a gaming news website. To call someone else a fool and ignorant and be ignorant of that person is a worse offence than that of which you accuse.

Find a literate adult to introduce you to a dictionary because you have no understanding of the word persistence.

“The 3% attach rate is something that likely would’ve been easily got from other figures.”

No, fool, the only reason we got the figure out of that Microsoft prick is because he felt pressured to divulge it by the relentless interviewer.

“Besides, the general knowledge was that it had sold badly. Not with any particular numbers to that degree”

But, now the public has definitive confirmation to that speculation thanks to the persistence of this interviewer.

“I also fail to see how what he has said means there won’t be Blu-ray?”

This interview certainly leads to that conclusion as this Microsoft exec had plenty of opportunity to hedge his statements about the possibility of such a Blu-ray player but didn’t even acknowledge the possibility. That is a significant departure from Microsoft’s earlier statements.

“considering console lifespan, it’s not unreasonable to say it will happen.”

Considering the previous XBOX’s lifespan of only four years coupled with the high rate of hardware failure on the XBOX 360 and the PS3’s recent resurgence from the dead, and it is most likely that Microsoft will abandon the XBOX 360 in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the next version to try to stay ahead of Sony. It would also give Microsoft a major new platform on which to push DirectX 10 as Vista has failed to take hold partly because XBOX 360 ports to the PC don’t need it.

“most journalists re-asking a question is 99% of the time later found out to be due to them stalling for time.”

You obviously have no actual knowledge of journalism, and unlike you I don’t need to make up a statistic to prove it.

“The interviewers usually know after the first question (sometimes before) how much info. they’ll get.”

Sure they have expectations, but the very reason why good journalists persist and rephrase and reask questions is to put pressure on the person being interviewed to be more forthcoming. The first answer is not the whole story. It’s just the beginning.

“As for ‘bullshit P.R’ spin, every company does that.”

I didn’t say Microsoft was alone in that. My point is that the only way to cut through it is persistence as this interviewer did.

I also fail to see how what he has said means there won’t be Blu-ray? Earlier interviews from about a month ago has let the decision be inconclusive and considering console lifespan, it’s not unreasonable to say it will happen.

Going back to the persistence; most journalists re-asking a question is 99% of the time later found out to be due to them stalling for time. The interviewers usually know after the first question (sometimes before) how much info. they’ll get.

As for ‘bullshit P.R’ spin, every company does that. The only company of the big three that needn’t is Nintendo, whilst Microsoft need to say “yeah, we’re still doing well” with their material and Sony to say “nah, we’re fine, leave us be”.

No, it’s not worrying, it’s admirable. That’s what real journalism is: persistence for the truth through the bullshit P.R. spin. And, here it paid off as we didn’t get the 3% attach rate figure out of the evasive Microsoft ass until the fifth time. His continued evasiveness also basically confirms that there won’t be a Blu-ray player for the XBOX 360 from Microsoft. It will most likely wait until the next XBOX console in 2009 or hope that digital downloads make Blu-ray irrelevant.

Its also funny how they have constantly gone on about offering the consumer ‘the choice’ but dont seem to want to give them ‘the choice’ of adding a Blu-ray player.