Xbox's corporate celebrities

by Christopher Grant { Nov 21st 2005 at 8:45PM }

What is it about the Xbox team at Microsoft that makes them so... cool?! Microsoft itself is not cool. Like Steven Kent said, "You can shave Bill Gates head, put him in ridiculous outfits... but you can't turn him into Vin Diesel." But the Xbox team have become what Dean Takehashi calls "executive rockstars." J Allard and Peter Moore took the stage at Zero Hour in front of a crowd of screaming fans and Takehashi noted, "In 17 years of journalism, I've never seen somebody ask a vice president for an autograph." It's like Beatlemania for nerds.

It didn't start with J Allard and Peter Moore; Seamus Blackley was the original badboy of the Xbox team. The man responsible for pitching and building the original Xbox left the company and J Allard ascended to replace him as the face of the Xbox. Even Peter Moore has been deified as something more than an executive, more than a marketing guy. Don't believe me, one viewing of this video entitled "Peter Moore montage of awesomeness" will change your mind.

So what is it? Being a nerd is cool now; we know, we got the memo too. But what explains the exaltation of these corporate spokespeople into cultural heroes? We just like seeing ourselves up there on stage, knowing they aren't any cooler than we are. In other words, it's every videogame nerd's rock and roll fantasy.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tim @ Nov 21st 2005 9:11PM

The reason we "love" them is for the same reason you like/respect anyone else. They talk about something you're interested in. All these guys clearly care about the product and the community around it, and give numerous interviews even when exhausted.

This is the first time, though, because Americans/Canadians have never had this... personification of the game industry. Sony and Nintendo are mumbo-jumbo speaking japanese companies who release their products here months or years late.

Microsoft cares about us (and our wallets), and I like that.

firerock @ Nov 21st 2005 9:30PM

Well, I was at Zero Hour event yesterday, and I have to admit, J Allard is a cool cat. When he was talking to the crowd, you know that he is one of us. A true gamer at heart combines with great business mind. You don't feel like he is so superior than any of us and that makes me respect/like him.

Yes, MS as a company might not have the best corporate image to average Joe, but they know what they are doing when they are focused. In this case, Xbox team is absolutely doing the best they can to reach their target audience. They learned their mistakes and one up Sony and Nintendo this time. X360 might not win the next gen war, but you can't say that they ignore gamers and only want profit.

Radu Dutzan @ Nov 21st 2005 10:17PM

Do any of these guys get a parody on SNL? I thought so. Now THAT's a tech celebrity right there, Steve Jobs.

met @ Nov 21st 2005 10:41PM

Or maybe Stevie is more comical :)

Now you are spinning the SNL gig into a positive thing?

RedFerret @ Nov 21st 2005 11:07PM

Rockstars? are you kidding? J Allard thinks he's Moby, with the bald head and trendy ear ring. "Major Nelson" got his hip and trendy "pod cast", but of course he was doing it before both podcasting and the 360 were hip, so we can call him an OG.

These guys do a job for a software company, and I don't even know if I'd say they do a good job. My locale Best Buy has a line stretching into the next county (even though they are only getting 50) and folks are bidding 360s up to $700 on ebay. How is this a good thing? Why would anyone ask for this guy's autograph??

I've got something I would call these guys and it certainly isn't "rockstars".

john @ Nov 22nd 2005 5:10AM

"Sony and Nintendo are mumbo-jumbo speaking japanese companies who release their products here months or years late."

Let's have a look at Nintendo's latest system release.

Also, idolizing corporate spokespeople? Looks like WIN has found it's "TUAW" for Microsoft.

john @ Nov 22nd 2005 6:17AM

James @ Nov 22nd 2005 6:27AM

"Sony and Nintendo are mumbo-jumbo speaking japanese companies who release their products here months or years late."

I'd say that's true of Sony, but not Nintendo. Just go and watch Nintendo's E3 press conference from this year and I doubt you'll be able to say that they're speaking "mumbo-jumbo" at all.

The main difference between the MS and Nintendo conferences, in my view, was that Microsoft was dressing up old men in ridiculous "youth" attire and they were spitting out as many PR catchphrases as possible. "Xbox connects me to the people and experiences I care about!" Huh? That's mumbo-jumbo to me, lol.

Nintendo's conference was humorous, down-to-earth and realistic, I think. I like that Nintendo's events feel more like a small community than a giant hype machine. I also like that Nintendo executives generally seem to have a very genuine attitude about what they are working on. With Microsoft, I often get the impression that it's little more than a veneer of slick PR speak.

Of course, there's no doubting the prominence of various Xbox staff (especially J Allard), but I think there's a general fakeness that comes across with some of them (though I would not include Allard in that description - he seems to be the strongest and most genuine Xbox advocate of the bunch).

SpartanWalrus36 @ Nov 22nd 2005 3:13PM

I don�t know who that guy is, but he sure makes an interesting Peter Moore montage. Does he have a website?

-SpartanWalrus36

C�mon, a little self-promotion never hurt.