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[bitbydeath]

Read into that what you will…

Xbox cofounder J Allard joined Amazon last month as a vice president on the company’s devices and services team. In an email to The Verge, Allard confirmed his new role but says it’s “too early to have anything to say” about what he’ll be working on at Amazon beyond “new ideas.”

Allard will report to former Windows and Surface chief Panos Panay at Amazon, according to GeekWire. Panay left Microsoftlast year after being at the software giant for almost 20 years. Allard spent more than 20 years at Microsoft, cofounding the Xbox division, launching Microsoft’s Xbox Live network, and developing the Xbox 360 console. Allard also oversaw the development of the Zune, Microsoft’s iPod competitor.

Xbox cofounder J Allard has joined Amazon to work on ‘new ideas’

Allard helped create the original Xbox, Zune, and Courier tablet.

www.theverge.com

 

[Unknown?]

Xbox, Zune, and some tablet no one has ever heard of? Wonder if he was a Sony agent all along?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

never trust the "ideas" man.

 

[simpatico]

Z-Box incoming?

 

[DoomGyver]

Z-Box incoming?

PrimeStation

 

[Mr Hyde]

 

[Matsuchezz]

that guy and Robbie bach both were transformed by some public image company or something because they were nerdy guys and then they were kind of cool looking and were dressing like Poochie from the simpsons.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Damn, this man will deliver the secret sauce. Sony is finished.

 

[Wooxsvan]

guys where are the old pics. so disappointed...

 

[Revolutionary]

J Allard's new idea: "what if I wore the hoody OVER the blazer?"

 

[Quantum253]

guys where are the old pics. so disappointed...

Was an amazing console and amazing time throughout the reveal to the One announcement

 

[Topher]

guys where are the old pics. so disappointed...

 

[Quixz]

This dude knows what he is doing, I would buy a LunaBox or possibly a Handheld.

 

[fatmarco]

Peter Moore and J Allard were so key to Xbox branding and marketing in that era. As soon as they were gone the wheels started falling off.

 

[chokotoureiki]

Yeah, new ideas like an Amazon warehouse sim. Sign me up.

 

[qbxwhi]

This dude knows what he is doing, I would buy a LunaBox or possibly a Handheld.

he peaked with the 360.
resting on his laurels now

 

[West Texas CEO]

 

[Sorcerer]

J. Allard was a pretty funny guy. I remember (if I remember correctly at all) some kind of feature on he and the Xbox team and they brought up that he was doing his work on Apple machines within the Microsoft Offices. LOL!!! Maybe he was just trying to show us what kind of Rebel he really was? Skateboarding in the halls.

 

[Moses85]

 

[Dorfdad]

Amazon had a literal gold mine with kindle but they refuse to make it worth a shit outside ebooks.

How about they just open it up some make some collaborative deals with cloud game companies to allow streaming apps or GeForce Now, and XCloud as partners, and PlayStation bundle it with LUNA for one year with purchase.

This could improve sales and with open store (native) they could make a much bigger jump

 

[StueyDuck]

guys where are the old pics. so disappointed...

Gosh i remember this dude now,

name didn't ring a bell but i totally remember him. Those old xbox days were so... i wanna say concerted, they were like humble yet confident.

 

[IFireflyl]

 

[Paasei]

Same.

 

[Astray]

Read into that what you will…

Xbox cofounder J Allard has joined Amazon to work on ‘new ideas’

Allard helped create the original Xbox, Zune, and Courier tablet.

www.theverge.com

Him and Panos Panay are both interesting hires tbh.

Xbox, Zune, and some tablet no one has ever heard of? Wonder if he was a Sony agent all along?

Dude the man literally used to dream about framing Ken Kutaragi's resignation letter lmfao. He's the furthest from being a Sony agent lol.

So when Allard cooked up another unlikely proposal in 1999, his bosses paid attention. Ballmer remembers thinking that Allard's proposal was over-the-top. "Bill called me up and said, 'Let's get this thing fired up.' I said, 'Um, this is pretty different, pretty bold.' Actually, 'wacky' was probably more like it," Ballmer remembers. "I didn't say, 'Stop,' but I pushed back pretty hard. There's no way to muscle in on guys like Sony and Nintendo using just sheer resources." ... In January, Allard and the rest of the Xbox senior executives gathered to write brief statements on what motivates them to come to work every morning. The mission: to inspire the group's rank and file. "Most people put down flowery, make-the-world-a-better-place, Miss America types of things," Allard says. "I wrote: What gets me out of bed and into the office every day is the thought of Ken Kutaragi's resignation letter, framed, hanging next to my desk."

 

[HogIsland]

There's an opening for a publisher that designs AAA games for the broadest available hardware: phones and PCs with integrated graphics. If Amazon was trying to establish themselves as a first party / platform, they could provide engine+tools, and release a controller that works both as a standalone gamepad and backbone type phone adapter.

 

[Fortress of Regrets]

I remember when we called the stupid XBLA points/money for "Allards".

"That game is 1200 Allards."

 

[OverHeat]

Blast from the past

 

[digital_ghost]

Amazon Console. Codenamed Anaconda

30TF

runs steam and custom Amazon game store.

Heavily subsidized. $499.

 

[SJRB]

They should also get Jade Raymond and triple agent Phil Harrison to join the team.

Imagine the possibilities.

 

[Moriarty1889]

Xbox was in a much better state when Allard was at the helm. I remember those times well.

 

[RPCGamer]

Feel like amazon have talking about making a push into the industry for years, but it always fizzles out.

 

[IAmRei]

If there is a chance, should be new console, or maybe portable or both as hybrid...
Maybe A-Square Portable or Z-cube...

... Xbox names are kind of weird way ...

 

[Shake Your Rump]

Is this guy why my friend who works as a software engineer for Amazon is going to be part of the forced attrition due to "back to office" mandates while the office is a 1.5 hour commute each way? They need to lose employees to pay this dude's salary?

 

[FunkMiller]

Feel like amazon have talking about making a push into the industry for years, but it always fizzles out.

This is due to the fact that Amazon Gaming is stuffed with people who know nothing about gaming, and are all so locked into the Amazon corporate system that if a decent idea did pop into one of their heads, it would be almost instantly ground into dust by the need to be 'customer-centric' and 'maximise the value proposition'. Beep boop beeee boooooop.

Allard isn't going to make any difference whatsoever, and will be gone within 18 months, taking a hefty severance package with him.

 

[mckmas8808]

What's happening here? Is this a fake Allard?

 

[Topher]

What's happening here? Is this a fake Allard?

He lost a bet to N'Gai Croal.

"So fueled by the liquid courage of Morton's finest Cabernet, we gentlemen decided on a friendly wager. The bet: whether the PSP would reach worldwide shipments of 10 million units within the same 12 month span of time it had taken the PS2, give or take 3 months. We took the pro; Allard, the con. If we were correct and the PSP hit its mark,
Allard would wear a dreadlock wig for the entire month of May, including the week of E3 2006. But if Allard were right and the PSP
missed our agreed-upon milestone, he would get to shave our dreads.
Onstage. During the Xbox E3 2006 press conference. In front of 1,500
attendees. (Did we mention that wine was involved?)"

J Allard Doesn't Welsh on Bets

You can say lots of things about Microsoft’s outspoken J Allard, but one thing you can’t say is that he doesn’t make good on his wagers. It all started over a well-lubricated dinner in 2005 when Allard and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal made a little wager about the sales future of the PSP: So fueled by […]

www.wired.com

 

[mckmas8808]

He lost a bet to N'Gai Croal.

"So fueled by the liquid courage of Morton's finest Cabernet, we gentlemen decided on a friendly wager. The bet: whether the PSP would reach worldwide shipments of 10 million units within the same 12 month span of time it had taken the PS2, give or take 3 months. We took the pro; Allard, the con. If we were correct and the PSP hit its mark,
Allard would wear a dreadlock wig for the entire month of May, including the week of E3 2006. But if Allard were right and the PSP
missed our agreed-upon milestone, he would get to shave our dreads.
Onstage. During the Xbox E3 2006 press conference. In front of 1,500
attendees. (Did we mention that wine was involved?)"

J Allard Doesn't Welsh on Bets

You can say lots of things about Microsoft’s outspoken J Allard, but one thing you can’t say is that he doesn’t make good on his wagers. It all started over a well-lubricated dinner in 2005 when Allard and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal made a little wager about the sales future of the PSP: So fueled by […]

www.wired.com

OH WOW LOL!!! Some bets people just shouldn't make. Funny though.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Amazon tried to make games but completely failed. i suspect it is because they didn't account for the bloated development time and budget. So Bezos saw the additional costs and say "you want HOW much more money? Forget it!"


But making a gaming platform is a different value proposition. Sony is spending 20 billion dollars (sorry, 2 billion, a typo) a year on PlayStation, if Amazon can match that then it could work. All that assumes that Xbox drops out first.

 

[mckmas8808]

Amazon tried to make games but completely failed. i suspect it is because they didn't account for the bloated development time and budget. So Bezos saw the additional costs and say "you want HOW much more money? Forget it!"


But making a gaming platform is a different value proposition. Sony is spending 20 billion dollars a year on PlayStation, if Amazon can match that then it could work. All that assumes that Xbox drops out first.

HOLD ON....................WAT?!

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

HOLD ON....................WAT?!

Sorry, take a zero out. 2 billion.

 

[SHA]

never trust the "ideas" man.

It's clear when nobody wants it to work, these aren't gamers, it's like a recipe with no seasoning, no one will be interested in that chemistry.

 

[SHA]

PrimeStation

Primal "Pre historic" Box.

 

[VAVA Mk2]

Panos Panay and J Allard now...

 

[mckmas8808]

Sorry, take a zero out. 2 billion.

 

[ArcaneNLSC]

Yeah, new ideas like an Amazon warehouse sim. Sign me up.

each console sale comes with a bottle of staff piss

 

[Drew1440]

J. Allard was a pretty funny guy. I remember (if I remember correctly at all) some kind of feature on he and the Xbox team and they brought up that he was doing his work on Apple machines within the Microsoft Offices. LOL!!! Maybe he was just trying to show us what kind of Rebel he really was? Skateboarding in the halls.

Was that around the 360 launch? That would make sense since 360 and Powermacs used similar processors.

Also I'm down for an Amazon console.

 

[twilo99]

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Amazon is an interesting case in gaming and media. They have a lot of potential.

Panos Panay and J Allard now...

What kind of crossover is it

 

[Fafalada]

and are all so locked into the Amazon corporate system that if a decent idea did pop into one of their heads, it would be almost instantly ground into dust by the need to be 'customer-centric' and 'maximise the value proposition'.

That'd have been much better than what the games org actually looked like.

 

[bitbydeath]

Amazon is an interesting case in gaming and media. They have a lot of potential.

They could shake things up a lot since they don’t own many studios.

Xbox, EA, Ubisoft, Take 2 they can buy up any western publisher without a sweat.