微软要玩原创视频了

    列文指出，如今市面上已经有了比以往更多的跨媒体体验，比如HBO热门美剧《权力的游戏》（Game of Thrones）和AMC的《行尸走肉》（The Walking Dead）都有各自的游戏版本，但是大多数这种跨媒体体验都需要用户在第二块屏幕上操作。列文说：“有了Xbox后，这个功能也被整合到Xbox上。Xbox一开始的功能是一台游戏机，后来又加上了观看视频的功能。现在人们已经开始更多地把它当成一个娱乐设备。虽然我们想利用Xbox的交互性，但是我们也意识到，很多细枝末节经常起了画蛇添足的作用。我们的眼睛最关注的还是一个好故事。”

    Xbox的交互性将在今年6月13日至15日的第13届波纳若音乐艺术节上得到充分展示，届时Xbox Live平台将全程直播这次盛会。特拉姆表示，粉丝们可以在Xbox上观看不同舞台的节目，还可以与其他音乐爱好者进行交流，甚至可以与在后台的乐队通过Skype进行交流。这次活动也让我们感受到了未来大型活动直播的交互前景。

    Xbox还将推出两套具有国际吸引力的真人秀剧集。其中“每个街道的联赛”（Every Street United）将是一套没有剧本的电视剧，每集30分钟，一共8集。另外还有一场一小时的决赛，主要展示的是全球各地的街头足球。本剧将由传奇球星亨利和埃德加•戴维斯主演，由艾美奖导演乔纳森•霍克【代表作《街头篮球》（Streetball）】执导。本片将在美国、英国、阿根廷、西班牙、巴西、荷兰、加纳、韩国等地实地拍摄。本剧的最后一集将在7月里约世界杯开幕前以一场4对4的街头足球决赛结束。特勒姆表示，这部将于6月上映的剧集是Xbox试图通过原创试频，在Xbox One、Xbox 360、Windows 8（PC和平板）和WP8设备上吸引全球受众的一次尝试。

    《无所畏惧》（Fearless， 暂定名）是目前正在试拍的一套无剧本的剧集。该剧的主演保罗•迪•格尔德是一名澳大利亚海军扫雷潜水员，也是一位鲨鱼袭击的幸存者。他在剧中踏上了一段旅程，去帮助那些冒着生命危险让世界变得更美好的人。列文表示，这部剧集将带着观众走进那些追逐龙卷风的人、美国海岸警卫队救生员以及与全副武装的盗猎者做斗争的护林人的生活。格尔德曾在一次鲨鱼袭击中失去了一条胳膊和一条腿，他在剧中甚至还会在无保护的情况下与大白鲨一起游泳。

    列文说：“每一个任务背后都有目的和原因。我们的交互团队把重点放在两个领域，用户通过控制不同的角度，以及通过观看非最终剪辑版的片子，可以从这些冒险类和令人肾上腺素飙升的剧情里获得更多的代入感。同时他们也可以与他们的社区互动，探索每一集背后的原因。”

    列文和特勒姆也都表示，这些剧集都是试验性的，因为所谓的交互性以及Xbox受众的口味并不是一成不变的。

    列文表示：“在这些节目播出之前，我们不知道它是否会取得成功。不过我们想先制作一些东西出来，以从我们的观众那里获取反馈。”

    与此同时，微软还与全球几大电视剧公司合作拍摄电视剧。比如《人类》（Humans）就是一部瑞典电视剧《真实的人类》（Real Humans）的英语版本。该剧将于2015年登上Xbox平台以及英国的Channel 4频道，讲述的是一个家庭购买了一个叫做Synth的机器仆人之后所发生的事。

    另外Xbox娱乐工作室也正在收购书籍和漫画小说的版权。比如，它正在把《纽约时报》（the New York Times）畅销书、沃伦•埃利斯的侦探惊悚小说Gun Machine改编成电视剧。埃利斯将与布莱特•康拉德【代表作《混乱之子》（Sons of Anarchy）】一起担任本剧的制片人，康拉德现在已经开始动笔撰写本剧的剧本。本剧讲述了一个侦探追踪一个连环杀人案凶手的故事。在追查这个凶手的过程中，又发现有人神秘地收藏了纽约各大谋杀案中所使用的各种枪支。另外微软和IDW娱乐公司还在合作开发查克•迪克森和画家乔治•扎菲诺共同创作的漫画小说《冬季世界》（Winterworld）的真人剧版。本剧讲述的是全球都被冰雪覆盖之后，幸存的人类结成一个个部落，为了在无尽的冬天继续生存而进行战争、奴役和交易的故事。IDW娱乐公司的泰德•亚当斯和大卫•奥泽尔以及Circle of Confusion公司（代表作《行尸走肉》）的里克•雅克布斯和戴夫•阿尔伯特将担任本剧的制片人。

    虽然Xbox娱乐工作室正在积极接洽《腐烂之都》（State of Decay）、《帝国时代》（Age of Empires）、《神鬼寓言》、《战争机器》和《飞驰竞速》（Forza）等游戏背后的开发者，但是目前为止《光晕》还是唯一一个已经确认了的根据游戏改编的剧集。但微软现在正打算把肖恩•莱西•亨斯利出品的角色扮演游戏《死亡之地》（Deadlands）改编成电视剧。这部剧集充满了神秘西部的各种钓人胃口的元素，比如不死的枪手、会飞牌的巫师、疯狂科学家、秘密帮派以及其他惊悚元素。

    "With Xbox the functionality is integrated into the experience," said Levin. "Xbox started as a game console and then started adding video. Now people are starting to think of it more as an entertainment console. While we want to take advantage of its interactivity, we're cognizant of the fact that there are a lot of bells and whistles that get created that are often a distraction. We don't want to take our eyes off what makes a good story."

    Interactivity will be on full display at the 13th annual Bonnaroo music and arts festival on June 13-15 on Xbox Live. Tellem said this festival, which will allow fans to choose to watch different entertainment stages, connect with other music fans, and even Skype with bands backstage, offers a taste of the interactive potential for live events moving forward.

    Two of the new series on Xbox will be reality programming with an international appeal. Every Street United is an unscripted street soccer series of eight, 30-minute episodes and a one-hour finale, featuring legendary soccer players Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids. Emmy-winning director Jonathan Hock (Streetball) filmed in the U.S., England, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands, Ghana, and South Korea. The series culminates this July in a 4v4 street game finale in the shadow of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. Tellem said this series, which debuts in June, is an example of the global audience Xbox is trying to connect with through its programming on Xbox Video for Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 8 (PC and Surface), and Windows Phone 8.

    Fearless (working title), an unscripted series currently in pilot production, features Paul de Gelder, an Australian Navy bomb clearance diver and shark attack survivor who takes on an adrenaline-fueled quest to aid individuals who risk their lives to make the world a better place. Levin said the series will take viewers into the lives of tornado chasers, U.S. Coast Guard rescuers, and bush rangers who fight against heavily armed poachers. De Gelder, who lost his arm and leg in a shark attack, will even swim with great white sharks without the protection of a cage.

    "Every mission will have a purpose and cause behind it," said Levin. "The interactive team has focused on two areas, allowing adventure and adrenaline junkies to get a more vicarious experience by controlling the series from different angles and seeing things not in the final cut; while also allowing viewers to further explore the causes in each episode by connecting with their communities."

    Levin and Tellem both admit that these shows are all experimental in the sense that the interactivity and what Xbox audiences want isn't set in stone.

    "Until they're out there, we won't know if it works or not," said Levin. "We do want to put certain things out there just to get feedback from our viewers."

    Microsoft is also partnering with global television studios on dramas. Humans is an English-language adaptation of the Swedish series, Real Humans, which will debut in 2015 on the Xbox platform and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. The series explores what happens when a family brings home a robotic servant called a "synth."

    Xbox Entertainment Studios is also acquiring the rights to books and graphic novels. The studio is turning Gun Machine, the hardboiled detective thriller based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Warren Ellis, into a series. Ellis will executive produce with Brett Conrad (Sons of Anarchy)," who has signed on to write the pilot script about a detective tracking a serial killer who is tied to a mysterious collection of guns used in infamous New York murders. Microsoft and IDW Entertainment are co-developing a limited event live-action series based on Chuck Dixon and artist Jorge Zaffino's graphic novel series Winterworld. With the world encased in ice from pole to pole, the surviving humans have formed tribes that war, enslave, and trade with one another in an effort to survive the infinite winter. Ted Adams and David Ozer from IDW Entertainment, and Rick Jacobs and Dave Alpert from Circle of Confusion (Walking Dead) will executive produce.

    While Xbox Entertainment Studios is actively talking to the game developers behind State of Decay, Age of Empires, Fable, Gears of War and Forza, Halo is the only confirmed videogame adaptation. But Microsoft is turning the pen-and-paper, role-playing game Deadlands, created by Shane Lacy Hensley, into a series. The genre-bending alternative history of the Weird West is filled with undead gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers, mad scientists, secret societies, and fearsome abominations.

    "We are working closely with Microsoft Studios and have discovered that their creative process is not much different from our own," said Tellem. "We are also enlightened by the complexity of game building and the focus of the game play; this is incredibly insightful as we look to produce more immersive storytelling experiences over time. To have access to the talent of Microsoft is an unparalleled opportunity as we continue to build Xbox Entertainment Studios."