Don Mattrick, Microsoft Xbox’s new Senior Vice President has claimed that he “invented avatars”. In an interview conducted at E3, but only just released, Mattrick goes on to pinpoint the moment when humanoid, controllable figures with faces in 3D were first used.
Mattrick said that avatars were first used in the game 4D Sports Boxing, that Distinctive Software, Mattrick’s company, made in 1991. Mattrick, plugging the Xbox user interface upgrade “Nex Xbox Experience” that will arrive on November 19th, in an interview with Official Xbox 360 Magazine said: “It’s human, it’s in 3D, it has a face… it was genuinely the first time there was something human-shaped in 3D! Look it up! And I worked at EA and helped pushed the concept with a few games you might have heard of – this one called The Sims – you ever hear of that?”
Nintendo won’t really care too much about who got there first though. Both Microsoft with its New Xbox Experience and Sony with Home are playing catch-up to Nintendo’s family-friendly and personalised Miis in the current generation of consoles. And that’s all that really counts.
And, if anything, the excitement level over using Mii avatars in games appears to have died down over time among Wii players – with many preferring to use the stock in-game characters the game ships with.
That hasn’t stopped Microsoft making a big thing out of the New Xbox Experience allowing you to use avatars across the social networking aspects of Xbox Live as well as in-game.
In other New Xbox Experience news, it has been announced that the dubious-sounding A Kingdom For Keflings is set to be the first game to let you use your avatar as a character. The game, also available on the 19th for 800 MS points, sees giant avatars overseeing the construction of cities and civilisations for tiny “Keflings”. Sounds… riveting!
Out Nov 19 | Free | New Xbox Experience
