You forgot to mention the inhale.

This stinks...I hope that microsoft can continue to be successful. 

Well rarely do people stay in the same company forever in the United States. I mean Seamus Blackley, who was the real brains behind the Xbox, left once the machine was released.  
 
Also I think that the J Allard references will only become more common since he has left.

I'm sorry for your loss Brad Shoemaker, he was a good man.

Xtreme sports are the future kids. Bank on it.

NOOOOOO! Now who are we supposed to put in space giraffe 2?

.

" @themartyr said:

" What does the J stand for? "

Judy "

J Allard deserves more than a single sentence. 
 
This was a man who changed his name to match his Microsoft email address and who transformed from a pudgy middle aged guy into a corporate hipster icon.  
 
I just hope he doesn't gain 75 lbs and go back to calling himself 'James'. 

Dude, it's Alan Wake with that style.

Alan Wake is J. Allard.

I don't know why, but I'm deeply saddened by the idea that J. Allard will never come back to working with the Xbox brand.

Wow, I had no idea they were so important.  Those accomplishments you listed really are some of the best things about gaming for me.

J Allard will step on the Sony stage at its E3 press conference. How fucking insane would that be huh?

"  Western developers were able to gain a foothold in console development." 
 
Err, because developers like Naughty Dog and Insomniac were struggling terribly on the Playstation and Playstation 2?

Oh man, that sucks. 
 
Wasn't J Allard part of the Xboxocalpyse coverage?

I would argue that achievements are one of the worst things to come out of the XBox 360, replacing an enjoyable experience with endless grinds for 1000 points in usually mediocre games.  
 
The rest of these things were already bullet points in PC gaming used years before the 360 was sold in retail. 
 
Other things brought to us thanks to Microsoft:  The idea the we should have to pay a subscription fee for what usually amounts to p2p gaming, paid DLC, massive console menu ad spam.
 
In every instance that I've seen the man, Allard comes out as a pretentious douchebag.  I can't speak to Robbie Bach, but as an organization, Microsoft has in most cases ripped off ideas that originated on the PC and made them their own, usually charging people beyond the price of the console to utilize them.  I have a 360, and it's a good system for the most part, but to claim innovation when it's 90% duplication is an insult to the PC developers that brought these features to us originally.

Alas, a harbinger of bad fashion sense has left us.

It's hard to imagine where the industry would be without the Xbox. Both deserve the praise and their time off. 
 
I'm a little worried about the Xbox division being in direct control of Ballmer, hopefully he doesn't cram other Microsoft properties into my box. I'm offput by the mere fact that the video marketplace is now called Zune Marketplace... if I have to see Office, Hotmail, MSN, Bing tabs on my NXE... Probably won't happen though.

" So they mostly made a bunch of existing PC stuff work on a cheap, standardized PC.  Twice.  Then entered two console races with them and lost both times.  Then moved on to the Zune?    There's a reason he's "leaving to spend more time with this family" or whatever, take your pick.  I think you're perhaps overselling how much gaming owes to these guys a bit. "

" @Jimbo said:

" So they mostly made a bunch of existing PC stuff work on a cheap, standardized PC.  Twice.  Then entered two console races with them and lost both times.  Then moved on to the Zune?    There's a reason he's "leaving to spend more time with this family" or whatever, take your pick.  I think you're perhaps overselling how much gaming owes to these guys a bit. "

spoken like a true fanboy. a rather pathetic attempt at putting down the xbox while making yourself sound like an arrogant jackass. i laughed quite a bit at the losing the console wars part.  i'm not going to say they won but on top of your already weak argument, it sounds like your really stretching for things to pick at.  Your whole argument could be said about video games as a whole, moving from computers, and mp3 players in general have also been a major part of the technology market.  to be able to put out something to directly compete against the near monopoly apple had on the market is pretty  impressive. "