Interviewed by Ben and Aurora
Mike Salmon, Editor in Chief of OXM

How did you come to be Editor In Chief of OXM?

It was a long road filled with bribery, treachery, and lies. Actually I was the Editor In Chief of PC Accelerator (may it rest in peace) then was given the opportunity to work on a pitch document to Microsoft, which eventually became this magazine.

How long were you working at OXM before the first issue?

I was working on Official Xbox Magazine for a good year before the first issue, trying to sort out disc, content, staffing, style, etc.

As most of us know, magazines are usually late with news because press times are WAY before the magazine street date. Somehow OXM still manages to break news before anyone else. Can you explain how that works?

We have to work twice as hard to get news first. Basically we have to convince people to hold news until our issue releases. We have to know about things two months before the Internet… it is our job.

What music do you have on your Xbox soundtrack?

A huge variety of stuff from Incubus to Frank Sinatra to The Verve Pipe to Doves to The Def tones

What do you love most about your job?

The people. The staff is amazing and we have a great time putting the magazine together.

If you could change ONE thing about Xbox, what would it be?

I'd make it number one in sales, then all third-parties would put full-effort into Xbox games rather than wasting time on inferior pieces of hardware (PS2… cough… GameCube… cough)

What titles do you think are the most promising for 2002-2003?

Splinter Cell, Blinx, BC, Project Ego, Halo 2, Crimson Skies, PGR 2, NFL 2K3, NFL Fever, and a bunch more…

Xbox 2, what do you think it will hold for us?

It'll hold for quite a bit. The Xbox has tons of power that devs haven't even begun to take advantage of yet.

What would you want to see in Halo 2?

Funny you should ask, we have a big feature in our September issue (out August 1st) on that very subject.

Have you played a version of Project Ego yet? What do you think of it?

Yep. Amazing. Deep. Innovative. And really early. We won't see this game until late 2003 is my guess.

How do you think Xbox compared to GCN and PS2 at E3?

Every single multiplatform game looked a ton better on Xbox and every Xbox exclusive game looked amazing. The only thing we're missing is Mario, Zelda, Shinobi, and GTA.

Will there be Xbox Live online demos in future discs, or is the whole game required?

We're working on it. It is possible and we want to do it, but there are tons of technical and financial issues to sort out.

What do you see in the future for OXM and Xbox?

Many more systems sold, many more issues sold, and then world domination. Or something like that.

Here's a pic of us beating the producers of NFL Fever over the internet by
a final score of 100-34. Eat it Microsoft!