Labeled as a “look into the future of gaming,” Ed Fries’ panel consisted of personal history and a look at failed predictions of the future from Victorian postcards.
The panel started off with Fries talking about his own history including his childhood, history with Microsoft and Xbox, and even his recent business endeavors.
Eventually after finishing that section, Fries talked about predicting the future, specifically talking about how Victorians predicted what we would have in the year 2000.
While some Victorian predictions were close, none were spot on which led to Fries stating that “anyone can predict the future, the problem is when.”
The presentation took a turn from funny to once again personal as Fries described his own business ventures in helping develop graphics cards and motion technology. Those features at their time we’re a distant idea that hadn’t been tried, but with collaboration and creativity those technologies were eventually implemented on the upcoming Xbox One.
Fries treated the panel like a presentation which didn’t leave time for audience to ask questions or interact with him, which was a nice change from some of the previous panels that consisted of less planning relying on audience participation.
Overall, the message left by Ed Fries was that “the best way to predict the future, is to make it.”
