Ed Fries
Encyclopedia
Ed Fries was vice president of game publishing at Microsoft
during much of the Xbox
's lifecycle. He was a prime evangelist of the platform to game developers and had an important role in the acquisition of developers Bungie Studios, Ensemble Studios
and Rare.
Fries left Microsoft in January 2004. He consulted with a startup company, FireAnt, that was later sold to Sony Online Entertainment
. He was also involved with several startups including AGEIA
, which aims to bring the first "physics accelerator" chip for games to market, and Emotiv Systems, a company building an EEG
based game controller.
Fries is currently working on bringing his favorite game, World of Warcraft
, to three-dimensional life with his startup company, Figure Prints. The company makes 3D models of a player's characters using a fleet of Z Corporation
printers. Within the first 12 hours of his company going live, over 4,000 people had requested an order for a model. Fries explains in an interview that each model can take about 1 week to complete.
In July 2010, Fries released an Atari 2600
game inspired by the Halo
series, called Halo 2600
.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
during much of the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
's lifecycle. He was a prime evangelist of the platform to game developers and had an important role in the acquisition of developers Bungie Studios, Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios
Ensemble Studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company, but was owned by Microsoft from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many real-time strategy games, including the Age of Empires game series, Age of Mythology, and Halo...
and Rare.
Fries left Microsoft in January 2004. He consulted with a startup company, FireAnt, that was later sold to Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe...
. He was also involved with several startups including AGEIA
AGEIA
Ageia, founded in 2002, was a fabless semiconductor company. Ageia invented PhysX – a Physics Processing Unit chip capable of performing game physics calculations much faster than general purpose CPUs; they also licensed out the PhysX SDK , a large physics middleware library for game...
, which aims to bring the first "physics accelerator" chip for games to market, and Emotiv Systems, a company building an EEG
EEG
EEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
based game controller.
Fries is currently working on bringing his favorite game, World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, to three-dimensional life with his startup company, Figure Prints. The company makes 3D models of a player's characters using a fleet of Z Corporation
Z Corporation
Z Corporation is a manufacturer of 3D printers capable of printing multicolored parts, rapid prototyping machines that build plastic prototypes and 3D scanners. Z Corporation is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.The company name relates to the z axis which adds depth to the other 2...
printers. Within the first 12 hours of his company going live, over 4,000 people had requested an order for a model. Fries explains in an interview that each model can take about 1 week to complete.
In July 2010, Fries released an Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
game inspired by the Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
series, called Halo 2600
Halo 2600
Halo 2600 is an action-adventure video game developed for the Atari 2600 video game console, inspired by the Halo series of video games.Halo 2600 was written by Ed Fries, former vice president of game publishing at Microsoft,...
.