Xbox Live "Primetime" delayed until next spring

Looks like Microsoft may have bitten off more than it can chew with its upcoming "Xbox Experience" revamp. The latest casualty: Primetime, which would have let casual gamers—and their avatars—play real-time game shows over Xbox Live.

Xbox Live Primetime isn't cancelled, according to Forbes—but it won't be ready in time for the Nov. 19 launch of the revamped Xbox Dashboard. Instead, it'll go live in spring 2009, presumably as part of the usual springtime Dashboard update. (Synchronized Netflix streaming for groups of viewers has also been delayed for now, according to Forbes.)

What happened? Well, as Forbes notes, the upcoming, top-to-bottom Dashboard update looks to be the biggest launch for the Xbox 360 team since the console itself, and "things have slipped."

It's disappointing news, to an extent; Primetime was supposed to launch with a Live version of NBC's "1 vs. 100" game show, with thousands of contestants and their avatars competing for actual prizes. Among the promised features: Live hosts for certain Primetime events, achievements, invites and reminders for upcoming shows.

But as my favorite product manager (who just happens to be my wife) often reminds me, there are only three levers you can pull when you're trying to hit a deadline: Time, quality, and scope. In other words: You can either miss your deadline altogether, cut some features (scope), or sacrifice quality. Something's gotta give.

Personally, I'm glad Microsoft chose the "scope" option by cutting Primetime till the spring. This way, we'll still (hopefully) get everything else in the new Dashboard, including streaming Netflix movies (yes!) by the Nov. 19 deadline. Quality won't suffer (again, hopefully), and we'll get Primetime eventually.

That's a better choice than delaying the entire Xbox Experience launch, or even worse, letting quality slip—which is essentially what happened with the botched Xbox 360 launch, no? (Just ask anyone who's suffered through the dreaded "Red Ring of Death".)

Anyway, that's my take. What about you: Can you live without Primetime (for now) if it means getting the rest of the new Xbox 360 Dashboard on time (and bug-free)?

Related:
Microsoft Xbox: Not Ready For Primetime [Forbes.com]