AfterDawn: News

Gates issues obvious statement of the year

While Bill Gates may have stepped down as the head honcho of Microsoft its no secret that he still has some say and loyalty to the company that skyrocketed him to the richest man in the galaxy. With this said loyalty it comes as no shock that he issued a statement in the latest Microsoft press conference that he believes the Xbox 360 will dominate Sony's efforts in the latest round of the console war. Makes you wonder if the former owner would ever talk bad about his own product. I don't think I'm alone in thinking he wouldn't.

Gates admited that he did not like playing back seat to the Sony Playstation during the reign of the PS2 with a "big, clunky box that cost more and having less titles". He stated it wasn't much fun being in that situation and he feels now that the roles have been reversed. With the 360 having a full year ahead of the PS3, Gates believes there's an edge that can't be ignored.



Additionally, Bill Gates announced that the changes rumored with the Xbox 360 stem from the fact that Microsoft is aiming to turn the Xbox 360 into a set-top box with the fledgling IPTV technology. IPTV is a streaming television that Microsoft has tired many times in vain to get off the ground, but has never been able to topple the likes of cable and satellite providers.

Its no doubt that the last two iterations of the Sony Playstation has ruled the video game market with an iron fist. This launch, however was riddled with delays. Although they announced that they have, in fact, reached their goal of 1 million units on US shelves by the end of 2006, they did so at the cost of units tagged for Japanese gamers.

Microsoft feels that with it's cheaper price tag and now integration with IPTV, they hold a definite edge to push Sony from the top spot of the video game market.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 8 Jan 2007 6:14

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• 14 comments

• BobbyBlu

  Good article Davedough.Weather Bill likes it or not they going to have a backseat again this time to Wii & PS3.PS3 launch in the Eur area in a month in a half we will see that lead disappear.Plus with the lack of sales in Japan they are really doomed.

  8.1.2007 09:41 #1

• Dela

  I don't personally think that Xbox 360 will overtake "playstation" trademark this time around. On this site we all are basically tech freaks, we live for this stuff, but the average gamer isn't like us, they don't think about Blu-ray drives or HD DVD add-ons, all the care aboiut are the games and the quality and playstation and ps2 offered quality material.
  
  I'm not saying Xbox didn't, I have no preferences when it comes to consoles, I just like good games (like last year i loved resident evil 4 for ps2, gears of war for xbox 360) but I just know from all the ppl around me who don't frequent aD or any similar sites, the PlayStation interest seems to still outweigh that of Xbox.

  8.1.2007 10:28 #2

• killaklan

  Quote:Microsoft feels that with it's cheaper price tagits a bit of a false statement...the 360 w/ the HD-DVD addon is about the same as a retail ps3

  8.1.2007 10:32 #3

• BobbyBlu

  If you look at the numbers of past console gen's the winner is the maker that take Japan & U.S. markets.Microsoft is going to be a really problem for Sony in the U.S market but 360 hasn't took off in the Japan market that why i said that but don't leave out Wii.For its all said in done it looks like Wii might get it and Microsoft & Sony be left out in the cold.Nintendo has a strong Fan base in Japan & they are also winning back U.S. fan's.

  8.1.2007 10:45 #4

• Dela

  Quote:its a bit of a false statement...the 360 w/ the HD-DVD addon is about the same as a retail ps3It's not a false statement really though because both are "gaming consoles", not Blu-ray and HD DVD hardware, they have the capabilities yes but they are gaming equipment, thats how they are sold, thats what consumers for the most part want. The HD DVD add-on is that, an add-on, you don't have to buy it, so the actual Xbox 360 unit is cheaper, in that statemenbt, for now at least Gates is right.

  8.1.2007 11:02 #5

• monjet

  Very Good Article indeed . I read it on onlinevideopunch.com.
  
  http://www.onlinevideopunch.com/blog/ind...w-a-reality.htm

  8.1.2007 11:48 #6

• kjvsword

  Quote: The HD DVD add-on is that, an add-on, you don't have to buy it, so the actual Xbox 360 unit is cheaper, in that statemenbt, for now at least Gates is right.

  8.1.2007 15:42 #7

• kjvsword

  Quote: The HD DVD add-on is that, an add-on, you don't have to buy it, so the actual Xbox 360 unit is cheaper, in that statemenbt, for now at least Gates is right.Yes it is an add-on until developer start developping games that require the space of a HD DVD...

  8.1.2007 15:45 #8

• Dela

  Quote:Yes it is an add-on until developer start developping games that require the space of a HD DVD...Microsoft did deny again recently that it would ever make an Xbox 360 with an internal HD DVD drive right? Now obviously they could be 100% full of crap, but I'd highly doubt they will change the media for Xbox 360 games in the console's life.... it would be the stupidest move the company could make and I think just going on speculation alone that it is a "possibility" is no grounds to discredit the Xbox 360, even though yes, I do too believe that sticking with the DVD format was also a potentially disastrous mistake from Microsoft for 360.

  8.1.2007 16:10 #9

• borhan9

  I am not sure about this. PS3 figures have not come out yet so we cannot compare the 2 fairly.

  9.1.2007 00:26 #10

• wakesk8tr

  As much as I like the Xbox 360, I think it's about to become the Dreamcast of this generation. You can't fit HD games on a Standard Def DVD. There are PS3 games coming out now that are 20 GB already. Think about three
  years from now what they will have. Oh, wait...the NEW Xbox will be out for $400.00 (or more.) So what will really cost you more in the long run?

  23.1.2007 16:17 #11

• johnblaze

  Originally posted by wakesk8tr:As much as I like the Xbox 360, I think it's about to become the Dreamcast of this generation. You can't fit HD games on a Standard Def DVD. There are PS3 games coming out now that are 20 GB already. Think about three
  years from now what they will have. Oh, wait...the NEW Xbox will be out for $400.00 (or more.) So what will really cost you more in the long run?Sorry man, but I have to disagree with all of your points, you can fit HD games on DVD because it's the code + graphics card generating the images, not a sequence of images like a movie, if you don't believe me, just connect a 360 to a HDTV with HD hookups and you'll notice the definition is quite high :) Also, the new Xbox rumor has been debunked by MS, maybe it'll come out in a few years but I doubt you'll see it anytime soon, the only thing likely to come out anytime soon is a bigger harddrive for IPTV and movie downloads. Lastly, those 20GB PS3 games, look exactly the same on the 360, the only reason they're taking up more space is because they aren't compressing the data. I think the PS3 is great and all, but it still has not proven to be any better than the 360 in my eyes, at least not yet.

  23.1.2007 19:40 #12

• wakesk8tr

  Oh ye of little faith. Mark my words...the next 12 months will prove the difference between PS3 and 360.

  24.1.2007 16:53 #13

• wakesk8tr

  Oh ye of little faith. Mark my words...the difference between PS3 and 360 will become evident in the next 12 months.
  
  
  Quote:Originally posted by wakesk8tr:As much as I like the Xbox 360, I think it's about to become the Dreamcast of this generation. You can't fit HD games on a Standard Def DVD. There are PS3 games coming out now that are 20 GB already. Think about three
  years from now what they will have. Oh, wait...the NEW Xbox will be out for $400.00 (or more.) So what will really cost you more in the long run?Sorry man, but I have to disagree with all of your points, you can fit HD games on DVD because it's the code + graphics card generating the images, not a sequence of images like a movie, if you don't believe me, just connect a 360 to a HDTV with HD hookups and you'll notice the definition is quite high :) Also, the new Xbox rumor has been debunked by MS, maybe it'll come out in a few years but I doubt you'll see it anytime soon, the only thing likely to come out anytime soon is a bigger harddrive for IPTV and movie downloads. Lastly, those 20GB PS3 games, look exactly the same on the 360, the only reason they're taking up more space is because they aren't compressing the data. I think the PS3 is great and all, but it still has not proven to be any better than the 360 in my eyes, at least not yet.

  24.1.2007 17:39 #14