Engadget chats with Gates; 360, PS3, HD DVD
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jan 9th 2006 at 3:15PM }
Engadget had a chance to sit down with the big man himself: Bill Gates, head of Microsoft and the proud papa of
the Xbox 360. There have been plenty of huge events in gaming since they interviewed him last May. Good thing they did
the interview, 'cause they ask Billy G. all the right questions: - "There were some [Xbox 360]
shortages this holiday season."
- "There's been some speculation about the Xbox 360 as a platform for IPTV... What do you see as the 360's potential as a means for delivering video to the home?"
- "What sort of percentage of market share do you think you have to have by the end of this year?"
- "Are we going to see Halo 3 launch around the time of the launch of the PS3?"
- "Do you risk fragmenting the Xbox 360 as a platform by introducing an HD DVD drive?"
[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ombre @ Jan 9th 2006 3:33PM
I personally would love to see what Mr. Gates thought/thinks of the Revolution controller, since he doesn't consider Nintendo as competition. Interesting read though.
mike @ Jan 9th 2006 7:16PM
no mention of nintendo..? man.. MS is blind..
Grindstone @ Jan 9th 2006 8:16PM
If you read it closely enough, you'll note that Halo 3 is in development, though he cannot comment on its release.
Not that we all didn't already guess as much, but still, good to know.
Murc @ Jan 9th 2006 9:59PM
MS knows the competition is with Sony...Nintendo's console just keeps slipping farther down the todem pole.
They know Nintendo with still sell millions, but sony is a very established competitor, one that will be hard for MS to beat.
Matt @ Jan 9th 2006 10:43PM
I wonder what M$ thinks of Nintendo product kicking its butt in Japan.
kizza @ Jan 9th 2006 11:45PM
I wonder what nintendo thinks of getting it's butt kicked everywhere but japan, especially considering they were the key players in every country in the world before Sony came & broke up the party (good on em, I say). MS are only the new kids on the block, they are also the only american company on the market at present making consoles, all the rest are japanese. Other american made consoles have failed in all terrortories...at a rapid rate..& never got to release a second system. I say this as a Sony buyer, so I'm not a MS fanboy or loyalist. I hate saying this, as I don't think Bill Gay-tes needs anymore money....but MS have done well to get where they are... and they may be the ones laughing when MS & Sony finally kill Nintendo off.
Superzapper2000 @ Jan 10th 2006 12:01AM
I think the Xbox is a great system and i still use it but i think Microsoft has gone in too many directions with the 360 just to look better than Sony .The thing is that the PS2 has been out longer than the Xbox and MS has cut the lifespan of the xbox way too short and it's going to backfire on them.The 360 could have been launched later right with the PS3 and stood it ground.Not only will the PS3 kick MS ass but i think if Nintendo do price the Revolution right and get the killer apps out on time it will also kick MS ass.
Superzapper2000 @ Jan 10th 2006 12:11AM
5. "I wonder what nintendo thinks of getting it's butt kicked everywhere but japan"
Atari released a ton of consoles and were world leaders in Video games and they were American and they blew it. Just be thankful Nintendo kicked the Video game industry back into gear with the NES.You know nothing about video games if you think MS can kill off Nintendo.The Nintendo DS outsold any Microsoft hardware anywhere in the world and they made more profit doing it too.It doesn't matter that it's a Handheld either .It matters that it's available and has good software .Sony have no chance in killing off Nintendo anywhere apart from in the USA and they won't care too much about that.
Gang WAY @ Jan 10th 2006 12:27AM
Hey KIZZass, Bill isnt in it all for the money, sure he wants to make money but he really wants to take gaming and media to the next level. The man has a clear vision for the future. And Nintendo isnt going anywhere. Bently makes a hell of a car, but Kia wont be leaving either. Did you know that the 3DO did pretty good in japan? Go figure. And I think there was this little company called Atari that did pretty good too, ever hear of em? Anyways the one thing that caught my attention was him saying that he has some suprises that Sony doesnt know that their working on. Well everything that they have said already sounds awesome, I wonder what he has up his sleeve.
Zsavior @ Jan 10th 2006 3:23AM
Wow I one want to address the insanity that I read sometimes. Bill Gates saying the Xbox 360 was the hottest commodity. Hmm that is great You felt powerful huh but here is something.....THEre were none to buy! I mean you keep hearing people talking about how great XBOX 360 did for the holidays and yet they didn't even make Sony shake. Xbox 360 did so well that sony Showed up to CES with out any new info about the PS3, yeah don't think Gates didn't see that, or Moore. When you draw your sword and the other guy turns his back and says "your not worth it" you shouldn't be still talking about shortages.
Second people need to stop throwing nintendo in their for xbox to feel better about themselves, The Game boy, the Gameboy advance, the gameboy Sp, The DS all number one Systems. You hear that, something Xbox can't say or xbox 360 I am number one". Oh you can say you had a hot Christmas you can say you sell more in Europe and America, but you can't say Number one. You also can't say you are "Killing nintendo!" why? Because they made money off of the Game cube, imagine that Losing market and still turning a profit on the gamecube. So how are they kiling a company that is still turning in profit. THis is why they don't mention nintendo this is why they don't go Nintendo is going down , because they can't come through on that threat. They can barely produce the systems for their own damn launch. Xbox 360 battle is with sony Keep nintendo out your mouth, wait no better yet watch nintendo pile on more cash as PS3 Solid snakes you from behind. Anytime somebody Mentions nintendo then somebody loves saying How Xbox stole the world from nintendo. Well how the world taste you can't sell systems in japan and nobody can get a system in america, and you know sony is there growing stronger waiting, they out shined your xbox 360 with demos and yet people still looking to attack nintendo who has publicly acknowledged they are not after the demographic that is about Big graphics and super powerful systems. But I would also poke at nintendo if I knew sony was going to own me in a year, so I don't blame you.
mike @ Jan 10th 2006 6:46AM
Hey KIZZass, Bill isnt in it all for the money, sure he wants to make money but he really wants to take gaming and media to the next level. The man has a clear vision for the future.
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What? Besides peeking over Steve Jobs' shoulder, and missing a little thing called the Internet, what the hell does Bill Gates know about the future?