Bill Gates Comments On the Xbox 360

By Frank Ling, GN Writer Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Our favorite multi-billionaire, Bill Gates, had a few words to say about the Xbox 360 in an interview given to Reuters. With less than expected hype, compared to the recent console wars banter, Gates said that, "We learned a lot in the first round. We’ve got a chance not just to have higher market share, but also to grow the size of this market substantially." So how does Gates feel about the competition? "In terms of how we’ve balanced technology in the machine, we feel certain we’ve done a better job than Sony. You won’t really know that until a year from now, when people are talking about how the games on our machines compare to the games on Sony’s machines." These are pretty humble words coming from Big M™s leader. However, Gates™ approach to the wait and see attitude is also shared my many gamers. In a recent study-poll research done by Nielsen Entertainment, a report indicated that 50% of all active gamers were waiting for the other next-gen game consoles to show up before making a decision to purchase. It is interesting to note that Gates left out any mention of Nintendo. Some business watchers are already proclaiming the next-gen console competition as a two-horse race between Sony and Microsoft. Other sources are even claiming that Nintendo™s Revolution will be its last entry into the game console market. So which game machine will reign supreme? Gates has it right when he says we won™t know until a year from now.