Dave Horvath
8 Jan 2007 6:14
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