http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/gizmodo/gates-xbox-is-a-pc-226814.php

The most surprising part of today' s conversation with Bill Gates was when he not only fessed up to the Xbox being a glorified computer, something Microsoft has been denying since 1.0 launched, but said that Microsoft wouldn' t have gotten into gaming if it was only ever going to be about the gaming.

" The reason we got into Xbox was not just for gaming," he said. " It' s a general purpose computer. In terms of the first generation in particular, where we were so known as a PC company, the need to make clear how we were prioritizing the needs of demanding gamers, that was super important.

" We wouldn' t have done it if it was just a gaming device," he said. " We wouldn' t have gone into the category at all. It was strategically getting into the living room. This is not some big secret, Sony says the same things."

Gates added that before Microsoft could talk about that though, they had to establish their system as being gaming centric, earn themselves gaming cred. Now that they have established the brand, Gates said, Microsoft feels more confident in branching out with the console.

This year, he said, is a " huge milestone" for the Xbox, because it has gone from a gaming device to something much more.

" When you talk about convergence, its the first device you can say that really say this is convergence this is real," he said.

Despite Microsoft' s attention to consoles, Gates and the company haven' t and won' t give up on the PC gaming market, he said.

The two, Gates believe, can co-exist.

" I can stick up for both the PC model where you don' t pay any royalties, you can introduce games without asking anybody, that' s a great thing. And you will see a lot of innovation," he said. " PC gaming is where you will see that really cutting edge high-end type stuff happening. As the Xbox gets cheaper and cheaper some very cool things happen there."

" But both of these models, even in the living room are still very, I think very important. The kind of openness and variety of the PC, and then the kind of very inexpensive deep integration that Xbox represents. Really bootstrapping off of video gaming but being far more than that." Brian Crecente

This was known for a long time.

Microsoft' s Xbox was their stepping stone they would use to gradually become the center of your living room. Although I am surprised that they' ve moved as fast as they have with the 360. I thought it' d be a while yet before they really pushed multimedia capabilities like IPTV into the Xbox brand.

Yeah yeah,but im more intrested in having better games coming out,then they giving tv-shows and movies to dl and pay for,or music etc.

This is what I expected, and pretty much got tired of waiting for. PC' s have always been superior to consoles, they just didnt have the exclusives(but had some of their own). Except for sports games, I like those more on consoles for w/e reason.

The Ps3 imo has implemented more hardware(blu-ray standard, bigger HD, firmware more flexible and linux available) into making it a living room media center, but xbox/microsoft have implemented more software(through x-box live marketplace etc).

If Sony does what microsoft has done consistently better since the launch of the xbox and support online gaming, communities, downloading etc, they IMO can beat out the current Xbox model as a media center, just by virtue of already being ahead hardware wise. However, Sony has never been great at this, so who knows. Microsoft has deep pockets and could make a new Xbox360 to try and get their hardware up to date. 2007 will show us a lot of what we can expect in the coming years.

If Sony does what microsoft has done consistently better since the launch of the xbox and support online gaming, communities, downloading etc, they IMO can beat out the current Xbox model as a media center, just by virtue of already being ahead hardware wise. However, Sony has never been great at this, so who knows. Microsoft has deep pockets and could make a new Xbox360 to try and get their hardware up to date. 2007 will show us a lot of what we can expect in the coming years.

Thats not going to happen if you look at it with reason, also linux means nothing to the casual users wanting a media hub easy access is the keyword. Also MS is going to drop the price for a 360 to 0 before they let sony win in the media hub war!

easy access is the keyword

Yeah, but before that I think consumers prefer products that doesn' t break

Averice, you need to be a little bit careful with your overly enthusiastic comments about the PS3. Linux is a bitch to program can' t imagine anything but hardcore techies playing with that, " The Bluray Standard" is yet to be proven against HD DVD. Your comments about PC being superior is a little naive, don' t get me wrong there are some games that need to be played on a PC, however I don' t want my PC consumed with lots of games installs.

Quez of course the 360 is a glorified computer and anyone who thought it was something other than that is naive. Gates in the late 70' s early 80' s had a vision when he bought MS-DOS for $30,000 that he wanted to see a home computer in every house in the developed world, maybe the vison wasn' t quite the 360 back then but that' s what M$ seem to be doing.

Thats not going to happen if you look at it with reason, also linux means nothing to the casual users wanting a media hub easy access is the keyword. Also MS is going to drop the price for a 360 to 0 before they let sony win in the media hub war!

Averice, you need to be a little bit careful with your overly enthusiastic comments about the PS3. Linux is a bitch to program can' t imagine anything but hardcore techies playing with that, " The Bluray Standard" is yet to be proven against HD DVD. Your comments about PC being superior is a little naive, don' t get me wrong there are some games that need to be played on a PC, however I don' t want my PC consumed with lots of games installs.

You guys should check out the Linux version you can put on the original Xbox. If you cut a xbox cord off, replace it with a usb cord, you can put it on your comp, save comp files to the memory card, then connect the card to the xbox through a normal cord and do a bunch of shit(dont ask me how, my cousin did this to his a while back) you can have linux on the xbox. After this you can put a media center on the xbox, which will then allow it to connect to any PC on either your wireless or wired network and play video' s, songs, text files, access internet sites like you tube and all sorts of stuff. This media center some guy designed is better than any I' ve seen on any system, or even any PC(though I' ve never used a Linux PC.

My point here is this. If someone made such an amazing program for an Xbox, not the 360, but the old original Xbox, someone can make an equally good program for the PS3 through Linux, which is way better than anything Sony, or Microsoft have currently implemented on their systems.

You should really check it out, I will try and get the name of the program from my cousin, this program puts Windows/Mac/Console media programs to shame, and it was made by some random " hardcore techies" .

Your comments about PC being superior is a little naive, don' t get me wrong there are some games that need to be played on a PC, however I don' t want my PC consumed with lots of games installs.

You can' t tell me PC' s arent superior to consoles if you exclude the fact that they miss out on a lot of titles. The only thing I see the PC not having over a console is split screen play for games that need it, and this is not from a lack of being able to do it, but instead a lack of desire from consumers.

I don' t know why you would care about game installs on your comp, HD' s are cheap and huge nowaday' s. Games to me take up a lot less room than all the movies, TV shows, pictures, music, etc.

If you are worried about having to re-format and defragg a large hardrive that has windows on it, its simple to do otherwise. I currently have an 80gig partitioned into a 20gig and 60 gig portion. One with windows, one with other non gaming based programs. Then I have a 320gig HD partitioned into 3 more portions. Then I have a 300gig external for all sorts of media and backup files. This way it takes less time to defrag or re-format and you dont have to worry about your PC being " consumed" with lots of game installs.

My comment was a familar one I here during my day to day life, the vast majority of PC gamers are not hardcore and their systems will be enough to run NW2 and C&C etc. I myself have a system that most people would sell body parts and family members for, and enough strorage that will keep me happy for a long time, forget Gigs we are talking Terra' s in the 00' s

At a quick glance, I would have to say the PS3 would probably be a better multi-thingy-for the living room. I mean, if Sony could impliment the whole 360' s movie service then I think they' d be a better choice for the living room.

But then again, if you' re a college student living on a limited buget, either the 360 or PS3 is a pretty descent " multi-purpose-entertainment in a box" for a dorm dude. Imagine what next generation will bring... oh the possiblities.

....i' m pretty shocked by Gate' s comments about Microsoft' s plans for some of the convergence pie....

...especially since so many Hardcore MS supporters on forums around the net continuously bash Sony for " Trojan-Horsing" Blu-ray into peoples homes....


..the mind boggles, eh?*...



.....well not really when there' s Billions of dollars to be made, but lets just keep that our secret.....

ORIGINAL: Bishonen

....i' m pretty shocked by Gate' s comments about Microsoft' s plans for some of the convergence pie....

...especially since so many Hardcore MS supporters on forums around the net continuously bash Sony for " Trojan-Horsing" Blu-ray into peoples homes....


..the mind boggles, eh?*...



.....well not really when there' s Billions of dollars to be made, but lets just keep that our secret.....

Ok, so now explain what components Microsoft included in the 360 that aren' t needed for playing games. I mean, i bought a games console to play games, so what did they add to the necessary core components that i could actually do without?!

I don' t need Blu-Ray, and i don' t need HD-DVD. I need a unified format or a combo player, not 2 different machines for watching movies on two different formats. Sony didn' t have to include a Blu-Ray drive, ...they could easily have put out a £200 cheaper DVD9 variant. They get slated because they' re forcing a proprietary format on consumers AGAIN. The fuckers wouldn' t even support MP3' s at first, instead forcing people to use ATRAC3. They fucked up with Betamax, they fucked up with Mini-Disc, they fucked up with UMD and they' ll fuck up with Blu-Ray.

They get slated for a very good reason.

Majik yes Sony have messed up with all those formats, however in some cases (Betamax being the big one.) It was the specific industry that was to blame. The Betamax story was that film studios wanted a cheaper way of producing films rather than the old cans of film they approach the main companies of the day and said give us a medium that we can use not only in the Studio but in the home as well, Sony produced Betamax, which if you have ever sat and compared the quality is actually better than the cheaper VHS system.

The problem is now Sony feel it is their god given right to produce new formats for every new technology that comes out and this is to try and become a market leader again. I have said this before ' 07 could be a critical year for Sony.

... " It' s not a game console, It' s a suuupaa compuuutaa!"

...hehe

...!

I knew the 360 was the real " SUPAH COMPUTAH!!!!"

duh, since the launch of microsoft xbox everyone knew that it was a computer. SO bringing hi end gaming computers to your living room and calling it a " console" . PPle PC' s are the mother ship of great games, it is the Best gaming System.