At his CES keynote last night, Microsoft boss Bill Gates said his company is winning the console war, and that consoles are winning the battle for supremacy in the living room.
Plus: IPTV news , hardware sales and GoW numbers.
As expected, Gates announced IPTV for Xbox 360, bringing integrated TV services to the console towards the end of this year. The service will bring together broadband TV with gaming and Xbox Live providing consumers with community-based features while watching TV and playing games. He called the service the "living room device that does it all."
Gates added, “"People are underestimating the importance of the announcement that the videogame is the set-top box and the set-top box is the videogame.”
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division said, ''Both Xbox 360 and Microsoft TV IPTV Edition by themselves deliver unique and exciting entertainment experiences today, but IPTV on Xbox 360 is truly a solution that is greater than the sum of its parts and will enable even more exciting experiences to delight consumers, service providers, content providers and game developers alike. He added, 'By integrating these industry-leading solutions, we are delivering on our promise to drive innovation and enable new connected entertainment experiences for consumers in a way that only Microsoft can.''
Speaking on the console wars, Gates told an interviewer prior to his speech, "It's a complete reversal of last time. Last time, we tried coming in a year late with a big, clunky box that cost more and having less titles. We tried that and it's not that much fun." He added, "Sony is our most direct competitor. Our goal was to not be Sony, not be a big box, not be expensive.''
Microsoft announced that it sold 10.4 million Xbox 360 consoles last year, exceeding its stated target of 10 million units.
Robbie Bach also said that Gears of War has sold 2.7 million copies worldwide in the two months since it went on sale. "That title is now a Halo-like franchise that continues to drive hardware in a very positive way," he said. "We think it's an evergreen property that we're going to be able to leverage for a long time."
Next Generation
CES is loaded with tired executives looking to kill time between supplier lunch meetings and distributor meet-and-greets, meaning they'll do just about anything a six foot tall blonde with a headset tells them. Like, sit in a full-sized Formula One car and play simulation racing games in front of dozens of people. (You might not believe this, but there are only so many 1080p LCD televisions you can look at before you get bored.)Intel had four of these lined-up in their booth to show off their processors with their spokesamazon barking out orders to the execs. This display seemed to fascinate dozens of CES attendees. Me? I was unimpressed. These guys should've have gone to
