If Xbox 360 loses, "We'll play again." - Bill Gates

[dodo3]

Chairman Bill Gates said on Monday.
"We'll play again," Gates told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the Xbox 360 launch on Tuesday.

"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," Gates said.
"In terms of how we've balanced technology in the machine, we feel certain we've done a better job than Sony," he said.
"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," Gates said.

This is quite shocking to me. Especially since this is the day before your console launchs in the United States. I guess Bill Gates isn't very confident.

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[Gubbi]

I guess Bill Gates isn't very confident.

In terms of how we've balanced technology in the machine, we feel certain we've done a better job than Sony

Right....

Cheers

 

[Bill]

I think this time they'll figure out how important power is. Especially after 5 years of possible Xbox 1.5 references, being raked over the coals gleefully by hating journalists as less powerful than PS3, and such.

And they say MS gets it right on the third try..

If MS sets their mind too it, they can always beat Sony on power if launched in the same timeframe. Simply because they can lose more money.

I do think for the most part MS has shown to be vastly better hardware engineers than Sony. Interesting Gates hinted at that.

The only quibble I have with 360 is the EDRAM. That's a huge one. But Sony is making things a lot more difficult for themselves than it needs to be on the other hand.

 

[dodo3]

I think this time they'll figure out how important power is. Especially after 5 years of possible Xbox 1.5 references, being raked over the coals gleefully by hating journalists as less powerful than PS3, and such.

And they say MS gets it right on the third try..

If MS sets their mind too it, they can always beat Sony on power in the same timeframe. Simply because they can lose more money.

I wonder what Sony is going to do with the PlayStation 4 when the time comes... I wonder if they'll even have enough money to bring another console in the market.

 

[Jon Brittan]

I think this time they'll figure out how important power is. Especially after 5 years of possible Xbox 1.5 references, being raked over the coals gleefully by hating journalists as less powerful than PS3, and such.

And they say MS gets it right on the third try..

I think that statement in itself proves just how irrelevant power actually is and how important mindshare is instead.
Last generation MS had a notable power advantage over both Sony and Nintendo, yet Sony were still the major player and the largest number of people raved about Sony's games etc.
Now we're at a point where people are pointing at Sony as going to lead this generation (which they almost certainly will, but not for this reason) because they have the most powerful machine...

What it is, is simply an entrenched mindset that Sony is the dominant player, the reasoning people come up with to establish why is more to justify the feeling than a reason for it. The one thing Sony truly have done well is to establish the concept that they are the dominant gaming company, they'll then pretty much let people decide for themselves just why that is.

 

[Bill]

I think that statement in itself proves just how irrelevant power actually is and how important mindshare is instead.
.

Well that's interesting that people devote so many posts to showing X360 is underpowered, then. If it's not important.

It's very important and they know it.

Also Xbox won 2004 in the largest videogame market. Then MS basically killed it themselves. Pretty impressive frankly. It had all the momentum.

 

[London Geezer]

I wonder what Sony is going to do with the PlayStation 4 when the time comes... I wonder if they'll even have enough money to bring another console in the market.

Oh please, not this "Sony are teh broke, they have a 1Trillion debt!!11" argument again...

 

[Jon Brittan]

Well that's interesting that people devote so many posts to showing X360 is underpowered, then. If it's not important.

It's very important and they know it.

Also Xbox won 2004 in the largest videogame market. Then MS basically killed it themselves. Pretty impressive frankly. It had all the momentum.

But if you really look at it closely, many of those people posting about X360 being under-powered were likely the same people who were stating that power didn't matter when it came to Xbox vs PS2, the vast majority of people are very fickle with their views, changing them to suit their allegiances at any point in time. Many of those same people, if for whatever reason they suddenly decided to get an X360 instead of a PS3 would almost certainly rapidly change that view again.

Power, IMO, is not very important, it is simply important, much like many of the other factors which some of these people role out to be the sole reason why any given console will suceed or fail.
Realistically a console will suceed or fail based upon a combination of its power, the games available for it, its market penetration and the mindset of the current and potential consumers.
All of those factors and more are equally important, certain people try to bring the argument down to focusing on a single issue as it suits the requirements of their argument far more simply, or in some cases because they simply don't understand the reality of the situation.

Xbox might have been gaining momentum, but it wasn't purely down to power and the Xbox brand will continue to gain momentum with the X360.

Xbox was the most powerful console of its generation, but did it win that generation? No.
Did Xbox get MS the foothold it was looking for in the market? Yes.
Xbox 360 will not be the most powerful console of its generation, but will it win this generation? Most likely, no.
Will X360 continue to expand MSs market share as a percentage of the total market? Most likely, yes.

 

[dodo3]

Oh please, not this "Sony are teh broke, they have a 1Trillion debt!!11" argument again...

No, you misunderstand me. Sorry. I just hope Howard Stringer can bring Sony back to the top again.

 

[Bad_Boy]

how can billy say they have done better than sony this time around when sony has barely even shown their hand yet? either way, dealer wins.

dealer = teh consumer.

 

[London Geezer]

Also Xbox won 2004 in the largest videogame market. Then MS basically killed it themselves. Pretty impressive frankly. It had all the momentum.

Did you mean that in 2004 Xbox sold more in the US than Sony? Is that even true?

 

[Phil]

Did you mean that in 2004 Xbox sold more in the US than Sony? Is that even true?

Ditto. Sony shipped roughly 3 million PS2s in America during the whole of 2004.

 

[AbbA]

An hardware with an obsolete DVD-Rom, an hardware without a digital output.
Two version, one of its without hard disk.
I'm not so sure he said the truth.

 

[Bill]

I know MS outsold Sony in hardware in December and November 2004 in North America. The two biggest months obviously.

And they won 6 or 7 months overall.

Overall it had to be close, anyway. If MS didn't outsell them.

 

[Phil]

I really find that hard to believe, really. Without any links to back this up, I for one am going to remain sceptical.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

What it is, is simply an entrenched mindset that Sony is the dominant player, the reasoning people come up with to establish why is more to justify the feeling than a reason for it. The one thing Sony truly have done well is to establish the concept that they are the dominant gaming company, they'll then pretty much let people decide for themselves just why that is.

That is exactly right. Very well said. MS is trying to change that mindset. We'll see how successful they are in doing so.

 

[Bill]

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067

Google will tell you all you need to know as well.

 

[dantruon]

so what if it beat Sony in NA by a small margin, just look at Japan where it seel less than the ps1 almost every single week.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

But if you really look at it closely, many of those people posting about X360 being under-powered were likely the same people who were stating that power didn't matter when it came to Xbox vs PS2, the vast majority of people are very fickle with their views, changing them to suit their allegiances at any point in time. Many of those same people, if for whatever reason they suddenly decided to get an X360 instead of a PS3 would almost certainly rapidly change that view again.

Power, IMO, is not very important, it is simply important, much like many of the other factors which some of these people role out to be the sole reason why any given console will suceed or fail.
Realistically a console will suceed or fail based upon a combination of its power, the games available for it, its market penetration and the mindset of the current and potential consumers.
All of those factors and more are equally important, certain people try to bring the argument down to focusing on a single issue as it suits the requirements of their argument far more simply, or in some cases because they simply don't understand the reality of the situation.

Xbox might have been gaining momentum, but it wasn't purely down to power and the Xbox brand will continue to gain momentum with the X360.

Xbox was the most powerful console of its generation, but did it win that generation? No.
Did Xbox get MS the foothold it was looking for in the market? Yes.
Xbox 360 will not be the most powerful console of its generation, but will it win this generation? Most likely, no.
Will X360 continue to expand MSs market share as a percentage of the total market? Most likely, yes.

I couldn't agree more. Power is only a small part of the equation IMO. Especially when the consoles are going to be essentially running the same 3rd party games.

 

[Phil]

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067

Google will tell you all you need to know as well.

Excellent, thanks. I really didn't know - must of been those two months when Halo 2 came out?

In anycase, over the entire year 2004 based on that data, it wasn't that close at all: PS2 sales 4606,545 vs Xbox 2979,771. Not bad I suppose though.