New Bill Gates interview, lots of good stuff

[Rangers]

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/01/ces_interview_w.html

Some of it is boring Bill Gates alien corporate speak, that you cant even really understand, but he's pretty cocky about the 360 versus the competition. A sampling:

Q: How is the Xbox 360 strategy working out?
A: It’s working perfectly. We wanted to be the guy with the small box that costs less. We wanted to have the most compelling or better than anyone else’s box. We wanted to have the most games. We wanted to play to our software strength, and tools and online. We wanted to get most respects, except for the online capability, we wanted to swap positions with Sony. We wanted to not be a year late, not be a big box, not be a more expensive box. How are we doing on that?

They have a hard drive in their cost-of-goods-sold in every SKU that they have. We said, “Hey, we tried that where you have this hard disk that you have to have.” Why have that dependency, particularly as broadband will let you do things. You want the games not to have a hard-disk dependency. So you can just use the broadband. But they have a hard-disk dependency. If you look at the COGS over time, not only are we here, our slope is here. Theirs is higher, just like we were last time. Look at the tail we get by having pure silicon.

Looks like Core pack is here to stay.

 

[Nesh]

Where's the "lots of good stuff"?

 

[inefficient]

Mass storage in consoles was an inevitability. If not Hard Disks then flash memory. PS3 would be so much crappier without a HD. Hell even Wii has 512MB of flash storage built in which 360 core does not have.

Sony did the right thing to make it standard. Similarly MS did the right thing last gen by making it standard. Xbox live would have never made it to where it is today if it wasn't for the standard HD in xbox1. Sure it increases the cost of the box.

But it's so typical of MS to try and find more ways to squeeze more money out of a venture once they find themselves on top.

 

[Rangers]

Where's the "lots of good stuff"?

I'd change the title if I could

 

[Rangers]

Mass storage in consoles was an inevitability. If not Hard Disks then flash memory. PS3 would be so much crappier without a HD. Hell even Wii has 512MB of flash storage built in which 360 core does not have.

Whoa, I just realized, what does Wii do when you have a lot of VC games?

They dont have a HDD at all!

I guess you could maybe hold ten games if they are about 50 MB each? If they dont use the storage for anything else..

 

[SugarCoat]

Whoa, I just realized, what does Wii do when you have a lot of VC games?

They dont have a HDD at all!

I guess you could maybe hold ten games if they are about 50 MB each? If they dont use the storage for anything else..

i'd imagine the account is Steam like where you purchase something you can install it/remove it at will.

If not (which would suck) you can just plug in a 2gb SD card and you should be fine.


edit-quick run to wiki confirms it is indeed Steam like

Games downloaded from Virtual Console library will be stored on Wii's built-in 512 MB flash memory, or on SD cards, though to play these games they must be copied back onto the Wii's internal memory. If the internal memory is filled, Virtual Console games can be deleted to create more room. If the player wants to play those deleted games at a later date, they can be downloaded again at no additional cost.

 

[inefficient]

Whoa, I just realized, what does Wii do when you have a lot of VC games?

They dont have a HDD at all!

I guess you could maybe hold ten games if they are about 50 MB each? If they dont use the storage for anything else..

Most N64 games were very small. Even the big games like Zelda64 were only 32MB. Games like Mario64 were under 10MB. You would have to buy quite a few VC games to fill it.

 

[liolio]

But it's so typical of MS to try and find more ways to squeeze more money out of a venture once they find themselves on top.

This is more than a biais comment it's almost a ????? comment, sorry but how do you feel about Sony when they keep the ps2 price (who is the older last gen) above the price of its concurents?
All these three companies are here to squeeze the most possible money out of ours pockets...

 

[bRoNx]

sorry but how do you feel about Sony when they keep the ps2 price (who is the older last gen) above the price of its concurents?

Are you implying that the PS2 should have been cheaper than the other consoles because it was older?

 

[liolio]

No but it's so typical of Sony to try and find more ways to squeeze more money out of a venture once they find themselves on top. The ps2 is more expansive because it's the leading plateform and Sony doesn't have to care about the price of the others systems.
I'm implying nothing expect this post was unfair and way too biaised.

 

[Nesh]

How much do the other systems cost?

 

[liolio]

If my memory is right gc&xbox were 99$, ps2 is 129$.
And i'm sure the ps2 doesn't cost more to produce than the two others.
anyway this goes way too much OT, I can see why I have to explain myself on that point, it's clear for anybody that is not too biaised...

 

[Rolf N]

They have a hard drive in their cost-of-goods-sold in every SKU that they have. We said, “Hey, we tried that where you have this hard disk that you have to have.” Why have that dependency, particularly as broadband will let you do things. You want the games not to have a hard-disk dependency. So you can just use the broadband.

Looks like Core pack is here to stay.

How do you figure? Not from the quote I hope. You realize he's talking about a benefit his console doesn't actually offer?
If you don't have a HDD, you lose many features on a Microsoft console. And all the features you lose relate to the network. Had he actually said "With us" and not, deliberately if I may add, "You want", it would be nothing more than a blatant lie. Yeah, in a perfect cheapskate world you want that, but Microsoft can't do it either.

 

[Rolf N]

If my memory is right gc&xbox were 99$, ps2 is 129$.
And i'm sure the ps2 doesn't cost more to produce than the two others.

It has a much larger software library and is still alive, unlike the other two. But don't take my word for it, all you have to do is look at the hardware sales. The PS2 sells well at that price, it outsells the Xbox 250:1 (this is not an exaggeration). When it moves that many units, customers have decided that its price is justified.

anyway this goes way too much OT, I can see why I have to explain myself on that point, it's clear for anybody that is not too biaised...

That's a pretty angry statement. Just because you don't see value in the PS2 doesn't mean you're less biased than those who do.

 

[Nesh]

If my memory is right gc&xbox were 99$, ps2 is 129$.
And i'm sure the ps2 doesn't cost more to produce than the two others.
anyway this goes way too much OT, I can see why I have to explain myself on that point, it's clear for anybody that is not too biaised...

Oh well you are right. thats business unfortunately. Every business decides the price and quantity for their product that maximizes profits as much as possible. I think PS2 could be slightly more expensive to produce than GC, with XBOX being the most expensive. Certaintly their should be room for price reduction for the PS2.

But unfortunately we arent living in an ideal world. Whatever the company could be in Sony's position

All that matters for them is profit whether its Nintendo, MS or Sony. Companies aim to satisfy the consumer only to increase profits not because they really want to. Which I find extremely ironic

 

[archangelmorph]

They have a hard drive in their cost-of-goods-sold in every SKU that they have. We said, “Hey, we tried that where you have this hard disk that you have to have.â€￾ Why have that dependency, particularly as broadband will let you do things. You want the games not to have a hard-disk dependency. So you can just use the broadband. But they have a hard-disk dependency. If you look at the COGS over time, not only are we here, our slope is here. Theirs is higher, just like we were last time. Look at the tail we get by having pure silicon.

How is this a good thing? He's talking as if the fact that the Core 360 doesn't have a HDD is great for the consumer when it definitely isn't..

This lack of HDD was the biggest mistake that MS made on the Xbox360 and the sole reason why the 50MB download limit on XBLA will probably never get lifted.. (I remember them saying something about allowing none HDD owners to play the games from the memory cards..)
Also pretty much the majority of the Xbox360's pulling points for the consumer (downloadable games, movies, videos, music, episodic content, extra game content etc etc..) are a based around a system which requires the user to download something to some kind storage media.. I don't see how the lack of a mass storage (meaning you swapping around several small-sized memory cards which are so bloody expensive NEways, that for the price of 3 you might as well buy a friggin' HDD..!) makes the customer's life any better nor offers any kind of benefit over the alternative..

In the end it as to save money for them (ms) and no amount of PR bull will convince us (consumers) otherwise..

Well.. Maybe some i guess..

 

[liolio]

Come on, I do see the value of the ps2 I was pretty close to buy it this chrismass!
I do understand why Sony doesn't need to drop the ps2 price when the device is so successful have such a good library in quantity and quality and when concurents are chrushed.
I'm not angry or anything, the original quote was the same as M$=> unfair company, only think in making money, etc... All companies are here to make money.
Sony proves that when they are on top of the hill they don't act in a different manner, they're on top of the hill with ps2 so they make more money on hardware than the others.

 

[Kryton]

How is this a good thing? He's talking as if the fact that the Core 360 doesn't have a HDD is great for the consumer when it definitely isn't..

Rule one (aside sell, sell, and then sell everything else you've got) of business marketing: spin any disadvantage into an advantage. In this case, cheaper because no HD, and we have XBL to serve content.

 

[liolio]

Nesh I agree with you

Back on topic, about the storage i hope will allow to store data on pc in a transparent manner.
And not only on pc who run Windows media center or vista!
They won't force feed me a 150$ new os a new pc who can run it, or a way too expensive hhd for the box, etc...

This is a real monopolistic MS biais... Not the fact that they do as much money as possible.

They sell a device who is compatible with others MS product and needs other ms products to give the most of its fonctionnality it's OK, but if they try to force you in buying a new product (os) while there is no technical reason that prevent these fonctionnalities to run on others product (ie Xp) is unfair, and I ask myself if they can be sued for that.

It's same as the scaler issue in the ps3, but it's far worse as a lot of people run xp...

 

[assen]

How is this a good thing? He's talking as if the fact that the Core 360 doesn't have a HDD is great for the consumer when it definitely isn't..

This lack of HDD was the biggest mistake that MS made on the Xbox360 and the sole reason why the 50MB download limit on XBLA will probably never get lifted.. (I remember them saying something about allowing none HDD owners to play the games from the memory cards..)

He's talking as if the fact that the Core doesn't have a HDD is great for Microsoft, and it definitely is.

I don't see the lack of a HDD as a mistake by MS, as game developers showed last gen that they didn't care for the HDD; I think, however, they should have included a token amount of flash RAM, as Nintendo did. If I were them, I would include 512 MB of flash in the updated Core, and a larger HDD in the updated Premium somewhere down the line; of course, they probably know better than me what's good for them.

And btw, incidentally just today 1up published a rumor about the limit being raised to 250 MB, with exceptions at 450 MB...