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Bill Gates Opinions on Nintendo January 19, 2007

Filed under: News, Rants/Opinions — José Colina @ 6:40 am

bgates Bill Gates Opinions on NintendoIn an interview at CES with Bill Gates, he trash-talks speaks about what he thinks of the gaming competition (PS3/Wii). First, he talked about Microsoft’s strategy for the Xbox 360:

“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?”

Let’s face it Billy, Wii: Smaller, Cheaper. Ok, graphics, better… so what?… Now here’s what he had to say about Nintendo:

“Nintendo of course is a competitor… Say to yourself, how in terms of using a game for a long period of time, what kind of accuracy and capability do you want? Look at the classic Nintendo positioning. Look at the graphics. Look at Nintendo’s execution in terms of online capability. We have this thing that nobody has ever seen before. When you say to your friend, hey let’s play online, you say then you have to buy an Xbox. That’s what 10 million people say. If you want to play online, get an Xbox. We’re not standing still. Look at what you saw today connecting up the world to the Windows PC. Do you expect Nintendo to rev up a team to create cross-device gaming and tool kits to develop those things? Not very likely. We clearly think that Nintendo did some things right.”

Again, let’s face the facts, yeah, you have 10 million people saying it.. why? maybe 1 year before the other consoles arrived? what would you get if there was no more consoles to buy?. Ok, 10 million in 1 year+, how about our 3.5+ millions in 2 months?.

So, Bill has stopped playing games and started throwing trash at the real competition.. we’ll have to see how this “Next-Gen Wars” conclude…

Source: Kotaku



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  • MoBe you're right, is not that I don't like the 360, because I'm planning on buying one this year (actually, I plan to get a Wii60 this year, I love both ^^).. and all you said is right.. but at the end, I DO think the Wii will outsell the 360, not just because of it's price, but because -like we've already seen- 'almost' everyone loves wii.. we've seen all kinds of people play.. kids, teenagers, adults, middle-aged people, even 'old' people, I think you will never see a 50+ father playing on the 360.. but it's much possible to see him playing on wii. And, women like Wii too, so that's another market that Nintendo got to and the competition haven't yet. So, as much as I love the 360 (and hate PS3), we must stick to the facts, the Wii is more likely to outsell it's competition (and we are still waiting for online play and DS compatibility, who knows how much will the sales go up when those features are released)?
  • MoBe Real
    I don't think we should ever listen to corporate executives for a good overview of the (f)actual "war" of the consoles. I think the gamers will have a lot to say in the end. I own an Xbox360 which I bought the 17th of November 2006... two days before the release of the Wii. I think the Wii is great (even though I have yet to play with it). I love the idea that anyone can play, experienced gamers to curious people.. but I still like my 360. Who will win the next generation console war? The consumers.. and gamers... there's something out there for everyone's taste... in terms of numbers ? It'll be a close battle between the 360 and the Wii... the Wii is cheaper, the Xbox is more powerful, the Wii has a great controller, the Xbox has the whole "community" going for it... at the end of the day, whichever gets moded/cracked earlier will win... (as long as the 360's price tag is lowered in a couple of months.)
  • harry
    bill ur a butthole, face it nintendo is better you may have billions of dollars but nintendo is further ahead, so what they dont have a lot of online gaming, they have motion frickin' controllers!
  • InfDaMarvel
    Yea the 360 outsold the Wii in dec. because of the low amount of stock Nintendo has and continues to has as I write this post. Shoot, if people wanna imply that the 360 is better than the wii because it outsold the Wii in 1 month well then lets look at the PS2. Yes I said the ps2. Do people realize that the ps2 outsold the 360 in December? Do people realize that the ps2 and gamecube were (if not still) outselling the 360 in Japan even before Dec.? Don't believe me? http://www.nordichardware.com/news,5447.html
  • MJ
    And thank you for your post. Constuctive criticism is always welcome.
  • MJ
    Newby, I believe if you would click the link of the numbers you could see the chart. Or you can always look at NextGen Wars (link has been posted by InfDaMarvel).
    And yes, as far as I know all these numbers are worldwide, I mean you can't honestly believe there are 10 million Xbox 360's in US households?
    And the Wii is not only for children. A lot of people are saying that, but how is Call Of Duty 3 for children? I know people that don't like the new controls and prefer the button mashing, but I've yet to meat a person that dispised it. Most people just believe it's not accurate enough yet. Which is true in some of the worse games.
    What José is trying to imply is that the Wii moved 3.5 million units worldwide in two months. Once the Wii catches up to the Xbox 360's time the Wii shall have sold more than 10 million units. (3.5 million * 6 = 21 million). Even with a slight downward trend you can estimate that the Wii can achieve 10 million units sold in a year's time.
    And many people have different ideas why the Xbox 360 outsold the Wii in December, some believe there wasn't enough stocks so parents went for the next best thing (seeing as the PS3 is twice as expensive), others believe people were bying the Wii and Xbox 360 together (as recommend by Microsoft). I personally believe people were buying the Xbox 360 because of the price drop / better deals. I mean a Xbox 360 with Gears Of War is 300 pounds. Gears Of War is probably the game of 2006. I thought the only awesome thing about it was the graphics, but for most people that is enough. Or with a different game, or add another game for a few quid more. Get 3 months Xbox Live Gold for free. And so on. These kind of deals attract a lot of people.
    I'm not trying to defend the Wii. I like my Wii and I don't like the Xbox 360 (mainly because of the way it functions and the controller), but it is safe to assume that everyone is going to jump for an already proven platform rather than for something they hear is great.
    There is always hardware that is superior for a certain amount of time. The Xbox 360's hardware is superior to the Wii, there is no doubt about it, but that doesn't mean the console is better, because I believe you cannot compare these two, simply because they have two very different controlling schemes. You wouldn't compare a PC and a Xbox 360 would you?
  • Newby
    Not to beat a dead horse, but where does the original poster get the number of 3.5 million? Is that worldwide because the only numbers I can find state 1.8 million US (http://www.cubed3.com/news/6530/1/Nintendo). January figures have not been released as far as I can tell. Thus, in the interest of being fair, Xbox has sold 10M in 14 months and WII has sold 1.8M in 6 weeks.
  • Newby
    I find this site entirely amusing. Will Nintendo ever compete with Xbox? Sure, if you're 12 years old. My niece loves the WII. Does that mean they might overtake Xbox or Sony? Sure, a lot of parents will buy there kids anything to keep them busy. As for your numbers of sales (I could care less, I don't own any of the next-gen gaming systems yet) I'm not entirely sure you are accurately representing the numbers. You say that 3.5 million WII in 2 months have been sold so far while implying that number is significant to Xbox number of 10 in a year is significant. Did you forget that people tend to crave the new, not item? I'll bet my first born child when that if you checked Xbox 360's initial sales they would look alot similar. I know, I know, they had no competition. So, how's this for competition. Xbox 360 out sold WII 2 to 1 in December 2006 (http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/11/technology/wii_...), even with the competition. Save your breath, I know what you are going to say - WII was in short demand. But, as you so adamantly proclaim, WII is not the same old story, completely unique and progressive. Thus, why would a year old system sell so well if WII is so superior and progressive. The point of this whole diatribe is simply to illustrate that no hardware will ever be superior, be it gaming, computing or cell phones. So quit acting like your new favorite thing is the be-all-end-all for whatever technology you speak of. I guarantee the next Xbox will blow WII out the water, and as so these things progress, the next Playstation will undoubtedly do the same to that Xbox. And on, and on, and, on it goes...so quit being so pompous (to big a word for 12 year olds?), and enjoy your systems.
  • Jim
    That's right Bill, you do have a smaller box (then what it could have been), because you put that ginormous power supply outside of the console. And it is still the bigger of the consoles out there...
  • InfDaMarvel
    For one Nintendo plans on introducing its online game and true capabilties later on this year (1 or 2 months)just like they did when the first released the DS.

    2nd. http://www.nexgenwars.com/

    If the trend continues Nintendo wins.
  • Nayru
    Funny how he talks about "standing still" when the Wii has this totally new controller which is something we've never seen before. and the Xbox 360 is just a shiner version of the Xbox...
  • Well, I'm not really sure, but last year, Ubisoft was hiring people with online programming skills to work on a Red Steel squel.. so maybe is just that we haven't seen the best of Wii online yet.. all left to do is wait...
  • shanoboy
    I have a question that maybe someone on here can answer. Where is the Wii online play capability? I mean, its already connected online. Why no online play then like XBOX live? Are there any plans to implement a system like this later and I just never caught that headline or is Nintendo still deciding not to get in the online multiplayer game?