Gates Predicts 10m Lead for Xbox 360

And with Sony's machine now coming in at $600, there's a chance it could last.

When the PlayStation 3 launches at the end of the year, it's going to have a mighty mountain to climb. At Microsoft's Electronic Entertainment Expo briefing in Los Angeles today, Bill Gates said that the Xbox 360 would have a lead of 10 million consoles by the time Sony's new console hits in November.

And it's not just a hardware challenge that Sony will be facing. Now that Microsoft has seen off the pain of its own global launch it can concentrate on games, and several of those were revealed today.

In addition to the eventual announcement of Halo 3, Microsoft showed off several of the big games it has in the offing, including: Gears Of War, Mass Effect, Too Human, Viva Pinata, Alan Wake, Forza Motorsport 2, Fable 2 and Shadowrun.

The latter game also plays a big part in Microsoft's new Live Anywhere strategy, which lets you access Xbox Live from not only your Xbox 360 but also Vista-enabled PCs and mobile phones. You'll be able to carry your Gamer Profile with you no matter what platform you're on.

This opens up interesting gameplay possibilities, where you can download, for example, a car to your PC, mod it on your phone and then race it on your Xbox 360.

Microsoft is also bumping its Xbox Live Arcade, which is getting both new and old games. Nostalgic gamers will be able to dive back into classics such as Pac-Man, Paperboy and Contra while those hankering for new stuff can savour the new Xbox Live version of PSP hit Lumines.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games