Source: Kotaku
As we all know, CES took over Las Vegas the past couple of days and with it came all sorts of gadgets we’ll never be able to afford and interesting interviews with big name companies and execs. One such interview was conducted by BBC News who had the opportunity to go one-on-one with the most famous nerd of all-time, Mr. Bill Gates. Instead of asking their own questions, BBC News opted to drill Bill with questions from fans which fortunately brought up the following million dollar question that’s been on everybody’s mind:
We’ve had a lot of questions from people who weren’t really happy with the kind of service they’ve been getting from Xbox in the last few years… What are you going to do to ensure that new consoles are more reliable than previous versions?
Hit the jump to read the most unbelievable exec quote ever!
Here’s what he said:
Well, we certainly had to apologize to our users about a number of boxes that had to be replaced. We did that for free for all of those people, we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about the way we handled it. We’ve got incredible reliability on the new work we’ve done. Our commitment is that it will be the most reliable video game box out there. People really love the Xbox because of the content, but we’ve got to make sure that the hardware never stands in the way of that.
I think I can speak for everyone in the world when I say, “Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaah riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.”
Will be the most reliable video game box out there? Are you kidding me, Bill? This has to be a joke, because last time I checked the failure rates for PS3’s and Wii’s are lower than a midget limboing. This would be like New York City coming out and saying they’re going to have the lowest crime rate of any city in the world.
I guess this just goes to show that you can pretty much say whatever you want once you’ve put in your retirement request.
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23 responses so far ↓
1 Some guy in a van // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Uhm… hopefully it will stop? I guess?
2 PacManPolarBear // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Talk about to little to late. If they had put a leash on the problems the minute they started maybe we could give him some slack. A few years later and NOW you think you’ve got it right? Wow, and people wonder why I still don’t have a console.
3 Sean "rothbart" Workman // Jan 10, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I thinnk they could stop having reliability problems _TODAY_, zero, no more… and they’d still be in contention for the most unreliable video game console released to the public.
One thing’s for sure… their “commitment” isn’t worth very much. *soh*
4 Lono // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:06 pm
He’s talking about a commitment to reliability, he doesn’t actually say that they’re all reliable.
Reading Comprehension 101.
5 Yousty // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:12 pm
They’ve been “fixing” the problem for 2 years now, yet several of the new 360s still have things go wrong. There is NO way that the 360 will ever have a lower failure rate than the PS3 or Wii.
Never, ever.
6 Lono // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:21 pm
@ Yousty: So what? Doesn’t mean that they can’t or shouldn’t strive for more reliable products . He never said that they were the most reliable, which, IMO makes your reaction to his comment even more puzzling…
7 Yousty // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:26 pm
@Lono
My big reaction is at him saying that 360s are going to be MORE reliable than PS3 and Wii. How many PS3s have you heard of having problems. Barely any. How many Wiis have you heard of breaking. Pretty much zero.
Microsoft has had 2 freakin’ years of “commitment” to fixing what’s causing the RRoD and there’s still no proof that they’ve successfully done it. So what in the world makes Bill Gates think that they’re going to be able to magically get the failure rate of the new 360s to 0%?
8 Alecsander_C // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The Wii is the best, hardware wise (except the graphics accelerator and the original strap for the controller) but think about it, it never overheats and unlike the ps3 it doesn’t collect dust that fast. Anybody see that kid that had his ps3 filled with dust?
9 Lono // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:02 pm
@Yousty: Again, he’s saying that it’s their goal to become the most reliable. In that statement he has acknowleged that they aren’t the most reliable and that they’re striving to be the best.
He doesn’t say that they ARE the best or that they WERE the best or that they ARE GOING to be the best. He’s simply saying that they’re commited to TRYING to be the most reliable.
10 Yousty // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:18 pm
@Lono: Again, Microsoft has been TRYING for 2 freakin’ years and people are still having their supposedly “fixed” 360s die on them left and right.
If Bill is gonna come out and say something so ridiculous as they’re going to be more reliable than PS3 and Wii, he better also be telling us exactly how they’re going to do that because all of the fixes they’ve come up with so far have done jack squat.
I’m sure there’s a lot of people on this site that can attest to how much Microsoft’s “commitment” to being “reliable” is worth.
Just wait till your “fixed” 360 breaks and we’ll see how quickly you change your opinion.
11 Cube // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:51 pm
The ps3 and wii has no games nobody uses them to work them enough to fail.
My wii failed nintendo replaced it free, my xbox 360 from december 2005 still works.
My ps3 never gets used ever i expect it will fail once it gets played.
12 Applesauce McGee // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I work in gaming retail in Australia, and to be honest I am yet get back any of the newer 360 consoles thus far. Not a single one. Meanwhile I used to receive at least 3 to 4 original model 360’s consoles a week. Seriously. In fact in the last month I have only received 3 consoles; 1 Wii and 2 PS3’s. So while Microsoft may not have had the most reliable console to begin with, it is defiantly starting to look like Bill Gates is coming good with his comments.
13 Applesauce McGee // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Meanwhile I have over 20 defective guitar hero guitars sitting out the back in my store room, from varying platforms. So if you want to talk about an unreliable product… we have our winner. I hate selling that game. so far it is seriously almost 1 out of 3 is coming back broken.
That’s just my 2 cents…. Love the podcasts!
14 Lono // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Good info McGee!
15 adfrey // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:52 pm
do you have some sort of analogy generator? midgets limboing, honestly.
16 Frantik // Jan 10, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I’ve had a terrible history with the 360. Right now, I’m on my 10th console (8 from RRoD, 1 from a blown out power supply & the last one from the most recent update). I don’t know why I’m getting all the bad ones. I take care of my games & consoles really well.
…However, I still prefer the 360 over the Wii & PS3 but if I reach 15, I want something more from Microsoft other than a free month of Xbox Live (which is pointless for me since I already have a Live account)
17 NoneOfYourBusiness // Jan 10, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Excuse me… I think New York has a lower crime rate then Chicago.
18 Harag // Jan 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm
@mcgee as interesting as that is your working at one store in a smaller segment of the gaming industry just because your store hasnt seen them dose NOT mean that others havent
19 Sean "rothbart" Workman // Jan 10, 2008 at 10:02 pm
@Lono: That means their goal is unattainable basically. Why would he publicly state unattainable goals? Kinda makes him look like a tool, IMO. You’re picking apart the literal wording of what he said… everyone else is knee-jerking because it’s unrealistic at best, hilariously embarrassing for them at worst. Take your pick.
@Cube: I love when people show their intelligence like that.
@AppleSauce McGee: Not sure what to say… just because you’ve had 1 Wii and 2 PS3s come back and no “new” 360s, the 360 as a whole is probably a couple orders of magnitude higher in failure rate than the other two combined. It’s going to take YEARS before the cumulative difference swings back into the 360’s favor. Keep in mind the mass of 360s that failed didn’t fail immediately either…
20 Applesauce McGee // Jan 11, 2008 at 12:03 am
@ Harag - Fair enough I am just at 1 store and have no real grounds to say that there aren’t other store getting new 360’s returned often. What i can say is that I know for fact that the 5 other franchise stores in the same state as my store have had low returns. Which is a massive improvement when compared to this time last year. I called a friend of mine who is manager at a rival gaming store (1 - I used to work with him before being poached to the new company, 2 - They are the busiest store in the state) and he says that they too have had only 4 or so returned. So it’s not just my store.
@ Rothbart - You are right in that it will take years for this swing into the 360’s favour. I am just stating that at a retail level I have already noticed an improvement. I mean we were getting RRoD consoles back a mere week after time of purchase, let alone a month after (which is roughly how long the ‘new’ 360’s have been out down under).
21 clstirens // Jan 11, 2008 at 1:23 am
I have bad feelings about the new falcon chip. It was first sort of “announced” then they slipped out the door into the H3 360’s. No one actually KNEW until someone cracked it open.
Now, it seems, that most are being made with the new hardware, but few really know about it. Why did it get slipped under the door like that? I know they won’t make an ad-campaign (bad move there), but it was like a secret all of a sudden.
22 Lono // Jan 11, 2008 at 2:01 am
@Rothbart: He’s publicly stating unatainable goals to show how committed they are to making the consoles better. He knows that you can’t erase the past, but you can’t fix it either. He’s basically acknowledging their problems and vowing to fix them. I don’t see how dumb that is really.
What’s he supposed to say? Really… At least he didn’t say it was so last gen or something stupid like that. He’s just reaffirming MS’s comittment to getting things back on track.
23 Applesauce McGee // Jan 11, 2008 at 4:50 am
@ clstirens - I was thinking about the other day as well. My theory on it is as follows… As far as I know (and correct my if I am wrong) Microsoft haven’t at an official capacity come out and said that the Red Ring Of Death is reaching epidemic status.
So Microsoft can’t advertise that they have fixed the problem without admitting that there was a problem to begin with, which is what they are trying to avoid. It’s an awkward PR cycle they are stuck in.
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