By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Kemp Powers
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates visited the world's largest video game expo on Tuesday to sell a new vision of "anywhere" gaming that would link video game consoles, cell phones and computers.
Gates introduced a plan called "Live Anywhere" that aims to capitalize on the success of Xbox Live online play to tap into a network of over 150 million users already playing games on computers that run the Windows operating system and more than one billion cell phones ready to play video games.
Microsoft leads the industry in online gaming with its Xbox Live service that lets people around the world play each other in real time, download new games and chat. A similar capability will be built into the upcoming version of Windows called Vista, effectively launching the new service.
"This is a vision of taking 'live' to the next level," said Gates at a Microsoft news conference. "We're going from 'live' to 'live anywhere'"
Microsoft entered the video game hardware business in 2001 with the original Xbox, creating a brand that appealed to serious gamers and keeping the Xbox business separate from other parts of the company, including its mainstay Windows unit.
Gates' debut appearance at the Xbox event ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo shows the growing importance of the nearly $30 billion global video game industry to the company as whole and to its much-anticipated Windows Vista, which is expected to launch in early 2007.
However, launching a new console is expensive -- losses at Microsoft's home and entertainment division widened to $388 million in its fiscal third quarter from a $175 million loss a year ago.
Live Anywhere would allow participants to play certain games against each other regardless of whether the user was on a mobile phone, PC or Xbox console. It would also enable players to start a game on the Xbox 360 console and later pick it up on their mobile phone or PC.
ive been waiting for this to happen! pretty soon its going to be a "demolition man" deal where everything is hooked up in one unit. WOOOHOOO no more wire clutter LOL!
