Microsoft CES Press Release

Bill Gates did the keynote address tonight at CES. Here is a part of the larger press release that I’d thought the Xbox Live members would be interested in:

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Xbox Leading the Way in Interactive Entertainment
Gates noted the continued momentum around Xbox and the Xbox Live” service, announcing the industry-leading sales of the Xbox console for the critical 2004 holiday season in the United States, garnering a projected 40 percent market share for the months of November and December. The much-anticipated ?oHalo 2? title, launched Nov. 9, has sold more than 6.3 million copies to date, surpassing the sales to date of the first ?oHalo? title. ?oHalo 2?’s opening-day revenue of $125 million in the United States and Canada surpassed the biggest opening weekend in box-office history, for ?oSpiderman,? which generated just under $115 million. The hot Xbox role-playing game title ?oFable? also broke the 1 million sales mark in only two months.
Xbox Live experienced the highest activity levels ever, with more than 1 million unique users playing on the service and ?oHalo 2? gamers spending a record-breaking 69 million hours on the service to date ?” more than any other Xbox Live game. Gates outlined three major trends driving the gaming phenomenon today: HDTV, ubiquitous broadband and wireless connectivity, and rich personalization. To demonstrate the latter point, he joined O’Brien to play ?oForza Motorsport”,? an auto racing game from Microsoft Game Studios scheduled to launch in April 2005. Gates and O’Brien raced through Manhattan in customized cars, showing off the title’s immersive, engaging gaming experiences ?” and their lack of online driving skills.
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Yup…you read that right…..Halo 2 players spent 69 MILLION hours on Xbox Live .

Complete CES press release