Microsoft Readies 250,000 Xbox Consoles For Japanese Launch

In an interview with Reuters, Bill Gates explained that it would be hard to repeat the strong U.S. debut of the Xbox -- which sold 1.5 million units in just six weeks -- and said that good word-of-mouth among hardcore Japanese gamers was the company's main goal. "This is not the Christmas season. You shouldn't compare us to [U.S. Xbox sales]," Gates told Reuters. "As we get into next December we should be able to deliver good numbers [to Japan]... Our goal in our launches is to have the really dedicated gamers get the machine and tell their friends, 'look, this is the next generation'." The Xbox goes on sale for 34,800 yen ($262), 5,000 yen more than the PlayStation 2 and 9,800 yen more than the Gamecube.