Gates confirms Live spectator modes

Comments made by Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates during a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, have confirmed that the company is planning to add spectator modes to Xbox Live in the future.

Responding to a question about which Microsoft products he's proudest of, Gates told the audience that he has a personal interest in developing new interactive features for the Xbox, citing the ability to assemble online audiences to spectate on games as an example.

This seemingly confirms reports that the company is planning to add spectator modes to Live, under the banner of Xbox Live TV, which originated from a job posting seeking engineers to implement such a system.

It's expected that the system will not only allow users to spectate on games - as has been possible with many PC titles for years - but will also provide additional graphics and displays, similar to a sports TV channel.

However, it's still not clear whether Xbox Live TV will be implemented in titles for the current Xbox platform, or if it's planned as a feature for the next-generation Xbox console.