Watch Gates CES keynote online
Announcements expected.
Those of you staying up to see what Bill Gates has to say in his final Consumer Electronics Show keynote speech alongside Robbie Bach tonight - 6.30pm PST, which is 2.30am GMT - will be able to watch it live on the Internet.
As Gamerscoreblog points out, Gates' speech will be broadcast on Microsoft.com, and will feature the usual bits about gaming. Bach, who is president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, will appear and there will be an on-stage demo of some form.
Last year's speech saw the Microsoft chairman announce an IPTV service for Xbox 360 among other things. One thing we shouldn't expect to see though is an Xbox 360 with in-built HD-DVD drive, which Microsoft has denied it plans to produce. Other sources of speculation point to a licensing solution that will see other companies producing Xbox devices.
Last year also saw Robbie Bach announce that the Xbox 360 console had sold 10.4 million units. Earlier this week, Microsoft updated that figure to 17.7 million, adding that Halo 3 has sold more than 8.1 million copies since its late September launch, and that it hopes for "an even more successful 2008". Gates and Bach will hope to give us more assurances of that success when the keynote comes around later tonight. Check back tomorrow for our first-hand report.