Console will have a 'huge head start' on rivals Sony and Nintendo

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has claimed that the Xbox 360 will have a 10 million unit head start by the time Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii enter the market.

Gates also predicted that the Xbox 360 platform will be backed up by more than 160 games by the end of the year.

Speaking at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week, Gates also described a plan to clear the way for cross-platform gameplay, with participants using Windows-based PCs, mobile phones and Xbox 360 consoles to play together simultaneously.

By this time next year, Microsoft expects to have more than six million gamers connected to the Xbox Live network.

Gates forecasts that this new community will be integrated with the more than 25 million casual gamers currently playing games on MSN Messenger and MSN Games.

Gamers will have the ability to connect to the Xbox Live world from their Windows-based PCs early next year, with one identity, one friends list, one set of achievements and voice communications across all games on the network.

This experience is set to debut on Windows with the Vista operating system and Shadowrun game due this winter.

Microsoft will also be introducing the Xbox 360 to seven new countries in the coming year with launches in Chile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Poland, Slovakia and South Africa.