August 5^th, 2004 (12:00am) - Yesterday’s report about Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates having an interest in purchasing Nintendo caused a quite the stir amongst the videogame community. Speculation ran rampant with a bevy of rumors pointing at a Nintendo and Microsoft collaboration for the next generation of home consoles in order to take a large chunk out of Sony’s home console domination. While, for many, this collaboration would’ve been a dream come true, it just doesn’t seem likely to happen and earlier this morning Nintendo officially shot down these rumors.

Nintendo’s public relations chief Yasuhiro Minagawa clearly stated to the press that "Nintendo is not on sale, and there is no such talk at all." Minagawa-san also mentioned that even if Gates has an interest in Nintendo, "we haven’t even heard anything from Microsoft at all."

Mr. Gates’ comments featured in the German financial magazine WirtschaftsWoche was nothing more than a show of interest in the company. By no means did it even hint to a possible buyout; just the fact that if Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo’s largest shareholder and former president, was willing to sell, Microsoft would be more than likely (and happy) to purchase the infamous videogame company.