Just read this on Gamers.com which i thought would perk some interest for our readers:

Following last month's rather shocking revelation that Microsoft had originally tapped Sega to develop the Xbox, it's now been revealed that at one point Microsoft was dealing with Nintendo too. In fact, Microsoft was all but set to outright buy the company.

According to a new book called Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution, Microsoft was at one point all set to plunk down 25 billion for the Japanese game giant. As the book describes, Nintendo's U.S. president Minoru Arakawa wasn't sure what to think when Microsoft made the offer. "I was surprised," Arakawa admitted. "We didn't need the money. I thought it was a joke."

Nontheless, Arakawa and Nintendo of America took the offer seriously and brought discussions to its corporate office in Japan. "Some Nintendo executives seemed interested and the meetings went on through the winter," the book describes. "The parties met six or seven times. Microsoft wanted Nintendo to drop its GameCube console and get behind the Xbox. But Hiroshi Yamauchi, the aging CEO and Nintendo, didn't like the idea. By January 2000, the talks were over."

You can read the rest here