PST Microsoft is expected on Friday to announce its long-awaited videogame hardware console at the Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, California. The X-Box, a videogame console based on PC components including an x86 chip and the Windows 2000 kernel, is Microsoft's take on a single platform with a common architecture for the next generation of content. That totally misses the point. The X-Box, which may or may not be renamed when it launches in the fall of 2001, will be produced by Microsoft and sold under the Microsoft brand.
Pricing has yet to be determined.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who is slated to unveil the device, was very involved in the development of the console. He wanted performance three times that of any other console. To do that takes time. The company also wanted to wait so as not to be overshadowed by the forthcoming fall launch of the PlayStation 2, Microsoft officials said. The decision to go with the x86 architecture came down to getting developers up to speed.