Microsoft has denied a report released yesterday by US
investment bankers Thomas Weisel Partners which claimed that,
according to Microsoft sources, faulty Intel motherboards may have
delayed Xbox production by up to 4 weeks from its anticipated 8th
November North American launch date.
Microsoft said that the console will still be released on
schedule, with between 600,000 and 800,000 consoles being shipped
for the US launch. An estimated 1.5 million Xbox consoles are set
to be produced by the end of the year. Intel also denied any
problem with the circuit board designs.
Microsoft is set to spend around $500 million in marketing the
launch of its first games console. Nintendo is due to launch its
rival GameCube console on 5th November. Nintendo director Satoru
Iwata is reported today by Eurogamer.net as saying that GameCube
will be launched without a modem and that definite release date and
pricing for the modem is as yet undecided.
