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Competing gaming purveyors gearing up to vie for consumers' Christmas dollars

In what's shaping up to be the toughest fight ever for gamers' Christmas dollars this year, Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo of America Inc. got in some jabs early at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Microsoft announced recently that its Xbox platform will hit the North American market on Nov. 8, priced at US$299. The GameCube will arrive three days earlier, said Nintendo, with a price point to be announced during the company's annual general meeting in Japan.

Sony's PlayStation2 was the first 128-bit console to reach consumers, launched last year, also at US$299. Sony was unable to keep pace with the demand for the consoles over the December holiday season after its initial shipment of half a million sold out. The company cited a chip shortage as the main contributor to the supply shortfall.

Microsoft has promised 600,000-800,000 Xboxes on first delivery, hoping to avoid Sony's misfortunes.

Xbox chief officer, Robbie Bach, who spoke to E3 attendees, predicted one to 1.5 million Xbox units will be sold over the holiday.

"But it's not really about the console, it's about the games, and we've got games," he added. "On day one, we will have 15 to 20 high-quality games on the market."

Bach said that up to 35 per cent of titles for Xbox will be developed by Microsoft, and the company has signed on 200 third party developers.

Oddworld, creator of the game Oddworld Inhabitatns, will be one of the first games on the shelf for the Xbox.

"We needed AI (artificial intelligence) to be able to get these characters to do exactly what we wanted to do," said Oddworld president Lorne Lanning.

"They needed to be able to find their way through the world. We wanted them to be really dynamic in traditional console ways. That meant the game machine had to be fast."

The Xbox will ship with a 733 MHz processor.

According to Ron Bertram of Nintendo Canada Inc., the GameCube processor will clock in at about 485 MHz (compared to 295 MHz for the PS2) but he de-emphasized speed over component integration.

The GameCube will feature a new graphics processor from Richmond Hill, Ont.-based ATI Technologies Inc. called the flipper, which will have both a 2-D and 3-D graphics engine.

In an effort to downplay Microsoft's gusto (the company has been on the Xbox warpath for more than 14 months), Bertram spoke of Nintendo's legacy in the console and game business, and its successful licenses such as Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda. The company Plans five to seven first party titles for GameCube.

But Bertram knows his company is in for the fight of its life.

"A battle is brewing between Nintendo and Sony and Microsoft," he said, "The war for the family room."