Microsoft Planned Xbox 2 For 2004 - Rumor

According to Internet reports Microsoft officials seriously considered launching the Xbox 2 this Christmas and have only recently deferred to a planned launch in mid-2005. According to one anonymous Xbox developer: "I think they underestimated how hard it was going to be to build a console that wasn't using PC architecture.... But they're racing to get to the market as soon as possible - they really want to reverse the head start that Sony had last time." Further unnamed sources say that Microsoft have encouraged many developers to ditch Xbox development with their current projects and move to the next generation machine as soon as possible, with Rare and the XSN teams already rumored to be working for the new format and not the existing Xbox. Source: gamesindustry.biz