SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp
is set to make a splash this week with the eagerly awaited unveiling of
its new Xbox game console, eight years after the last version, as it
seeks a larger share of the $65 billion a year global computer gaming
industry.
But the small device faces some big competition from the PlayStation 4 by Sony Corp and the Wii U by Nintendo Co Ltd in a shifting market.
"Core gamers are
very hungry for a new machine but the difference between 2005 and now is
that the stakes are so much higher," said Ryan McCaffrey, executive
editor at entertainment website IGN.com, harking back to Microsoft's last Xbox release. "The entire Xbox experiment from Microsoft was for it to be the center piece of your living room."