Microsoft X-box launch delayed

The release of Microsoft's X-box games console, which caught the gaming industry on the hop when it was announced earlier this year, is still at least 18 months away, according to sources close to the company.

At the X-box launch back in March, the software giant said it planned to launch the console in Autumn 2001, but this could be put back until at least Christmas 2001, the sources said.

Microsoft has been exhibiting the X-box at this year's E3 in Los Angeles. The company says the console will support DirectX, making the porting of games between PCs and the X-box much easier for developers.

The X-box will merge the central, video and audio processors, and Microsoft has said it will give gamers a really "immersive" audio experience when it ships.

Microsoft is likely to sell the X-box on the strength of its being designed from the ground up to be the ultimate gaming experience, unlike Sony's Playstation 2 which runs games on a second-generation system.

Gamers will see some advantages in Sony's console, however, as they will not lose the investment they made in games for the original Playstation, the majority being backward compatible.