May you live in interesting times, an old Chinese curse says. Microsoft may soon discover what that means. On Nov. 15 its $299 videogame console called Xbox comes out, to go head-to-head against Sony’s PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Gamecube, to be released three days later. In just 19 months the game-hardware newbie has become a credible player by building its device from scratch and acquiring exclusive rights to sought-after titles like the marine adventure Halo and the beat-’em-up brawler Dead or Alive 3. But the competition is stiff. The $299 PlayStation 2 has shipped 20 million units worldwide since March 2000. Nintendo has legions of loyal fans.
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