Video gamers have been waiting all year -- or longer -- for the showdown that's set to kick off next week. First, on Nov. 15, Microsoft will launch its Xbox, its debut in the console market, and then Nintendo's GameCube will go on sale three days later.
That's enough by itself to keep gamers abuzz, but both consoles are going up against Sony, which has already sold 5 million PlayStation 2 systems in the North American market.
The video game industry is one of the few still-promising areas for the bruised technology sector. Stock prices for major game publishers have taken off the last few weeks in anticipation of consumers going shopping for their new consoles.
But the rewards will not be shared equally. Game developers are the sure winners in this fray, while console manufacturers will have to eat years of losses on the hardware -- and that's if things go well. If not, they could follow the example of Sega: The one-time industry leader dropped its Dreamcast console earlier this year to focus on creating software for other platforms.
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