Game-console rivalry gets fierce
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
They're Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, respectively, and for the past two years they've been slugging it out in the video-game console market. Sony's PlayStation 2 is the leader, with Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox fighting for second.
But the current battle, as hard-fought as it has been, could be just the warm-up for the clash to come. In timing the release of their next consoles, Microsoft and Nintendo are expected to avoid giving Sony the huge head start it enjoyed by releasing its PlayStation 2 more than a year before the Xbox or GameCube.
As a result, the competition is likely to be much more intense. At stake is a multibillion-dollar market that, by virtue of the phenomenon known as convergence, could play an even bigger role in the future of home entertainment.