Microsoft said that the console will still be released on schedule, with between 600,000 and 800,000 consoles being shipped for the US launch. An estimated 1.5 million Xbox consoles are set to be produced by the end of the year. Intel also denied any problem with the circuit board designs.
Microsoft is set to spend around $500 million in marketing the launch of its first games console. Nintendo is due to launch its rival GameCube console on 5th November. Nintendo director Satoru Iwata is reported today by Eurogamer.net as saying that GameCube will be launched without a modem and that definite release date and pricing for the modem is as yet undecided.