Hot upon the heels of the PlayStation2's release, new information has been released regarding Microsoft's upcoming game system, the X-Box. Nihon Keizai Shinbun, Japan's leading business and financial newspaper, recently reported that the Microsoft X-Box will be released in September, 2001. According to the newspaper's sources, the release date will be officially announced by Microsoft as early as this week. Several prominent Japanese publishers, including Koei, Capcom, Konami, and Enix, have already been approached by Microsoft to produce games for the upcoming system.

The X-Box, which will use the Windows operating system, will feature a 600 megahertz AMD processor and a Nvidia graphics chip. The system will be DVD-compatible, internet-ready, and will have a large hard drive for downloads. Nihon Keizai Shinbun speculates that the system will debut in the US from $250 to $300. Microsoft is expected to officially announce the system this Friday, March 10, at the Game Developers Conference. RPGamer will be at the conference for all the details, so stay tuned for all the latest X-Box developments.