Dean Takahashi, author of the book, Opening the Xbox, ($24.95, Prima Publishing) reports in a recent edition of Red Herring, a technology magazine, that Microsoft is developing a new version of the Xbox game console. The hybrid device not only plays video games, but it will be able to record TV programs on the device's built-in hard disk.
Takahashi said the Xbox with digital video recorder will sell for about $500 and could be on store shelves in 2003. The Wall Street Journal and technology Web site ZDNet also have reported on the Xbox project, which is code-named "Freon." Microsoft hasn't commented on it officially.
Takahashi also said that Microsoft's internal estimates show the company could lose as much as $750 million on Xbox this fiscal year, which ended June 2002, and as much as $1.1 billion in the next fiscal year. It has been widely reported that Microsoft is absorbing losses on the Xbox hardware in the hopes its software sales will drive future revenue.
News source: USA TODAY
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