Microsoft wanted to have the Xbox 2 ready by Xmas 2004

Doesn't look like it's going to happen now, but apparently — at least for a while there — Microsoft had put their Xbox division on a forced march to have the Xbox 2 (mockup pictured at right) ready for a Christmas 2004 launch. That date has now been pushed back to at least mid-2005, though it'll still probably be beat the PlayStation 3 by a more than a few months. Crazy as it would have been to find an Xbox 2 under the Christmas tree this year, there probably wouldn't be many games ready for it (game developers need time for these things), to say nothing of all the potential defects and bugs that could arise from rushing the console into production.