"eBox" Launching as China Builds Kinect Competitor

The China Daily new service is reporting that Lenovo - best known for PCs - "will go head-to-head with the big boys in the video game console market, looking to snatch away market share from the likes of Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony."

The report states that a team of Lenovo software engineers "was spun off from the Lenovo Group to develop and market the eBox, a platform similar to Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360." The team has formed a company called "Beijing eedoo Technology Ltd."

Jack Luo, a former department chief with Lenovo, and now president of Beijing eedoo Technology, is quote as saying, "We are the world's second company to produce a controller-free game console, behind only Microsoft."

Like Kinect, the eBox uses a camera and no physical controllers. According to Mr Muo, price "may be slightly lower than Microsoft's Xbox, which retails for $299.99." This pricing will include some 30 games.

This move would put a crimp in Microsoft's planned breakthrough into the potentially enormous Chinese market.