This November, Microsoft will release the new Xbox.

This Thursday, MTV will air a half hour program to present the new Xbox to the public for the first time.

Look for the new Xbox to be smaller, silver, and offer an optional hard drive. Controllers will likely be wireless by default. I expect that Xbox 1 games will play on the new system, just like PS1 games play on the PS2.

The name of the new console almost certainly will be Xbox 360.

The PS3 won’t come out until 2006, probably May at the earliest.

The new Nintendo system? No one is sure yet.

As you might recall, the PS2 came out in fall 2000, and the Xbox and Gamecube came out in fall 2001. The PS2 got a lead that it never gave up in this generation of consoles. Microsoft is betting that the because of the head start, the last console war was effectively over before it started.