The X-Box game console grabbed praise at the Game Developers Conference on Friday, after founder Bill Gates showed off demos of the technology during his hour-long opening keynote.

　　Yet, at least one industry analyst questioned if Microsoft can make its Fall 2001 deadline.

　　"It's very cool," said Peter Glaskowsky, senior analyst for chip technology watcher MicroDesign Resources, an arm of Cahners. "Yet, there is a very real risk that they will slip beyond September of next year. Microsoft has rarely made a schedule that far out."

　　The next-generation game console, which will compete head-to-head with Sony's PlayStation2, will use standard PC technology to create a game machine "twice as fast as any other platform on the market today," said Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, during the opening keynote at the conference on Friday -- the first public showing of the game machine.

　　According to Microsoft Corp., the X-Box will use a customized Pentium III processor from chip maker Intel running at a minimum of 600MHz, a next-generation graphics processor from graphics-chip designer Nvidia Corp. and will have an 8GB hard drive.

　　The ensemble will result in a platform that will be capable of 1 trillion operations per second, said Gates.

　　Glaskowsky agrees with Microsoft's numbers and even calls them conservative.

　　"Depending on the task, the X-Box should be five to 10 times faster than any shipping PC and about three times faster than the PlayStation2," he said. And that is while using a processor that is equivalent to what is in the PlayStation2 today.

　　Such power should result in objects whose surfaces look more realistic, said the analyst. Wood will look like wood and human skin will look less like vinyl, as it does in today's games.

　　Yet, such high-powered technology will be difficult to deliver, he added.

　　"Depending on the task, the X-Box should be five to 10 times faster than any shipping PC and about three times faster than the PlayStation2." Peter Glaskowsky, senior analyst Microsoft will have to rip up its just-released Windows 2000, and strip it down to the bare essentials needed for gaming. In addition, graphics chip maker Nvidia will have to deliver an advanced chip, which is three generations away, six to nine months ahead of schedule.

　　Kevin Bachus, director of third-party relations for Microsoft's console gaming group, admits that the Redmond, Wash. software giant has its work cut out for it.

　　"While (slimming down Windows 2000) is relatively straightforward, we are hacking away everything but the kernel," he said. "That's not an easy job."

　　Furthermore, all the technology has to be in place in time for developers to create their software -- sometime in early 2001 at the latest. Satisfying developers is what Bachus sees as the most difficult job.

　　Yet, Microsoft has seemingly already garnered the support of several major game creators.

　　"We are excited about Microsoft's entry into the console business, and X-Box is positioned at the leading edge of next-generation technology," said Mitch Lasky, executive vice president of Activision, in a statement.

　　Gregory Fischbach, co-chairman and CEO of Acclaim, had similar sentiments.

　　"We view the advent of the next generation consoles -- such as X-Box -- as a tremendous opportunity to grow our business," he said.