By fifth grade, he was building his own video-game console with an electronic-projects kit from Radio Shack.

NEWYORKER: Machine Politics

It will be interesting to see whether the new prominence of the iPad as an app platform will help old console warhorses like Electronic Arts and Activision to find a better footing in the mobile game market.

FORBES: iPad App Revenue Catching up with iPhone Faster than Expected

Microsoft will likely reveal the console at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo, and release it in time for the holidays that fall.

FORBES: Next Xbox Will Likely Launch in 2013

Add to that the voice and motion-control abilities already available with the Xbox Kinect system, and you can see Microsoft's vision for making the console a centerpiece for all electronic entertainment.

CNN: How Xbox SmartGlass will work

Many gaming insiders predict that Microsoft will show off its new console -- possibly the Xbox 720 -- at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.

CNN: PlayStation 4: What gamers like, loathe

Iwata said the portable gaming console, which gaming writers honored among the best at this June's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California, will be released in the United States and Europe in March.

CNN: Nintendo 3DS to be released in U.S. in March