Some countries face delay in Xbox availability

Microsoft says residents in some European countries will have to wait until 2014 to buy an Xbox One gaming console. Residents of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and Switzerland will have to wait until next year for the console to launch in their countries, the Redmond, Wash, tech giant said Wednesday. A posting on the official Xbox Wire blog put the delay down to issues with localizing the unit's dashboard, the necessity of providing additional voice and language support, and a current lack of apps and "meaningful local content," CNET reported. Meanwhile, consumers in Britain, Spain, France, Germany, Ireland, Austria and Italy will be able to purchase an Xbox One in November. Microsoft acknowledged its launch goal announced earlier this year would not be met. "At E3, we announced that Xbox One would be available in 21 markets around the world at launch," the company's blog post said. "This was an aggressive goal and the team has been working very hard to deliver Xbox One to as many markets as possible." Customers who pre-ordered the Xbox One in the countries affected by the delay will receive a free game, Microsoft said, although it did not indicated which title that would be.