China`s IT giant Lenovo has said it will launch a video games console this year to vie with Nintendo`s Wii, Microsoft`s XBox 360 and Sony`s PlayStation 3 in the booming motion-gaming market.

The company -- China`s biggest computer maker -- has developed a prototype of the eBox console and has set up a new company called Beijing eedoo Technology Ltd. to produce and market it.

The eBox, which can be connected to high-definition television sets and the Internet, is a controller-free console that can be operated by gestures, according to a statement sent by Lenovo to AFP on Monday.

The Lenovo console "targets the entertainment needs of 120 million Chinese urban households" and will be released by the end of this year in China, the company said.

It will then be unveiled gradually in the Asia-Pacific region and other overseas markets, the company said.

The eBox would be the second in the world to operate with motion-sensor technology, with Microsoft due to launch its Kinect system for the XBox 360 on November 4.

No financial details about Lenovo`s investment in the new product or the new company were disclosed.

BDST: 1745 HRS, 28 August 2010