Xbox is a video game console system made by Microsoft. It began in 1998 when four employees decided to try to make a system to compete with Sony's PlayStation 2. The employees took apart four Dell computers and built the console from the parts. The employees named the console DirectX Box because it used Microsoft's DirectX graphics program. They showed the console to Ed Fries, who was the leader of Microsoft's game publishing business, and he liked the idea. During work on the project, the name was changed to Xbox.