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Xbox specifications
X02
The future of Xbox gaming
The irony wasn't lost on Peter Molyneux as he spoke about his new games Fable and BC to the crowd at X02, Microsoft's annual Xbox shindig. Over 1000 journalists, retailers and publishers had been flown to a theme park in Seville leading Molyneux to remember his classic God game hit of yesteryear.
But this was no nostalgia fest. "Xbox is about making 'play' a more important part of our lives," said Sandy Duncan VP Xbox Europe. "We wanted X02 to be a living, breathing embodiment of that idea, so we decided to take over an amusement park. What better place to bring home the importance of playing and having fun?"
During the course of the two days over 80 games were shown which, combined with the confirmation of the Rare purchase and Xbox Live demonstration, showed that Microsoft means serious business.
What's the story?
It was finally confirmed that elusive UK developers Rare - you may remember them from such games as Goldeneye and Banjo Kazooie on the N64 - have signed up to make games exclusively on Xbox. So expect to see Perfect Dark 2, new title Kameo and two or three more out in the next 24 months.
Microsoft even dragged up the notoriously shy Stamper brothers, the owners of Rare, to pose for a photo or two. As you'd expect from people who had sold their company for approx $375 million, they looked pretty happy.
Going Live?
The other big news was the announcement of the pricing and availability details for Xbox Live - the broadband only online gaming service. The system will enter a serious test phase in November before launching to retail on the 14th March 2003 in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Realising that the broadband market is still low - albeit growing - Microsoft have sensibly priced the Starter Pack at £39.99 - about the same cost as one game. The Pack includes:
A play of the former was fairly enjoyable but it is the voice communication and the potential of this technology that really excites. Imagine an online footy game with cheering, shouting and "on me 'ead son"... Unreal Championship looked decent, and will appeal to the hardcore, but it won't be until Microsoft get an online footy game or similar, that Live will really go supernova.
Finally Microsoft announced that its smaller Xbox controller, previously available only in Japan, would be available to us Europeans who don't have hands as big as Texas. Not, a place, incidentally, where you'd imagine there'd be much demand for smaller controllers.
But what about the games?
Luckily for Microsoft there was a fine showing of gaming goodies that will more than compensate for the current drought. Sudeki, a real-time slant on Final Fantasy was shown for the first time. Developed by UK team Climax, this Xbox exclusive certainly looked to be trying something new.
Other first party Microsoft games included the innovative Blinx and the WipEout stylings of Quantum Redshift as well as Brute Force, Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Midtown Madness 3, and Mech Assault.
But it is the third party games that really stood out. Perhaps top of the tree was Ubisoft's stunning spy thriller Splinter Cell. With more than a nod towards Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell takes the sneaky stealth template and throws in absolutely stunning graphics. Lighting especially is brilliantly done with the night vision effects out of this world.
But in an "Ubisoft in two good games shocker" the French publisher also showed XIII, the cel-shaded first-person-shooter. Oh, and the conversion of the epic PC RPG Morrowind looked decent too.
For more on X02 including more news on the other games shown, click here.
To see what others are saying about the Xbox and other consoles, check out the Consoles Forum
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