XBOX DELIVERING THE GOODS AGAIN

By Natalie Romano

Los Angeles - May 12, 2003   - With the pulsing beat of thumping trance music and flashing lights of green, Microsoft kicked off this year’s Xbox Briefing in the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Downtown Los Angeles on Monday.  It became overwhelmingly apparent that Microsoft is not yet satisfied with the features and games they introduced last year--this year, they’re upping the ante with new unique features and games that promise to change the face of gaming.

The heads of the Xbox Team Ed Fries, J. Allard and Robert Bach took to the stage and excitedly mentioned all the unique games and additions to the Xbox.

“We promised you online gaming and a slew of Xbox title releases and we delivered as promised,” Ed Fries said.  “We told you the Xbox will feature downloadable content through the Xbox Live service and we’ve done just that.  We also promised games that will push the limits of what the Xbox is capable of and we’re happy to say that these games are already on the way as we speak.”

To prove this point, trailers of new Xbox titles that will be revealed during this year’s E3 flashed across the giant screens.  The list goes as follows:

Doom 3

Project Gotham Racing 2

Star Wars: Republic Commando

True Fantasy Live Online

Breakdown

True Crime: Streets of L.A.

Conker: Live and Uncut

Soul Calibur 2

Sonic Heroes

Deus Ex: Invisible War

Crimson Skies

Voodoo Vince

Amped 2

Sudeki

StarCraft: Ghost

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Ninja Gaiden

XII

Dino Crisis 3

Fable

007: Everything or Nothing

Among the titles, the most anticipated game of next year will no doubt be Halo 2 and on hand to present the first fully functional demo was the lead game designer.  Not only does this sequel feature improved graphics, but it also introduces new gameplay features (among them, the ability to fire two weapons at the same time) that will pleasantly surprise the legions of Halo fans.

There’s also a line up of games based on this summer’s Disney movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Pixar’s Finding Nemo.  The Xbox Team also made it clear that a number of sequels will be heading our way as well, among them Amped 2 and Hunter: The Reckoning - Redeemer.  And speaking of sequels fans of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer game can look forward to Buffy 2: Chaos Bleeds.

And the Xbox Team also announced that Rareware, the good folks that brought us games like Conker’s Bad Fur Day, is joining with Microsoft to bring their unique minds to Xbox gaming.  Among these games is Conker: Live and Uncut.

Fries also introduced a new title called Music Mixer that comes complete with a microphone you plug into your console to use as a karaoke machine.  It also allows you to play DJ (mixing your favorite songs anyway you want) and VJ (adding photos to your music).

“As you can see,” said Ballard.  “The Xbox will be the leading entertainment tool in the market and these games we’ll present at this year’s E3 will prove just that.”

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