Xbox Live News

[Bond]

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/360/360059p1.html


Microsoft made several moves to steal the early thunder as the company kicked off the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo with several new game announcements and the unveiling of Xbox Live, the Xbox's online gaming service at a live presentation at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Roughly forty Xbox and Xbox Live games were featured in the 55 minute presentation and that crop of games was highlighted by several newly announce games that should keep Xbox owners occupied throughout the 2002 holiday season and well into 2003.


Games:

the next version of a game that rhymes with J-Lo and is made by Bungie (online with Xbox Live)

Ninja Gaiden

Half Life: Counter-Strike (online Xbox Live)

Psychonauts

Blinx: The Timesweeper

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

Tork

Midtown Madness 3 (online with Xbox Live)

Phantasy Star Online (online with Xbox Live)

Splinter Cell

Project Ego

Star Wars Galaxies

Brute Force

MechAssault

Dead to Rights

Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge

Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball

Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus

Steel Battallion

Panzer Dragoon

Project Gotham Racing (online with Xbox Live)

Amped (online with Xbox Live)

Rallisport Challenge (online with Xbox Live)

NBA Inside Drive 2003

NFL Fever 2003

Quantum RedShift

ToeJam & Earl 3

Turok Evolution

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

Kakuto Chojin

[BreakABone]

Well, this is from MS homepage. I don't know if it will be updated tomorrow or if it's up now found it at another forum.

Microsoft Unveils Xbox™ Live

Heralding the Next Frontier in Video Games

Today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Microsoft Corp. became the first video game company ever to announce a comprehensive online game service fully dedicated to fast-action, always-connected broadband gaming experiences. The online console gaming service, named Xbox™ Live, launches in North America, Japan and Europe this fall for the Xbox video game system and ramps up with consumer beta programs starting this summer.

Xbox™ Live will enable all gamers to find their friends easily; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online.

"Online technology is the next revolution in video games, and it will fundamentally transform gaming into a new form of social entertainment," said J Allard, general manager of Xbox at Microsoft. "Together with our partners we will combine exceptional gaming experiences, a world-class service and a viable business model so all parts of the online ecosystem thrive."

Jump-starting the online title announcements, Allard said Xbox™ Live will support five Xbox™ Live-exclusive games this year: "Unreal Championship" (Infogrames); and "MechAssault™," "Whacked!™," "NFL Fever 2003" and "Midtown Madness® 3" (Microsoft Game Studios). To date, 60 game companies have committed to create games for Xbox™ Live, and at least 50 Xbox™ Live-enabled games are planned to release by the end of next year. Some upcoming Xbox™ Live titles include "Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder™ 2" from Activision, Inc.; "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon™," "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six™ RavenShield™" and "XIII" from Ubi Soft; and "SEGA Sports™ NFL 2K3," "SEGA Sports™ NBA 2K3" and "Phantasy Star™ Online" from SEGA® of America, Inc. As the grand finale to the Xbox™ Live unveiling, Allard announced a lineup of games in the works for the future of the service, including "Star Wars® Galaxies™" (LucasArts Entertainment Company), "Counterstrike" (Valve Software for Microsoft Game Studios), and future versions of Xbox original blockbusters like "Halo™," "RalliSport Challenge," "Amped™" and "Project Gotham Racing™." With the service approach, Xbox™ Live is poised to deliver the most seamless, easy-to-use and consistent online gaming environment for gamers, developers and publishers alike. It was designed by gamers for gamers and includes features such as delivery of real-time scores and statistics so gamers can compare themselves to the best players in the world; quick and easy game launches; fast downloads; the ability to find friends online across games with only one click; and the ability to maintain a single identity across all games with a single password.

Microsoft is building four datacenters — in Seattle and Tukwila, WA, Tokyo and London — in order to run a scalable, secure and gamer-friendly service. Xbox will assist publishers by managing the hosting, networking, security and billing so that game creators can focus on creating awesome game content. Key, consistent features of the Xbox™ Live service across games include the following:

Gamertag. Gamertag is a gamer's unique online ID for all games across the global gaming service.
Friends list. This feature allows gamers to find friends online and invite them to a game — no matter which Xbox™ Live game they're playing.
Xbox Communicator. Voice communication is integrated with all Xbox™ Live multiplayer games and enables voice interaction with teammates and opponents. Key elements of this feature exclusive to Xbox include voice masking, global muting and parental control.
Matchmaking. QuickMatch enables players to enter a multiplay experience with a single button-click, and OptiMatch, an Xbox™ Live exclusive, helps them select games and opponents based on similar skill levels.
High-speed content downloads to the Xbox hard disk. Only Xbox offers console gamers the ability to download and permanently store both free and for-a-fee content that can include new levels, characters, missions and statistics.
Allard painted a bullish picture for the future of online console gaming and the promise of Xbox to lead the category. "Within five years every important game will be online," he said. "There will be new categories of collaborative and competitive console games that are possible only online. The ability to download new worlds, levels, characters, weapons, vehicles, teams, statistics and missions will change the way developers think about creating games, and will change the way gamers play them."

At launch, U.S. consumers can purchase a starter kit for $49.95. For the estimated retail price of a single game, the consumer receives a year's subscription to Xbox™ Live, an Xbox Communicator that plugs into the Xbox controller and facilitates all voice communication with other players, and "ReVolt," a fun online racing game from Acclaim Entertainment Inc. Pricing and specific offers in regions outside the United States will be announced locally at a later date. With a hard drive, Ethernet port and slots for the Xbox Communicator built in to all controllers, Xbox was designed by Microsoft to facilitate online play right out of the box. Moreover, with more than 20 online service sites and 270 million unique monthly users worldwide on the MSN® network of Internet services, and the No. 1 online PC gaming site with Zone.com, Microsoft is uniquely qualified by its resources and experience to lead the way in online console gaming.

Microsoft will be exhibiting new games and the Xbox™ Live online console gaming service at E3, which begins Wednesday, May 22, and runs through Friday, May 24, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. E3 is a trade show open only to professionals in the interactive entertainment industry.

[Bond]

At launch, U.S. consumers can purchase a starter kit for $49.95. For the estimated retail price of a single game, the consumer receives a year's subscription to Xbox™ Live, an Xbox Communicator that plugs into the Xbox controller and facilitates all voice communication with other players, and "ReVolt," a fun online racing game from Acclaim Entertainment Inc.
A game, starter kit, a year's subscription, and an Xbox Communicator all for $50? Wow, that's one good deal. It's also great to see that Microsoft is fully helping the developers with the online department.

[Professor S]

Gee, where's Gekko to talk about how much XBox's online plans suck now?:D

Thats what happens when you talk about something you don't know about yet, you end up looking foolish.

[Bond]

Capcom has just revealed their line up:

PlayStation 2:

Onimusha 2  August 27, 2002
Auto Modellista  winter 2002
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure  October 2002
Devil May Cry 2  winter 2002
Red Dead Revolver  winter release 2002
Catan  fall 2002
Clocktower 3  winter 2002
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2  PS2 and Xbox  fall 2002
Breath of Fire winter 2002
Dino Stalker August 2002

Xbox:
Steel Battalion in XBOX  winter 2002
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 -- fall 2002

PC:
Catan  fall 2002
Mega Man X5 -- fall
Mega Man Legends 2 -- fall
Dino Crisis 2 -- -- fall
Breath of Fire IV -- fall

Game Boy Advance:
Super Ghouls and Ghosts
Street Fighter 3 Alpha
Mega Man Zero
Mega Man Battle Network 2

GameCube:
Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO [extreme offense]  fall 2002
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

Well, basically the most support for the Playstation 2, followed by the GameCube. But at least two titles for the Xbox.

[BreakABone]

Well here are some screens from the new games

ToaFeng
http://www.newtechnix.com/Webmasters/mickurt/Images/sim-taofeng-0003.jpg

Blinx
http://www.newtechnix.com/Webmasters/mickurt/Images/sim-blinx-0001.jpg

Tork
http://www.newtechnix.com/Webmasters/mickurt/Images/sim-tork-0002.jpg

[gekko]

Originally posted by The Strangler
Gee, where's Gekko to talk about how much XBox's online plans suck now?:D

Thats what happens when you talk about something you don't know about yet, you end up looking foolish.

Just stopped by to mention how much the plans suck :D

Price wise, it's a good deal. But the rest of it suck. A new Halo this fall? I sure hope it's just Halo with online abilities. I'd hate to see Microsoft force Bungie into rushing their games and ruining their quality reputation they've developed over the years.

As for the game lineup, far from impressed. A new Halo, umm... eww? It sucks on Xbox as is, don't need another one. what they need to do is bring it back to PC where it belongs, and that will have online support anyway... for free! Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon, Half-Life, and others fall into this same category.

NFL Fever 2003, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather play Tecmo superbowl. I'd even take Madden over this game. PGR? Wasn't a big fan. Amped? Sucky.

I don't just want stupid little remakes of all Xbox's launch games, I want some new stuff. And considering this IS E3, I'm hoping to hear some. Don't get me wrong, I love online gaming, I just want someone to do it right.

And where is my keyboard Mr. Gates? huh? :mad:

Actually right now, I'm a little more impressed with PS2's online plan.

[Bond]

Originally posted by gekko


Just stopped by to mention how much the plans suck :D

Price wise, it's a good deal. But the rest of it suck. A new Halo this fall? I sure hope it's just Halo with online abilities. I'd hate to see Microsoft force Bungie into rushing their games and ruining their quality reputation they've developed over the years.

As for the game lineup, far from impressed. A new Halo, umm... eww? It sucks on Xbox as is, don't need another one. what they need to do is bring it back to PC where it belongs, and that will have online support anyway... for free! Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon, Half-Life, and others fall into this same category.

NFL Fever 2003, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather play Tecmo superbowl. I'd even take Madden over this game. PGR? Wasn't a big fan. Amped? Sucky.

I don't just want stupid little remakes of all Xbox's launch games, I want some new stuff. And considering this IS E3, I'm hoping to hear some. Don't get me wrong, I love online gaming, I just want someone to do it right.

And where is my keyboard Mr. Gates? huh? :mad:

Actually right now, I'm a little more impressed with PS2's online plan.
1. The Halo 'sequel' will be a completely new game.
2. Bungie has been working on a mysterious title for a little over two years now, it will probably be the Halo online 'sequel.'

Also, here is some new information on Microsoft's online plan:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/360/360183p1.html

"The driving force behind Xbox Live, the online gaming service by Microsoft unveiled at the company's E3 Press Conference, is getting gamers online as quickly and easily as possible. For an initial price of $49.99 this fall, gamers can purchase an Xbox Live Starter Kit, a pack that comes loaded with the Xbox Voice Communicator peripheral and a disc of Xbox Live software that will bring all of the online gaming hardware already built into the Xbox screaming to life. That $50 will get you 12 months of service, but Microsoft hasn't announced any renewal plans beyond the first year. But the company internally is close to maintaining a $9.95 per month value for the service. The potential for all kinds of soft bundles and other subscription packages with broadband service providers is tremendous, but Microsoft has held back on any such announcements. Xbox General Manager J Allard stopped short of picking a specific launch date for Xbox Live, instead opting for the solidly vague "Fall" window as the arrival time for XBL.
One solid piece of information that gamers can look forward to was the list of first party Xbox Live launch titles they'll have whenever that "Fall" launch rolls around:

Unreal Championship
Phantasy Star Online
NFL Fever 2003
MechAssault
Whacked!
Midtown Madness 3

Microsoft is counting on many more Xbox Live titles from third party companies during the launch window of the service, this distinguished list includes:


ToeJam & Earl 3: All Funked Up
Ghost Recon
Shayde: Monsters vs. Humans
NFL 2K3
Rayman Arena
Armada 2
NCAA College Basketball 2K3
Rainbow Six: Ravens Shield
Tetris Worlds
Timesplitters 2
Lamborghini
MX Superfly
XIII
NBA 2K3
Counter-Strike
Star Wars Galaxies

The list of Xbox Live titles expands to include new online versions of previously released games including Halo, Project Gotham, Amped and Rallisport Challenge. These games are still being referred to by the original names but will be reworked in some way to include and online component of one kind or another.

How it will work

Simplicity is the key to Xbox Live. Microsoft is building the entire infrastructure for its online network from scratch to make sure it has the security, reliability and functionality that the Xbox's forefathers envisioned when the system was built. Allard estimated that MS spent roughly $50 per console on hardware and pre-programming that will be used for Xbox Live. That is, every gamer out there with an Xbox is already holding all of the technology necessary for online gaming, it's just remained dormant all this time.

The Xbox Live Starter Kit disc will come with software that will activate all of those high tech innards of the Xbox in addition to taking user information such as credit card info, demographic data and the all important user ID. You'll need to have an active, paid for broadband account with some provider before launching Xbox Live since all of the registration is done online. Your user ID will be stuck with you and your account for life so choose your name wisely. You choose your password by hitting button pushes and trigger pulls on your Xbox controller. This is just one part of the "military grade" security Xbox Live is incorporating. Once your credit card info has been transmitted and charged and your account is activated, your user ID is locked onto the Xbox that created it and it can only be activated by the user and his or her unique password combo. The only way you can go on Xbox Live from another Xbox is by way of (drumroll please) the memory unit. The 8MB memory unit can save your Xbox Live user ID so that you can transport it to a friend's house for a little online double teaming.

In addition to a single unique user ID, which allows for ultra secure gaming, playing an Xbox Live game will have another important defining feature. There will be no keyboard and every single Xbox Live game, every title mentioned above, will have voice communication capabilities by definition. The Voice Communicator fits in the top slot on the Xbox controller, and in the top slot only. The sound processing is clear enough to compare favorably to the sound you might hear on mobile phone using a hands free set. Only voices of other players can be heard over the headset, all in-game music and sound effects will still come from whatever speakers you happen to be using.

In Microsoft's efforts to create a "global couch" making new friends, finding the ones you have and interacting with them is a huge focus for Xbox Live. Matchmaking comes in two varieties. Opti-Match helps you find people of your same skill level, playing the same game as you and on a connection that's suitable for steady game play. The concept of gamers balancing ping and pushing the limits of fluidity is supposed to go out the window with Xbox Live. In theory, when gamers are looking for new opponents online, they won't even see, and hence won't have to be bothered with, gamers who have too much lag for a smooth gaming experience. Quick Match is the opposite, it simply brings up the first online gaming server with an available opening as soon as you've finished selecting your character, team or car and if you say "yes" away you go.

Your user ID also tracks your stats in your games and can be expanded to include your gaming profile so that your favorite team or car or character will automatically be selected when you power up an Xbox Live game and logon. The stat tracking should be implemented at launch and will be a key factor in matchmaking. If you're a veteran Ghost Recon player with hundreds of kills under your belt, you simply won't be able to invade a game with a bunch of newbies with the idea of slaughtering at will to boost your stats even more. Your Ghost Recon gaming data is stored on your user ID on your Xbox which is read by the gaming server at the Xbox Live data center when you log on so you can't "fake" it and pretend you're a sucky player. If you're going to be attacking games full of newbies or if you're a rookie trying to hang with veterans it will have to be done via the buddy list. Meaning you'll have to make friends with a bunch of people out of your league and convince them to let you into their game. Fat chance of that happening.

Friend tracking is the other half of creating that online community. This will function more or less like an instant messenger buddy list so that you'll instantly be able to see that your friends are online and what game they're playing. You'll be able to send them an instant message for the purposes of inviting them to play a game. Your friend then has the option of replying positively to your message in which case he or she has to pop out whatever disc he or she is playing and put in the disc of the game that you're playing. Or you can simply tell your buddy to buzz off. The magic is that this is one area out of many where the Xbox Live team has set up things nice and stable the way the company wanted, but game developers will still have the freedom to implement their creativity in key areas. That is a game maker can do some creative things with the whole buddy tracking/interaction system so that rather than simply sending messages and responses, the player might be able to do something in the game that he's playing like call a timeout in a sports game or shoot a flare in an action game as a way of responding to their buddy's request for a game.

Developers will determine just how massively multiplayer their Xbox Live titles will be. The gaming servers are all controlled by Microsoft (and to some degree Sega with their crop of XBL games), so that the game creators simply have to request the bandwidth they'll need to get the desired result. NFL Fever can only support eight players on two Xboxes at the maximum and only when they're going to head to head. That is you in St. Louis can team up with your buddy in San Antonio to take on some schmuck in Santa Fe. If you and your friend want to beat up on Santa Fe, one of you is going to have to hop on a plane because cooperative gameplay in Fever can only be done with 1-4 players on one Xbox and opponent(s) on another. A game like Unreal Championship is going to have an entirely different set of rules and parameters as determined by the nature of online first person shooters."

[gekko]

Ya, the userid thing is neat. Much rather have it similar to ICQ. Account numbers, use whatever username you want, even if it's taken.

But still, I want some better games and a keyboard.

[TheGame]

Gekko, do you still believe that Nintendo has the best chance of having great online play?

Cause I sure as hell dont... I think Sony and Microsoft are really trying to make a good online network, and that will result in a simply better online network.

[Perfect Stu]

TimeSplitters 2 is exclusively online for PS2...

[gekko]

Originally posted by TheGame
Gekko, do you still believe that Nintendo has the best chance of having great online play?

Cause I sure as hell dont... I think Sony and Microsoft are really trying to make a good online network, and that will result in a simply better online network.

You make it seem like I think Nintendo will, far from what I meant.

I basically said MS and Sony's plans bite, and since nintendo is really the only one who hasn't formally announced plans, they're the only ones who have the chance to make a great network.

As for what I think will happen, I think they'll both be done kinda as trials. they'll all have their advantages and disadvantages over the others. Right now there's some things i like on Ps2, others I like on Xbox. Nintendo will probably have something I like. I really doubt any of them will make me a happy man. DC did :D

[Professor S]

If you think that the XBox's online plans suck, than I honestly don't know what to say to that and I have no idea what you are expecting. The XBox is not a PC and has no plans on being one. You want a PC gaming experience online.

You have to look at this from a console perspective, not a PC perspective. The plan is simple, cheap and has good gaming support. Perfect for a gaming console's user base.

[gekko]

You've obviously not spent much time playing DC online.

No keyboard = bad online gaming. No mouse = bad FPS and some RPGs.

Microsoft is so worried about people calling it a PC they won't release the things that make online gaming fun. No matter how good the game is, I won't be playing any FPS online with a controller often, and I'll rarely play any other game without a keyboard. Sorry, but part of online gaming is chatting. And don't even get me started on how bad FPS are without the keyboard and mouse setup.

[Professor S]

Well, why don't we wait until it goes live and see? Right now we are both speculating onb something we have not experienced yet, so we might both be talking out of our asses.