XboxActive.com

Many years ago I remember playing multiplayer Doom for the first time. I remember buying a VLB video card so I could play it at a smooth frame rate. I remember buying a 2400 baud modem and dialing into my friends PC for an all night cooperative blast fest. I remember playing until the early morning hours. When I laid my head on my pillow as the sun began to rise, with shotgun blast still ringing in my ears I knew that online play was something special.

Through the years I’ve enjoyed playing many a title over the internet. Games like Quake, Warcraft and Diablo hold a special place in my gaming memories. As time past my internet connection grew faster and the game play improved with each generation. It was always fun to decimate my virtual friends, but internet players never captured the experience of LAN (Local Area Network) gaming. It seemed less personable. Xbox Live has brought a more personable experience to the masses. Let’s look at what makes Xbox Live such an evolved experience.

First would be that Xbox Live is a broad band only service. 2400 baud was fine for a direct connect old time game like Doom, but today’s games require much more bandwidth. Even the greatly increased speed of today’s 56K modems can not provide a fun experience for today’s online titles. That’s why MS has limited there network to broad band only users. This will ensure the best possible game play available today.

People that have used modems online with today’s titles can tell you how lag has effected there experiences. Lag is a term used when you see a delay on screen from the actions you’ve performed. In some cases opponents will disappear and reappear in new locations. This effect makes the game nearly unplayable. Does this mean that there will never be any lag on Xbox Live? No, unfortunately no system is completely lagged free. Microsoft has spent an exceeding amount of money to make sure that they will provide a lag free experience. Unfortunately Microsoft can not control your personal bandwidth. If there is a high amount of traffic in your area when playing you may still see some lag. No system is perfect, but Xbox Live is the closest thus far.

Secondly, the Xbox comes with all the hardware needed to play on Xbox Live. You won’t need to purchase any additional items to play any title online. Conversely, Sony’s PS2 and Nintendo’s Gamecube require that you purchase a modem or broad band adapter to play online. The Xbox also comes with a hard drive for saving downloadable content, such as additional levels.

Thirdly, the Xbox comes with the Xbox Communicator. This device is an ear piece that allows you to talk to you opponents. This is probably the best innovation that the Xbox Live experience can offer. Now you no long need to type to your friend or foe. This adds much more personality to online gaming. When you burn their receivers in Fever you can hear them gasp with disbelief. When you’re closing in on them in Moto GP you can break their concentration as you pass them on the next turn.

The Xbox Communicator will truly shine on the battlefield. Imagine if you will, gathering four of your closest friends together for a game of Ghost Recon. Your mission is to rescue hostages from a heavily guarded installation where stealth is paramount. You could split into two groups and have one group act as your eyes, pin pointing guard movements and guiding your strike team into position. The Xbox Communicator will allow you to use actual military tactics in a virtual world. Or you could just use it to chat. How you use this technology is up to you.

Finally, what would Xbox Live be with out the games? Microsoft will not disappoint in this respect. With the launch or near launch of Xbox Live you’ll have eight titles to choose from. You’ll have sports titles like NFL Fever 2003, SEGA Sports NFL 2K3, SEGA Sports NBA 2K3 and SEGA Sports NHL 2K3. You’ll be able to feed your need for speed with Moto GP. Or you could quench you blood lust with the likes of Unreal Championship, Ghost Recon and MechAssault. Or have some zany Xbox Live fun with the game show mimicked Whacked. Even the soon to be released Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell will allow for downloadable content such as new missions and equipment.

At this point you’re probably thinking, “That’s great but how much is this going to cost me?” What if I told you that for the price of one game you could get access to this service for one year? This is what you get for $49.99. You get one year of Xbox Live service, the Xbox Communicator and online demos of both Moto GP and Whacked.

But most importantly you get the peace of mind of a military grade security system that Microsoft has implemented. The reason that Microsoft has gone to such great lengths to secure Xbox Live is two fold, first and for most is so that you have peace of mind when submitting your personal information when signing up for Xbox Live. Secondly these security measure will ensure a cheat free environment. Cheaters have ruined many online games because to much of the games code is available to hackers. Microsoft will limit your ability to manipulate the games inner workings. So if someone just beat you 50 – 3 in Fever you have know one to blame but yourself.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been playing Xbox Live as part of the Beta program and can tell you from experience that Xbox Live is the best online system available anywhere. I’ll be on Xbox Live for as long as they offer it. I hope to see your there. I’ll be the one capturing your flag. Charlie team, out.

XBOX LIVE Launch titles:

NFL Fever 2003: Microsoft’s exclusive football title is Xbox Live ready! Compete online against football fanatics from around the country, download roster updates, and because Xbox Live tracks players’ wins and losses, see if a potential opponent is a champ or a chump.

Unreal Championship: The graphically stunning Unreal series—the award winning pioneer of online gaming—comes to Xbox Live. Combining a brilliant single-player experience with unparalleled multiplayer, Unreal® Championship is the first-person shooter that takes sports combat to the next level.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Join the elite U.S. Army Green Berets, and work with other players to stop war brewing on the borders of Russia. Patience and skill are of the essence—snap the wrong twig, and you could send a teammate home in a body bag.

SEGA Sports NFL 2K3: Xbox is the only console that enables owners of SEGA Sports NFL 2K3 to talk smack while running up the score on their online opponents. You can also update your rosters with Xbox Live downloads. This version sports the popular ESPN license.

MechAssault: Jump into the 31st century, and take control of a 40-foot walking tank known as a BattleMech. Xbox Live brings a compelling storyline to explosive life. Players can battle friends or enemies online, taunt them in real time, download new ‘Mechs and missions, and much more!

SEGA Sports NBA 2K3: Sega’s winning basketball series features a revamped passing game, all new low-post moves, more player animations, and real NBA playbooks. This is the only basketball game where players can talk up their game to their buddies while playing online.

Whacked!: Up to eight players can compete through Xbox Live in this zany combat game. Access over 40 weapons and power-ups to defeat your opponents. Online multiplayer modes include the likes of Combat, Chicken, King of the Hill, Grab ‘n Run, Fragfest, and Dodgeball.

MotoGP: Online Demo: Up to 16 players can compete at once in this ultra-realistic motorcycle racing game exclusively on Xbox Live. Talk trash with the three riders closest to you, see how you rank against your friends or the world, and even create your own custom voice masks.

Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO: Gamers have come to expect incredible fighters from both of the legendary Capcom and SNK franchises. For the first time ever in North America, players will compete head-to-head across the Internet via Xbox Live. Do you think you have what it takes to become the best fighter in the world?

SEGA Sports NCAA College Basketball 2K3: Expect the true college basketball experience with this latest hoops title coming to your university this December. The game features over 300 I-A teams, including their rowdy arenas, team-specific cheers, and fight songs.

SEGA Sports NHL 2K3: NHL 2K3 marks the appearance of the first online console hockey game ever, and it’s only playable through Xbox Live. The Xbox version of Sega’s latest hockey title allows up to eight players (four on each Xbox) to compete online. Sega will also provide downloadable roster updates throughout the NHL regular season.

Interview with Mustapha Bismi, gaming programmer at 4X Technologies and owner of online roulette dot ca.

XboxActive.com: First off, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at 4X Technologies?
Mustapha Bismi: First of all, 4X Technologies and 4X Studio are two distinct entities of the same company. But we have two different activities. 4XTechnologies make technologies for video games. For example, 4XMovie is a video codec for PS2, PC and game boy advance.

4XStudio is a video game studio. We have two games in preparation for Wanadoo Edition (Iron Storm and Jack the ripper). It’s not the same

As far as I am concerned, I am a game programmer for 4XStudio. I was in charge of AI and physics on another project (I can’t reveal what it is), and now I am in charge of Times of trouble.

XboxActive.com: What is your background in gaming, and which other titles have you worked on?
Mustapha Bismi: Two years ago, I worked on a adventure title “The Insider” for a little company in France (Dramaera), but the project was interrupted. After that, I have done a little bit of R&D before joining 4XStudio.

XboxActive.com: Where did the initial ideas for Times of trouble come from?
Mustapha Bismi: Benoit Onillon (lead graphics and initial game design writer). I have a long time passion for console RPG (from Chrono trigger to FFX), and I always thought it was possible to make an RPG-like game with a more personal (European?) design and a more action oriented gameplay, while keeping all the charm of a complex scenario and the immersive universe of a classic RPG. Here is beginning of the project…

XboxActive.com: How did 4X Technologies get involved in developing games for Xbox?
Mustapha Bismi: 4X Technologies have ported 4XMovie for Xbox. We have been really impressed by this platform…

XboxActive.com: What is the story and who are you playing as in Times of Trouble?
Mustapha Bismi: You are going to play a lot of different people, with different motivation and history, but the central plot turns around the story of Zak, a young boy. For the rest, I can’t say more at the moment.

XboxActive.com: Will Times of Trouble be identical on all systems it is to be released upon? If not, what will be different?
Mustapha Bismi: We have a lot of experience in cross platform. I have an accurate conscience of problems involved by a multi-platform game. For the moment, the game is just at the beginning, but we really want to get the best gaming experience for all players and for each platform. We have all needed tools for adapting graphical assets or FX on each platform. But it also depends on what the editors want… And an editor is exactly what we need now…

XboxActive.com: Did you find any system easier to work with than the others? If so which was the easiest, hardest and why?
Mustapha Bismi: Xbox is certainly the easiest platform to program with. It’s really done for the developer. But, when you begin to really know how the PS2 works, you must admit that it is not so bad…

XboxActive.com: Can you describe the gameplay modes in greater detail?
Mustapha Bismi: Nope… Sorry!

XboxActive.com: Will the combat interface be turn based, real-time or a combination of the two?
Mustapha Bismi: Everything will be in real-time. Turn based fight is exactly what we don’t want…

XboxActive.com: Will the weapons system be based in technology, magic or another form?
Mustapha Bismi: Well, they are going to be a lot of interesting things in weapons and magic (like a combo), but we want the game to be really easy to take in hand. No complex configuration of weapon/armour/magic…

XboxActive.com: How many hours of game play can we expect from Times of trouble?
Mustapha Bismi: No information about it for know…

XboxActive.com: Will Times of trouble support HDTV standards and/or 5.1 surround sound?
Mustapha Bismi: If the hardware can…

Every few years, a new, more powerful console comes out with “better graphics, game play and sound” and if history is any indication to the future (well duh) many people will go out and buy the new console.

But, is there going to be a point when consoles just can’t go any faster or give any more features? Console manufacturers may be able to make the unit display more colors, play better sound and make images move faster and smoother to a point, but it is the limitation of our own bodies that may spell the end of “better” gaming consoles.

The human eyes can detect 10 million colors (give or take a few hundred), the ears can hear only a small spectrum of sound and our nerves can only send signals to our hands so fast. If a super console was made with 20 million colors and a huge sound range, our eyes wouldn’t be able to see the improvements and our ears wouldn’t be able to hear them either.

The only way the gaming world can be saved is a console that pushes the human senses to their limit and new, better original games that spark longer interest in playing the console and the game.

I doubt we will see the “final point” gaming consoles anytime soon, but it is something to think about.

***UPDATE***

The year is 2012, and from a quick look at sites like www.online-casino-canada.ca you don’t have to be a gaming expert to tell that there wasn’t any break through in the graph design over the past decade. This trend doesn’t look any different when looking at other gaming sites like the Canada online casino or any other “market leaders”.

XboxActive.com: First off, could you please give us some information about yourself and what you do at Bethesda Softworks.
Pete Hines: I’m the Director of Marketing and Public Relations. In addition to handling all of the marketing and PR, I do some playtesting for Morrowind, I’m writing the manual, and editing and doing some writing for the official strategy guide.

XboxActive.com: Could you give us an overview of the game? I.e.; story line, goals, and the overall goal.
Pete Hines: Morrowind is a massively single-player role-playing game. We create a big virtual world with lots of people and things to do and allow you to live in this world any way you want. The goal if for you to have fun, whether that be solving the main quest or wandering around doing whatever you like. Solve problems, dungeon crawl, mix and sell potions for a living…whatever you want. The main quest in the game has to do with The Blight – a disease cloud that is spewing out of a large volcano in the center of the island. You’ll be asked to figure out who’s behind it.

XboxActive.com: What is some of the background on the levels in Morrowind? What was some of the inspiration for the creation of the levels and the components based in each one?
Pete Hines: Morrowind isn’t made of levels. The first thing the designers did was not to write a bunch of quests, but instead they worked on creating this world. Who lives in Morrowind? What do the towns look like? What are the factions at work here? What do the people want? Once we got all of that in place, then we start creating things for the player to do as it relates to all of these people. So rather than seeing all of these people and towns and having them be mere scenery, they’re a big part of what you do.  

XboxActive.com: What made you choose to develop Morrowind on Xbox over other next generation consoles like GameCube? What does both the hardware of the Xbox console and the XDK offer you that other systems don’t?
Pete Hines: The Elder Scrolls had only been done for PCs previously. Morrowind was designed with the PC in mind because there were no consoles that would allow us to make the game we wanted to make. When Xbox came on the scene and we saw what it could do, we realized that Morrowind would work on it and we wouldn’t have to change the game. We wanted to bring a fun, and very different, RPG to the console market because we think people are really going to be intrigued by how new and different it is from anything they’ve experienced before.

Morrowind is a huge game, so the big thing for us was memory and hard drive space. The specs were Xbox were what we needed to bring Morrowind to console gamers, and now we will.

XboxActive.com: Could you tell us about the audio and its features in Morrowind?
Pete Hines: All of the NPCs have spoken dialog for greetings and combat. There are lots of ambient sound effects that really add to the realistic look and feel of the game. The Morrowind soundtrack was done by award-winning musician and composer, Jeremy Soule. It’s a great soundtrack and fits in perfectly with the game.

XboxActive.com: How far developed is Morrowind at the moment?
Pete Hines: We are in the final stages of testing and balancing the game.

XboxActive.com: What are some of the characteristics of the A.I. built into the game in regards to characters, creatures and surroundings?
Pete Hines: Characters are set up so you never know what to expect. For example, you may decide to walk up to someone punch his lights out or smack him with your sword.  One character will call for the guards and you’ll be in big trouble. Another guy may decide to fight for himself and teach you a lesson without calling a guard. If you’re being attacked by a creature and run into a town, the town guards will help you fight the creature. Again, we’re trying to create an immersive world where things revolve around the way you play the game, and we don’t want you to know what’s going to happen if you try to pick someone’s pocket and get caught. Maybe they’ll call for help (probably), maybe they won’t.

XboxActive.com: Approx. how many hours of game play will Morrowind provide?
Pete Hines: It can take around 100 hours to finish the main quest. There’s probably upwards of 500 hours of gameplay for a single game, depending on what you decide to do.

XboxActive.com: Could you tell us any information on differences between the PC and Xbox versions?
Pete Hines: Other than the interface and control differences, the game is exactly the same on PC and Xbox. We haven’t removed a single quest or object from the game.

Microsoft has already announced that Xbox will not ship with DVD movie playback until the remote control add on is purchased to activate this feature, but is this a wise decision?

Why Microsoft will deny playback of The Matrix on Xbox until we pay more is anyone’s guess, but we will discuss possible reasons.

1. DVD is one of the fastest audio visual formats to be adopted in homes all over the world. Therefore people who already have a DVD player wont need this extra feature, which could make the Xbox more expensive if it were shipped with the feature.

2. Let’s just say, people don’t want the feature at all… They don’t have a stand-alone DVD player and they don’t want the extra cost on the Xbox for the feature. This is a highly unlikely event however.

This decision is probably wise in the long run, and it is only a small inconvenience and cost for those who want DVD playback on their Xbox console. I have heard that the add on will not be sold until a few months after the release of the console to keep people buying games instead of DVD movies, pulling the money away from the console’s original purpose.

The cost of the remote control add on is expected to cost US$20-40 which really isn’t a huge amount of money in return for the feature the same as a stand-alone DVD player which could cost you upwards of US$500. Xbox will play DVD movies in a higher resolution than PlayStation 2 as well.

All this said, when I get my Xbox I will certainly be buying the DVD movie playback option.

We recently had the chance to sit down and chat with Scot Lane, Senior Producer for Interplay. We talk about their upcoming title Hunter: The Reckoning and also gain a few exclusive screenshots of the game. Read on to see what he says…

XboxActive.com: Could you give us a little info about yourself and what your role is at Interplay?
Scot Lane: I’m Scot Lane, Senior Producer for Interplay. I’ve been in the industry for about 12 years and worked for; Mindscape, Software Toolworks, The Upper Deck Company, Sierra, and now Interplay.

XboxActive.com: What is your background in gaming, and which other titles have you worked on?
Scot Lane: I’ve been a gamer most of my life, playing games back on the Colecovision, old Atari system, Mac’s, Com64, etc… I’ve worked on lots of games, most recently Virtual Pool 3 featuring Jeanette Lee.  

XboxActive.com: Can you give us a little detail on what it was like creating this game using the Xbox hardware?
Scot Lane: The experience has been out of this world! The team had an easy time with the tools. The system really allows the artist to go crazy with textures and poly’s making a beautiful rich game. 

XboxActive.com: Will Hunter: The Reckoning take advantage of the Xbox’s Dolby Digital 5.1. Surround sound compatibility? Do you think Dolby Digital 5.1. Surround sound is necessary to make a gaming experience better?
Scot Lane: Hunter will definitely take advantage of DD-5.1. I don’t know if it is necessary, but I feel it adds a level of depth to games that do support it.

XboxActive.com: How long has Hunter: The Reckoning been in development?
Scot Lane: Hunter has been in development for 14 fun filled months.

XboxActive.com: In detail, could you tell us what Hunter: The Reckoning is about?
Scot Lane: Hunter is a fast paced action game set in White Wolf’s World of Darkness. Basically, an evil Vampire has taken over a small prison town and the Hunter’s are drawn there to help stop the evil from spreading. The game can be played with 1-4 players on a shared screen, reminiscent of Gauntlet and Smash TV. We allow users full control over their Hunter. We allow you to run in one direction and shoot in another. You also can cast edges (magic spells) and use several special weapons ranging from machine guns to flamethrowers. Throughout the game you can expect to encounter hordes of monsters which is very exciting. The game also has missions, for example on one level you’ll have to escort a young girl through a cemetery and get her safely to her parents. All in all there is a cool story, lots of fun gameplay elements including 4 players on a shared screen with great sounds and loads of action!

XboxActive.com: Where did the initial ideas for Hunter: The Reckoning come from?
Scot Lane: Hunter: The Reckoning is based on White Wolf’s pen and paper game. The concept for the game was based on that, however, the game has a much faster pace and less RPG elements.

XboxActive.com: What type of characters will we see in this game, and what will be their roles?
Scot Lane: We have 4 playable characters:

• Spenser “Deuce” Wyatt”, he is from the Avenger Creed. Spenser is the big guy you’d like on your side for a fight. He’ll will plough through monsters with his axe and has offensive minded spells.

• Samantha Alexander, she is from the Defender Creed. Samantha was a cop and she is the balanced character. She’s good with her Katana as well as her pistol. Her spells are defensive minded, so expect her to be the healer of the group.

• Father Esteban Cortez, he is from the Judge Creed. Father Cortez was the Chaplain at the prison the Vampire took over and he’s the character that tells the story. He carries a crossbow and nice long sword. His strengths are in his edge abilities and they are very powerful.

• Kassandra Cheyung, she is from the Martyr Creed. She is the speedster/martial artist. Extremely fast and has very cool moves. Kassandra carries two pistols or knives. She likes to use her pistols and can get off a lot of shots in a short period of time. Her spells take a health sacrifice, but they make her faster and more resilient.

Xbox. It’s now available in Australia. Just one and a half months before the March 14th launch, I had gotten my first hands on demo of the Xbox at Microsoft HQ Sydney’s “Xbox Room”. But then, I only had brief look at what the system could do, and they were NTSC (American) units.

Microsoft has sent me a PAL (Australian) Xbox for review, and I feel compelled to update and compare my thoughts to my initial views originally outlined in Australian Perspective: Inside the Xbox Room.

At my demo in the Xbox room, I couldn’t see the hardware well (the room was black-lit) and due to time constraints (damn work!) I only got to play Munch’s Oddysee, DOA3 and Project Gotham. Now I can see everything. In this article, I will mainly talk about the hardware and built-in Xbox software. I will address the games in reviews of mine, soon to be published. Some of this stuff Xbox owners will already know, but I want to share my entire Xbox experience… And hopefully Xbox newcomers will get the gist of what to expect.

Opening the box…
After opening the larger shipping box my Xbox and games were contained in (and following some prolonged crazy tap-dancing in the living room, plus calling Blair up to thank her about 500 times for helping me out) I got down to business. I cut the plastic seal over the corner of the Xbox packaging and opened it up. Facing me was the Xbox controller contained within the retail packaging. I slid the top styrofoam packing off and removed the Xbox. Such a nice looking piece of hardware, although I do wonder what ever happened to the original “jewel” on the console. After taking it out of the plastic bag and taking of the strange sticky plastic type material of the top of the console, I set it down beside my new 51cm LG Flatron TV .

Setup was an absolute breeze. My TV, although standard, accepts component inputs for higher quality vision, so I purchased an HDTV cable pack before plugging anything in. I hooked the HDTV cable pack to the back of my TV via the 5 RCA connections (3 video inputs, left and right audio) and then the cable to the Xbox. Then the power cable. I set my TV to access the “Component” channel, and pressed the Xbox power button. The green Xbox startup logo appeared then dropped me into the first time startup setup menu. First, language settings, then time and date. Simple enough.

After finishing setup of the Xbox, the main Xbox menu was displayed. From here I looked around at what was in the Music and Memory sections had in them, which wasn’t much since I’d only just started out with the unit.

The design of the console is very nice. It looks pretty futuristic and mysterious sitting amongst all my other entertainment gear. The “heat sink” style sides that hide the venting, the front of the console with silver buttons and the green jewel all make it a unique piece of hardware in the looks department.

Play that DVD again, Sam…
I purchased a DVD remote to play DVD movies on my new Xbox. Installation was, again, extremely simple. Simply take the receiving unit of the kit, plug it into your choice of controller port (number four is my choice by the way), insert a DVD movie and use the remote controller. Although, do remember you must buy batteries (AAA) for the controller… I thought they might have been included, which would have been a nice extra, but oh well, $1 later at the local bargain shop and I had some.

Now, to my biggest gripe I have with Xbox. The HDTV cable pack in Australia is not fully compatible with most TV’s that support component inputs, or HDTV for that matter. Microsoft Australia has provided information regarding this problem, and has said the “Advanced AV Pack” is more appropriate for use in this country. Some reasons behind this is that apparently the HDTV output is mainly based on another system which is not very compatible with standards in Australia.

The way this has affected me, while not major, is a little disappointing. Games display beautifully on my TV through the component inputs, there is absolutely no trouble there. However, playing a DVD movie on the TV through the component inputs results in *extremely* jagged edges on anything appearing on screen caused by difficult to see lines on the picture. This phenomenon is apparently referred to as the “Chroma Upsampling Error”.

The reason this is disappointing is that, my TV only has component inputs, so the offer of replacing my HDTV pack with the “Advanced AV Pack” with S-Video output is not an option. I would like to note that while the jagged edges only appear on DVD movies played back through the component outputs of the Xbox, composite, S-Video and SCART all apparently address this issue. The only way I get around this annoying side-effect is to plug the standard cable into my TV when I want to watch a DVD movie, and leave the component cables on when playing games (better quality on games).

Those who have an HDTV pack for use with their HDTV, or component compatible TV (in Australia only) and are having problems, if you have another input option such as S-Video or SCART, you should contact the Xbox customer support line who will help sort out replacing your HDTV pack with the Advanced AV Pack (which also has an optical output for DD5.1). This problem should not affect too many though, as televisions with component inputs are not widespread in Australia.

Despite the set back regarding the component outputs, DVD movies play crisp and smooth, you could say flawlessly through the other connections. The options are easily accessible through the “Display” button on the remote. Zoom options are cool, but not necessary. It would have been better if they included the option to zoom 2.35:1 ratio movies up to 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced), as well as the full-screen zoom.

The DVD remote controller fits the shape of the hand nicely, and most functions are available through the buttons. A couple of things notably missing are a “Power Off” and “Eject” button. If those buttons were included, it would have made the controller more “complete” in my opinion.

Apart from the problems with the HDTV cable pack in relation to DVD movies, Xbox features very solid DVD movie playback, comparable to stand-alone players, even when the Xbox is plugged into the standard (composite) video connection. Thus, I have no doubt that it would look even better through either the S-Video or SCART connections.

You know what?! You’re just a controller!
Amid all the console bashing happening out there, there is one particular thing anti-Xbox fan-boys love to make fun of. The controller. Which is really a shame, because I think the Xbox controller is one of the best and most comfortable console gaming controllers available.

My hands are big (normal size for a 19 y/o guy, I reckon), and I find the controller extremely comfortable. Whether it be for a short fight in Dead or Alive 3, or an all night session of Halo.

The two side grips make the controller seem to disappear, as though it has become an extension of my hands. Both the digital and dual analogue controls have been placed well to ensure cramping, or having to stretch the fingers and thumbs is not necessary. The A, B, X, and Y buttons are placed and spaced nicely so that they are also easily accessible and distinguishable. The only problem I see with the controller is that the Black and White buttons have been placed just out of comfortable reach, so sometimes you must move your hand a little to reach either of them.

The pressure sensitive triggers are great, and allow you more control over details that are important. For example, acceleration and braking in Project Gotham and RalliSport Challenge.

After playing Halo for nearly more than 5 hours straight at one period (pretty silly of me… lol),  after finishing up, I had only very minor discomfort in my thumb, which was probably from my trying to get my thumb to perform impossible feats to stop the Master Chief dying. This is an achievement in human interface technology regarding video game consoles. Just playing a PS2 with their standard controller for 30mins was sometimes enough to have both my thumbs feeling sore.

From my Xbox room demo, I did think the triggers may have been a little tight, but once I got used to them I don’t seem to notice. Also, I remember saying that the controller’s jewel looked a little cheap from my Xbox room demo, but, now I can see it in full light, the jewel looks pretty decent. I think it is good that the controller’s jewel color and design is different to the console’s, it just adds that nice little bit of contrast.

Everybody rip it up!
Ripping music. Insert an audio CD, the Xbox will detect it and automatically begin playing it. Stop the music playback, press “Back” and you are given the option to either “Play” or “Copy”. Select “Copy” and you will be asked which soundtrack collection to put it in or make a new collection. After that, select which tracks you wish to copy from the CD to your Xbox hard-drive and select “Copy”. Copying will commence and your Xbox will display a progress bar. Once the music has been copied to the hard disk, you can rename it, play it in supporting games, play it back from the Xbox Dashboard, copy it or delete it.

As you can see, music functionality with Xbox is quite straight forward. The only thing it is missing is fast-forward… You can skip tracks, but if you want to get to a certain part of the song you are playing, tough.

Xbox does not support the majority of CDR, but it does support a lot of CDRW discs… I use Ricoh CDRW media, and it works fine. But, *shh* don’t tell anyone

Memories… Light the corners of my Xbox…
Now we come to memory management. Each time you put a game in your Xbox, it will usually stick a little game icon in your Xbox’s memory. In there, every time you save a game, it will be displayed under that icon. If you are not using the game’s memory management, and just want to quickly clean up all your Xbox game saves, Xbox’s built-in memory management helps. You can delete or copy games from either your Xbox hard-disk or memory cards using this management system. Again, really straight forward.

Getting There
It’s a hot summer’s day. I am in the car looking for Microsoft’s Sydney Office for my long awaited Xbox demo. After I passed a tree in the heavy traffic, it revealed a large building with an equally humongous “Microsoft” logo on the side. Thinking this must be it, I thought “We’ll just turn off here then”.

After calling my PR contact, Blair, she told me to go inside and ask for Aaron, the person giving my Xbox demo. Blair said she would be there soon to meet me. I walked in and spoke to the very nice lady at reception who signed me in. Then I waited in a large black padded chair until Aaron arrived a few minutes later. We shook hands, and then he led me to the elevator.

Up we went, before the lift stopped and we got out (naturally). We turned a corner, and there they were… The doors to the Xbox Room. Frosty white glass with a large green Xbox jewel emblazoned upon them. Aaron opened the doors and we step inside.

The Room
It’s dark, but has a dark purple air about it. Black light. The green highlights on my new shirt immediately and unexpectedly begin emitting a bright fluorescent green light. We are in a short, but wide corridor showcasing the finalists and winner of the Xbox Australia Art Competition. A few of the art pieces glowed purple.

At the end of the corridor was another set of doors, but this time just painted wooden ones. As I got closer to them, I anticipated what was behind them more and more… And then the doors were finally opened….

The lighting is the same as in the corridor. To the right is a green wall with the letters “XBOX” protruding from it. On the left, an Xbox retail setup, with shelving, brochures, posters and other Xbox paraphernalia.

Walking further in, to the left is an Xbox “bar” (no, there was no alcohol) with larger “XBOX” letters protruding from the green wall behind it and a door to the store room.

And finally, straight ahead at the end of the room are four Xbox units arranged in an in-ward facing semi-circle. Each unit has its own Panasonic Plasma TV screen and Panasonic Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder with speakers. In front of each unit is a black two seater lounge. In the middle of the four units is a large projection screen showing the current on-screen action from the third unit (left to right).

From left to right, the first Xbox unit had Halo on it, the second Dead or Alive 3 and the third unit had Project Gotham Racing playing. The fourth Xbox was turned off.

Near the Xbox units are two metal tables with flat panel TV screens inside them, displaying footage from many various Xbox games.

The Demo
Aaron asked whether I’d like to start playing, or whether I wanted him to demo it to me first. I asked him if he could just give me a brief overview of everything, and then I’d have a go at it.

Aaron demoed Halo for me first, showing me the different levels, campaigns, etc and then playing on one of the levels. Aaron showed me how all the rocks, ground and just about anything else you can imagine is “bump mapped”, creating the illusion of a real surface on the screen.

Next up was Dead or Alive 3, in which he just demoed some sparring moves in a few different levels.

The final demo was Project Gotham. Aaron asked me to please excuse his driving, as traffic cones, and all manner of objects flew around as he ploughed through them Then, to demo that all the cars have realistic damage in Project Gotham, he rear-ended a guard rail with the Ferrari F50! It caused a rather large dent in the back of the car… I’d hate to think of how much it would have cost to repair.

The Controller
The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the controller was. It wasn’t as big as I thought, since many people said it was “bigger than big” and was rather cumbersome. The overall feel of the controller was very good. It felt very sturdy and high quality in it’s manufacture. The buttons and thumbsticks were placed well for the position of my hands… Except the black/white buttons, those were a little difficult to press without taking your hand off the controller and moving your thumb just that little bit further.

The length of the connection cord was perfect! I have been waiting so long for the designers of a console to figure out that not everyone has a lounge only 2 feet away from the TV! I can imagine I will get a lot of use out of having a longer cord like that… Yay! I can be lazy and play my Xbox in bed! Finally!

All the buttons and both the thumbsticks felt very good to use (i.e. move them around, press them, etc), although from memory I thought the triggers might have been just a little bit tight. There was only one small thing that I didn’t like about the controller (and this is really small), the Xbox jewel on the controller looked a little cheap. Under the lighting (I couldn’t see it that well), it appeared the jewel was simply a black Xbox sticker with a small clear plastic dome. Oh well, it is a very small concern in comparison to the excellent quality of the controller on a whole.

The Xbox controller is awesome in my opinion… My hands didn’t once get sore playing with controller during the demo, unlike other console controllers that have left me with sore fingers after only 30 minutes of play.

The Console
Then, the Xbox unit itself… Again, not as big as I thought it would be… Damn those rumor mongers! It is slightly bigger than other consoles, but not that big. Personally, I thought the size was just about right for all the components inside. It’s about the same depth as my VCR, a little smaller in width and perhaps a tiny bit taller. One thing that surprised me, and I know this sounds stupid but, I thought the power and eject buttons were the kind you had to press into the unit a little bit to operate, but on closer inspection, they’re clicker buttons. Awesome.

Feeling the top of the unit revealed it ran very cool, despite having been on for who knows how many hours. When a game was initially loading, you could hear the hard disk chattering away quietly, but the unit is overall very silent in its operation.

As far as appearances go (now that I have seen it with my own two eyes), I think it is one of the best looking video game consoles to be released yet. The green jewel with silver lettering, the jet black casing with the heat sink style sides and the green light around the silver eject button adds some style to it too.

Microsoft came to E3 with full force and confirmed that they will be the number 1 console on the market. The Xbox is due for a November 8^th release date at the price of $299, with a total of 15 to 20 titles at launch. Xbox is ready for gamers. At E3 the Xbox had a huge amount of playable titles with great appeal to viewers/gamers. In general the visual aspect of the games were just phenomenal. All in the games that where playable where prototypes (but so were Nintendo?s). The software giant seems to be putting a lot of hard work into what they’re doing, and Xbox just shined at E3. There is something that Microsoft can say: Our console is done. The games are on their way, so get ready! But I better get to the best parts of E3…

Online Plans
Microsoft announced their online strategies with the Xbox. According to Microsoft, there will be no need for extra accessories to make an online connection. Their idea is that the gamer should not use a keyboard, but their voice as their communicating tool. This online connection will be used for gaming and nothing more. There will be no email or a browser. Also added was that there will be downloads for every game, so that the titles stay fresh and fun. In the words of Robbie Bach, ?The game will be infinite?. Currently, 27 developers are creating online compatible titles for the Xbox. At E3, three titles were online based. Those being: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2X, Nascar Heat and Halo.

Some developers also announced their support for Xbox at E3.

Capcom
The big news announced was that Capcom announced their part on the Xbox software with a total of 3 titles announced. One of the titles announced for the Xbox was the PS2 hit which sold millions of copies, Genma Onimusha. Dino Crisis 3 and a brand new title by Shinji Mikami called Brain Box which will be a robot simulator, and a title that will only come out for the Xbox, were also announced.

Sega
One of the moments that created the most commotion at the conference was when Peter Moore, President of Sega America, announced their Xbox titles. Four of these titles being online titles. Due to launch sometime in 2002, the games are: NFL 2k3, NBA 2k3, WSB 2k3, NCAA 2k3. With all of these titles announced, there were more, Crazy Taxi Next and House of the Dead 3.

Big Blue Box
Peter Molyneux, the brains behind the PC hit Back & White, announced a new game called Project Ego (code name) by Big Blue Box. Being the second release for the company, this game takes place in medieval times, with amazing graphics and so much more. While not much is known about the title it self, all the is know about the game is that it?s just plain amazing.

The Games
Now I will give a little info on the titles announced at this year’s event. At E3 the first titles announced were: “Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon”, where the martial arts master will come back in the form of a video game. 

Another title announced was Shrek. The game will be nothing like the movie because both the movie and the game were developed at around the same time. The only problem is that around the time the game launches, the movie will have been out six months prior to it. 

A.I. was also announced for the Xbox. The title will be an Xbox exclusive. Based on the long awaited movie directed by Steven Spielberg co-written by the late Stanley Kubrick. Steven showed interest and says that he awaits long success for the title.

Airforce Delta 2
The game offers fast passed action, magnificent diversion and graphs. The adventure brings elements of the real world with current enemies and aircraft. The Huntings had been shaped to the perfection and seem accurate copies of the true ones. The migration of the series for the Xbox also brought better textures of sky, clouds. Effect of brightness of the sun to give realism to the action.  Five aircraft are confirmed. Some are Huntings F/A-18 Hornet and F-14 Tomcat, e A-10 Thunderbolt, for you to bomb those cursed tanks. Certainly it will have more aircraft in the final version of the game.

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Amped breaks the mold established for the industry and creates a game that is alone of freestyle, as you go down mountains and only make maneuvers, Real snowboarders are able to do in real life.The objective of the game is to become appraised snowboarder of the world through bold maneuvers. Sound is not a problem in Amped. The game will have 150 sound tracks that could be organized to the taste of the customer. All the bands are of independent stamps E. You will be able to record music in format MP3 on the hard-drive of the console to create your own music to be played during the game. Amped will be the first game on Xbox to have this feature.

Azurik: Rise of Perathia
In Azurik, players must protect the natural elements (water, land, fire and air) they are under the threat of a terrible prophecy. The question how much it stands out many of the features that Azurik has in common with Zelda: a persistent world, where everything that you make is stored (for example, if you cut a tree, and you continue on, when you to come back later it?s still cut), fully interactive environments and enemies with weak points that make necessary tactics beyond consequences.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Based on one season of the series, the heroine will still be in Sunnydale, and some of the environments where it will venture itself include the school, the house of it, the square of the city, shopping center, boat, and clearly, the cemetery. Buffy?s friends will be in the adventure: Angel, Cordelia, Giles, Willow, Oz and Xander.

Dead or Alive 3
Tecmo have spoken badly of the Xbox as for the economic model of production, but the software team did not save compliments to the hardware.  Some new personages show that the trend for endowed  girls continues, and as well as in its predecessor, the visual effects already make an impression. Either breakable hair, light, water or objects, the new version promises to be better in the small details.

eRacer
Despite the generic name, to eRacer it offers something sufficiently original: a mixture of elements online that promise to place the competition in desperation. The idea is simple, to make a game of conventional racing, with the old story of winning races to open slots and to gain money to improve the vehicles. eRacer is component online to make other games envy.

Through votes in the Internet, updates will be possible to choose which the Rage will make after that. With this, it will be possible to lower new carriages and slots constantly; besides participating in championships where participants compare times. The Rage intends to stimulate the creation of teams for competitions, in the same style of the clans of Quake.

Halo
In a planetary battle between human beings and a race known only as Covenant, players will control an infantry of weapons and vehicles. This can better be described as a mixture of Quake and Command & Conquer.

The appearance of the game was more than revolutionary when it was shown for the first time. If the game leaves in the launching of the Xbox, will be only above of the average, and if the mode to multiplayer will be well constructed, then Microsoft could have the game of the year on their hands.