LADYDRAGON.COM - Microsoft and Namco Team Up for Xbox Alliance: Companies Announce Four Titles Under Development, Including Two New Games Exclusively for Xbox

Monday August 27, 2001

Microsoft and Namco Team Up for Xbox Alliance: Companies Announce Four Titles Under Development, Including Two New Games Exclusively for Xbox

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Namco Ltd. today formally announced that Namco is developing four titles for the Microsoft(R) Xbox(TM) video game system. Namco is the latest Japanese developer to announce its support for Microsoft's powerful new video game console.

Namco plans to bring the latest versions of two of its biggest franchises to Xbox: the popular racing series, "RIDGE RACER LATEST Version," and the award-winning fighting game, "SOUL CALIBUR 2." Two Namco titles are also under exclusive development for Xbox: "Dead to Rights," a thrilling adventure about a cop framed for murder and facing execution who makes a daring escape and seeks revenge on those who killed his father and set him up, and a second, unnamed action-adventure title.

"At Namco, we are excited to work together with Microsoft on Xbox game development," said Masaya Nakamura, chairman and CEO of Namco. "We initially will provide game titles that appeal to the avid video game consumer in the Xbox consumer space, and in the future we intend to provide games using the Xbox online game service."

"Having Namco games available on Xbox is a huge victory for gamers around the world," said Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. "We are delighted that, through Xbox, gamers worldwide will experience the thrilling titles produced by Namco's game creators."