Microsoft
Announces Stellar Lineup of Hottest Games at E3
The Xbox Games Pipeline Is Jamming With More Than 300
Games in Development, And More Than 200 Games Slated for
Holiday Season
LOS ANGELES — May 20, 2002 —
Microsoft Corp. highlighted its next wave of highly
anticipated titles for the Xbox™ video game system
today to a packed house of journalists and retailers from
around the world, as well as cheering game fans, who
rattled the rafters in the historic Orpheum Theater. With
blockbuster games such as “Star Wars®: Knights of
the Old Republic” (LucasArts Entertainment Company),
“Brute Force” (Microsoft Game Studios), “NFL
Fever 2003” (Microsoft Game Studios), “Unreal
Championship” (Infogrames) and “Panzer Dragoon™
ORTA” (SEGA® of America, Inc.), Microsoft previewed
its top Xbox games that will be shown at this week’s
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and available to game
fans this holiday season.
Microsoft also provided a glimpse of its future
blockbuster games, including “Project Ego”
(Microsoft Game Studios), a groundbreaking role-playing
adventure game from Peter Molyneux, in which the player’s
every action determines the skills, appearance and
morality of the main character. Microsoft also showcased
“Ninja Gaiden®” (Tecmo®, Inc.), created by
the celebrated developer, Tomonobu Itagaki. The game
features the return of character Ryu Hayabusa, a deadly
Ninja assassin, in a neoclassic adventure featuring
extraordinary new worlds, deadly new weapons,
Hollywood-style movies and interactive 3-D environments.
“The pipeline of Xbox games is jammed with new
titles in every category,” said Ed Fries, vice
president of Xbox game content at Microsoft. “With
300 Xbox games in development and 200 games slated for
the holiday season, gamers will have a mountain of
high-quality titles to choose from this year. No other
console has ever accomplished these types of numbers in
its first year.”
Blockbuster Games
Microsoft announced that more than 150 Xbox games will be
previewed at this year’s E3. Featured games include
the following:
• “Star Wars®: Knights of the Old
Republic™” (LucasArts Entertainment
Company) presents a deep, engaging story- and
character-driven role-playing game (RPG) set 4,000 years
prior to the time frame revealed in the “Star Wars”
films. The era, unexplored in any previous “Star
Wars” game, is dominated by an enduring conflict
between the Jedi and the Sith. Developed in conjunction
with BioWare Corp., the game will feature customizable
male and female heroes, evolving playable characters and
dynamic lightsaber combat. It will be available during
the holiday season of 2002.
• “Brute Force”
(Microsoft Game Studios) is an action-packed sci-fi
squad-based shooter game that lets players experience the
intensity of a shooter game with the cunning strategies
of team-based tactical combat. “Brute Force”
can be played solo through six worlds in the extensive
single-player campaign, or gamers can have as many as
three friends jump in on the fly in Dynamic Co-op mode or
battle it out in a multitude of competitive death-match
modes. It will be available fall 2002.
• “NFL Fever 2003”
(Microsoft Game Studios) is the award-winning football
game for Xbox that takes full advantage of Xbox Live
online technology. Easy to pick up and start playing,
“NFL Fever 2003” delivers all the action and
excitement of the National Football League, allowing
gamers to create, play and control their ultimate NFL
team. With the opportunity to earn all the accolades and
honors of the National Football League, “NFL Fever
2003” challenges hardcore football fans and gamers
to be the best in the world. It will be available August
2002.
• “Unreal Championship”
(Infogrames) provides console gamers with an
adrenaline-packed, first-person action experience
designed specifically for Xbox and the Xbox controller.
Console-specific features such as jump and speed pads,
double jump, a high-performance frame rate (60 frames per
second), power-ups, unlockable features and more will
keep players’ appetites at their peak. It will be
available fall 2002.
• “Panzer Dragoon™ ORTA”
(SEGA® of America, Inc.) takes place in a distant age
when a legacy was born that ruled the skies. Dramatic
chase battles pit gamers against powerful enemies in
high-speed aerial combat. Players will enjoy 10 stages of
frantic action featuring Berserk Mode, special attacks to
rain destruction upon enemies, and real-time dragon
morphing to customize fighting styles. It will be
available fall 2002.
Xbox Live
Microsoft also unveiled its online game service,
Xbox Live, and announced that more than half of the games
published by Microsoft Game Studios will have an online
component.
“We’re committed not only to the future of the
Xbox, but to the future of online gaming,” Fries
said. “Yesterday’s blockbusters will become the
online triumphs of the future. Popular franchises such as
“Project Gotham Racing™,” “Amped™,”
“RalliSport Challenge” and “NFL Fever”
will continue to blow gamers away, and drive console
sales — and also will be available online. As for
“Halo™” and the work the Bungie Studios
team is doing, gamers can rest assured: The fate of
humanity is in good hands … and online.”
Games announced that will support Xbox Live include
“NFL Fever 2003,” “Counterstrike,”
“Midtown Madness® 3,” “MechAssault™”
and “Whacked!™” from Microsoft Game
Studios; “Unreal Championship” from Infogrames;
and “Star Wars® Galaxies™” from
LucasArts Entertainment Company.
Microsoft also showcased several of the 300 games in
development and announced a bevy of new games
announcements, including the following:
• “Blinx: The Time Sweeper”
(Microsoft Game Studios). Blinx is one cool, clever cat
on a mission to fix glitches in the space-time continuum.
This game lets players actually control the flow of time,
a feature only possible on Xbox. Gamers can record their
actions, play them back and have dual characters
cooperate to complete challenges. The game will be
available fall 2002.
• “Shenmue II”
(Microsoft Game Studios). This epic adventure has all the
elements of a great movie — drama, mystery, suspense
and action — and offers a unique gameplaying
experience that seamlessly blends elements of action,
adventure, fighting and RPG games. Led by renowned
developer Yu Suzuki, the group that developed the
smash-hit fighting game “Virtua Fighter” is
developing “Shenmue II.” The game includes an
advanced fighting system with more than 50 punches,
kicks, holds and combos: the most developed fighting
system for a nonfighting game. It will be available
during the holiday season of 2002 in the United States.
• “Psychonauts”
(Microsoft Game Studios). “Psychonauts” is a
wildly surreal action adventure game from Double Fine
Productions developer Tim Schaffer. It’s a game in
which characters’ personal paranormal powers are
unlocked to plunge players into the minds of bizarre
characters. Gamers journey deep into crazy worlds of
infinite possibility to thwart the secret plan of an evil
madman and realize the ultimate dream of joining an elite
force of psychic superheroes, the Psychonauts. The game
will be available spring 2003.
• “Tork” (Microsoft
Game Studios). A young, fearless caveboy, Tork is on a
mission through time to rescue his father and track down
the evil warriors who have upset the balance of order in
his village. With his favorite weapon at his side, a
bolas that packs a punch, Tork travels through a variety
of worlds in hopes of completing his journey before the
course of history is changed forever. “Tork”
will be available spring 2003.
Industry Support
Microsoft today also acknowledged the widespread support
of the games industry for Xbox by filling the Orpheum
Theater’s front row with many of the world’s
marquee game creators. The “who’s who”
list of game designers included Jason Jones (Bungie),
lead designer of “Halo;” Gabe Newell (Valve
Software), who is bringing his great “Counterstrike”
franchise to Xbox; Itagaki (Tecmo), creator of “Dead
or Alive 3” and the upcoming “Ninja Gaiden”;
Suzuki (SEGA® of America Inc.), the creative force
behind “Shenmue II”; Molyneux (Lionhead
Studios), creator of the upcoming Xbox epic, “Project
Ego”; Schaffer (Double Fine), developer for the
upcoming Xbox platform game, “Psychonauts”; and
Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk (BioWare), developers of
“Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™”
(in conjunction with LucasArts Entertainment Company).
“The games industry is working every day to create a
new form of entertainment that is fundamentally more
involving, more powerful and more compelling than
anything that has come before,” Fries said. “That’s
really why we’re joined by these creative geniuses:
because Xbox is the most powerful weapon yet conceived to
fight that battle. We are not just making games; we are
changing entertainment itself.”
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