The Xbox Live experience may have only been in this country for two-and-a-half months, and just over six in the US, but already Microsoft is taking the console to the next evolutionary stage: a home entertainment system. Microsoft unveiled a new package of multimedia and gaming features at this year's E3 gaming convention, which are set to be released over the coming year.
Two of the most interesting additions will be XSN Sports and Music Mixer. The former will allow players to create their own teams and leagues, as well as organising schedules and training through XSNsports.com. It will run in conjunction with Microsoft's sports title line-up, which includes NFL Fever 2004, Top Spin and Amped.
Music Mixer, according to J Allard, the president of Xbox, "unlocks the digital entertainment capability of the console ... It demonstrates how we can use the Xbox to access DVD playback, CD playback, photo-viewing, gaming, music storage, online gameplay, enhanced party visualisers and even karaoke."
When combined with the other features of the new Xbox Live, such as file sharing between PCs and Xboxes and sending players "Xbox alerts" on their MSN messengers, PDAs and phones, Microsoft looks as though it has an incredibly comprehensive package in the works. That's even leaving aside games such as Halo 2 and Project Gotham Racing 2, both titles with strong multiplayer elements that should send player figures soaring by themselves.
As well as stealing the hardware news headlines of the show with the announcement of its new handheld console, the PlayStation Portable, Sony produced a double-whammy by showing off its new Eye Toy for the PS2. The Eye Toy is, in essence, a very sophisticated camera that plugs into the PS2 and projects an image of the player on to the screen. By using motion tracking technology to record players' movements, the device allows them to interact with a game.
A couple of games were used at the show to demonstrate the Eye Toy's potential. The first was a Kung Fu game where players knock away enemies with their hand. In another, the objective was to clean as many windows as possible in a "wax-on, wax-off", Karate kid-style. The Eye Toy will be retailing in the US for $39 in October (no European price has been announced as yet) and will come with 12 mini-games designed especially for use with the camera.
When it comes to graphic depictions of violence, games tend to attract a lot of flack. However, Voodoo Vince, a new Xbox title from Beep Industries, might bemuse the Daily Mail reading brigade as Vince's violence is mainly directed against himself. The Voodoo doll's adventures take place around old New Orleans, where Vince must negotiate his way through the French quarter, swamps and sewers, while enlisting the local fauna, such as shrimps and rats, as transportation. In order to thwart his enemies Vince has to resort to such drastic measures as sticking pins in himself, hitting himself on the head with a hammer, setting himself on fire and lots more self-mutilation. I can see the headlines now.
Top 10 games - all platforms
(Compiled by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association)
1) Enter the Matrix (PS2, GC, XB, PC) Atari - £39.99
2) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2) Take 2 - £32.99
3) Midnight Club II (PS2) Take 2 - £39.99
4) Return To Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War(XB) Activision - £39.99
5) The Sims (PS2, PC, XB, GC) Electronic Arts- £37.99
6) The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker (GC) Nintendo - £39.99
7) Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PS2, Xbox PC) Ubi Soft - £37.99
8) Championship Manager 4 (PC) Eidos - £29.99
9) Burnout 2: Point of Impact (XB, GC, PS2) Acclaim - £39.99
10) Fifa 2003 (PS2, XB, GBA, PL)) Electronic Arts - £34.99
