X03 - Xbox Shows Strongest Line-Up Ever!
	[WORLD EXCLUSIVE]Xbox today unveiled its strongest line-up of games yet as it gears up for its second Christmas in Europe. With more than 100 titles on show at X03, gamers can look forward to games that benefit from the power that only Xbox can offer.
2003-09-16

JUAN-LES-PINS, France, 16^th September 2003 —Xbox® today unveiled its strongest line-up of games yet as it gears up for its second Christmas in Europe.  With more than 100 titles on show at X03, gamers can look forward to games that benefit from the power that only Xbox can offer.  A strong portfolio of Xbox® Live™-enabled titles also proved that online gaming is getting even more compelling.

New games announced at X03 and coming to Xbox included:

•         RalliSport Challenge 2 (Microsoft Game Studios) – RalliSport Challenge 2 is the highly anticipated second instalment in the critically acclaimed RalliSport Challenge franchise and the first racing title in the XSN Sports brand. Heading exclusively to Xbox in Spring 2004, RalliSport Challenge 2 offers gamers many new features, including a new graphics engine, online play via Xbox Live, the ability to set up leagues and tournaments using XSNsports.com, new race modes, and more cars and tracks.

• Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator (Codemasters) –  A major console exclusive title to Xbox, Race Driver 2: The Ultimate Racing Simulator will deliver the most diverse range of motorsports ever in one game and be the definitive circuit racing game experience. Full Xbox Live-enabled, Race Driver 2 is a massive evolution for Codemasters’ best-selling TOCA Race Driver series. The title is Codemasters’ most ambitious motorsport project to date and fully simulates racing in 35 of the world's most powerful racing and street cars.

In addition, Microsoft announced a partnership with Epic Games, developers of the legendary Unreal series of games.  Under the terms of the partnership, Epic Games will develop a number of exclusive titles for Xbox and Windows, to be published by Microsoft Game Studios. 

Previously-announced titles shown at X03, many for the first time in Europe, included:

•         Breakdown™ (Namco) -- Breakdown, shown for the first time in Europe before its public unveiling at the Tokyo Game Show later this month, offers an unique first-person action/adventure gaming experience by combining unprecedented hand-to-hand combat and traditional weapons-based action, with an intense story line and incredible graphics in a thrilling and suspenseful search for the truth.  Trapped inside a mysterious laboratory and unable to remember his past, Derrick Cole discovers his extraordinary powers as he fights for survival against a determined military faction and a legion of seemingly invincible super-human warriors!

•         Dead or Alive Online (Tecmo) –  Tecmo's "Team Ninja" and Xbox will be teaming up to bring the beloved classics, Dead or Alive 1 and Dead or Alive 2 to the Xbox video game system in Dead or Alive Online. The new anthology will bring 3D fighting to the masses with full Xbox Live capabilities. It is time to kick some major $#%^* with gamers from around the world!

•         Deus Ex: Invisible War (Eidos) –  It is fifteen years since the end of the global conspiracy depicted in Deus Ex - widely regarded as one of the greatest action games of all time. In the aftermath, a catastrophic depression has crippled the world and conflicting militant groups seek to enforce their own violently destructive agendas. As corporate anti-terrorist mercenary Alex D you must track these factions down and destroy them. Enhancing your skills with molecular bio-modifications and hi-tech weaponry you seek to restore the world order.  But in the huge, free-roaming world of Deus Ex it seems that the challenge is to know your real enemies. And for this you must uncover the veil of secrecy surrounding your own existence.  Deus Ex: Invisible War is console-exclusive to Xbox.

•         Full Spectrum Warrior (THQ) –  A squad-level, dismounted, Light Infantry training simulator created for use by the US Army, Full Spectrum Warrior focuses on critical tactical decision making by the Squad Leader.  Coming exclusively to Xbox, Full Spectrum Warrior emphasises action and fun while the underlying structure of highly detailed accuracy and authenticity serve to highlight the action and tactical challenges likely to be faced by the Army in the year 2020.

•         Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo) – One of gaming's most treasured franchises is given new life as Tecmo's Team Ninja and the powers of Xbox join forces to present one of the most anticipated games of the new millennium. Ninja Gaiden boasts cutting-edge action with gorgeous pre-rendered environments and visuals as the player takes on the role of powerful ninja, Ryu Hayabusa. New features include a revolutionary Xbox Live element, swift new moves and intense action sequences, and amazing visual effects.

•         Starcraft®: Ghost™ (Blizzard Entertainment) - StarCraft: Ghost, Blizzard Entertainment’s upcoming tactical-action console game, refines the epic experience of StarCraft to the level of the individual soldier. Engage the StarCraft universe face-to-face as a deadly Ghost operative in the employ of the Dominion. With the help of determined allies, follow story-driven missions that take you from massive planetary battles through dangerous solo operations to an unexpected turn of events that leaves the fate of the universe in your hands.

•         Steel Battalion – Line of Contact (Capcom) –  The next evolution in the battle-mech genre, exclusively for Xbox and playable via Xbox Live, Steel Battalion – Line of Contact is based on the award-winning Steel Battalion phenomenon and gives players the opportunity to once again use the most elaborate controller interface ever created to partake in futuristic military warfare.  Ultra realistic visual effects and mech battles in the first or third person perspective create the ultimate mechanized military combat experience. 

•         Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3 (Ubi Soft) – Command an elite, multinational squad of special operatives against a hidden terrorist foe. In Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3, the third instalment in the wildly popular Rainbow Six series, Team RAINBOW races against time to stop terror and unravel a mystery. In locations around the world, from London to the Cayman Islands to Rio de Janeiro, lead Team Rainbow in a desperate effort to battle a madman and foil his doomsday plot.  Only on Xbox, Rainbow Six 3 features streamlined multiplayer via Xbox Live.

•         Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (Ubi Soft) – A follow-up to the phenomenally successful Xbox smash hit of last Christmas, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora’s Tomorrow brings back more of the single-player intrigue that made the original game a best-seller, along with multiplayer online missions allowing several players to simultaneously share Sam Fisher's shadowy world of espionage. With exciting new action scenes and a strong cinematic feel, the player will experience new and even more realistic surroundings.

A variety of family-friendly titles aimed at the broadening Xbox audience were on show:

•         Dancing Stage Unleashed (Konami) - The hit franchise Dance Dance Revolution debuts on the Xbox in an all-new game with new songs, licensed music and new game modes. Designed especially for the Xbox, the revolution goes online with Xbox Live support, offering a host of new downloadable features. With robust options, modes and great music, Dancing Stage Unleashed for Xbox will be a must-have for any fan of the series.

•         Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios) – From the team that brought the world the hugely popular Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel comes a spirited new gameplay experience, crammed to the rafters with new faces and a bony handful of twists on genre expectation.  Grabbed by the Ghoulies is a frenetic chase through long-standing haunted house tradition, complete with sinister aristocrats, cobweb-choked rooms and a gentlemanly butler, but also with a few Rare twists and surprises thrown into the mix. Vast amounts of fun with a healthily modest dose of seriousness is what Rare's very first Xbox release is all about.

•         Harry Potter™: Quidditch Cup (Electronic Arts) – Take to the air in the first game that allows players to fully experience the magical speed, power, and competition of Quidditch, the favorite sport of witches and wizards, in the Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup game.  Featuring stunning 3D graphics and special effects, gamers will experience the full complexity and exciting challenge of Quidditch.

Other highly-anticipated Microsoft Game Studios games slated to arrive for Christmas and beyond, only on Xbox and shown at X03 included:

•         Amped 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)

•         BC (Big Blue Box/Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Counter-Strike (Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Fable (Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Halo 2 (Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Sudeki (Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Top Spin (Microsoft Game Studios)

•         Xbox Music Mixer (Microsoft Game Studios)

Finally, major global franchises were well represented at X03, with Xbox versions of key multi-platform titles wowing the crowds:

•         Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (Vivendi)

•         FIFA 2004 (Electronic Arts)

•         James Bond: Everything or Nothing (Electronic Arts)

•         Medal of Honour Rising Sun (Electronic Arts)

•         Sonic Heroes (Sega)

•         The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Electronic Arts)

•         Tony Hawk’s Underground (Activision)

•         True Crime: Streets of LA (Activision)

•         Worms 3D (Sega)

“This is our third year of X0 events and the calibre of games that we show each year just keeps getting better,” said Ed Fries, vice president of Xbox game content.  “We know that Xbox is the most powerful console on the market and the generation of games we see here at X03 demonstrates how this vision has been taken by developers and publishers and totally embraced.”