Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has announced that the Xbox games
console is on schedule for launch this year and will begin with 11
titles from Sega, giving Microsoft an important foothold in the
Japanese market. It will offer on-line gaming next year.
Sega, which recently announced that it is ending production of
its own consoles, said that the first games to premiere on Xbox
will be "Jet Grind Radio Future" (tentative title), "Panzer
Dragoon" (latest version), "GUNVALKYRIE" and "Sega GT" (latest
version). In addition, it plans to utilise the Xbox video game
system's broadband online gaming capabilities.
"We believe that Microsoft will be very
successful with Xbox, which is why we have such a close, strategic
relationship with them," said Peter Moore, president and COO, Sega
of America. "We share Microsoft's commitment to broadband on-line
gaming and will work with it to deliver the best content possible
to gamers."
Microsoft is bundling a different game controller with its
Japanese consoles, which will be smaller than the North American
and European controller with differently positioned buttons, “to
best accommodate the styles of gameplay popular in Japan.”
Microsoft has the challenge of competing with Japanese companies
Sony and Nintendo in a games market considered very different from
other territories.
Official release dates for Japan, North America and Europe are
not yet known.
