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Microsoft today announced that the public beta test of their Xbox Live service for Europe was on-schedule for a November 30th launch. Over the past month the service has already undergone a rigorous closed beta phase, in which thousands of lucky gamers in the UK, France and Germany got to try out titles like Whaked and MotoGP online in order to report any bugs back to Microsoft. Fortunately this all went well, and now the servers are ready to be opened to anyone who has access to an Xbox and a broadband internet connection.
From this Saturday, you'll be able to visit www.xbox.com/uk/live/now and register for an Xbox Live Test Drive pack, which will include all the software you need to configure your Xbox Live account ready for you to start playing online. You'll also get your grubby mits on the Xbox Communicator headset, which will allow you to speak to and hear other players while thrashing them at your favourite games. "Clearly, gamers love Xbox Live", said Michel Cassius, European Director of Xbox platform. "The benefits of Xbox Live’s service-led approach, as opposed to an add-on peripheral approach, mean that the gamer’s experience is a better, smoother one no lag associated with narrowband, no cheating and hacking because of a decentralised approach, and no individual logins or bills for each game. We’re excited that Xbox Live has captured the imagination of so many, so early on."
Unreal Championship, MechAssault, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, MotoGP (Demo) and Whacked! are all going to be online playable with the Test Drive kit before Christmas, while next year there are over 50 games scheduled to take advantage of the service. Halo 2, Counterstrike, Star Wars: Galaxies, Capcom vs SNK 2 EO and Project Gotham Racing 2 are just some of the big-name games we have to look forward to playing online in 2003, and with more than 60 publishers working on Xbox Live titles, we can expect to add a fair few more to that list very soon!
We hope to have further coverage of Xbox Live once the public test starts on Saturday, so be sure to check back for more information soon!
Marc Hull
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