Microsoft Gears Up for Xbox Live

Microsoft has picked the first birthday of the Xbox, November 15, as the U.S. launch date for Xbox Live, an online gaming service for the game console, the company announced Tuesday.

At launch, about 5,000 U.S. retailers will offer the $49.95 Xbox Live starter kit that includes a year's subscription to Xbox live, an Xbox Communicator headset to chat with fellow gamers, and an online racing game, Microsoft says in a statement.

The November 15 launch date means Sony Computer Entertainment America gets a head start with online gaming. Sony plans to start selling a network adaptor for its PlayStation 2 for $39.99 this month, the company has said.

Get Connected

The online services will enable users to play against each other via the Internet. However Xbox Live is limited to broadband Internet connections such as DSL and cable. Sony's offer supports slower dial-up connections.

Xbox Live will be introduced in Europe and Japan before the end of the year, Microsoft says.

Microsoft expects at least seven Xbox Live-enabled games to be available on November 15, with up to 10 more to follow by the end of the year and another 50 to be introduced in 2003. The online gaming service is supported by infrastructure from Level 3 Communications and Microsoft data centers in Seattle, London, and Tokyo.

Games scheduled to accompany the Xbox Live launch are Unreal Championship from Infogrames, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon from Ubi Soft Entertainment, SEGA Sports NFL 2K3 and SEGA Sports NBA 2K3 from Sega, and Microsoft's own Whacked, MechAssault, and NFL Fever 2003, Microsoft says.

Halo 2, announced last week, is the sequel to what Microsoft says is one of its best-selling Xbox games and will also support online gaming. Halo 2 is due out by the end of next year, Microsoft says.