Microsoft Offers an Xbox Bargain

A new Microsoft program will significantly cut the cost of selected hit games for the company's Xbox console, the company said Wednesday.

Titles added to the company's new Platinum Hits program will retail for $19.99, a deep discount on the standard $50 price of most Xbox games.

Sixteen titles are included in Microsoft's first wave of Platinum Hits releases. To qualify, games need to have generated a "high sales volume"; a company spokesperson declined to comment on specific sales targets.

Other games will soon be added to the lineup, according to Microsoft. The goal is to broaden Xbox's appeal and prompt customers who wouldn't buy Platinum Hits games at list price to expand their gaming libraries, the spokesperson said.

Platinum Hits

Titles now in the Platinum Hits portfolio are:

-Amped Freestyle Snowboarding (published by Microsoft);

-Blood Wake (Microsoft);

-Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (Universal);

-James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire (Electronic Arts);

-Max Payne (Rockstar Games);

-Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Microsoft);

-Project Gotham Racing (Microsoft);

-RalliSport Challenge (Microsoft);

-Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams (Konami of America),

-Simpsons Road Rage (Electronic Arts);

-SpyHunter (Midway);

-SSX Tricky (Electronic Arts);

-Star Wars: Obi-Wan (LucasArts);

-Star Wars: Starfighter Special Edition (LucasArts);

-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Activision); and

-Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Activision).

Further information on the program is available at XBox.com.