The Game Zone - Xbox / Xbox 360

It may already been in thousands of living rooms in Europe, USA and Japan, but Microsoft's Xbox 360 console is not due to be released in Australia until 2nd March 2006. Atomic Live 2005 represented the first time the Australian gaming public had the chance to play the console, ask questions about it and decide whether it goes on their Wish List or not.




Game time was by pre-registration only, and all sessions were booked out weeks before Show Day. The pods were all official Microsoft demo units, meaning crisp Samsung HD LCD displays and wireless controllers. Curiously, when I was playing Project Gotham Racing 3, my view occasionally wandered away from my chosen bumper-cam to ChaseCam. I don't believe I was nudging the button when frantically applying opposite-lock on the joystick - with so many wireless controllers in a confined space, I wonder if I was getting interferance from another player.

Nevertheless, everyone was suitably impressed by the graphics of these next-gen games. We conducted a quick strawpoll to see who would be buying the console on release. The results comprised the usual mix of "definitely" and "maybe" responses. The Premium bundle will retail for AU$649.95 (US$476) while the Core System will cost AU$499.95 (US$366). Despite the slight discount afforded to Aussie gamers because of rounded pricepoints in the local currency, the fact that it is still a lot of cash was not lost on even those keen to buy one.

With capacity in The 360 Zone limited all day, everyone else had a dozen regular Xbox demo pods with a selection of Rockstar games to play such as Midnight Club 3 and Red Dead Revolver. Again, despite the stereotype of gamers all being spotty teenage boys, there were also some girl-gamers who came out to play.



Next door was the 2K Games LAN of 32 PCs where the Serious Sam 2 action lasted most of the day. The video feed from various machines was piped to the big-screen projector for the spectators to follow. It seemed a crying shame to be indoors playing games with such glorious weather outside, but such is the plight of the gaming enthusiast.



Back in the main hall, Activision was running a small LAN at their stand with Call of Duty 2 and Quake 4 providing plenty of thrill and action all day long.