Microsoft kicks off X-Box online gaming trial

Microsoft has high hopes for its online gaming strategy for the console. The full commercial service is due to kick off in March. In the meantime, enthusiastic beta testers can buy the Live! add-on kit (headset, multiplayer game demos, 12-month subscription, etc.) for £39.99 from Microsoft's website and take with service for a test run.

Microsoft has identified Europe as a "key territory" in its X-Box plans, but the firm faces stiff competition from Sony in the spring in the UK as the leading console-maker plans to launch its own online gaming service then.

Nintendo has also announced it will be selling a broadband adaptor for its GameCube, to allow multiplay over the Internet.

Both Microsoft and Sony claim success with their online gaming service which launched earlier in the year in the US.

Microsoft claims more than 200,000 gamers have used the service. For its part, Sony claims 175,000 gamers regularly pay a single game SOCOM: US Navy Seals online.

Now, Europe will become the new battleground, in the consoling spat. Expect the fields of Flanders and the superhighways of Hampshire to be littered with virtual corpses over the coming months. µ

See also:
Microsoft outlines X-Box Live plans for Europe