Xbox Classics unveiled for Europe

Platinum Hits localised

News by Tom Bramwell Contributor

Published on 24 Mar 2003

15 comments

The Xbox budget range is set to launch at €29.99 / £19.99 on April 11th in Europe, Microsoft has today announced. "Xbox Classics", as the range will be known, boasts a slightly different line-up to that of the US' Platinum Hits range.

Over here, the line-up seems to have been expanded to include Dead or Alive III, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and MotoGP - the latter no doubt aimed at inspiring yet more purchases of the latterly Live-enabled racer.

The line-up is an impressive one, sure, but we're a little puzzled by games like Amped and Oddworld, which have been heavily discounted of late (this writer picked up Amped and Oddworld for a sibling at just over a tenner each before Christmas), and games like Wreckless, which are atrocious and never in a million years managed to sell in the numbers MS is implying. Apparently "the selected games must have been best sellers and been on the market for at least nine months".

Still, you can't argue with price reductions, and we're sure even the lesser titles in this line-up will enjoy rejuvenated popularity as a result of their inclusion. And titles like Project Gotham and RalliSport Challenge, which were already stellar, should find their way into the hands of everybody who ignored them the first time around.

Here is the full line-up:

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding (Microsoft Game Studios)

Dead or Alive III (Microsoft Game Studios)

Max Payne (Take-Two/Rockstar)

Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (Microsoft Game Studios)

Project Gotham Racing (Microsoft Game Studios)

Rallisport Challenge (Microsoft Game Studios)

Spider-Man: The Movie (Activision)

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Activision)

Wreckless (Activision)

MotoGP (THQ)

Crash Bandicoot (Vivendi Universal)