Xbox 360 to ship preloaded with free game?
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jul 7th 2005 at 1:15PM }
Well, sorta. Jeff Minter of LlamaSoft has created a little
project he likes to call, Neon. The quasi-game is a descendant of 1984's Psychedelia, a visualization tool. Neon will
allow up to four players (and 360-controlled AI) to tweak on screen visualizations in real-time. Users can hook up
their iPods or other music devices to drive the program. It's a nice freebie, but we'd still like to see a full-fledged
game packed in there…
[Thanks, Dustin & Casper]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
cool, multiplayer freakiness... without the competition.
Bring on the munchies!
Arch-360 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
that looks so kick ass! even though i dont really understand what the hell it does? still looks pretty cool.
Matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
that's a really cool addition. but to add a 'but, we'd like a free game' to the end of that, is dumb... might as well say 'but, what would be BETTER is if they gave us $50'
phat @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
I remember the Sega Master System had that free maze game if you dont have a cart inserted. That was cool, not what you are talking about but this reminded me of it.
bertram @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
back in my day before the turn of the century, consoles came with a game and TWO controllers. i suppose the upside is that at least the consoles now cost two to three times as much.
Spadge @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
do you mean that game 'alex the kid'. that was a nice addition to whatever sega console that was on.
It looks kinda cool, and would be nice to hook the ipod to it and have is as a visulisation.
I didn't expect M$ to give away a real game, anyway.
phat @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
no. it was in the BIOS of the master system.
here's how you get to it
http://www.eeggs.com/items/563.html
here's some pics
http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/sms/02/snailmaze.html
brett @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
My master system booted up into a motorcycle racing game or safari hunting game (your choice) without a cartridge inserted.
Nothing beats shooting endangered animals.
Jason @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
With the hard drive capabilties, I'm surprised something like this wasn't included with the Original XBox, or at least subsequent updated versions.
This is a great idea.
Jason
http://www.xboxsoftmods.com
Abe @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
I never knew my old Master System had that maze game. I got my SMS the same year that Nintendo first came out. It was a hard decision between Sega and Nintendo. I remember seeing a Phantasy Star demo in a store and being blown away. I also remember Phantasy Star being like $80 and never getting the game. Y's worked for me though.
The Jeremy @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
Makes me wonder if Microsoft will be smart enough to hire Jeff Minter (as well as license the title from Atari/Infogrames) to produce a "Tempest360" for, uhm, the Xbox360! Tempest2000 on the Jaguar was sure a trip...great soundtrack too. Too bad it isn't available on iTunes for those people who don't own the limited edition CD...
electrobrain @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM
I'm really excited about Neon! Does anyone remember the VLM (virtual light machine) from the Jag CD? Well, for those that don't remember, it was the best feature of the Jag CD unit, and played very cool visuals that complimented your CDs. Way better than Baby Universe on PS1 IMHO. I've still got my Jag CD set up to this day, just for VLM...it's still 64-bit blocky blitter heaven! Now with Neon, it might just be time to retire the 'ol gal...