X02 EuropeMotoGP Live impressions

When Microsoft 2881378revealed its plans for the launch of the Xbox Live service in Europe yesterday, it announced that the European starter pack will include two Live-compatible games: Microsoft's own Whacked! and THQ's MotoGP.

MotoGP was released for the Xbox in May, but that version is not compatible with Xbox Live unless it's unlocked with the disc bundled in the Xbox Live starter pack. At today's X02 event in Seville, Spain, we were able to race against three other attendees in what we must assume is a nearly finished Live version of the game.

Unsurprisingly, there were no obvious differences between this version and the original, except that with only four racers on a track where players would normally expect around 30, it definitely felt a bit deserted. It's not been announced at this time how many players will be able to race simultaneously--we can only hope that it's more than four and that, if it isn't, there might be an option to fill out the starting grid with AI-controlled bikes.

We did occasionally notice some slowdown in the game, although this was confined to the slightly hesitant movement of opponents rather than slowing down the game as a whole. Our own race certainly wasn't affected in any way. As far as new features go, the only ones immediately apparent were the addition of player names above the other racers and text messages that would pop up onscreen regarding significant actions of other players. For more information on MotoGP, check out our Whacked! of the non-Live version of the game.