Outlaw Volleyball to go Live
Maybe they should release the other Outlaw first
Publisher Simon & Schuster Interactive has elaborated on some of the more interesting aspects of Hypnotix' forthcoming Outlaw Volleyball: Spike or Die - the most exciting of which is clearly the confirmation of Xbox Live support. Assuming nobody pips it to the post, it should be the first volleyball game to support the service, even ahead of Tecmo's DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
S&S has also confirmed that the game will ship in the US by June 2003, a date which could put it up against DOA XBV if Tecmo slips it any further.
Other details in the announcement (delivered with all the grace of a Sun journalist, it should be noted) include news of 10 courts, 16 characters (eight blokes, and eight of "the hottest, most detailed and rowdy ladies in any sport videogame to date," as opposed to "cartoon-like anime teenage girls") and the "Outlaw difference" to coin a phrase - beating the crap out of everybody to rob them of their composure and skill points.
It all sounds vaguely promising at this stage, and the screenshots are quite pretty, but Hypnotix will need to be careful with the volleyball dynamic - it would be a shame to waste an Xbox Live slot on a gimmicky pseudo-sports title.
And we'd quite like S&S to release the Xbox Outlaw Golf at some point too, if it's not too much bother...