Oh, snap! Microsoft, at its pre-E3 press conference, burned Sony good with a pretaped parody of The Apprentice, which starred the real Donald Trump giving the ax to actors playing Sony execs who bungled their system’s online strategy. The Donald has a point: Compare the features and content of Sony’s and Microsoft’s online services, and Xbox has a clear edge—one that will continue to sharpen. Just look at Electronic Arts’ announced commitment to online Xbox gaming (see sidebar). “Xbox Live serves as the very foundation of our platform leadership,” says Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach. “We’re closing in on 1 million subscribers. [HBO and AOL] took five years to reach [that goal]. We’re doing it in less than half that time.”

Robust online growth is fine, but Microsoft really had us at Halo 2, now pegged for a November 9 release. “Our expectations are tremendous,” says Microsoft Games Studios General Manager Shane Kim. “But I know [developer] Bungie will deliver.” Halo 2 is the biggest gun in an arsenal of fall games that includes gloomy shooter Doom 3, monster RPG Fable, and out-of-nowhere racer Forza Motorsport. Still, we walked away from Microsoft’s booth with heavy feelings of déjà vu. Where have we seen many of these games before? Oh yeah—at last year’s E3. Why didn’t the Donald tell Microsoft it needed more new games?

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.