Xbox Premiere: Microsoft shows Project K-X

TOKYO - Today, Microsoft held the Xbox Premiere, introducing its Japanese first-party titles. The press event featured nine games in all. Four of the titles are being developed locally in Japan, and three other games--Halo, Project Gotham, and Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding--are from the company's North American studios. Interestingly, Amped has been renamed for the Japanese market. The game has been renamed to Tenku for the Japanese release.

Of the four Japanese games shown, Project K-X, which is now officially titled Kakuto Chojin, was the most prominent. Kakuto Chojin is being developed by Dream Publishing, which was formerly known as Dream Factory. The company is known for its work on the Tobal series and The Bouncer, which was released by SquareSoft. Five playable characters from the game were shown: the masked character code-named Ninja, a Bruce Lee-like character, a female character, a Caucasian male character, and a heavyweight wrestler. Aside from utilizing eye-candy effects such as self-shadowing, projection mapping, and motion blur, the game uses a programming algorithm that simulates a variety of different animations when characters are knocked to the ground, somewhat like The Bouncer.

In the video shown, the fighters ran around freely and were able to move around behind their opponent to attack. Dream Publishing didn't elaborate further on whether this free-roaming 3D fighting system would be implemented in the final game. Also shown in the video clip were real-time weather effects during the fights themselves. For example, rain would pelt the fighters as they moved around the game's dark environments.

More on Project K-X will be shown at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. GameSpot will have more from that event.