Microsoft Plans Third-Party Announcement

Microsoft plans to make a public announcement next Wednesday confirming the third party developers for its Xbox console. GameSpot has learned that a press conference from Japan will confirm the third party developers in that territory, while more North American and European third parties will be announced at an event in San Francisco. Details are currently unavailable as to Microsoft's Tokyo Game Show presence, as it remains a mystery whether Microsoft will take a low-key approach to its announcements as it did with ECTS 2000 or whether we can expect a large presence from the company at the show.

Interestingly, an article on msn.com about the future of PC and console gaming mentions that the Xbox console will be officially known as "Raven." As you may recall, Raven is the name of the female character that appeared in the Xbox demos and was featured prominently in Microsoft's Xbox booth at E3. When contacted for comment, a representative for Microsoft simply told GameSpot that "Xbox is the official name for the console." In fact, the Raven character herself may or may not be ultimately associated with Microsoft's next-generation console, as - according to the representative - Raven may become part of an Xbox game, but nothing has been finalized at this time.