Microsoft Confirm EA Xbox Live! Support + Halo 2 Date News

Flanked by legendary sports stars, including Muhammad Ali, St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk and Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony; Microsoft Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach last night used its pre-E3 conference to announce an agreement between themselves and EA to support Xbox Live!.

The announcement concludes over two years worth of talks between the two companies, and will result in 20 EA Sports and EA Games titles released that support the service during the next year, including the likes of Madden NFL 2005, NBA Live 2005, FIFA Soccer 2005, Need for Speed: Underground 2, Burnout 3 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.

â??EA has always been a great publisher for Xbox,â? Bach said. â??Weâ??re strengthening our alliance by bringing EAâ??s world-class games to Xbox Live, the undisputed leader in online console gaming.â?

In addition Microsoft used he conference to confirm an eagerly awaited official release date for Halo 2. The shooter sequel from Bungie will be release across the globe on November 9th, 2004; whilst certainly longer then we initially expected, this does allow Microsoft to benefit from Christmas sales and should give Bungie time to make it the best thing possible.

Weâ??ll have more soon.