MS Kicks Off Ultra-Budget Xbox Line

New to the Xbox scene? Here are a few games you might wanna pick up.

Microsoft may seem to be all about the Xbox 360 lately, but it's not against squeezing out a few last sales for its rapidly aging Xbox either. To speed up the process, the company will be cutting the prices of top games for the system.

The Best of Classics range, as it will be known, is kicked off with a healthy cross-section of hits from the console, including, most importantly, Halo 2 - the best selling game ever on the Xbox. It's not all about shooters, though, as Microsoft has also deemed as worthy Project Gotham Racing 2, the expanded version of Fable and some kid-friendly fare.

But hang on, you say, isn't there already a budget line of top games? Yes, there is, but the games in this one come in at a paltry £9.99, meaning you can choose between catching a flick in the West End or spending an evening with a bucket of popcorn and Master Chief.

That bargain price doesn't, however, come without some cost to you - in this case a sensory one. As is the norm with budget re-releases, the Best of Classics boxes will feature the original artwork blighted by red Best of Classics branding.

Right now, all the games in the line come from just Microsoft's internal stable and Vivendi, meaning it's a good bet we'll be seeing a lot more of these soon.

The full list of games available in the new line is below:

• Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Project Gotham Racing 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Counter-Strike (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Fable: The Lost Chapters (Microsoft Game Studios)
• The Simpsons: Hit & Run (Vivendi)
• Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex (Vivendi)
• Crash Twinsanity (Vivendi)
• Crash Nitro Kart (Vivendi)

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games