This morning, Microsoft announced that it has signed 18 new developers to work on the Xbox console under the company's first-party label. While Microsoft had a great unveiling of the Xbox hardware at this year's GDC in San Jose, Calif., there was a considerable lack of developer support at the time. According to the VP of game publishing for Microsoft, Ed Fries, the signing of these developers is the next step for the Xbox. The list of companies, which is published below, is made up of both prominent and upcoming European and American developers.

　　· Big Blue Box Studios - Lionhead Satellite

　　· Intrepid Computer Entertainment - Lionhead Satellite

　　· Universal Interactive Studios

　　· Stormfront Studios

　　· Kodiak Interactive Software Studios Inc.

　　· Totally Games

　　· Rainbow Studios

　　· Artificial Mind and Movement

　　· Boss Game Studios

　　· Climax Development Ltd.

　　· Digital Illusions

　　· High Voltage Software

　　· KnowWonder Digital Media Works

　　· Pipeworks Software Inc.

　　· Pseudo Interactive Inc.

　　· Tremor Entertainment

　　· VR×1 Entertainment

　　· Meyer-Glass

　　The premier announcements in this morning's news are undoubtedly the two Lionhead Satellite studios, Big Blue Box Studios and Intrepid Computer Entertainment. Both companies are working on games under the close tutelage of Lionhead founder Peter Molyneux. "These are two game designs that are closest to my heart," said Molyneux. "They're two ambitious titles, and I've always wanted to do something on the console side." While Molyneux couldn't divulge details about the two games, he did state that he's been fiddling with the idea of one of them for nearly ten years. Molyneux emphasized the fact that both games will be perfect fits with the Xbox console, a platform he's been very interested in developing for since its announcement.

　　Fries also hinted that an additional list of Japanese developers will be announced in a few weeks at the Tokyo Game Show. Many people in the industry feel that the Xbox's success depends on Microsoft's ability to sign quality Japanese developers. The company knows this and speculates that its Japanese first-party development team will be 25 strong by year's end.

　　At the time of the announcement, none of the games that these developers are working on were revealed. In fact, Fries said that these games most likely won't be announced until next year's Gamestock, Microsoft's annual game-focused event held in the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. However, Fries did drop a handful of clues regarding some of the 18 developers. Meyer-Glass, for instance, is headed up by Denny Thorly, who used to run FASA Interactive. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to figure out what kind of game Thorly is working on for the Xbox. KnowWonder is made up of Cavedog refugees, and while they won't be developing Xbox versions of Amen or Elysium, they will be applying the experience learned from those two defunct games to an original console-oriented game. Pseudo Interactive is run by David Yoo, one of this industry's leading programmers in game physics. Yoo has teamed up with Jordan Weisman to create a game with a world heavy on physics that won't force players to rely on cumbersome physics manipulation.

　　Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to learn more about these new Xbox games. We'll keep you updated with new information as it becomes available.