Microsoft Games

(This article is currently under construction!)

1 Information

Microsoft Game Studios is the primary video game department of Microsoft Corporation, and the official publisher of the video game Microsoft Urban Assault.

2 Overview

Microsoft Games (also known as Microsoft Game Studios, and now Xbox Game Studios) was the official video game publisher of Microsoft Corporation. The studio was the first dedicated primary video games department of Microsoft. Since its inception, the studio had published various video game titles including Urban Assault (originally had working titles such as 'Anarchy' or 'Your Personal Amok' during the development phase).

3 Development

The prototype demo of Urban Assault was originally showcased at E3 Atlanta, Georgia in the year 1996 under the development title of Anarchy. At this time, the initial publisher of Urban Assault was Warner Interactive. However, this had changed in the year 1997 when Urban Assault was once again showcased at E3, where it has been revealed that Microsoft had successfully forged a new and final publisher contract with TerraTools for the upcoming title Urban Assault.

Urban Assault was scheduled to be released in the year 1998, and so the final development work including beta testing sessions as well as implementing all the necessary changes and adjustments had to be completed in a relatively short time frame under the 'crunch time'. More than 1200 people applied for the beta test of Urban Assault on the first day.

Microsoft Games had provided substantial manpower and support to assist the TerraTools development team at finishing their new video game title. Despite the game engine's complexity and numerous features and content that were either cut or removed due to time restraints, their new final game product was successfully released into the retail market.

Microsoft Game Studios also arranged the official interview session with several key TerraTools developers from Potsdam/Babelsberg, Germany when they visited the main Microsoft campus in Seattle, Washington during early 1998.

The Microsoft interview with TerraTools developers can be found at here:

Q-and-A (Microsoft Interview with TerraTools Developers)

4 Microsoft Urban Assault Website

Microsoft also hosted and managed the official Urban Assault website (titled 'HOSTSTATION') since early 1998 to promote and update latest information and announcement about their new upcoming development title. The official UA website had various interactive information pages about the game's settings and backgrounds, as well as providing downloading options from their main FTP host server for extra game contents including the screenshots, soundtracks, and the installer file download option of the official Urban Assault Trial (Demo version). This website was also fully independent from another official Urban Assault website designed and maintained by the game's developer, TerraTools.

The official Microsoft Urban Assault website is now offline, along with all the other 'classic' Microsoft Games web pages that were originally present on the main Microsoft website after their main websites renewal in the year 2014.

The official Microsoft Urban Assault website also had multiple localisation variants to support other languages than English; such as the translated German, French, or Japanese web pages with slightly modified layouts and details.

4.1 Original Urban Assault Website Links

English:
http://www.microsoft.com/games/urbanassault/

German:
http://www.microsoft.com/germany/games/urbanassault/

French:
http://www.microsoft.com/france/jeux/urbanassault/

Japanese:
http://www.microsoft.com/japan/games/uassault/

5 Urban Assault Credits (Microsoft)

5.1 Microsoft

Microsoft would also like to thank all Beta testers for their time and support.

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Note: This is the official full credits of the Microsoft department for Urban Assault development. For the credits of the TerraTools department for Urban Assault development, please check the TerraTools article.