Xbox One gamers duke it out on Flyer

Over 100 lucky gamers faced off high up in the Singapore Flyer last night at a special event co-organised by Microsoft Singapore and The Straits Times' Digital Life.

Five capsules at the Singapore Flyer were equipped with Microsoft's next-generation console Xbox One.

The gamers took turns to battle it out in the Forza Motorsport 5 racing game and Killer Instinct fighting game, as they were lifted as high as 165m into the air inside the capsules. The iconic attraction at Marina Bay was also lit up in Xbox's signature green to get gamers in the celebration mood.

"I don't have an Xbox console, so this is a good experience for me to find out what it is about and whether I should buy one," said Digital Life reader Lim Swee Keat, 26, a civil servant.

About 10 gamers were ushered into each capsule, and the best Forza 5 driver with the fastest lap time stood to win an Xbox One console bundled with three games, worth a total of $900.

"I am quite surprised by the quality of the graphics. It was better than expected," said student Brydan Foo, 24.

He also liked the "ergonomic" feel of the controller. "Based on what I have seen so far, I believe the Xbox One offers a very good multiplayer experience."

Earlier, the Xbox One was launched at the Funan DigitaLife Mall and had over 800 fans queueing up for hours to collect their new gaming gear. One fan even queued for more than 19 hours.

"The feedback from our fans in Singapore has been overwhelming," said Mr Hanson Yap, Xbox marketing manager at Microsoft Singapore.

The Xbox One bundle is priced at $639, which includes the console, a wireless controller, a chat headset, an HDMI cable, a free 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold and a copy of the latest Fifa 15 game.

The Xbox One arrives here 10 months after rival Sony launched its PlayStation 4 console here.

This article was first published on Sep 24, 2014.
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