The scenarios seem right out of Hollywood: Starship troopers counterattack against an overwhelming herd of aliens; rebel fighters take up arms to fight off a galactic empire. Despite their story lines — and cinematic computer-generated graphics — these aren't movies. They are Halo and Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, among the most promising new games for Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube, respectively. The systems will arrive nearly simultaneously: the $299 Xbox next Thursday, the $199 GameCube three days later. Both will face Sony's PlayStation 2, which has a year's head start, in an unprecedented, take-no-prisoners battle for supremacy in the video-game universe.
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