Let's backtrack a bit. The Xulu Universe is the brainchild of Xulu Entertainment, a San Francisco-based company started in 1995 by a small cadre of programmers from Cadence Design. Where the company was once five people, it's since grown to a full-time staff of 15 (including artists, designers and programmers from LucasFilm, Sony, Universal and Disney) and an army of contract employees. Starting with an advanced physics engine, the Xulu crew has built an incredible universe -- the Eidolon System -- with nine planets and one travelling 20,000-square-foot space luxury liner, the Adriana. Most of the action, initially, will take place on Eidolon, a Type M planet that has 70% of Earth's gravity and a slightly higher nitrogen content, so the inhabitants will find themselves a little lighter and a little happier. Interestingly, the Xulu Universe is aiming to be a fusion of both home Internet gaming and location-based entertainment.

For the kids at home, the Xulu Universe will be reachable through the Internet and a small monthly fee, just like Everquest or Ultima Online. Even with the game's advanced physics engine, players at home shouldn't have too much difficulty finding a zippy server. Currently, the entire Xulu Universe is running on 600MHz PIIIs using Voodoo 5 accelerators. These stats may be a bit on the high side to some, but by the time the game launches next year, you'll be chuckling when reading these system requirements. There were also some unsubtle hints dropped that indicate that the Xulu folks think that the Xbox would be an ideal console platform for their online universe.

Xulu's real appeal comes in the form of its proposed physical location centers. When we visited its offices, the company told us that it was weeks away from signing a deal to begin construction of a Xulu site somewhere in the Bay Area (the two prime locations being San Francisco or San Jose). Inside the space-station-themed center, people will be able to take part in a number of activities, from playing games inside their huge motion-simulator pods to walking the "promenade" -- where video projectors fire 16-foot "windows" into space on the walls -- to having a relaxing dinner date inside a cozy, non-moving pod-for-two that slowly travels through the depths of space. Visitors to the space station will be able to interact with gamers at home, which seems really cool.

There's a wide variety of things to do once you've actually beamed into the Xulu Universe. There are a variety of games, from simple "gaming tables," where more mainstream games can be played, to complex 3D action games. Within the mock-up of the Xulu station we were guided through, we played two games within the motion-simulator pods. The first was Condor, a game that has players piloting large gliders across a planetary surface, scooping up differently colored crystals and shooting them into collectors. Not only are different crystals worth more possible points, but the distance a shot travels adds to the overall score as well. The second game was Dominion, which is essentially Capture the Flag played in bouncy jeeps on a low-gravity playing field. Episodic quests, sporting events, journeys, gladiator matches and other long-lived activities are also being created.

The pods themselves, regardless of the games being played within them, are pretty damn cool. The larger ones are two-seaters, allowing one player to pilot while the second acts as a gunner/navigator. Each pod has two headsets that allow players to talk to each other or with their team -- or scream insults to the world in general. Pods are also equipped with cameras, which can be displayed on numerous monitors around the Xulu physical site -- and, perhaps, allow players at home to see those in the pods. Visual input comes from a panoramic, three-screen display that wraps around the front of the cockpit, which gives the people inside much more of a feeling of peripheral vision than any other VR-type (Ack! Don't say VR!) game has. Of course, the fact that the pods shake, roll, bank and bounce helps add to the overall sense of immersion as well.

Xulu promises to house much more than simple table and dodge-'em style games. The Xulu Entertainment folks say that the tools to create games within their universe are relatively easy to use; amateur gamers could easily set up racing arenas, while more serious game companies could come in and create their own sources of entertainment, which could actually generate revenue for the developers (although how much has yet to be determined). Players at home will also be able to build their own homes, stores and apartments in the game; if enough players move out from the starting city of Eidolon Prime, they may even be able to incorporate and form their own townships!

It's sort of hard to wrap your brain around the complexities of the Xulu Universe in a single, short preview. Unlike Everquest, which is a complicated world with a simple-to-explain premise -- "Hack 'n slash with your friends" -- Xulu is a lot more... scattered, which works both for and against the product. There are going to be plenty of things to do within the universe, but there's no central, overriding tenet or motivating factor. The lack of an obvious, achievable MacGuffin to drive players to return may end up causing some to lose interest within a few months. Sure, there's going to be plenty of personal interaction, but it's going to be tough to keep people paying for 3D chat rooms. Hopefully, Xulu Entertainment will bring in some serious action-game designers to bump up the serious gaming portion of the Universe, designing quests and creating a level system that will keep players running on the hamster wheel for years on end.

The Xulu Universe is set to launch sometime in the middle of next year; most likely, the Internet version will be accessible around the same time as the opening of the first Earthstation location site. For those who'd rather stay at home than travel to a center, the Xulu Universe will come in a box that will be available at retail, with a $5-10 a month subscription price tag.

Movies: (MPGs)
City fly-through (large - 18.8MB)
Space (1.2MB)
Space w/ donut rock (2.6MB)
Hovercraft Hockey (.8MB)
Car rollover (1MB)
Glider (1.9MB)
Floating road race (2MB)