Although all of Electronic Arts' Christmas line-up will roll out without online support on the Xbox this year, the publisher is still in talks with Microsoft about adopting the Xbox Live service and is hopeful of a resolution. EA's lack of support for Live has been a major stumbling block for the service, with the pinch being felt especially in terms of the company's massive-selling sports titles. Many of those are online-enabled on the PS2 this Christmas - but on the Xbox, despite the more advanced online gaming setup, they remain resolutely offline, a state of affairs which has frustrated consumers.

It's not clear what the remaining differences between Microsoft and EA are, although it's thought that EA's initial reticence to support Live was founded on a number of issues ranging from revenue models and branding through to Microsoft's insistence that all titles on the Live service have a minimum term of availability.