Multiplay i26 show report

Creative Labs and X-Fi

With the launch of their new X-Fi range of soundcards, Creative are going after gamers like you with renewed vigour. They brought a bunch of systems down to i26 to showcase the fantastic sound quality of the new X-Fi.

One system was the Scan Isotope, a pretty funky looking system from the popular retailer. The other three systems were built by Creative, and included 2GB of RAM, Athlon 64 3400+ chips, 7800 GTX cards and sound provided by the X-Fi Fatal1ty edition. They made for pretty sweet Battlefield 2 rigs.


We grabbed a quick chat with John Moseley, Head of Marketing in the UK for Creative, and an avid gamer. We asked him how he was finding the event. "This event is absolutely great," he told us. "This is my first time here as a sponsor, although I actually play Battlefield 2 regularly on the Multiplay servers. I'm enjoying showing off the X-Fi, but I'd almost rather be here playing all day!"

And is this a useful event for Creative to attend? "With the X-Fi, we're obviously targeting a gaming audience, and this event is a great way for Creative to get in front of gamers in the right environment. One of the main things about LANs is that everyone uses headphones for audio, and the surround sound headphone technology in the X-Fi is one of its killer features. It's great to show it off to people - we sit them down, fire up some demos and they are totally blown away by the technology."

So is this Creative just trying to gain some street cred by appearing down with the gamers? Well, it seems John really is one of the hardcore. "I play Battlefield 2 a heck of a lot. I'm definitely an anti-tank guy - I'm pretty handy with a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. Out of all the maps, Fushi Pass is definitely my favourite. I'm slowly ranking up on the Multiplay servers - I'm after the Knife combat badge next."

Fair enough John - we'll let you get back to 'demo-ing' the X-Fi in BF2! You can check out the full Creative X-Fi range at Creative.com.