While Microsoft launched its much-hyped Xbox games console in the United States last week, Climax Brighton was continuing to gear up its development of thrills and spills racing games

The company, part of the Climax Group of Fareham, Hampshire, specialises in racing and motorsports titles. It has four games in development, including MotoGP for the Xbox.

MotoGP was one of the few games to make an appearance at last month's X01 event in Cannes, where Microsoft presented its Xbox to the European press.

Amid the light show and loud music, Climax Brighton managing director Tony Beckwith said: "We got a lot of very positive feedback on MotoGP."

The motorcycle racing game, which should go on sale in May or June next year, features 16 grand prix across five continents and some of the world's leading manufacturers including, Aprilia, Honda, Modenas, Suzuki and Yamaha.

The company is hoping to benefit from the massive interest in motorcycle grand prix. Last year, 171 countries re-ceived live broadcasts worldwide, with an average of 354 million TV viewers watching each race through the season.

Mr Beckwith said increased demand for high-speed thrills was driving Climax Brighton's business.

He said: "There are an awful lot of racing games out there but it is a massive market, accounting for something like 25 per cent of the total video games market.

"Because racing games tend not to be violent, we don't have to worry about parents not letting their children play them."

The games market was booming as peoples' fears of recession increased.

Mr Beckwith said: "When people are worried, they tend to go for a bit of escapism. So they might stay at home playing games rather than go out spending money."

The company has 80 staff at its offices in Western Road, Hove, up from 52 in March. Mr Beckwith said it planned to have 100 staff by next March, adding an extra games development team.

Each team is led by a dedicated producer and normally consists of half technical and half creative individuals. The games typically take 12 to 18 months to develop.

Mr Beckwith said: "We are currently developing four games, including MotoGP and Race of Champions, which means four development teams. But the games market is buoyant and another development team will be needed sooner rather than later.

"The good thing is Brighton has fantastic pulling power. It is a cool place to live and an awful lot of people have moved down here to work."

Although the Xbox console will not be launched in Europe until March 14, industry experts think the launch of the Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube marks the beginning of the fiercest competition for the home video game market for years as they go head-to-head with Sony's PlayStation 2.

Mr Beckwith said: "It is a very exciting time to be involved in video games and we're in a great position to take advantage of this."

www.climax.co.uk