E3 2008 At A Glance, Big Three Press Conferences: Part 1, Microsoft

First off, who is this weird person who has hijacked this post? That would be me. You can call me Yert. I could waste some space with a introduction post, but I figure that I might as well just jump into some real content. Its a better introduction anyway.

So on Monday, Microsoft had a little press conference.

At it, they announced a few things:

Right off the bat, they started talking about their “experience” and showed off a trailer for Fallout 3, followed by an onstage demo.

Next, they pulled up the Capcom team behind Resident Evil 5, who jumped straight into a demo. They announced Co-Op mode.

Then, Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios was brought on board to show their Fable 2 bits, including a trailer, and as with the last two, a demo. They announced “Ambient Orbs” that will preclude lobbies. He also noted that Fable is complete, with a release date for October 2008.

Up to bat next was a Gears of War 2 trailer, followed by… yet another demo. CliffyB takes the stage with a buddy, getting to show new mechanics (like meat shields) and weapons. November 7, 2008 is the release date for this puppy.

After all four of these demos of some of the most anticipated games this generation, someone from Microsoft (well, ignoring that Microsoft bought Lionhead a while back said bout new partners to the video marketplace. Not that big, but at least its something… for those markets that have the Video Marketplace… they are expanding areas, but what about this blog’s home country (Ed. Bangladesh)? Knowing the media companies, they’ll let it fall fallow to piracy.

Someone else starts to speak, and… again with the market speak. Sure we all know that the Xbox updates constantly… unless he is talking about the Fall Update!

Then they announced a new look for the Xbox Dashboard.

Worried that you won’t like it? No problem. Microsoft has said that you will be able to go back to the familiar old blade interface if you’d like.

And Avatars. Look like a cross between Mii’s and Home. More interesting is if the Fall update hits before Home. What then Sony?

And LIVE Party system, eight people together at a time. Photo streaming (sharing).

Xbox LIVE Primetime (and… not available in Bangladesh Ed. sigh) which is game show meets video games. And you can win real prizes, playing games like 1 vs. 100 (produced by the guys behind Deal or No Deal).

More announcements:

Bigger hard drive – Microsoft is getting rid of the 20 GB SKU to move up to 60 GB… sadly they are keeping Arcade.

Play from hard drive. – Just in case DVD wasn’t faster then Blu-Ray (it is, one of the factors that led to the PS3 having slower load times) you can now download games to your hard drive. Games have to be in tray of course.

Access Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web. – In case Microsoft was having a hard time taking all your Microsoft Points before, they have made it easier to spend your precious Microsoft Points.

New display support. – The Fall Update will also add 16X10 over VGA or HDMI, and support for 1440×900 or 1680×1050.

New Uno.

New Geometry Wars.

New Galaga.

Guest speaker. And… its GLaDOS. Apparently she is Still Alive, which a game announcement. Its not Portal 2, just a special edition version of the first. No mention of Cake.

More expansion of the Xbox software up talk… and exclusive video partnership with:

Netflix. Awesome, you can now rent movies on a subscription basis (well, now with a built-in solution).

Even more awesome? Being able to share movies with your party. Now that is a feature.

Another trio of games to show off, from Rare:

• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
• The original Banjo-Kazooie game for Arcade.

A new Scene it? and a new game called Your in the Movies. Your in the Movies is significantly better then Windows Movie Maker, but this isn’t saying much.

Yet another trio of games announced.

• Guitar Hero: World Tour – which will allow you to bring a whole band, and more importantly, use Rock Band instruments so you don’t have to shell out another arm and leg for fake instruments!
• Lips -interesting because it promises to be able to sing any song you own.  Plug in your Zune or iPod and do some Karaoke, video game style!
• Rock Band 2 – 84 more songs… and if you have downloaded any songs from Xbox LIVE for the original Rock Band you can use them in Rock Band 2!

And one more thing:

A Square-Enix guy comes onto the stage, talks up a few games that are to be released on the 360. Shows a video for Last Remnant, 360 and Games for Windows.

Almost walks off, as Microsoft guy starts talking he apparently gets so bored out of his mind from the PR talk that he shuts him up for a movie.

No longer a PS3 exclusive in the US and Europe (but still in Japan) FFXIII is coming the the 360. Microsoft finishes it salvo this year at E3.

See Part 2 of this post here.