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06-02-2009, 06:57 AM
Today's press conference ran nearly two hours and saw members of The Beatles take the stage, microphone issues, game announcements, Xbox Live improvements, and so-called "historic" announcements all come together to formally kick off E3. Even though a number of the announcements were spoiled ahead of time (Halo: Reach and Forza 3 come to mind), there was quite a lot to get excited about. Unless, of course, you're a PC gamer -- in which case the glaring omission of seemingly anything tied to the Games for Windows brand will really sting. Read on for a brief look at the major announcements that were made both at the conference and the post-conference luncheon.
Natal: A New Way to Play
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719216&type=lg
Easily the biggest announcement was Project Natal -- an entirely different way to interact with videogames and the Xbox 360. After years of rumors that a motion controller was coming to 360, it finally has -- except, there's no actual controller. Instead, Natal will detect your body and respond to your movement and voice in a number of ways. The functionality was shown interacting with the dashboard, painting a picture, and playing games. After a number of different demonstrations, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux came out to show a virtual boy by the name of Milo that can be best described as a (virtual) human version of Seaman. In a video, a woman had a conversation and interacted with Milo using the Natal functionality.
Metal Gear Solid on Xbox 360
The mystery of the Kojima countdown website continues to linger, but at least one of the secrets that Kojima Productions has up their sleeves has been revealed. Hideo Kojima took the stage and announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising, an MGS outing on the Xbox 360 starring none other than... Raiden.
Read the full story
Halo: Reach Announced
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719181&type=lg
If you were hoping Bungie was ready to move on from Halo, you'll be sorely disappointed. Halo 3 ODST was played for the crowd, only to be followed by the announcement of Halo: Reach, which appears to be a prequel to the Halo series that takes place in or around the events of the novel The Fall of Reach. ODST sales were guaranteed to be extremely plentiful, as multiplayer beta invites for Recon will be handed out with ODST.
Final Fantasy XIII Played on Xbox 360
Spring 2010 is the current release window for Final Fantasy XIII, but you won't have to wait until then to see how the game runs on 360. XIII was running on the 360 hardware at the conference and it looked as good as you could hope.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr Accompany The Beatles Rock Band
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719156&type=lg
Microsoft kicked things off with a long look at The Beatles Rock Band. The game supports up to six players -- as many as three players can sing in addition to the usual instruments -- and was accompanied to the stage by none other than two of the Beatles themselves: Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney.
Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Alan Wake, Forza 3 and Others Shown
Sequels to a number of big franchises were shown, including several huge surprises. Left 4 Dead 2 was announced as an exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC; Crackdown 2 was confirmed and shown; an extensive demo of Splinter Cell: Conviction had a nice 24 vibe; Forza 3 will have an in-car view at long last; Alan Wake is alive and was shown in action; Epic Games is working on an XBLA game by the name of Shadow Complex that looks an awful lot like Bionic Commando and Super Metroid; Joy Ride is a cutesy kart racing game that supports microtransactions; and Modern Warfare 2 on 360 will find itself with two (timed) exclusive map packs from Infinity Ward.
Facebook, Twitter, last.fm, and Live Party on Xbox Live
Rounding out the non-game announcements at the conference was the announced Xbox Live implementation of two of the most popular social networking services around: Twitter and Facebook. Coming this fall, you'll be able to access both services right on your Xbox 360. Alongside that functionality will be support for last.fm that will enable listening to all sorts of music right on the 360, as well as the ability to watch live television from Sky News (in the U.K.). Netflix will be getting various improvements, most notably the ability to edit your queue right on the 360. Combine that with 1080p content that plays instantly from the Video Marketplace (which is to be branded with the Zune name) and the long-forgotten but finally-coming Live Party support that lets you watch movies with others over Xbox Live, and you're looking at a lot of new content and functionality on Xbox Live.
Not at the conference...
Even more announcements were made at the post-conference luncheon. The biggest of these was a Games on Demand service that will offer up retail games for download over Xbox Live. This will launch in August with around 30 titles at launch, including Assassin's Creed. The new music service will have its own blade in the New Xbox Experience that includes a storefront for Lips downloadable content. 1080p content through the Video Marketplace will require "something like" an 8 megabit per second download speed, with the quality of the video downscaling to cater to your available bandwidth. And Avatars -- which weren't mentioned much outside of the Natal presentation -- will be getting new gear. Support for games to award clothing and other goodies for your Avatar from things like Achievements is being added, as is a section on the Marketplace to sell branded apparel and things of that nature. Props for your avatar, such as an RC Warthog from Halo that circles around your feet, will also be made available.
1UP
Natal: A New Way to Play
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719216&type=lg
Easily the biggest announcement was Project Natal -- an entirely different way to interact with videogames and the Xbox 360. After years of rumors that a motion controller was coming to 360, it finally has -- except, there's no actual controller. Instead, Natal will detect your body and respond to your movement and voice in a number of ways. The functionality was shown interacting with the dashboard, painting a picture, and playing games. After a number of different demonstrations, Lionhead's Peter Molyneux came out to show a virtual boy by the name of Milo that can be best described as a (virtual) human version of Seaman. In a video, a woman had a conversation and interacted with Milo using the Natal functionality.
Metal Gear Solid on Xbox 360
The mystery of the Kojima countdown website continues to linger, but at least one of the secrets that Kojima Productions has up their sleeves has been revealed. Hideo Kojima took the stage and announced Metal Gear Solid: Rising, an MGS outing on the Xbox 360 starring none other than... Raiden.
Read the full story
Halo: Reach Announced
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719181&type=lg
If you were hoping Bungie was ready to move on from Halo, you'll be sorely disappointed. Halo 3 ODST was played for the crowd, only to be followed by the announcement of Halo: Reach, which appears to be a prequel to the Halo series that takes place in or around the events of the novel The Fall of Reach. ODST sales were guaranteed to be extremely plentiful, as multiplayer beta invites for Recon will be handed out with ODST.
Final Fantasy XIII Played on Xbox 360
Spring 2010 is the current release window for Final Fantasy XIII, but you won't have to wait until then to see how the game runs on 360. XIII was running on the 360 hardware at the conference and it looked as good as you could hope.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr Accompany The Beatles Rock Band
http://media.1up.com/media?id=3719156&type=lg
Microsoft kicked things off with a long look at The Beatles Rock Band. The game supports up to six players -- as many as three players can sing in addition to the usual instruments -- and was accompanied to the stage by none other than two of the Beatles themselves: Ringo Starr and Sir Paul McCartney.
Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Alan Wake, Forza 3 and Others Shown
Sequels to a number of big franchises were shown, including several huge surprises. Left 4 Dead 2 was announced as an exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC; Crackdown 2 was confirmed and shown; an extensive demo of Splinter Cell: Conviction had a nice 24 vibe; Forza 3 will have an in-car view at long last; Alan Wake is alive and was shown in action; Epic Games is working on an XBLA game by the name of Shadow Complex that looks an awful lot like Bionic Commando and Super Metroid; Joy Ride is a cutesy kart racing game that supports microtransactions; and Modern Warfare 2 on 360 will find itself with two (timed) exclusive map packs from Infinity Ward.
Facebook, Twitter, last.fm, and Live Party on Xbox Live
Rounding out the non-game announcements at the conference was the announced Xbox Live implementation of two of the most popular social networking services around: Twitter and Facebook. Coming this fall, you'll be able to access both services right on your Xbox 360. Alongside that functionality will be support for last.fm that will enable listening to all sorts of music right on the 360, as well as the ability to watch live television from Sky News (in the U.K.). Netflix will be getting various improvements, most notably the ability to edit your queue right on the 360. Combine that with 1080p content that plays instantly from the Video Marketplace (which is to be branded with the Zune name) and the long-forgotten but finally-coming Live Party support that lets you watch movies with others over Xbox Live, and you're looking at a lot of new content and functionality on Xbox Live.
Not at the conference...
Even more announcements were made at the post-conference luncheon. The biggest of these was a Games on Demand service that will offer up retail games for download over Xbox Live. This will launch in August with around 30 titles at launch, including Assassin's Creed. The new music service will have its own blade in the New Xbox Experience that includes a storefront for Lips downloadable content. 1080p content through the Video Marketplace will require "something like" an 8 megabit per second download speed, with the quality of the video downscaling to cater to your available bandwidth. And Avatars -- which weren't mentioned much outside of the Natal presentation -- will be getting new gear. Support for games to award clothing and other goodies for your Avatar from things like Achievements is being added, as is a section on the Marketplace to sell branded apparel and things of that nature. Props for your avatar, such as an RC Warthog from Halo that circles around your feet, will also be made available.
1UP