Now that the press conferences from the big three console makers have concluded, it's time to take a look back at what was discussed during the conferences. I will be giving you a brief summary of the events along with links to videos showing the events from the conference and other relevant information. First up: Microsoft.
If you would like to view the entire presentation, you may do so at
G4's website or it should be on the Xbox Live Marketplace for download.
The presentation was hosted by Don Mattrick, Senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. He starts off by warning us that the games being showed during this conference "are INTENSE games! Many are not for the faint of heart."
A new trailer for Fallout 3 is played and Todd Howard, the game's director, then takes the stage to give us
. What he showed looks astonishing and I highly recommend taking a look at the demo. I never really was interested in this game until seeing the demo and how it meshes a futuristic setting with a 1950's kind of vibe. Todd also announces that the Xbox 360 and Games For Windows will be receiving exclusive downloadable content for the game. He also appeared on G4 and gave them a 10 minute demonstration of the game.
Up next:
the first demonstration of Resident Evil 5! The game is looking
INCREDIBLE and looks like Gears of War crossed with Resident Evil. They also showcase the all-new online co-op mode and display how Chris and Sheva can work together to solve puzzles and destroy zombies. Resident Evil 5 will be released on Friday the 13th of March 2009 on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.
Peter Molyneux shows us Fable 2 and informs us that the game is completed and will ship in October. The game looks pretty cool, and the online co-op mode is extremely innovative. Also: the game has belching!
And now the game everyone's been waiting to see more of, Gears of War 2!
Cliff Blezenski shows some gameplay footage and a new trailer. I think it looks like Gears 1 but outside, however I'm biased. Chainsawing people is AWESOME!!! Voice acting sounds horribly generic, but that's to be expected. Guess I'm spoiled after Metal Gear Solid 4. Great looking flame effects. New multiplayer mode is announced: Horde. Up to 5 people take on wave after wave of Locust of increasing difficulty. Game comes out on November 7.
Cliff exits, Don comes back on stage and starts the businessy part of the show. He informs us that games are the biggest form of entertainment in the world and claims that the 360 will sell more consoles than PS3 this generation. We'll see about that.
Now the Xbox Live portion of the show.
NBC and Universal Studios join the Xbox Live Video marketplace. MGM and Constantin Film join in Europe.
This fall,
the Xbox 360 interface you all know and love will be replaced with a newer, more minimalist design. I think it looks better than the old one, but my opinion would change if they plaster it with ads like they do the current one. Along with the new interface comes several new features. First of those new features is avatars, which is pretty much a ripoff of Nintendo's Mii feature. These avatars could possibly replace your GamerPic that you currently have (no information is known for sure), but these avatars will show up in games just like on the Wii. Second, the community channel will be changed from a list of your friends to showing their avatars. The new community channel will also allow you to create a party, which allows you to join up with your friends to chat, share photos, and play games. Third, there is a new channel of Live called Xbox Live Primetime that will allow you to play free game shows online with people.
After that, they
showed us a glimpse of many new Xbox Live Arcade titles. Among the titles shown are Uno Rush, Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions (done by the team that did Pac-Man Championship Edition, and holy shit it looks INCREDIBLE!), Portal: Still Alive, and South Park.
Microsoft then showed off
clips of a few community games before dropping a bombshell: they have formed an exclusive partnership with Netflix. Subscribers to Netflix will be able to watch all of Netflix instant queue library on their console. But it doesn't end there! Your Xbox Live party can all join together and watch the same movie. Incredible idea, and a fantastic partnership for them.
Next: trailers for
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata: Trouble in ParadiseA sequel to Scene It is unveiled.
Now things get awkward with the
showing of You're In The Movies, which is a party game compilation of minigames that all use the Xbox Live Vision Camera. Watch the video to see people acting like jackasses and for GIANT ENEMY LIZARDS!
Guitar Hero: World Tour gets an apathetic reaction from the crowd while announcing that Metallica's new album will be available as DLC in Guitar Hero 3 on the day the album comes out.
Next up:
the long-rumored unveil of Lips, Microsoft's upcoming
SingStar ripoff Karoke Revolution ripoff karoke game. Developed by iNiS (Gitaroo Man, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Elite Beat Agents), Lips will allow you to sing along to not just the songs they gave you, but dance using the motion sensitive wireless microphone. The coolest part about this game is that you can actually use your own music from your iPod/Zune (lol). Some pop "star" I've never heard of named Duffy comes out on stage and starts singing. I promptly run for the mute button.
Rock Band totally blows Guitar Hero away with a
tracklist over 100 songs, the ability to port all your old Rock Band 1 DLC, and for $5 you will be able to play most Rock Band 1 songs in Rock Band 2 without the need to swap discs! By the end of the year
Rock Band 2 will have a library of OVER 500 SONGS! Guitar Hero is done for.
Then comes Square-Enix with new trailers for Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and The Last Remnant. First they talk about The Last Remnant and show a new trailer. The game is out this holiday season for 360 and sometime later for PC.
Don thanks us all for attending, but Yoichi Wada won't have any of that. He's got something to say! Lights go down, and the shot heard round the world is fired. Final Fantasy XIII is coming to Xbox 360.
That's it for Microsoft. Stay tuned for summaries of both Nintendo and Sony, coming soon.
