July 14, 2008
E3 2008: Microsoft Media
Briefing
Microsoft starts the
party off with a bang with a surprise-filled press conference
As the first of the major
players in the game industry to host a press conference, Microsoft’s E3 2008
Media Briefing was one with several surprises, be they simple added features
to long-awaited titles or some pretty huge revelations. Held in the LA
Convention Center, the venue for E3 as a whole, didn’t reveal any info on
hardware changes or price drop, but rather had some huge info on the Fall
System Update, new titles for retail and Xbox Live Arcade, and one
particular former “PS3-exclusive” that has jumped the ship to the Xbox 360.
First speaker to hit the
stage is Don Mattrick, senior VP for Xbox and emcee of sorts for the event,
who started off the show by iterating last year’s success. Referencing
titles like Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, Call of Duty 4, and so on, Mattrick
emphasized the console’s loyal fanbase as well as spoke of the need to
unleash more creativity within the industry in order for it to grow. He then
spoke of four titles that would help bring about more success for the system
this fall, namely Fallout 3, Resident Evil 5, Fable 2, and Gears of War 2.
The next speaker on the
stage was Todd Howard, Game Director from Bethesda Softworks, who demoed
part of a new
Fallout 3 trailer and showed off some of the gameplay elements. The game
is looking like a true sandbox-style game, offering different ways to play
and build up your character. One cool feature allows you to play the game in
real-time like a normal FPS, or you can pause the action and attack your
opponent by selecting their weakest body part and attacking them with your
weapon of choice. One weapon on display was the “Fatman”, which catapults a
bomb into your enemies for some pretty effective crowd dispersal. Howard
also revealed that the game would have substantial exclusive downloadable
content for both the Xbox 360 and PC.
Next up was Jun Takeuchi,
producer on
Resident Evil 5. Takeuchi revealed that the avidly-anticipated entry to
the beloved franchise would be available on March 13, 2009 (Friday the 13th),
and would feature a new online co-op mode that would allow two players to
make their way through the game together. In the gameplay demo, the
mechanics were very reminiscent of Resident Evil 4, from the camera angles
to the gunplay. The co-op elements were very impressive, and should add a
great mechanic to the series. The segment concluded with a short reveal of a
new take on the dreaded chainsaw wielding psycho from RE4, who can possibly
be taken down this time with a buddy.
Peter Molyneux then took to
the stage to discuss the progress of
Fable 2, which
he proclaimed “is finished”. After a short, but funny opening where a bird
soars over the epic-scoped world into a town and, erm, poops on your head, a
few announcements on new game features where announced. Your friends will
play an important part in the game, as their single-player exploits will be
shown on the screen as blue orbs, and should you want to play cooperatively
with them for a little while, you simply walk up to their orb and invite
them along for the ride. Other elements allow you to get married, have
children who age, form a companionship with a dog, and several other new
open-ended features that should make the game a blast to play. Fable 2 will
launch this October.
Next up was Cliff Blezinski
to display what he referred to as “the most anticipated game for this or any
platform”, Gears
of War 2. After a short trailer that revealed the latest ability in
Marcus’s repertoire, shields (both Locust and otherwise), Blezinski jumped
into a stage that featured a bunch of buildings collapsing into lava. Marcus
and Don took a choppy ride to the bottom, busting through building floors
and riding a collapsed elevator to a Burmak (which you can also ride this
time around), as well as one of the new weapons in the game, the
flamethrower. Also announced by Blezinski was a new multiplayer mode,
Horde, which works as a 5-player co-op mode where the players take on a
non-stop onslaught of Locust troops and hold out as long as possible, and
the game’s release date, which is November 7, 2008 worldwide.
After Blezinski’s
presentation, Don Mattrick returned to the stage and talked up some sales
figures from Xbox LIVE, including the 1 billion dollars spent by consumers
for the service since 2005. They announced the addition of NBC Universal to
the group of content providers for their video download service, bringing TV
Shows like Heroes and The Office as well as feature films like The Fast and
the Furious and The Mummy to Xbox 360 gamers everywhere. On the other side
of the pond, they also announced a deal with MGM International and
Constantin Films, bringing their films to European Xbox 360 gamers.
Next, John Schappert took
to the stage and announced a complete overhaul to the Xbox LIVE experience
with a brand new Dashboard launching this fall. Among the additions to the
system are Avatars, which function quite similar to Miis on the Nintendo Wii,
with a bit more added functionality in that you can have LIVE Parties and
share your gameplay experience with your friends and play new game show
games via Primetime. Primetime allows you to bring your friends together
online in order to play games like 1 vs. 100 with your respective Avatars.
Next up, Schappert revealed
some great new titles slated to hit the Xbox LIVE Arcade, including UNO
Rush, Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved, Galaga Legions (a straight sequel to
the original Galaga debuting next month), Portal: Still Alive, and a new
South Park title slated for 2009. Finally, before leaving the stage,
Schappert announced that
Netflix’s
Watch Now features should be coming to Xbox LIVE subscribers,
effectively buffing up their video catalog quite a bit.
Shane Kim took the stage
next and revealed some of Microsoft’s plans for family gaming on their
system. After a short trailer for Rare’s upcoming
Banjo-Kazooie
game, Nuts & Bolts, Kim revealed that the original Banjo-Kazooie will be
coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade. They also touched a bit on another Rare
offering, Viva
Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, and how the game will make use of the Xbox
LIVE Vision Camera in order to scan special cards that will allow you to
unlock new piatas in the game.
Kim next revealed a new
Scene It game called Scene It! Box Office Smash, as well as a title being
developed by Zoe Mode for Codemasters called You’re In the Movies. You’re In
the Movies has you and your friends playing a variety of camera-based
minigames, which are then applied into a campy B-movie. You also have the
ability to edit your films yourself or simply let the game take over. You’re
in the Movies ships this holiday with an Xbox LIVE Vision Camera in the box.
Next up, Kai Huang, founder
of Red Octane, got onstage to reveal some new info on
Guitar Hero: World
Tour. Huang announced an exclusive new 8-player band battle mode, a new
REM track pack that would make its worldwide debut on Guitar Hero World
Tour, and the next Metallica album, which will be available for download in
the game.
Microsoft then revealed
Lips, which is effectively their answer to Sony’s popular SingStar
franchise. Lips is a karaoke game with a full soundtrack, but also will give
you the ability to plug your Zune into your Xbox 360 and sing along to your
own music collection. After the initial presentation, Keichii Yano from iNiS
brought out recording artist Duffy to perform her single “Mercy” within the
game. Lips will be out this holiday season.
Next up, Alex Rigopulos
from Harmonix took to the stage to announce the deets on Rock Band 2, which
will be out with a short exclusivity window for the Xbox 360 this September.
Among the revelations were the
complete setlist,
which is a bit too long to list here but features some great new tracks from
AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses (Schackler’s Revenge from ‘Chinese Democracy’), and
a song by Bob Dylan. Also revealed was Rock Band 2’s ability to import
tracks from the first game and use all downloadable content for Rock Band,
effectively bringing the tracklist up to 500 songs before the end of the
year.
Finally, Yoichi Wada from
Square-Enix took to the stage, announcing release dates for their upcoming
three titles: Infinite Undiscovery (Sept. 2nd), Star Ocean: The
Last Hope (Spring 09), and The Last Remnant (Nov. 20th). Also
revealed was The Last Remnant for PC, which will be revealed more later down
the line.
Finally, as the show was
winding down, Wada drops a bombshell, announcing that Final Fantasy XIII
would be available for the Xbox 360 at launch. While not much else was
divulged, this was a major announcement for Microsoft, as the title was
previously a PS3-exclusive (as well as the last major exclusive for the
system.
All in all, Microsoft
brought out some big new announcements for their system, and should help to
further cement it not only as a game console, but as a media platform and
entertainment system for anyone’s living room.
For All E3
2008 News and Announcements