Microsoft E3 2008 Press Conference Thoughts

The E3 08 Microsoft Press Conference was a solid line-up of hardcore games with some casual gimmicks sprinkled in. Long awaited rumours confirmed and one hell of a surprise ending, this years Microsoft Conference was a blast.

To kick it all off we are treated to some game demos. First up is a live demo of Fallout 3, first showing a half of a full trailer accompanied by some gameplay. The combat was shown off in real time and this slow motion feature that allows you to target any part of your enemy strategically. The combat looks a bit on the easy side if you abuse this feature. Resident Evil 5 was up next, showing off the online co-op feature that allows you and a friend to tackle the zombie onslaught together. The demo ended with a teasing battle of the two of you vs. a chainsaw wielding maniac but was cut short because of time constraints. The game looks very good and it has the same interface and core gameplay from Resident Evil 4 which is awesome.

Peter Molyneux graced the stage, announcing that Fable II is "done". Now Peter has been know to promise the world but I think he's not exaggerating for once. The live demo showed off some early gameplay where you are a male or female child and transitioned into co-op gameplay. The ability to join your friends game is now easier than ever. Just walk up to a glowing bubble in the world, invite him in and your playing co-op. Some more interactions with your family were shown off, socializing and doing things your family like seems to build relationships. This is easily shown by the very "The Sims" style of "+17" or "-8" bubbles that pop up over the NPC's head. Giving you feedback in real time as to what your doing and how it effects your partner or child.

Clifford "Don't call me Cliffy B" Bleszinski came on stage showing off a new trailer for Gears of War 2 as well as a demo of a never before seen level. The trailer is very Epic, showing Marcus charging into a group of various types of locust - trying to get to his pinned down buddies all the while holding a meat shield. The demo displayed showed a level where the environment was destroying all around you in glorious scripted Unreal Engine III graphics. The kind only Epic knows how to make, you even stay in a building while it falls down and the demo ends with Marcus suggesting to Dom to ride one of the Brumacks. An additional game type was revealed where you and friends online beat wave after wave of progressively harder locust.

A Microsoft rep then went on stage and touted that videogames are now the biggest form of entertainment in the world. The Xbox 360 is fueling this by great sales and great software. Putting the Microsoft spin on everything of course. "Winning" the console war in "North America" according to "NPD". Selling way more units then PS3 but only outselling the Wii by about 100,000, again, all this is North America not world wide stats. Quickly moving to the new Xbox 360 dashboard that will be released in the fall that offers a new look and some cool new features. The core look of it reminds me of my Windows Media Center program with the list of options scrolling in the top left and the stylized look. The much rumoured Mii rip offs, I mean avatars are confirmed and will be displayed in this new dashboards as well.

The avatars just look like hi-res Mii's and to prove that they are going to be used in games they also announced a new Uno game that will be coming out in the fall. It looks just like the old Uno but where there used to be Xbox Live Vision Camera's there is now your avatar wiggling around, woopie. One of the main creators in charge of the avatars seemed to drink the kool-aid and said, "Where else, beside Xbox Live, could you introduce the concept of an avatar and it immediately become a community of 10 million." Really? Think hard, what are avatars like? You can now see your friends avatars on the dashboard as well and invite them into a party (max of 8) where you can then launch any game or movie (more on that later) right from the menu. This all sounds good but it seems like someone at Microsoft might have been looking into Sony's Home for inspiration.

A new blade (I'm not sure if their Blades or just pages anymore) shows off only game show videogames. This PrimeTime section lets you play game shows like 1vs 100 online and compete for real prizes. Get ready to battle through weeks of ladder style tournaments for your Deal or No Deal keychain! Xbox Live Arcade was there in full force showing off Geometry Wars II, Galaga: Legions, Portal: Still Alive and a sneak peak at a South Park project. Most of these titles will be available this fall but my highly anticipated Duke-Nukem 3D is no where to be found, that sucks. Along with arcade games, Xbox Live Community games is launching this fall where you will be able to play games the community has created using the XNA tools provided by Microsoft.

Netflix and Xbox Live are now happy and together. The much rumoured joining goes back a few months and the mole who dug that one up deserves a carrot. So: if you live in the United States, have a XBL Gold subscription as well as a Netflix subscription, you will be able to watch any Netflix movie on your console AND you'll be able to share this viewing with your friends in your party. Sounds pretty cool but again, Home was all about showing movies in your virtual house to your friends first. With this much "borrowing" of features going on I wouldn't be surprised if gamerscore was now Gamer Trophies and the dashboard turns into the Cross-Media-Interface, prove me wrong Microsoft. Another Scene it game was also revealed as well as a new trailer for Banjo Kazooie which showed off gameplay on land, sea and air.

Your In the Movies is the latest in Microsoft "borrowing" ideas from Sony with this blatant EyeToy rip-off. This game allows you to play a series of mini-games that force you to pose, dance, run in one spot, swat bugs, etc. After a set amount of these games are completed, the footage of you looking like an idiot gets spliced into a cool looking move trailer. Guitar Hero World Tour was there, showing off drums with symbols, a new guitar and it's music making capabilities along with a ton of master tracks featuring: Van Halen, The Eagles, R.E.M. and Metallic just to name a few. Rock Band II shows up and totally schools Guitar Hero with over 100 master tracks at launch, everything backwards compatible and a very good variety of bands from Modest Mouse to Megadeth. To wrap things up a higher up from Square Enix comes on stage showing off a new trailer for The Last Remnant that looks a lot like Final Fantasy XII if you ask me.




O yeah, FFXIII is coming to Xbox 360 as well.

Another year, another Microsoft E3 conference in the bag. With Xbox being more aggressive towards the casual market with their avatars and casual games as well as going head to head with Sony's Home features. It seems that Microsoft is trying their hardest to appeal to everyone, nabbing the most popular options from the competition and spitting out system selling exclusives, their in great shape to have another solid year of hardware and software sales.