Microsoft/Xbox 360 E3 2008 Briefing

July 14, 2008 at 2:58 pm (Video Games)

 

 

 

Note-I did not copy this idea from James. I confronted him about the idea of us both splitting the three conferences, however he convinced me to just do my thing here. 

Today at about 12:30 my time several affiliates of and within Microsoft came together for a media briefing for all of the big announcements Microsoft had to offer for gaming audiences that was to come in the next year. I have to say, I was impressed. Microsoft had a beyond solid lineup, and provided a great show to kick off E3 this year. Below are some of the main headlines from the press conference. 

• Todd Howard from Bethesda Games showed up and presented a demo of the highly anticipated game, Fallout 3, he showed off the open world, variety of weapons, and intriguing combat system that looked a little easy to me, as you may see below. Todd also confirmed the game for release later this year.
• Cliff Besinski showed up and talked a little about Gears of War 2, confirming a new mode “Horde” which allows for up to 5 people playing cooperatively.
• After that, a Microsoft representative popped up again and ran through the numbers of Xbox 360, how it’s outselling the others (Can’t wait to hear that from the other 2 companies), and how it plans to “unveil a new experience to change the industry.” I KNOW I’ve heard that before.
• Microsoft announced a new partner with its Xbox Live Marketplace, NBC Universal, which means people will now get to watch Monk on their Xbox 360s.
• Microsoft then announced its new Xbox Dashboard interface (But not before showing that they had downloaded Dan in Real Life), which kinda looked like the Ipod Touch interface. I personally saw nothing wrong with the old one, however, out with the old, in with the new and shiny things.
• After that they unveiled the Wii-60s, I mean the “avatars” for the new 360 interface, which look strangely like Miis. Hmmm…….
• Shortly afterward they announced a few new Xbox Live Arcade titles, from Geometry Wars 2 to Portal: Still Alive. After being haunted by GlaDos, they announced their partnership with Netflix. 
• They ran down a few stats and trailers for games like Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts, Rock Band 2 and its exclusitivity, Guitar Hero World Tour, and Lips, a new Singstar-esque microphone game with wireless microphones.
• The President of Square Enix came out and talked RPGs. Games like The Last Remnant, the new Star Ocean, and Infinite Undiscovery he slapped with  release dates and confirmed all 3 would be coming to the 360. Directly after that he drops the bomb that was Final Fantasy 13 coming to the 360. 

Overall, Microsoft did a fairly good job at slapping a few titles with release dates, while shocking some with games that were coming now to the 360. Announcing the new interface and features for the 360 dashboard along with all these good looking titles and news of those titles made for a great conference. Coming up tomorrow is Nintendo and Sony’s big shows.What they’re gonna show off, who knows.

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