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Microsoft’s 2008 E3 Press Conference began with Microsoft’s Dan Mattrick introducing a quintet of big-name games coming to the 360 within the next year.
The first of the five, Fallout 3, was introduced with a 1950’s style advertisement for the brand-new Vaultec radiation bunker. If anything, the commercial showed that the series’ off-beat sense of humor will indeed play a big part in the game. The camera pulled away from the commercial, revealing that it was playing on a TV in the middle of what used to be someone's living room. As the camera pulled back even further, it showed a devastated city which plays home to the game’s action.
After the clip, Bethesda’s Todd Howard came out to show off the first playable footage of the game. He began by leading players out of Vault 101 and showed that the game can be played either in a first-person or an over-the-shoulder third-person mode. As he walked through the ruined city, he showed off the new Pip-Boy 3000 wrist menu that serves as the main interface throughout the game. While showing off the Pip-Boy, he emphasized that players would be able to play in multiple ways, including combat-heavy, stealth or using the power of persuasion. Morality plays a big part in how the game world reacts to your character. Adding to the number of available options, combat can play out in real-time or using a turn-based method that allows players to choose a system of commands, such as targeting specific body parts.
After some gun play, which included a look at every boy’s dream weapon, a portable mini-nuke launcher, Howard announced that the 360 and Games for Windows versions of Fallout 3 will receive exclusive downloadable content.
Next up was Jun Takeuchi, Resident Evil 5’s producer, who also showed off the first playable footage of the game. From the outset, RE5 looks like it retains the same look and feel as RE4, but with one major addition – Online co-op. Chris Redfield stars as the main protagonist and is working for an agency investigating an act of bio-terrorism in Africa. The second player plays as Sheva, who also works for the same organization as Chris. The co-op aspects go slightly beyond both standing together and shooting in a room; at one point Chris helped Sheva cross a gap between two buildings, after which Sheva unlocked a door for Chris. Takeuchi made it a point to mention that this sort of team play would be necessary to the game’s gameplay.
Before leaving the stage, Takeuchi announced that Resident Evil 5 would see worldwide release on March 13, 2009, which can only mean that Capcom wants me to have a really happy birthday.
The next game shown was Fable II, which was introduced by Peter Molyneux. The presentation began by showing an active city full of people and a bird that proceeded to poop on the main character’s head – which is supposed to be a mark of good luck. This is a new superstition to me, so I can only assume it’s either something unique to Fable’s world or just one of those British things I don’t understand.
Playing with others was a major component of everything shown, and Molyneux continued the trend by showcasing Fable II’s drop-in Co-op. During the game, players on your Friends List would show up in your game as glowing orbs. Touching an orb allows you to seamlessly pull that player into your world, allowing your friends to share in your adventures or just have fun by getting drunk at a pub or interacting with other characters. Molyneux finished the demo by introducing everyone to his in-game wife. Apparently Peter likes his women a bit on the rough side, since she had a real thing for burping. Again, it must be a British thing. Oh… and Fable II will be available in October.
The belle of the ball was, of course, Gears of War 2. In what is becoming a bit of an E3 Press Conference tradition, Epic’s Cliffy B… er, Cliff Bleszinski showed off playable footage of the game. After a bit of a technical glitch (which revealed that Cliff probably wasn’t actually playing the demo), the demo showed Marcus and Dom working their way through a city that has been sunken by Locusts.
The duo worked their way through a crumbling building and ended up on the roof only to have it collapse under their feet. As the two fought their way through the streets and corridors, including a ride on a sideways elevator, several new enemies were shown as well as a few new mechanics like the ability to grab enemies and use them as shields, and a shield that can expand and stick in the ground. A massive Gatling gun was shown and quickly dispatched a group of Locusts, but was no match for the giant Brumak, which Marcus suggests that he and Dom ride before the demo ended.
Before leaving the stage, Bleszinski announced a brand new multiplayer mode, Horde, which allows up to five players to take on waves of increasingly difficult Locusts. Gears of War 2 will be available on November 7.
Mattrick returned to the stage with more announcements and the traditional E3 sales show-and-tell. Thankfully, PowerPoint slides and charts were in short supply this year. Hopefully we’ll see the same thing from Sony, the undisputed king of E3 PowerPoints.
In addition to mentioning that the industry is now bigger than box office and DVD sales, he also announced that the 360 is helping to lead the way, pointing out that the 360’s third-party sales were higher than the PS3 and Wii combined. Mattrick then declared that the 360 would sell more units worldwide than the PS3.
Turning to Xbox Live, the service now plays host to 12 million members who have bought over a billion dollars in content. While that’s a lot of Rock Band songs, about a third the paid downloads are movies and television shows. Mattrick welcomed NBC and Universal Studios as new content providers, who will provide shows like The Office, Monk and Battlestar Galactica for Live as well as movies, including The Fast and the Furious and The Bourne Supremacy.
Mattrick then welcomed John Schappert to the stage who introduced the new Xbox experience. A quick content download later, and the Blade-driven menu we all know and love was transformed into a slick new interface. The GamerCard was replaced by a new one featuring Schappert’s GamerScore (heh…) and the new Mii-like avatars which will presumably replace GamerPics... meaning I only have a few months to enjoy my Nolan-ized 360.
In all truth, the new interface looks great and the avatars look like a fun addition. You’ll be able to customize your Avatar using hundreds of clothing and physical attributes and it was even suggested that the ability to purchase new clothes might be linked into the Achievement system. The avatars will show up in select games and will even be able to join “Parties” with other avatars to view photos, watch movies or play in the new Xbox Primetime feature. The new service is an online, multiplayer game that players can join in. Schappert showed off the Primetime version of “1 vs. 100”, where players will be able to play as either the 1 on stage or as one of the 100 with a live host running everything. The Party System will also allow you and your friends to quickly jump into games, such as the new Uno Rush which will be available on XBLA soon. Speaking of XBLA, Schappert also announced Geometry Wars 2 and Galaga Legions, a Pac-Man: Championship Edition-style remake of Galaga. Both will be available next month. He also welcomed a guest speaker, Portal’s GLaDOS, to announce Portal: Still Alive, an XBLA spin-off of Portal that will include new levels and Achievements. The XBLA announcements were rounded out by a new South Park game.
Microsoft’s XNA community-made games service was touched on. Two quick snippets of games were shown along with the announcement that the first wave would hit this Fall. Schappert finished his part of the show by announcing a partnership with Netflix. The partnership will allow 360 owners to stream Netflix content, though it wasn’t clear if Live subscribers would also need a Netflix account (Editor's note - you need a Netflix account. See Xbox/Netflix story.) You’ll even be able to share Netflix movies with friends and watch it with them using Live Party.
Microsoft VP Shane Kim was introduced and echoed Mattrick’s earlier comments about the upcoming lineup of games. He then showed off two new trailers from Rare. The first was for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which looks to feature an extensive building component. This was followed by the announcement that the original Banjo-Kazooie would be released on XBLA and a trailer for Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. The trailer showed off two new areas as well as Live Vision camera support that lets players generate new piñatas by flashing cards in front of the camera similar to Eye of Judgment on the PS3.
Kim then showed off a pair of party games that, oddly enough, have jumped to the top of my “Must Have” list. The first was You’re in the Movies, a mini-game collection that uses the Live Vision camera to capture movements from the games and other improvisations to generate B-flicks. During the demonstration, Mattrick ran in place, which was then spliced into an on-screen image of Mattrick dressed in clown pants attached to a bungee cord. After your group plays a series of these games, they are then inserted into movie clips that you’ll be able to edit and share with friends over Live.
The second of the two was a sequel to Scene It!, which will be the first game to support Live avatars in-game as well as Online play.
Music games are all the rage and Kim mentions that an average of 3.5 million songs are downloaded every month over Live and over 80% of all song downloads take place on the 360. He then introduced Kai Huang, the founder of RedOctane, to talk about Guitar Hero: World Tour. He mentioned the new touch-slide guitar, wireless drum kit and an eight-player Battle of the Bands online mode. The track list will feature 85 songs on the disc as well as more available as DLC, including a special REM track pack that will debut three songs off the band’s new album. The Guitar Hero franchise is also the exclusive home of Van Halen and The Eagles and the new Metallica album will be available as exclusive DLC this September for both Guitar Hero III and World Tour.
Kim then brought Keiichi Yano, the developer behind Gitaroo Man and Elite Beat Agents, to show off a new karaoke game, Lips. The hook to Lips is that players will be able to hook their Zune or iPod to their 360 and sing songs in their own collections. The mic also has motion-sensing capabilities, allowing players to perform actions while they play. To show off how the game works, Yano brought out singer Duffy, who performed her song “Mercy” while playing the game. While earlier technical difficulties might make you think she wasn’t actually singing to the game (which she absolutely nailed by the way), she missed a few of the mic flourishes so it was probably legit.
The musical portion of the show was concluded by a series of announcements from Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos. Rock Band 2 will launch as an Xbox 360 exclusive this year and feature 86 songs on the disc. Guitar Hero’s list of exclusive artists was countered by Rock Band’s own list, which includes Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” and AC/DC’s “Let There be Rock”. Rock Band 2 will also mark the debut of the first single from Guns n’ Roses LONG awaited album, “Chinese Democracy”. Twenty bonus tracks will be available as free downloads when the game launches, upping the number of new content to over 100. In addition, most of the original Rock Band songs will be backwards compatible with Rock Band 2, pushing the number up to 500 songs.
Kim’s last guest was Square Enix President Yoichi Wada, who announced three RPGs in development for the 360 and what was probably the conference’s biggest announcement. The first was Infinite Undiscovery, which will be released on September 2. The second, Star Ocean: The Last Hope will release later this year and The Last Remnant will arrive first on Xbox 360 next Spring.
Mattrick took the stage, only to have Wada reappear with, “… one more big announcement”. The lights dimmed and the image of dragons appeared, along with troops dropping down only to run into a focus in on “Lightning”, the female protagonist from Final Fantasy XIII. The announcement that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360 was made into what easily had to be the conference’s biggest cheer from the crowd.
With that, Mattrick thanked everyone for coming. |
