E3 2007 Microsoft Live Updates
Show Begins @ 8:30pm Pacific, 10:30pm Central, July 10th
9:57: It's over! The band is back. We're going
9:55: Halo 3 trailer. Brute beats up a marine. Quick sucession of brief seconds of gameplay and cutscenes. Seems like Master Chief is hanging out with the Arbiter quite a bit. They're in many scenes together, including one where they're standing next to each other on a wide vista and looking out to the horizon. Possible co-op partner?
9:53: New Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 Elite by the end of the year.
9:49: Peter Moore is back. Starts talking about classic storytelling experiences like Star Wars. For this generation, it's Halo. New live action Halo short produced by Weta, directed by Neil Blomkamp. Shows production line of vehicles from Halo like the Warthog, shows Master Chief guys arming selves, shows Marines looking stoic, loading into transport vehicle. "Halo 3: Finish the Fight."
9:43: Jade Raymond and Patrice Desilets come to show real-time gameplay from Assassin's Creed. Some NPCs have weird static surrounding them, likely part of wacky sci-fi twist. Action and Prince of Persia-style acrobatics. Guy is ambushed by some dudes. He kills the five ambushers pretty easily. They seem to be doing that movie thing where they only attack him one at a time. Chase guy who sent ambushers, running across roofs and stuff. If you fall behind, enemy will wait and taunt you. Run across top of stuff while enemy is on the ground. Hits store shelves November.
9:41: Resident Evil 5. Looks fucking crazy. Wooo! Apparently only game with gameplay shown that's not coming out this year. Trailer coming July 26 to Xbox Live Marketplace.
9:38: GTA4 time. Shows old footage, but mentions that footage was captured from 360. Oct 16 in NA, Oct 19 in Europe, as already announced. "Where the GTA4 experience stops on other platforms, it continues on Xbox 360." Two new episodes released by spring 2008. "This will make Xbox 360 the only console where you can get the complete Grand Theft Auto IV experience."
9:29: Mentioned BioShock for 360, PC. Now talking about Call of Duty 4. New trailer. Shows warzone, Russian guy says, "Destroy their culture." Trailer ends and dev team comes to show off game. Been working on it since COD2. "Variety is the next big thing for us. We're going deep, and we're going hard." Showing gameplay with sniper and behind enemy lines commando shit. More info at charlieoscardelta.com
9:25: Sega, Eidos, THQ on board with Games for Windows Live. 12 Games for Windows Live games this year. Support for GFW Live to be included in Unreal Engine 3. 60 games to be included in general Games for Windows program this year. Montage: Flight Simulator X, Thrillville, Bee Movie Game, Hellgate: London, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Gears of War, BioShock, Crysis, Universe at War: Earth Assault, BlackSite: Area 51, World in Conflict, Age of Conan, Lost Planet, Kane & Lynch, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Viva Pinata, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe?.
9:21: Gears of War and Viva Pinata to PC. CliffyB comes to stage with dark hair. Game will have new content, game editor, co-op. CliffyB demonstrates using a 360 controller. He invites buddy online to play. 5 new chapters, new multiplayer mode, new map, new achievements. Boss battle with Brumak or however it's spelled--big boss guy with guy riding on top. Coming to XP as well as Vista.
9:18: Lost Odyssey trailer. Immortal dude fights through "lifetimes of battle, lifetimes of bloodshed, lifetimes of pain." He asks, "What is the cost of my immortality?" Kim: "If you are an RPG fan, Xbox 360 is simply the best console to own this holiday."
9:17: Mentions Alan Wake, new Banjo Kazooie, Too Human, Fable 2, Halo Wars, Jackson's Halo project. Mentioning today means out this year?
9:12: Shane Kim is on stage. Microsoft Game Studios games have highest average review score among publishers. Showing Project Gotham Racing 4. Bikes in PGR4, showing bike gameplay. Video and picture sharing in the game. "Project Gotham On Demand." New trailer shown. Game coming out this September.
9:11: Elite 360 in Europe this August. Video Marketplace to Europe and Canada this fall.
9:07: Bringing Disney library to Xbox Live Marketplace. High definition! Lots of classic and recent animated features, also stuff like Armageddon and Bringing Down the House and Coyote Ugly and Deja Vu and The Brothers Grimm. Walt Disney, Touchstone, Paramount, Miramax. It's all available now.
9:02: Xbox Live has 7 million members, beating 6 million goal by now. Montage w/ Bomberman Live, Undertow, Hexic 2 (new), Sonic the Hedgehog, War World, Sensible World of Soccer, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Geon, Wing Commander Arena, Feeding Frenzy 2, Track & Field, Spyglass Board Games, Golden Axe, Space Giraffe (fuck yeah!), Super Puzzle Fighter II, Word Puzzle, Marathon: Durandal (fuck yeah!), Poker Smash, Switchball, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest, Boku Sudoku. All out this year.
8:59: EA Sports games this year will run at "twice the speed" as last year's. "Twice the speed, twice as fast." He keeps saying this. Brings Reggie Bush to stage. Bell: "Let's show them if this game's got game, like we saw backstage." Uh. Bush: "I know how you Microsoft guys do, you cheat." They start playing Madden 08 versus. Bell wins.
8:54: Marketing VP Jeff Bell comes to stage. New board game...game. "SceneIt," movie trivia game. Will include HD movie clips and a new controller, it's a big buzzer with the four Xbox face buttons positioned all in a row. Naruto: Rise of a Ninja shown, already announced as 360 exclusive.
8:51: It's a montage! Lots o' games. Most stuff expected, Lost Odyssey also shown, confirming release this year.
8:47: Xbox 360 has largest install base of this generation w/ 5.6m units in US. "We're in a tight race with the Wii, and outselling PS2 by nearly 2:1." 360 has sold more games than its two competitors combined, with 65% of third party games selling on 360. Apparently 0 third party games selling on Wii/PS3, but lots on 360. Five bestselling games of last generation were GTA:SA, GTA:VC, GTA3, Halo 2, and Halo. Both franchises on 360 and on Peter Moore's arm. GTA4+Madden+Halo "have a potential to drive 1/3 of all new game sales this year."
8:45: New Mass Effect trailer. Looks great. Pretty exciting trailer. Seems to be presenting a more sinister bad guy rather than an abstract threat as in past marketing. Mass Effect out this November.
8:43: Another Viva Pinata game. Looks like a party game rather than another business strategy game. Viva Pinata: Party Animals. "Based on the hit animated series." And game, I guess?
8:38: Everything shown today will be out this year. Starting with Rock Band. Some Harmonix devs came out, and Peter Moore is playing guitar with them in Rock Band. "Let's pump it up to 11!" he says. They play The Hives' "Main Offender." And Peter Moore has failed out of the song! They brought him back in with star power. Now he has accidentally paused the game! Now he's singing too! Now he accidentally paused it again! Now it's over!
8:37: It's Peter Moore! "When we saw them on the internet, we just had to share their talent with you." Halo 3 in eleven weeks. "Welcome to the new E3."
8:35: Faylor tells me these people were big on YouTube.
8:34: Okay, it's just a bunch of photos and screenshots and stuff. And a live violin player playing the Halo music! With a live band! Live! (Xbox Live!)
8:32: It's starting! Some kind of Halo video or trailer.
8:30: Less than five minutes to start, according to the announcer! My colleague Chris Faylor tells me we should identify ourselves. So I'm Chris Remo, and he's Chris Faylor.
8:23: Logged in! Hello Shackers! I'm here in a high school auditorium.
