It's E3 week and I'm sitting in Los Angeles' Galen Center, prepared to liveblog the first press conference - or in Microsoft's parlance, their "media briefing" - but unfortunately I can't get the wifi to work. Alas. Still, hopefully I'll be able to find the signal by the time the briefing is over and can post this in some form!
10:10am - So my seat kind of sucks - upper concourse with elbows-a-gogo and they're making us listen to Coldplay. Eeeargh. Still, I guess I've got a good view of stuff. Not sure I want to try and waste time taking pictures, though. My camera won't quite manage the distance.
10:20am - They've told us five minutes till the briefing starts (it's starting five minutes early because of a VERY SPECIAL announcement. I would like to guess that it means that the first thing we're going to see is Bill Gates parasail in dressed as Solid Snake.
10:25am - OK, It's starting. Inspirational music plays, the lights dim, BILL GATES PARASAILS IN DRESSED LIKE SOLID SNAKE?
Oh wait, no.
10:30am - OK, so I just watched an absolutely incredible animation for
The Beatles: Rock Band (the opening cinematic.) I don't even like the Beatles that much but wowzers. Alex Rigopulos has walked out to discuss the title with some other bloke, and they're clearly going to show us gameplay, because theyt've got a Beatles Rock Band drum kit out n' stuff.
OK, so it basically looks exactly like
Rock Band. Except I guess that three people can sing at one time. And the instruments they're playing are all new and stuff - Is that a Rickenbacker I spot?
But still, I can hardly say I'm especially moved by the idea of more
Rock Band, just with the Beatles, especially after that animation seemed to promise so much (sort of.)
10:35am - Some dude called Giles Martin has come out to discuss it in a bit more detail. It's going to have in-studio banter from the band, and they're revealing ten of the songs. Jesus, to be honest, this is just all putting me more in the mood for a Monkees
Rock Band. God I love the Monkees.
Anyway, best songs announced are I am the Walrus, Back in the U.S.S.R. and Here Comes The Sun, but, they've even put in Octopus's Garden, incredibly.
10:38am - Alex reveals that you will be able to download Abbey Road in its entirety, and that All You Need is Love is to be Xbox Live exclusive, and all proceeds are to go to Doctors Without Borders.
10:40am - God, Yoko Ono just walked out on stage for literally three seconds, and then walked away. Olivia Harrison was there too, though.
Though people are now freaking out because Paul McCartney and Ringo just walked out on stage. Jesus, how much must this be costing them. Also, the reason Octopus's Garden is in it becomes more clear.
"The game is good, the graphics are very good" says Ringo. WIth that kind of insight he could work for IGN!
Anyway, less than a minute later, they've walked off stage, to be replaced by John Schappert. I still can't quite work out why they went as far as going to have Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison walk out for LITERALLY SECONDS.
10:41am - Oh wait, Schappert said about a live broadcast. Guess that it's enough reason to pull famous people out. And he's promising us no charts and graphs now. Yay, says the crowd, loudly.
10:43am - Now Tony Hawk has come out to show us
Tony Hawk Ride. He's showing us the skateboard peripheral design, and telling us it reacts like a real skateboard. He doesn't look massively comfortable having to say stuff like "intuitive" and other marketing speak, but who would?
10:46am - Just watched a trailer for
Ride. I wonder; do they scientifically work out how could it has to be and how loud the music has to be to give you emotive shivers up your back while the Yeah Yeah Yeahs play? Possibly.
10:47am - New trailer. This time for a shooty shooty war game. It looks like pretty much anything, and I'm completely unmoved, but then they reveal it's
Modern Warfare 2, and I'm a bit like "oh."
10:49am - OK, so they're showing us in-game footage. Captain MacTavish is back, and the player does some ice climing, even though it's a bit windy.
10:51am - Man this wall of ice is taking forever to climb. It's all unusually cinematic for a first-person game though.
10:55am - Lots of action. Man, the enemy can't aim in this game at all, apparently, but the animation is really super nice. Dude sitting next to me is lovin' it.
10:57am - Two map packs are to come for
Modern Warfare 2, Xbox Live "first" but not exclusive, it seems.
Now some Japanese dudes have walked out to discuss
Final Fantasy XIII, and show us some footage of it running on Xbox360.
11:00am - They showed us some battlin' and a summon, Odin. Pretty much... what you'd expect, I guess. Spring 2010 release, apparently.
11:02am - Urgh, I really wish this wireless would connect. Anyway, Schappert is now going to show us all the Xbox360 exclusives; coming out now are CliffyB and Donald Mustard to present Epic's first XBLA title. Mustard is telling us that it's taking the best of games like
Metroid and
Castlevania. It's called
Shadow Complex, and man, does it look like a Metroidvania (crossed with Alpha protocol).
11:04am - Ouch, my knees hurt from this stadium seating. Man, this game looks right up my alley, particularly because
I just enjoyed Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Summer 2009!
11:05am -
Joyride, coming from Bigpark. It's a racer that uses avatars! Very
Super Mario Karty (but that's an unavoidable comparison). Free to download, free to play, but you'll have to purchase cars and stuff with Microsoft points, looks like.
11:07am -
CRACKDOWN 2 OMG
CRACKDOWN 2 YES Made by Ruffian Games! Mon' the Scotland!
11:08am -
LEFT 4 DEAD 2 OMG YES THIS TIME WITH BLACK PEOPLE AND MORE MELEE WEAPONS
11:10am - A trailer for
Splinter Cell Conviction. Sorry that I don't sound quite as excited, but I've never really loved the series. But still; Sam Fisher is on a revenge mission and this gameplay footage they're showing is incredible. I can't really explain it, you'd have to see it, but they're using the environment to tell the story; it's stylistic and remarkable. Fall 2009.
11:18am -
Forza Motorsport 3. Again, this isn't a series I've been really into, so don't mind my lack of enthusiasim, but Microsoft are enthusastic, with Schappert calling it the "definitive racing game of this generation." October 2009.
11:24am -
Halo 3 ODST now, gameplay footage and stuff. Are you excited? Probably! It's more Halo... Which again, I personally have never had that much connection to. Anyway, there's a version of the Halo 1 pistol in it, and the main character has stuff that Spartans don't - a visor with a low light capability, and new weapons. September 22nd.
11:30am - BUT THAT'S NOT ALL - A
secret Bungie project. It's... more
Halo. Halo: Reach. A very unexplained teaser for something landing in 2010.
11:32am - Sam Lake from Remedy has come out to introduce us to...
Alan Wake. An interesting game - Xbox's spoiler for
Heavy Rain, in a way, we guess - but aims to be "televisual" rather than "cinematic." The in-game narration makes me think of
Night of the Cephalopods, but it's clearly more scripted than that. Does this game look good?
Sort of, I guess. Spring 2010.
11:38am - Schappert appears again to let us know that last.fm is coming to XBL. I've never managed to make last.fm do much for me on my PC, so can't say I'm that excited.
11:40am - Talking about Netflix. **bleep** you, America; we don't get Netflix here!
Oh great, they've announced a partnership with Sky to do the same thing in the UK, including live TV and premiership football.
God, way to make Canada feel like a total backwater. Thanks for NOTHING Microsoft (sulk).
11:42am - Instant on 1080p HD video through their video store. Pretty impressive. Oh, and how you can share videosm Netflix and Sky TV via Xbox Live parties. Impressive, but Canada still lacks two of those possibilities. LAME.
11:44am - A partnership with Facebook? Don't they realize that Twitter is where it's at now? God, I should yell that out. Felicia Day has come out to discuss it, first pimping "The Guild" a bit (natch.)
I'm not very excited by this, but it is neat that you can easily find your Facebook friends and add them to your Xbox friends list is pretty neat.
11:46am - Ok, now she's promising something totally new. We can now post screenshots direct to Facebook; but that's only starting with EA's next Tiger Woods game, so clearly developers are going to have to code that functionality in. Oh well.
11:47am - OMG LOL Twitter is also coming to XBL. More fool me. The interface looks super cute.
11:49am - Don Mattrick appears finally. He's Canadian!
11:50am - OH EM GEE Kojima just walked out. Yes, for REALZ. What is he bringing to Xbox360? I hope a new
Snatcher game.
Oh no wait, he's bringing the
Metal Gear Solid franchise to the Xbox360. Whatever.
I'm joking of course, but he's bringing
Metal Gear Solid Rising to the system. Trailer time!
It's going to be all about Raiden. People seem excited, but obviously Kojima can't reveal anything other than that.
11:52am - So is that it, then? No, it seems. Mattrick is talking, sounds like that motion control camera rumour was true after all.
11:53am - Yes, it is.
11:55am - Been watching a trailer of very Wii, or even Eyetoy-esque, games, but they're promising much, much better posibilities. Kind of takes the wind out of the earlier
Tony Hawk's Ride announcement, no?
11:57am - Voice recognition as well, eh? They are essentially promising the MOON ON A STICK here, people.
11:58am - But god, what if it's for real? It's called Project Natal and it's still in development it seems, and is their evolution rather than a new console, according to Mattrick.
11:59am - Steven Speilberg has come on to the stage. Hey Steven! I want my 12.50 back from when I went to see Crystal Skull! Actually, give me $25 back, my girlfriend came too.
God this is the weirdest selection of huge celebrities they've brought out. Remember when Yoko Ono walked out for three seconds? I doubt anyone else does!
12:01am - I feel disappointed that Peter Molyneux hasn't come out to reveal anything. Anway, Kudo Tsunoda, the creative director for Project Natal, has come out to show us some of the early prototypes, running live. The dashboard, which instantly recognises who he is.
Anyway, now we have a girl playing a game, and yes, it honestly does seem to be picking up all of her limb movement and even understanding when she's moving forward and backwards in 3D space.
There is no way this is going to be playable unless I move my coffee table. And also my sofa. And probably that bookcase, now that I think about it.
12:08am -
Paint Party, a sort of Jackson Pollock simulator using Project Natal. This demonstration sure ain't Bob Ross (but I'm sure if he was alive they'd have trotted him out for this, no doubt.)
12:10am - Apparently development kits are arriving with developers right now, which means... Oh hell, here comes Peter Molyneux!
12:11am - Man, Peter Molyneux knows what he's doing. Best presenter of the whole briefing, by far.
12:13am - He's introducing us to Milo, a little boy who lives in our Xbox. It's not like a Tamagochi; it's really clearly about making us feel an emotional connection to Milo. How unusual and how rife with danger to be completely terrible. If Project Natal was promising us the Moon on a stick, Milo is promising us the rest of the universe. I mean, the girl playing is literally just gave the Milo a piece of paper through the camera. Insane.
12:16am - Behind closed doors a selected audience are going to be able to meet Milo personally. Oh god oh god I hope I get to meet him.
Message Edited by MathewKumar on 06-01-2009 12:40 PM
Message Edited by Laura on 06-16-2009 02:38 PM
Message Edited by MikeLee on 07-28-2009 07:37 PM
Message Edited by Laura on 08-21-2009 03:54 PM
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