The largest video game event of the year has had another landmark successful year. This year they did not allow the general public to attend the Expo, but the amount of press coverage has nearly doubled. Personally, I have enjoyed hearing about all the up and coming games, systems, and sometimes even software that deals with gaming. This year Microsoft blew me away with their press conference.
The Beetles: Rockband
They started off with showing off the stars that they brought along to E3 and to help announce The Beetles: Rockband, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Star. I think Microsoft’s statement was that Rockband was a major part of the Xbox360 and that even though Rockband isn’t exclusive to the 360, they will have content for the game that will be exclusive to the Xbox360. With this side release of Rockband, they added a new feature which allows you to include not one, but three different singers. Also with the release they will be letting out the instruments to play on which are replicas of the original instruments played by the Beetles, whether it’s Sir Paul McCartney’s trademark HÖFNER Bass, or Ringo Star’s drums with the classic black Oyster Pearl finish and Ludwig-Branded Beatles kick drum head. With the release date set for October 9th, 2009, keep an eye out for it because it’s just around the corner.
Tony Hawk’s Ride
During this part of the Press Conference, Tony Hawk himself came out to describe the game he has been helping to develop himself. Unlike the last time he put out a skateboard game, this time he brought a different type of controller. Like Guitar Hero and Rockband, he brought with him a full size skateboard controller, the only difference is that it has no wheels. This game will be fully controller through this controller which looks very promising. One of the keynotes from Hawk was the fact that the sensor is has will be able to pick up things like you going in to grab the board, or when you kick up the front or back end. The release date is set for Q4 of 2009, so expect something near Christmas.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2
Finally, a developer put on what everyone was waiting to see. Activision came onstage and said a few words, “Guys, we don’t have a lot of time, so were going to play and you guys are going to watch.” From the gameplay, it looked as though the game was still being run off the same engine. A few differences to the User Interface such as the radar actually being attached to your gun, although I don’t know if that will be there in Multiplayer. Also, you got to see the new dynamics they put in such as the ice climbing and being able to use a snowmobile (They demoed a snowy level in the campaign.) Activision did say that they will be releasing this game on November 10th of this current year and check here around that time because this is a game I will be reviewing.
Final Fantasy XIII
Square Enix came onto the stage and showed everyone what they wanted. Final Fantasy XIII working on the Xbox360. Another exclusive title that has been lost by Sony looked very impressive on the 360. Now the game is very similar to the version currently on the PS3, but they definitely made some changes to the game from things they didn’t like from the PS3 version. The game looks very impressive and the game is on the same engine as the PS3 so the graphics are very good. From the game play they showed, the city is very dark so this is a more modern Final Fantasy. The release date is unfortunately not confirmed, but speculation has it coming out in Q2 of 2010, so quite a bit away in terms of games to be released. Expect it to drop right before E3 2010.
Shadow Complex
It wouldn’t be a Microsoft E3 conference if Epic Games didn’t show up, and they did again revealing their Xbox Live Arcade title Shadow Complex. This side scrolling game is going to be run off of the Unreal 3 Engine. That means its the same engine that Gears of War and the current Unreal series is running off of. For a side scrolling game, the graphics are very good and especially for an Xbox Live Arcade game. Their were tons of dynamic things to the game such as shooting down power conduits to electrocute enemies as well as climbing up walls using a special gun. The game just looks really fun and interesting to play. This game will release in the U.S. on September 30th this year and looks to be very promising.
Joy Ride
A freebie coming to the Xbox Live Arcade is Joy Ride set to set to release during Q4 of this year. This is a racing game that includes your avatar. The game itself is definitely an Arcade looking game, but if it’s free there’s no reason not to pick it up. They only showed one track but I’m sure there’s more to it than that as well as you being able to pick from multiple cars and customize it in a few different ways. Like I said its free so there really isn’t anything wrong with it, although I felt that it was weird that Microsoft would use valuable time of their conference on this game.
Crackdown 2
After the Original game was a sleeper hit, this looks to be following suit. I know that a lot of people wanted to see more of this series after the first game, including me because I loved the first game. As to my knowledge, this was the first release of anything to do with Crackdown 2 but it was a great addition to the conference and the cinematic looked great. Not to much is known about the game yet other than its a continuation of the original Crackdown were your the judge, jury, and executioner in a full city environment. It isn’t going to be produced by Real Time Worlds but instead Ruffian Games will be doing the trick. Will have to wait and see how this turns out, but I hope they can pick up were Real Time Worlds left off and continue in the right direction.
Left 4 Dead 2
After Valve surprised everyone by making a hit for the Xbox360(it was no surprise that it was a hit for the PC) they’re coming back for another round. More fending off Zombies and trying to get away from massive hordes of them. The cinematic shown was very action packed and also quite comical and I think this game is going to try and capitalize off of the success of the first one. During November on the 17th this year is when this game will drop into stores and hit the shelves. This should be another fun addition to the Series. If they were able to make a zombie game that separated itself from other games, I don’t think they’re going to have problems making a sequel to the first one. This looks promising and when it hits the shelves come back here and look for an in depth game review of it.
Splinter Cell: Conviction
An Xbox360 exclusive, from the video they showed, the game seemed a little more action packed this time around; but, they did keep some of the sneaky parts around with things like sliding mirrors under doors to find out were the bad guys are and being able to kick doors in and immediately know were they are. It kept with the idea of you losing health very quickly which I was very excited to see that because I didn’t want to see Splinter Cell go into a more Run and Gun direction. Look for it this Christmas as it is supposed to hit shelves this December. Once again check back here for a review of the game as this is one of the bigger releases coming around this time.
Forza Motorsport 3
Wow, either someone at Microsoft Game Studios or Turn 10 entertainment really knows how to put together a video. This was a very good show they put on for this game, and it really appeals to me as racing games have been my favorite Genre of games. Some of the new features are mind boggling as because they have never been done before. In Forza Motorsport 2, they pushed the envelope with the physics engine, but in FM3, they’ve brought it to a whole new level. The game looks amazing and they have just done what looks to be an excellent job. Turn 10 and Microsoft were able to talk a lot about this game and give some great details. There will be over 400 vehicles from 50 different manufacturers, an In-Car view that Microsoft pioneered with Project Gotham Racing 3, a whole slew of new tracks that are real and fictional, and a mess of upgrades to the physics engine. As for it being a simulation, they took damage to a whole new level, cars are now able to roll if pushed to hard in a corner. Also, they’ve reworked the tire system to incorporate tires that have a high wall to roll over on itself making the car unstable. This is being released this October on the 22nd and I’ll be one of the first in line for this game. This will be a game I will be reviewing so check back often around that time as a whole slew of games are releasing around that time.
Halo 3: ODST
Halo fans rest assured that this was a Halo packed conference with not one, but two announcements about Halo. Multiple things were said about ODST at this conference as well as with interviews after the Microsoft conference. First, they’ve added a sort of night vision enemy finder visor that you can turn on as well as putting in a new Sub-Machine gun and a new pistol that is very reminiscent of the pistol from Halo: Combat Evolved. It retained the 2x scope and accuracy but this time around it’s silenced, so with the night vision and silenced weapons, it’s safe to say this is a more stealthy game. In turn, because your no long playing as a Spartan, you have no energy shields and your just set with a certain amount of health. The health packs in ODST are very similar to the health packs in Halo: Combat Evolved. With this release that are putting in a new multiplayer game style called Fire Fight. Basically, you and 3 other teammates linked over systems whether it be Xbox Live or system link fight off waves of Covenant until you kill the last wave with bosses. This game is confirmed for a September 30th, 2009 launch and looks very good, this will be another game that I will review and will have a pleasure doing it.
Halo: Reach
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All we know about this game is that its called Halo: Reach, its a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, and that it “Falls” 2010. This game will probably be a Q4 release and due to the “Falls” is going to be based off the book Fall of Reach. I could spend all day speculating, but I’m just glad Microsoft left us with something to keep looking for in a rumor mill.
Alan Wake
This looks to be very interesting. For those who haven’t heard already due to the leaks of rumors from E3, this is a psychological thriller that is supposed to take place like a TV series. It bases a lot of the game around ambience, lighting, and the atmosphere of the game itself. For instance in the game to shoot, you have to shine light on the target before your character will allow you to fire. Very interesting game structure that I haven’t seen in my time of gameplay.
360 Dashboard Upgrades
For everyone connected socially with the internet, you’ll be happy to know the FaceBook is coming to the Xbox360 dashboard, and oh yeah, Twitter as well. Pretty exciting news for all of us Hardcore gamers out there… With these upgrades, the U.K. is going to be able to watch TV through the Sky network out there. Not 100% on how that’s going to work but I’m sure they will release more information.
Metal Gear Solid: Rising
After Metal Gear Solid 4 was an exclusive title to PlayStation 3, Hideo Kojima came onstage during the conference and announced(in very bad English) that Metal Gear Solid: Rising was coming to the 360 and Raiden was making a return. Too bad that no gameplay was shown and that the cinematic only showed some lightning and the main character, although every other MGS game has been a hit so expect this one to be the same. Also look for some riots to form because of this. Sony fans are extremely upset from what I can tell by the comments they are leaving all over YouTube. Nevertheless this is going to broaden MGS and I think this is the right step for Konami.
“Project Natal”
Had this not been accidently leaked before E3 2009, I think this would have been the biggest surprise of this conference. Nevertheless, the trailer for it was really good. The trailer shows it as a full body motion sensor camera that controls games with no controller but by watching your movements. They had Steven Spielberg come out on stage which I found extremely random but whatever. I think he hit it head on when he said that Microsoft was not inventing the wheel with this project, but rather throwing it away. If it works, this is going to redefine the way people play games and widen gameplay to a whole new customer. I’m excited to see how this works out because in the Tech Demo’s it seemed very advanced and very good.
Recap
Overall, Microsoft had the best conference this year in my opinion. They really showed us what was up and coming for the rest of this year and it got me very excited for it. On a grade scale Microsoft deserves an A in all categories because it just blew me away. They did a very good job of grabbing former exclusive titles and bringing them to the 360 as well as keeping games exclusive to the 360. I wish them the best this year and look forward to seeing them again in L.A. next year.
Until next time, Mgrigs is signing off.
