Here are the revelations that were revealed during Microsoft’s Press Conference, as experienced by us first-hand — through the magic of the internet and GameSpot’s streaming conference feed (this is not a play-by-play, but a highlight summary):
(*note*: all games mentioned here are to be released this year, except RE5)
The opening featured:
- New Viva Pinata mini-game collection announced: Viva Pinata Party Animals (not made by Rare)
- Mass Effect will be hitting stores in December
- presentation featured a graph showing how Wii has been outselling the 360 in the US since it came out
Other games announced for 2007:
- Project Gotham Racing 4
- Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
- John Woo’s Stanglehold
- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
- Beautiful Katamari
- Lost Odyssey
- Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (w/ possible online content)
- NBA Live ’08
- Fatal Inertia
- Medal of Honour: Airbourne
- Tiger Woods ’08
- NHL ’08
- Ace Combat 6
- Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground
- Spiderman Friend or Foe?
- Simpsons the Game
- Splinter Cell Conviction
- NASCAR ’08
- Eternal Sonata
- Bioshock
- Madden ’08
- Crash of the Titans
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Half-Life 2: Orange Box (w/ Mercenaries 2 and Portal)
- Bee Movie the Game
- Assassin’s Creed
Family Content for Xbox 360:
- Scene It? game for XBLA (comes w/ four new controllers at no extra cost)
- new remote-like controller *cough*
- controller features a big red button, then 4 normal ABXY buttons
Xbox Live:
- 7 million gamers on now, higher than forcasts
- projected growth to 10 million by this time next year
New Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games:
- Bomberman Live!
- Undertow
- Hexic 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog (available now!)
- Track & Field
- Board games
- Space Giraffe
- Marathon: Durandal (early Mac shooter from Bungie)
- Puzzle Quest
- War World (good graphics)
- Every Extend Extra (from maker of Lumines)
- Geon
- Wing Commander
- Golden Axe (available now!)
- Super Puzzle Fighter 2 HD
- Switchball (Kororinpa clone)
- Sudoku
- DDR Universe 2
Xbox Live Video Store:
- apparently the best digital distribution medium in the world
- partnership with Disney announced, effective immediately
- can now download classic Disney, Miramax, and Touchstone movies
- Brand new movies coming as well: Deja Vu, Primevil, etc.
- From now on, new releases from Disney & partner companies will be put on automatically with DVD release
- by the end of the year, Canada & Europe will be able to download movies too
More games for this year:
- Alan Wake
- Too Human
- Fable 2
- New Banjo Kazooie
- Halo Wars
Game details:
- Project Gotham to have motorcycles and video/screenshot sharing
- Lost Odyssey (from Final Fantasy creator) features immortal main character and bad hair effects
- Splinter Cell Conviction exclusive to Xbox 360
- Bioshock coming in August
- Call of Duty 4 to have 360-exclusive online multiplayer BETA
- Virtua Fighter 5 (with online multiplayer)
- Devil May Cry 4
- Resident Evil 5 (full trailer to be released on July 26th on Xbox Live)
Windows games:
- Viva Pinata
- Gears of War (XP and Vista)
Gears of War to have:
- level-editor mode
- 5 new single-player modes
- new multiplayer mode
- fight against a Brumak
- quick online game joining
Other Windows Games:
- Flight Simulator X
- New Thrillville game
- Bee Movie game
- Bioshock
- Crysis
- Blacksite: Area 51
- Lost Planet
- Zoo Tycoon 2
- Spiderman Friend or Foe?
- Hellgate: London
- Age of Empires III: Asian Empires Edition
- John Woo’s Stranglehold
- Universe at War
- World in Conflict
- Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
- Juiced 2
GTA IV
- both released trailers have been from 360 version
- play as a Russian
- release on Oct. 16th in North America, Oct. 19th in Europe
- episodic content, all released before spring 2008, will be exclusive to 360
Assassin’s Creed
- presented by two ladies *gasp*
- gameplay shown in Jerusalem
- gargantuan draw-distance
- very smart AI with personalities (controls “boss chases” so that they’re different every time)
- coming November
Halo 3 live-action short was shown
- WETA did special effects
- shows Marines getting geared-up and equipment being made
New Special-Edition Xbox 360 shown
- Halo 3 edition
- green & gold
- no price announced
- accessories branded with Halo 3 to be released
Ended with a new Halo 3 trailer
Well, that’s about it. All-in-all I was impressed at Microsoft’s showing this year, even if some of their claims to superiority were without true base.