Microsoft’s E09 Press Briefing stage was impressive, to say the least. Multiple staging areas, three huge screens, and some crazy ass lighting. The 5.1 channel sound system thumped the shit out of your chest too. Nothing short of awesome.
For the rest of the “Scenes from…” posts, I’ll be directing your to my Flickr account, where I’ll be posting all of my images from E3. It’s a bit easier and faster that way, so follow me on Flickr to get the latest pictures. I’ll even be uploading things there from my iPhone.
Check out the E309 Microsoft Press Briefing pictures.
Perched in the audience, I got a nice first hand look at all the goods Microsoft revealed this morning at their E3 09 Press Briefing. Many of us went in not knowing exactly what would be shown, but we had some good ideas. How well did the they deliver? I was damn impressed with most of the event. Read on for my thoughts on how it all went down.
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Halo Wars is one of, if not the best RTS game on consoles. Check out our review if you aren’t all caught up. Microsoft is looking to expand on the title with a few new modes for multiplayer.
- Keepaway Mode is the “Halo Wars” adaptation of Capture the Flag. Teams will battle it out to capture a free-roaming Forerunner Sentinel to score points before the other team. Capture three sentinels to claim victory.
- Tug of War Mode is all about having a stronger army than the opponent. Defeating enemies is essential, but success is determined by a combination of the army, buildings and resources left standing in the end.
- In Reinforcement Mode, all active battle units are provided in successive waves. Players must adapt their tactics and use the ever-changing set of units to outwit and outlast the enemy.
There’s also 100 more gamerscore points for you Achievement whores out there. No pricing or release date has been set as of yet, but I would expect at least $5, if not $10. My best guess for a release date would be early May, but who knows.
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Talk about a pretty damn big grand prize. Microsoft is running a contest for all Xbox Live members where you can win a free trip to E3, a home theater system, a butt-load of cash, and a new car.
- A 2010 Kia Soul Sport A/T (including $2,000 to help with the taxes)
- A home theater system that includes a Flat-Panel HDTV, Bose Home Theatre System, Xbox Elite Console, 120gb Zune, plus one year of Xbox LIVE Gold and Zune Pass.
- A trip for two to Los Angeles, California, May 31, 2009 – June 3, 2009, to attend the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing.
Me likey. Everyone needs to jump on this one right away. Head on over to Xbox.com for all the details. If you win, you hereby agree to meet us at E3 and party like it’s 1999. Yep, old school.
It is being construed as the big announcement that wasn’t. Many of us knew a price drop was coming, just not for a console that is basically defunct. It did not take Microsoft a long time to get their 2 cents in:
“This move from Sony at the end of the PS2’s life cycle is not unexpected,” Chris Lewis, VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft, told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We believe, however, that the future lies in the growth of current generation consoles and Xbox 360, as the fastest growing games console last year, with sales up over 80 per cent, will continue to drive the market.
“Xbox 360 has clearly demonstrated that the combination of the right price, blockbuster games as well as the market-leading broad connected entertainment content available through Xbox Live will continue to resonate with the ever growing needs of today’s consumers,” added Lewis.
I can’t say I disagree with MS here. Price cutting the PS2 is a nice gesture but a gesture nonetheless. The PS2 was a landmark system that millions of people have logged billions of hours playing. I do not know how Sony can possibly tell people that a price cut on a PS2 is better than a PS3 which has been putting out amazing titles left and right, especially when there are many people who want it but they cannot spend the money right now. Once the 360 became what it is, the Xbox was an afterthought. Sony should at least move on and focus on the present and not dwell on their past laurels.
According to Microsoft’s support site, starting Monday, if your original Xbox is out of warranty, you’re shit out of luck. They’re no longer offering service for the console.
On March 2, 2009, service repairs for Original Xbox video game systems for which the Warranty has expired will no longer be available. Any other technical support, documents, and content, however, will continue to be available to all our customers. Although Microsoft is ending repair services for the Original Xbox, an upgrade program and support will be maintained for Original Xbox consoles that are still under Warranty.
How many people actually have an original Xbox under warranty anyway? Considering the short warranty period, you would have needed to buy one fairly recently. Who’s still buying this thing?
As if you didn’t expect this, GTA IV: The Lost and Damned set a new record for downloadable content on Xbox Live. The expansion pack “eclipsed first-day revenue” for every other piece of DLC out there.
Just how many copies did it sell or how much did it make? Microsoft and Rockstar aren’t saying. Is it worth their $50 million investment? Only time will tell.
How many of you out there actually picked this one up?
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Microsoft is dropping a new Xbox 360 Elite bundle along with the release of Resident Evil 5 on Friday, March 13th. Spooky.
The bundle will go for $399 and include a red Xbox 360 elite, a matching red controller, 120gb hard drive, black headset, a copy of Resident Evil 5, and a download token for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Not too bad to include the two games at the regular price.
I’m sure these are going to be hard to get, so pre-order if you really want one. My 10th 360 is still going strong (knock on wood), so I’m good to go with this one for a while.
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Microsoft recently sent out a survey asking gamers how they feel about Achievements. Towards the end, one of the questions asked how you would feel about certain Achievement types. One of the options is fairly interesting.
Providing Achievements for non-gaming uses of your Xbox 360 (e.g., “The Film Buff: You’ve watched 50 DVD’s”)
It looks like Microsoft may be gauging interest to see if people would like Achievements to spread into other areas of their digital life. I’m not that big into Achievements or Trophies anyway, so I could care less. If they do implement something like this, though, there should definitely be something for having gone through 10 RRoD’s like I have. How about 20k Gamerscore points for that one?
It has only been about two weeks since the closing of Ensemble Studios and we are already seeing new life form from its veterans.
Ensemble Studios co-founder, Tony Goodman, along with some veterans from the studio have formed a new company called Robot Entertainment. The website announcing the studio gives us little to work with, the only information given is a message telling us to stay tuned because they have some big ideas. I wonder if those ideas have anything to do with PC RTS games?
Ensemble Studios is of course the developer behind the highly anticipated Halo Wars as well as other classic RTS games. Microsoft acquired the studio in 2001 and then later decided it would be better to close the doors.
[Via Gamasutra]
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