E3 Roundup – Microsoft June 4, 2009
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : E3, Video Games , trackback
On day 1 of E3, Microsoft began the video game bonanza with some opening shots. And by shots, I mean cannons. Or nukes may be the right word. Some seriously cool stuff was announced, and there was a lot of it: games, NXE updates, and some insanely cool new hardware. So bear with me as I try and cover some of it. (The best is at the end of it.)
Games: Microsoft showed off a ridiculous amount of games here. So here’s a brief rundown.
The Beatles: Rock Band gameplay
- The Beatles: Rock Band – The first gameplay of the game was shown off, with guest appearances from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Yeah.. they had the REAL Beatles THERE. Looks like an improved Rock Band, but with Beatles songs. Also being added is support for 3 mics, and custom, Beatles instruments (time to clear out that living room again…) There will be 45 Beatles songs included, with some more exclusive, Xbox 360-only songs available for download.
The Tony Hawk Ride board
- Tony Hawk RIDE -Pretty cool, using a motion sensitive skateboard controller which was shown off by Tony Hawk himself, and apparently, it’s pretty much like riding a real skateboard. And one more massive chunk of plastic to fill up your living room.
- Forza 3 – Update to the popular racing game, with even MORE cars and more realistic gameplay. Seems like you actually can crash this time around.
- Halo 3: OSDT – More gameplay footage shown, release date announced: September 22. We’re looking forward to this one, as it should be interesting to see Halo from the perspective of someone other than the Chief.
New Halo announced!!!! 
Above: EVERYTHING we know about Halo: Reach.
- Called Halo: Reach. Umm… thats all we really know. Coming out in 2010, with multiplayer beta included included in OSDT. Seems to be taking place during the Battle of Reach, as prequel to the series. Oh, and it has been confirmed as a 1st Person Shooter. Excellent.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
- Metal Gear Solid Rising – New Metal Gear Solid, but for 360! The once PlayStation only series is finally coming to the 360, and it will have Raiden in it! Again, not giving a whole lotta info here. Oh, and it’ll have “Lighting Bolt Action.”
Moving on to updates on the system itself.
New Xbox Experience (NXE) Updates
Being added to NXE is Twitter, and Facebook integration — allowing you to access them from your Xbox — complete with avatar integration as well as the ability to challenge your friends to games and see if they can beat your scores. There were also minor updates to Netflix, a re-branding of the video store to be Zune Video, which will be full 1080p HD quality for all shows and movies, and the ability to stream Last.fm, the world’s largest online music catalog, straight to your 360, as well as to share with your friends.
There also was the announcement, that starting in August, you can download full 360 games straight from the Xbox Live Game Marketplace, to your 360, a similar feature to the already existing functionality for the Xbox Classics.
Some fairly cool stuff. But Microsoft had one last major surprise for us – a new motion controller called Project Natal. So what is Natal?
Project Natal. Awesomeness, Reinvented.
If you remember, we mentioned in our E3 rumors post that Microsoft was rumored to be working on some major motion-sensing software. Well, its real, and to be honest – awesome. Basically, its one sensor bar that you put on/ in front of your TV, which very accurately tracks the motions of yours and others motions throughout a room. A fighting game? – punch out the enemies yourself. Baseball game? Smash a home run yourself, trusty bat in hand, out of your living room. NO controller needed! Just you…. and if this can be used to it’s potential by game developers, it could totally revolutionize the 360 as a gaming device.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tmr8VDqN8]
For all Xbox 360 E3 coverage, see their site here.
So that’s the round-up for Microsoft. Sony and Nintendo, as well as other assorted news on the way, but before we end, we’d like to know your thoughts on Microsoft’s announcements, particularly Natal, and if your not a 360 owner, you going to buy one now? Go on, we’re great listeners.
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