CES: Microsoft Unveiled 2009 Accomplishments, Halo Reach

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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CES: Microsoft Unveiled 2009 Accomplishments, Halo Reach



Microsoft held its keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show this morning and announced a slew of products that you've already seen before.

Microsoft's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada was highly anticipated. Would they announce a new tablet PC to combat Apple's rumored product? Would they blow up the gaming world with some hot new game title or an amazing new peripheral? Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, took the stage and described all of Microsoft's previous accomplishments without announcing a lot of new information. The only news was a new Halo game and the release date for Natal, both of which will aim for a release during the holiday season in 2010.

The speech largely focused on what had already been accomplished. Here are some bullet points from Microsoft's press release which coincided with the address:

Xbox sold more than 10 million consoles last year and we have now sold 39 million Xbox 360s around the world.

Xbox LIVE enjoyed its biggest week ever at Christmas time, with a new member joining every second.

During this time, Xbox LIVE saw a record peak of more than 2.2 million people using the service at the same time - up 47% over the same period last year.

As for new announcements, the motion capture system Natal will drop in Q4 of 2010, in time for the holidays. Microsoft is also proud of their current 2010 lineup for the Xbox 360, including Halo Reach [http://www.amazon.com/Clancys-Splinter-Cell-Conviction-Xbox-360/dp/B000SQ5LQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278694472&sr=1-1].

"What Harry Potter [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Trilogy-Harrison-Ford/dp/B001EN71DG/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1280954483&sr=1-1] is to fantasy books, Halo is to the gaming industry," said Robbie Bach, Microsoft's president for entertainment and devices.

In general though, those who saw Microsoft's presentation were underwhelmed. "We were really bored by it," said Paul Miller from Engadget. "This is CES, and you're looking for what's new. For them to show us a bunch of products and functions that we'd already seen, it just seemed like a waste of time."

Source: CNN [http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/07/ces.microsoft/index.html]

(Image [http://www.flickr.com/photos/begley/2315512778/])

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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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*is excited for Fable 3*

Just keep Peter Molyneux's mouth shut about it. Seriously. Then no one will have high expectations.

Crackdown 2 is kick-ass, too. Can't wait.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Well, nothing really too intresting there. Natal back end of Q4, no surprise. Going to appeal to all the parents for novelty who will pay for it and then find kids complain weeks later.

Paul's comments seem on the button when itcomes to MS Announcements.
 

IamQ

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Mar 29, 2009
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Is it me, or does the guy in the picture look like that dude who played uncle fester in the adams movie?
 

WINDOWCLEAN2

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Jan 12, 2009
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Monkeytacoz said:
halo reach........... not interested
We....needed....to...know...why??

I don't see why Halo gets so much stick when its only on it's 5th game and still sells well and plays well as a MP game and game to play with friends.(halo wars doesnt count). Then people are happy with COD6 (even though its more COD8/9) and FF13! and lets not even go into mario........
 

Floppertje

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Nov 9, 2009
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we already knew that stuff. and the parts we didn't know, anyone could've guessed. It'll have been over 3 years since bungie released a game (ODST doesn't count as a game, that's just dlc on a disk) and who could've guessed they'd release it just before the holidays. everyone, that's who. anyway, I stopped caring around the time my xbox broke and microsoft wanted to charge me ?90 to repair it.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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Oh well, at least 360 has Halo: Reach and Crackdown 2.

But I'm struggling to really get excited by the FOURTH Halo game that isn't even continuing the story but is a prequel, made by developers which are apparently desperate to move onto other things. Crackdown 2 also has lost it's original developers and is being made by a new and untested team. And Natal coming as late as Q4? That's a long time and the tech is not looking so hot any more:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/chipless-natal-why-cost-cutting-makes-sense-article

This past year has been a bad year for 360 having Forza 3 and... well that's about it. ODST was... well, it would have gone down so much better had it been sold as an expansion pack and not a stand alone game. Next year is looking even worse, how could this have happened, they were on top of the world no too long ago but now they are suddenly looking as weak as the Wii?!??

Microsoft DESPERATELY needs to do something to seize the initiative and to wait 12 months for Natal would be fatal considering it may not offer the vitality the platform needs. I mean PS3's motion controller is on the cusp of launch all signs pointing to a March release data!
 

MarsProbe

Circuitboard Seahorse
Dec 13, 2008
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WINDOWCLEAN2 said:
Monkeytacoz said:
halo reach........... not interested
We....needed....to...know...why??

I don't see why Halo gets so much stick when its only on it's 5th game and still sells well and plays well as a MP game and game to play with friends.(halo wars doesnt count). Then people are happy with COD6 (even though its more COD8/9) and FF13! and lets not even go into mario........
While I don't want to seem like I'm leaping on anti-Halo bandwagon (I hear they've added an few extra carriages to fit the increasing number of passengers) but, even though I enjoyed Halo 3 and ODST, watching the short trailer that was released on XBL for Reach didn't really fill me with much enthusiasm.

Maybe I'm just getting tired of all the Halo soldiers with their superchunky armour and vehicles but there was just something so....bland about the whole thing. Still, that is just one trailer, so perhaps I can still be pleasantly surprised!
 

Dudeakoff

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Jul 22, 2009
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3 exclusives, 2 multiplats and natal.
that's pretty poor for a preview of next year.
I mean, compare that to what the PS3 has exclusively (Verses, GoW3, Heavy Rain, the Last Guardian, Yakuza and more) and you're looking at a troubling year for the 360...
Hell, I'd consider the Wii's lineup to be better (Zelda, Metroid, No More Heroes 2, Red Steel 2, Tatsunoko vs Capcom and more)

EDIT: Scratch verses, there's no chance of that this year, Just replace it with Mod Nation Racers.
 

Radeonx

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Apr 26, 2009
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Monkeytacoz said:
halo reach........... not interested
Irritating trolls that only spew opinions without any support....not interested.

OT: Fable 3 looks good, Crackdown 2 looks good, and Halo: Reach looks like a nice spin-off to the normal Halo games, and overall, 2010 looks to be a good year for me. Oh, and did I mention Crackdown 2, and how awesome it is going to be?
 

Monkeytacoz

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Sep 22, 2009
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Radeonx said:
Monkeytacoz said:
halo reach........... not interested
Irritating trolls that only spew opinions without any support....not interested.

OT: Fable 3 looks good, Crackdown 2 looks good, and Halo: Reach looks like a nice spin-off to the normal Halo games, and overall, 2010 looks to be a good year for me. Oh, and did I mention Crackdown 2, and how awesome it is going to be?
after the lackluster ODST ( and Halo 3) i'm not interested in Halo anymore. Now Crackdown 2 looks amazing
 

messy

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Dec 3, 2008
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"What star wars is to film" ?

He does realise the next Halo game coming out is a Prequel right?

Monkeytacoz said:
Radeonx said:
Monkeytacoz said:
halo reach........... not interested
Irritating trolls that only spew opinions without any support....not interested.

OT: Fable 3 looks good, Crackdown 2 looks good, and Halo: Reach looks like a nice spin-off to the normal Halo games, and overall, 2010 looks to be a good year for me. Oh, and did I mention Crackdown 2, and how awesome it is going to be?
after the lackluster ODST ( and Halo 3) i'm not interested in Halo anymore. Now Crackdown 2 looks amazing
I thought ODST was quite good. Although I've only ever played survival mode; and it more or less had me hooked when I realised the pistol could once again zoom in...