Microsoft Keynote at E3

[Novajam]

Mini-Text-Wall off the Port Bow!

So I just watched all one and a half hours of the Microsoft Keynote and it came off as just a little bit underwhelming. It started off really well with the first third devoted to Gears 2, Fable 2, RE5 and Fallout 3. I was really exited to hear that Fable 2 is finished and will be out in October. But it was weird that Peter Molyneux pretty much came on, said it was finished, showed a trailer, and then ran off all in the space of 4 minutes. At least CliffyB and Bethesda gave demos. Now I'm actually interested in Fallout 3 (Fat Man Launcher for the win).

But then the entire conference got drunk and began to throw up on itself. There was that announcement about the new avatar thing and how you can team up with your friends to do "Anything a group of 8 friends could do" (which sounds kind of dirty when I put it like that). I don't like the idea of people going online to play Big Brother and Deal or No Deal. Seems the next logical step would be to dispense free Prozac and Cordial from the 360's USB Ports. Furthermore I like the Xbox Blades how they are. I don't see any reason to change them. Also what are you supposed to do with any gamer pictures or dashboard theme you might have bought?

Then they announced all the party games. I can't really imagine a family sitting down and playing one of those all thogether. Maybe the idea of people having fun in that way is too foreign to me.

And Finally The president of Square Enix came out and announced 3 games and Final Fantasy XIII for the 360 which made my day. I've never played a Final Fantasy game before but if it looks as cool as the trailer then I'm sold.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is what did you think of Microsoft's showing at E3 this year? Do you like any of the games they demonstrated? What do you think of the avatars? Did the family games make you as sick as me?

Note: I know there are arlready threads about certain parts of the Microsoft conference like the Final Fantasy XIII announcment and the like But this thread is to talk about the keynote as a whole. If my thread is to be locked, So be it.

 

[J'aen]

Very much looking forward to Fable 2, Fallout 3 and Final Fantasy XIII. The others, not so much. I might get Gears 2 when the price comes down, but I've never really cared that much about Resi.

As for the Avatars and new blades, fuck it. Who cares?

 

[Trogd0r]

I think it was a good show, some great titles upcoming, for everyone.
But I agree, the party game bit was ridiculous.
I love how the new interface looked, I really think of it as a big improvement.
Here are some more extra features that I got from the Major Nelson website.

· Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.

· Access Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web. Browse and purchase Marketplace content whenever you want from Xbox.com and it downloads automatically to your console. Purchase that new map, television episode, the latest Xbox LIVE Arcade game or set up a movie to watch when you get home from work.

· Dashboard built into the new Xbox Guide. For everyone who loves the blades interface, it's not going away; they are now built directly in to the new Xbox guide. Every feature and option is available right from the guide. You can even access your full games library at all times. No matter where you are (in dash or in game), immediately call up your games played list and directly launch a game.

· LIVE Party system. Create a party of up to eight friends, and stay with them from one game to another, or watch a Netflix movie together, or share a slideshow of your personal photos. It works with all Xbox 360 titles, not just upcoming games. LIVE Party allows up to eight people to chat in the dashboard, so you can meet up before playing.

· Xbox LIVE Primetime. This whole new category of games is going to give you more reasons to get online with your friends. Games will support everything you'd expect, like Achievements and leader boards, but many of these games will include real prizes. You can invite your friends, and even set a reminder for an upcoming show. Each game is broadcast simultaneously, so everyone is answering the same questions. Many events will have a live host, calling the shots as they happen.

· Avatars. Your online identity started as a Gamertag - it then grew into a personalized Gamercard. Now, it has evolved even further into avatars. You can express your style, check out new outfits and share this with the community. Avatars will also be integrated into Xbox LIVE Arcade games, LIVE Party, as well as retail games.

· New display support. Because you asked for it, we are adding 16X10 over VGA or HDMI, and support for 1440x900 or 1680x1050.

This is only the beginning. Over the next few months, we will share more details on the upcoming changes.

 

[Novajam]

· Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.

Wouldn't that fill up the Hard drive really quick? I've only got a 20 gig hard drive, 7 gig is taken up by system files (the OS) then there's savegames/demos/music/video. That leaves maybe 8-ish gigs. Then again I might just be in worry mode. I used to panic when my PS2 memory card had more than one meg of content on it.

 

[Trogd0r]

If you have a 20gb drive it would fill up rather fast yes, but it's totally optional, it is not like you have to install the game to play it.

Finally my 90gb of free space has a purpose

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

this is not an e-peen contest.

Meh.

just trying to be more like Nintendo.

It raised your sorry ass better than your parents did.

 

[brabz]

No mention of the Netflix partnership that gives you over 10,000 movies and TV shows streamed to your 360? I thought that was one of the most well known, but pleasing parts of the announcement.

 

[Conqueror Kenny]

· Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.

Wouldn't that fill up the Hard drive really quick? I've only got a 20 gig hard drive, 7 gig is taken up by system files (the OS) then there's savegames/demos/music/video. That leaves maybe 8-ish gigs. Then again I might just be in worry mode. I used to panic when my PS2 memory card had more than one meg of content on it.

But I am guessing that is optional and you could continue to play the games the way you are currently. I will need to do that as I only have 1Gig of memory left. Oh woe is me.

 

[shadow skill]

They need to drop the prices on their HDDs though they finally started using their brain and will let people actually use the HDD to decrease loading times. However I don't think this development will affect the graphical quality of games too much as developers will still need to account for units without hard drives. That too me is the most interesting announcement. It's also good to know that Fable 2 is done, now I just wish they would say that they are bringing The Witcher to 360, or announce some new kick ass game. Or maybe even announce that they are shelving Too Human. (Played the demo yesterday, it's pure ass.)

 

[Sethran]

Out of the Big Three, I'd have to say Microsoft brought it the hardest at E3 this year. Out of the three spotlights, Microsoft is the only one that captured my attention and held it the entire time. With Nintendo, I wasn't able to focus on it the whole time, and with Sony I fell asleep twice because the damn guy was talking too much. Microsoft is going to dominate the remainder of '08, of that there is no doubt, and out of all of the spotlights theirs was the most interesting to watch and listen to.

Rather than saying that it 'threw up all over itself', you should understand that Microsoft was no longer talking to core gamers [Us] at about halfway through the spotlight. Once they started talking about the new interface, gameshows, and TV programs going to be available within the next month or so, they were talking to the casual game and family entertainment crowd. They'd already pleased us, they were moving to the next ones.

Really, the Square-Enix partnership was the biggest news and an announcement I'm genuinely surprised they managed to keep under wraps until E3. I'm also very excited to see FF13 heading to the 360, along with the next segment of the Star Ocean story.

 

[shadow skill]

Out of the Big Three, I'd have to say Microsoft brought it the hardest at E3 this year. Out of the three spotlights, Microsoft is the only one that captured my attention and held it the entire time. With Nintendo, I wasn't able to focus on it the whole time, and with Sony I fell asleep twice because the damn guy was talking too much. Microsoft is going to dominate the remainder of '08, of that there is no doubt, and out of all of the spotlights theirs was the most interesting to watch and listen to.

Rather than saying that it 'threw up all over itself', you should understand that Microsoft was no longer talking to core gamers [Us] at about halfway through the spotlight. Once they started talking about the new interface, gameshows, and TV programs going to be available within the next month or so, they were talking to the casual game and family entertainment crowd. They'd already pleased us, they were moving to the next ones.

Really, the Square-Enix partnership was the biggest news and an announcement I'm genuinely surprised they managed to keep under wraps until E3. I'm also very excited to see FF13 heading to the 360, along with the next segment of the Star Ocean story.

They will do well but dominate, I truly doubt it. I really don't believe that Gears 2 is as big as people want to believe it is, hell I don't think R2 is as big as everyone thinks it is. I still think COD 4 will end up putting a big dent into both of those games. As far as the RPGs go with the exception of Fable those games will do best in Japan, and I truly doubt Star Ocean will move 360's in Japan as it is.

I expect Star Ocean in particular to get a PS3 version down the line much like Eternal Sonata. From the way Square is talking about FF13 the game may indeed make it into english speaking territories on the PS3 shortly before the 360 release. This would be in a word terrible for Microsoft since it would basically become a timed exclusive.

 

[klarax]

The thing with Fable 2 is, that its going to be exactly like Fable 1. But prettier.
And lets face it, Fable 1 was not all that good...

Gear's looked pretty impressive though.

Banjo - I thought has lost the feel of the older Banjo games... looked slick, but has lost its feel.

Oh, dont mind the new layout of live etc.

other than that tho, most other games are on another platform, so in all. Not that impressed.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

does anybody else think that the art design in Fable 1 and 2 looks too much like collectible hummel figurines?

not, that the similarity is inherently bad. i'm sure people love hummels

 

[shadow skill]

I hope Fable 2 doesn't fail for me like Too Human did. God that demo was ass. I tried to like it, really I did, but the combat system is just well retarded. It didn't help that all the environments felt totally uninspired to boot. The story in the final game better be 100% on point, and even then I don't think it will save this game. Fable 2 please don't do what Too Human is about to do.

 

[jamiep319]

The new layout isn't bad, i just don't understand why they need to change it.

i wasn't that suprised at FF13. In fact, when the square enix guy left the first time, i was suprised he didn't announce it.

the whole "watch movies, look at photos, and play games online thing" is a decent idea, but that would be much more fun in person.

personally, i think the best things were the Fable 2 release date and the Netflix partnership, and portal. why is it that no one mentions portal? it was one of my favorites from last year

 

[jamiep319]

I hope Fable 2 doesn't fail for me like Too Human did. God that demo was ass. I tried to like it, really I did, but the combat system is just well retarded.

i completly agree. that demo sucked. it felt too much like mass effect, the guns weren't very usefull, and every single fucking time i tried to change the camera, i started swinging my sword. and when i actually figured out the retarded camera, it barely worked. and to think i was somewhat excited about this game.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

personally, i think the best things were the Fable 2 release date and the Netflix partnership. That saved me a hundred bucks

urgh.. don't remind me. as a PS3 owner with a netflix account i'm bumbed. i can imagine myself wasting $6 on an HD movie rental through PSN just because i'm bored and trapped between Netflix deliveries...

 

[jamiep319]

i can imagine myself wasting $6 on an HD movie rental through PSN just because i'm bored and trapped between Netflix deliveries...

all you get on the 360 is the shitty instant watch stuff, which you could watch on a computer. it would be better if there were some good movies on there. but i feel your pain. i get a few discs of battlestar galactica, watch them in 2 days, and then wait 3 days to see what happens next

 

[splattski]

360 is on top and has shown they are going to stay that way at E3 this year. I think they could almost sit back and just let Sony destroy themselves. Sony is only 3 BILLION DOLLARS in the hole over the PS3.

 

[splattski]

The thing with Fable 2 is, that its going to be exactly like Fable 1. But prettier.

I saw Fable 2 as being everything Fable thoought it could be personally..... and a whole lot prettier.