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E3: Day 1 Microsoft Press Conference

Posted by Ripple in Archive, Featured Articles, General News, Xbox 360 on June 2, 2009 | no responses

I’m in total E3 meltdown at the moment, too much information at once, but in a good way. If you’re a gamer, you should enjoy E3

I’ve spent the day at E3, i’ve taken in three conferences adding up to about 6 hours of new gaming info, with all the cups of tea I can manage and all from the comfort of my own PC!

Here’s the report of Day 1:

Microsoft Press Conference (10:25 - 12:30 PT):

Microsoft’s 2 hour opening of the show, kicked off with the first reveal of The Beatles Rockband. With guest appearances from George Harrison’s son and wife, Yoko Ono and then the appearance of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr themselves who had a small awkward seeming banter with the audience. This game will obviously be more of the same Rockband formula with the addition of multiple vocals being included for harmonising and what appears to be a massive fan service to anyone of the Beatle mania persuasion.

The Microsoft conference then went on to be hosted by Corporate Vice President for Xbox John Schappert.

Next up was the announcement that 10 brand new titles will be shown in Microsoft’s press conference and that they were going to be focussing on showing us things rather than a bunch of stats. It was clear that Microsoft was trying to go down a new route for the show and that interactivity is the new focus and business area that the company will be focusing on.

The first game up, was Tony Hawk Ride, which had the man himself come out to talk about. The new direction that the game seems to be going down, is that of using a skateboard peripheral (sans wheels) to control your in game character. The peripheral itself, meets today’s standards of being jam packed with extra tech like accelerometers (for movement and flips) and infa red sensors to the sides of the board to detect hand movements which will correspond to in game grabs etc.
After Tony’s chat, a video rolled with other pro skaters trying out the board to some in game footage which looked very much as you would expect from the long running skateboard series.

Next on the block was fan favourite and much wanted sequel Modern Warfare 2, opening first with a trailer showing in game footage as well as a barrage of different locales, castles, ruined buildings and under water areas in conditions ranging from sunny to snowy, culminating in the trailer ending with the release date of 11.10.09.
Jason West and Vince Campella of Infinity Ward then came out and with no fuss, went straight into a hands on play test of the game which seemed like the opening of a snow based mission. The player character slowly ascended a cliff face, in full mountain gear, following a secondary soldier character, showing a plane fly in overhead sweeping said character back down the mountain. Moments later, the npc was saving you from a fatal descent after having to leap to an icy cliff face with dual ice picks, only to slide fifteen feet downwards before almost falling to your doom. The demo then cut to an assault on a factory (still thick in snowfall) that seemed under siege, with the player laying down covering fire as you and your team mate tried to escape. Resulting in one point being chased by soldiers on jet ski like snowmobiles, only to neutralise said pursuers before continuing to flee on the newly captured vehicles, leading to a further vehicular chase scenario.
The pair then left the podium for it then to be revealed that two exclusive map packs will be revealed for Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360.

Following from one of last years big E3 announcements, Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama of Square Enix came out to show the first running footage of Final Fantasy 13 on xbox 360. A small piece of in game video (FMA) showed hero characters Lightning and Suggs (with accompanying Chocobo) fleeing, only to be faced with their pursuer which then blended seamlessly into a playable battle against the giant mecha bot, controlled by Toriyama san. Differences were noted from what had been disclosed previously, one such difference being the inclusion of 4 active time gauges, which results in more complex and consecutive attacks. The battle was finished quickly, by the demonstration of one of the series trademark summons Odin, being revealed exclusively to the world for the first time.
Kitase san wrapped things up with the announcement of a release date of Spring 2010.

It was then announced by John Schappert that every game shown from here on in the presentation would be exclusive to xbox 360

To get the Xbox exclusives rolling, Donald Mustard from Chair Entertainment and Cliff Bleszinski (Cliffy B) from Epic took to the stand to inform of their newest Xbox live arcade collaboration, titled; Shadow Complex. Having microphone difficulties, Donald was hard to make out, but was informing that the game took inspirations from titles such as Castlevania and Metroid infuse them with more modern innovations and have it all running off of Unreal engine 3. With a general spy type premise, the game focuses on using the environment to your advantage and more of the game opens up with item and weapon collection, such as a foam gun, that can be used for cover, or to create platforms to reach higher areas. Cliffy B goes on to take over talking about the game as Donald plays and informs that the game has many unlockables (over 120) and that the main game is over 10 hours in length. The game also look very good for an arcade title and is due out this Summer.

John Schappert came back to announce a free game for download that will be available to all 360 live users that will utilise the avatars entitled: Joy Ride, a car racing game for your avatars that has a visual style that you would usually associate with Pixar and fits the avatars well. The game will sport customisable vehicles and have downloadable tracks, that can be raced on with friends, regardless of whether they have downloaded the content or not. Joy Ride will be available this Winter.

Next up, with the mention of favourite franchises, came a trailer for Crackdown 2, which seemed very much like the Real Time Worlds experience that came before it, with a new darker threat being on the cards, but still being more of the same game that Crackdown was. It was also shown that the main character was one of four, hinting at possible 4 player multiplayer (which leads nicely to the next trailer).

Left For Dead 2 was shown in more of a teaser trailer format but still gave some information, such as a New Orleans setting and southern drawled character, who narrated. The trailer showed an onslaught of zombies, including one who seemed like a tank with an extra large arm, before showing a shot of what will most likely be the new cast of characters all wielding weapons that weren’t firearms, including the zombie enthusiasts favourite, the chainsaw as well as an axe, metal poles as well as a frying pan, implying a more melee based combat system on top of all the gun blazing. The trailer finished with a release date of November 17th.

A trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction then ran, which came across in a similar feel to 24 and was quite substantially different than the footage that had been shown previously of the game. As the trailer ended, Maxime Beland and Alexandre Parizeau from Ubisoft came on to demonstrate and explain the game. Some interesting features that they demonstrated was the immersive method they are using to integrate the games story and objectives, which included being projected onto walls, that then faded in non intrusive manners. Dialogue is now much more shorter and is played out in game in real time.
The story has changed in that Sam now no longer has the agency to help him so changes have been made, he is now quicker and stronger and has a new function know as “mark and execute”, which is a two step procedure that gives the player more control in being able to tag an enemy and light before entering a room, so that focus will immediately turn to both these items as you burst through a door, leading to a quick lights out then execute of a target. Each area is touted as being a small sandbox area so that different methods of infiltration and execution can be achieved. The usual barrage of gadgets along with some new ones will be available for Sam to utilise.

Discussed by Dan Greenwalt who appeared on stage alongside a very nice motor of his own, racer sequel Forza Motorsport 3 was shown, with a heavy emphasis being on its community aspects and user created content, going on to show an additional video showing numerous people discussing the professionalism of customising in game cars using the in game art tools to create custom paintjobs for its many car makes and models with top end graphics. A video was then shown demonstrating the potential of the in game video editor which led to a very fun and novel video, showing cars spinning in and out of each other all from in game footage.

Joe Staten proceeded with big announcements on behalf of Bungie for the much fabled Halo franchise. Including a hands on demo of Halo 3: ODST followed by the unveiling of the secret project Halo: Reach (which had been suspected due to a recent security leak that implied it).
The footage of Halo 3: ODST was well received as it stays close to Halo roots, trying a few new things. One example being multiple visors with different HUDs. One revealed an item that when investigated would trigger a separate flashback mission of an ODST soldier connected with the item. This results in the overall story being pieced together through numerous flashbacks and the main character acting as a playable hub to other parts of the game. Other modes will be shown at E3 for the game and it was also mentioned that the game will be released 22nd of September (09.22.09).
The teaser trailer for Halo: Reach, showed Earth being attacked, with grand explosions going up around the planet and hints that the game will be set at the point of attack at the beginning of the Halo storyline. The trailer fades out to the message, falls 2010.
Joe finishes by stating that, much like with Halo 3 and Crackdown, that when you purchase Halo 3: ODST, you will get an invite to the Halo: Reach multiplayer Beta.

Sam Lake from Remedy came on to show and demo a lengthy hands on version of Alan Wake, which looks very good and dark and seems to show a lot of footage of certain people/monsters with a strong aversion to light which can be utilised by Alan in the form of a torch, floodlights or a flare gun to kill or weaken them. Other weaponry, such as a shotgun was used to kill the enemies once they had been weakened by the light. The game seems to heavily use the light idea and incorporates it into its puzzles. The demonstration concluded with a release announcement of Spring 2010.

The game announcements stop for a while as John Schappert moves the presentation onto the other features of Xbox lives service including the additions of features and integrations of other services into xbox live for no additional charge.
In the form of music, Last fm will be integrated with its vast library of tracks and MP3s. For Movies and TV, the integration of a refined Netflix and Sky TV will be included so that countless amounts of films and TV shows will be available as well as being able to watch live television for the first time on a games console. IT was also mentioned that not only will you be able to do this solo, but also whilst partying up with friends.
John further went on to talk about Microsoft’s own services and mentioned that the have been listening to current users and have made some changes based on feedback and a rebranding to Zune media will occur, such as having all their video content at full 1080P HD, as well as eliminating downloading times by making all video instantaneous presumably through streaming, finally it was mentioned that the user base will expand to eighteen countries around the world.
Finally the integration of social networking sites was promised and with help from Felicia Day, Partnerships with Facebook and Twitter for Xbox were demonstrated. The Facebook design for Xbox live is uniquely designed to be attuned for a console rather than PC but still holds all the key features. One new feature shown was Facebook connect that allows pictures and texts from games to be displayed on Facebook. Similar features and design choices seem to have been taken with Twitter as well. Felicia finished by announcing that the social networks will be available this fall/autumn.

Senior Vice President Don Mattrick was brought out to make a special announcement. He asked the audience what is the one blockbuster franchise that every 360 owner has always wanted to play? Only to be tapped on the shoulder, to the sound of an exclamation mark, by Hideo Kojima who proudly announces that he is bringing the Metal Gear Solid series to 360. The crowd erupts and Kojima san goes on to state that the next instalment of Metal Gear will be known as Metal Gear Solid Rising and is currently in development for 360. Don then thanks Kojima san for Metal Gear and welcomes the series to 360 and states he cannot wait to see what the next game hold for Solid Snake. Only for Hideo to interrupt by informing “but Don, I didn’t say anything about solid snake” He smiles, then a teaser trailer runs with super crisp visuals showing close ups of a cyborg body, interspersed with shots of Japanese characters and the letters of rising being revealed. The camera pans out to reveal a half cyborg man with white hair and an eye covered, the title is announced and as it fades out a the voice over states Raiden is back. Hideo finishes by saying that he cannot reveal anymore but the game will be an entirely new Metal Gear experience.

The Final 25 minutes of the presentation was dedicated to Microsoft’s biggest announcement. Was it the motion controller that a lot of people suspected it to be, that desire to do as Sony did and jump on Nintendo’s coat tails? NO it was one better!

Don gave a small speech regarding how limiting a controller can be and what if they were to just get rid of, this then went into a trailer unveiling Microsoft’s biggest unveiling and potentially the biggest announcement of the show…..the Natal.
The trailer, done in the style of a Nintendo ad, crossed with their own latest ad campaign, starts with a sleepy young man walking past his television, only to be recognised and challenged, by name, by the on screen character. the sleepy man accepts and the game starts, with the man assuming a fighting stance, that is mimicked by an on screen avatar. Both He and thus his avatar kick and the challenger is defeated. The ad then moves on to a family, one member of which is miming holding a steering wheel, as she turns, so dos the car, as she changes gears so does the avatars arms on screen. As she goes in for a pit stop, another member of the family, gets up and moves towards the screen and mimes changing and reapplying bolt to a tyre and wheel, which is duplicated by actions happening on screen, this done to show the potential for multiplayer games and thus multi-person recognition. Further examples in the ad, show a child flailing about as a monster on screen imitates his moves and a two player version of football. A message then comes up that states ”use your own stuff” where a boy shows a skateboard to the screen and says scan. moments later it is selectable for him to use. Next sees a girl walk up to the TV, which recognises her and signs into her profile before going o to show her connect to an online friend using vocal commands. The friend then selects through a series of outfits with a wave of the hand to cycle through and when one is chosen, the initial user grabs and drops the outfit onto an avatar with a mime from the hand. As she turns, so does the avatar now wearing the chosen outfit. Next is a family quiz game with everyone pretending to hold a buzzer, then pressing down when they know the answer to the question being announced by the game. The answer is spoken, then verified by the game. Finally a couple are seen selecting through the Xbox menus systems with a swoosh of the hand up or down and a vocal command to select a movie, before finishing off with a shot of the Natal peripheral itself, a long bar, with two cameras that sits underneath the TV.

Don then explains that this is the vision that Microsoft has for the future and that the Natal will be compatible with every Xbox released so far.
Steven Spielberg then comes out to discuss how movies and literature are simple to enjoy but that gaming still has a stigma attached with a complexity that puts people off and that project Natal is the way forward to break down this barrier. Spielberg compares the jump in technology to that of the jump to Imax for the movie industry.

The creative director, Kudo Tsunoda for project Natal then was brought out to show off some tech demos and to show how real the technology actually is currently. First up was a dashboard demo that automatically recognised Kudo and signed him in. With his avatar now signed in, it was moving in real time to the exact (mostly) movements that he himself was doing. He then went on to show movement throughout the dashboard by swiping his hand up and down to move between categories and then left and right to move between options within those categories, before selecting the ricochet demo with a punch.
The demo consisted of a basic game of firing balls down a hallway which hit bricks and bounced back, the demonstrator moved as a see through avatar mimicked her moves. If she hit hard, then the ball moved faster.
The second tech demo was called paint party and was demonstrated by having a digital canvas and physically mimicking throwing paint at the screen to create pictures. Colours were selected by stating the colour before throwing. The paint itself acted in a realistic liquid manner by actually splashing on the canvas. Smaller movements of the hand also resulted in more finer detail and less paint being added. The demonstrators also created a silhouette of an elephant by capturing the physical shape of their body, the silhouette was then filled in and added to the main picture.

The Microsoft conference was concluded by Don Mattrick handing over to Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux to show how Natal can be incorporated into games. Peter came on to state that the technology is pretty revolutionary and that control pads have been a big block a=in creating truly immersive games. He then went on to show a video of Lionhead working with Natal technology, resulting in a project named Milo. A character who can recognise the user of the software, from voice to face to emotion. It then showed a demonstration of a woman named Claire introducing Milo to us.
Claire started by saying hello to Milo, who was playing on a swing and asked him how he was doing. He responded by getting off the swing saying hello back, whilst addressing Claire by her name and asked if she was ok. Claire states that she is nervous, which Milo recognises and responds by saying that he doesn’t believe that she is nervous. Claire goes on by saying that this is the first time that people will see this to which Milo responds thousands of people. What this is demonstrating is that the two, the real Claire and the fictional Milo are having a real time conversation dependant entirely on what the other is saying. Not only that but the emotion is being recognised by Milo and reflected in his own face as well. The pair continue to converse and Claire agrees to help Milo with his homework and at one point Milo is seen throwing a pair of goggles towards Claire who instinctively go to catch them. Peter states in the video that everyone who interacts with Milo, always goes to catch what he throws. The screen pans down to a stream of water and Milo instructs Claire to put her hands in. We can see a very realistic reflection of Claire within the realistic water and as she moves her hands in towards the screen ripples appear and move along with her hand movements. Finally Milo asks Claire to draw a picture of a fish, as she does so, she is mentioning the parts of the fish she is drawing, she then moves the picture to the top of the screen where the Natal peripheral (and thus camera) is located, as she does so, Milo moves his hand to the same position on screen. In that instant, the camera scans in the picture and transfers it to a virtual piece of paper, which is taken by Milo who then examines it and recognises the picture as a fish.
Peter finishes up by stating that this technology is real and ready to use today and that it will be demonstrated on the E3 floors later in the Expo.

Finally Dan Mattrick, sums up the press conference by making reference to most of the big announcements in a very upbeat fashion and wishes everyone a good E3.

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