Microsoft Pre-E3 conference

Key members of Microsoft Game Studios took the stage at 8pm BST to deliver the company’s pre-E3 press conference. Everyone was expecting some big Xbox 360 announcements, but the reality was something a little different.

The MS conference started with a great looking trailer for Gears of War from Microsoft Game Studios. This is clearly Microsoft’s big game for this year and it is no surprise after witnessing the in-game demo. CliifyB from Epic Gamers proceeded to run through a demo of the Unreal Engine 3 powered game and as openings to conferences go, this is going to be hard to beat. The game looked incredibly action packed and blood could be seen spewing from hit enemies and the main character. The whole game has an incredibly impressive cinematic feel and features some great sound effects for weapons and characters. It really was a great opening for Microsoft and the Xbox 360.

Peter Moore then took the stage to unleash “the second generation of next-generation games.” Moore spoke about the worldwide launch of the Xbox 360 last year and went on to discuss how Microsoft worked tirelessly to get as many consoles onto store shelves as fast as they could, with projections predicting more than five million consoles being sold by the end of next month. The attach rate of games and accessories to the Xbox 360 console was also touted as being incredibly impressive, which can clearly be seen in the video game charts that often feature Xbox 360 titles despite the relatively low user base of the system.

Moore then moved to Xbox Live and how it delivers what gamers want. Xbox Live is set to surpass six million members within the next year, and the Xbox Live Arcade service will receive a new batch of games from the likes of SEGA, Midway, Namco and Konami. The titles announced included Pac-Man, Frogger, Sonic the Hedgehog, Defender, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The announced titles will be nice additions, but the service will still be lacking many games that users are asking for. The big new announcement for Xbox Live Arcade was Limines Live. Lumines first appeared on the Sony PSP, but the game will arrive on Live Arcade complete with the ability to play music downloaded from Marketplace. Madonna was used as an example, and this could be a huge hit among the hardcore group of gamers that supported the PSP title.

Talk then moved to the next wave of Xbox 360 titles. A video reel was shown that featured Lost Planet from Capcom, Table Tennis from RockStar, Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway from Ubisoft, Mass Effect from Bioware, F.E.A.R. from Vivendi Games, Too Human from Silicon Knights, Viva Piñata from Rare, MotoGP ’06 from THQ, Dead Rising from Capcom, Prey from 2K Games, Crackdown from MS, Gears of War and many more.

Moore announced that over 160 games will be available this Christmas for the Xbox 360, and that this will include the next-gen debut of Pro Evolution Soccer from Konami. No mention of exclusivity was made, so while the game will hit Xbox 360 first, a PlayStation 3 version is very likely. Moore also stated that the Xbox 360 version of Madden 07 would be the only next-gen version available when it’s released this August. A nice sound bite, but the PlayStation 3 will get its own version later in the year.

The big guns then game out. A trailer for Lionhead’s Fable 2 was shown, and while it featured no in-game footage, the fact that it is coming will be music the ears of many Xbox 360 owners. Sadly, the lack of in-game footage was a sign of things to come in the conference.

Forza Motorsport 2 was next up, and once again played the CG trailer card. It was sleek enough, but not the in-game demo the crowd wanted. The trailer emphasised the amount of customisation options the player will have, and Moore then revealed that the game will include over 300 cars and support for twelve players online. Even better news came when the Holiday 2006 release date was announced, along with a wireless force feedback wheel for the Xbox 360. The peripheral announcements were rounded off with news of a new wireless headset and the Live Vision camera. While a new headset isn’t all that exciting, the camera will allow you to put your face into games, which is bound to add some extra fun to proceedings online.

While the Xbox 360 has pretty much bombed in Japan thus far, talk then moved to that region. A trailer was shown for Blue Dragon, and was followed by news that the game will be available in Japan late this year. Moore also mentioned Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive Extreme 2, the follow-up to the Xbox’s Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball. One short CG trailer isn’t going to be enough to turn the tide in Japan, with the likes of Final Fantasy XIII being announced at Sony’s conference, so unless Microsoft has a few more games up its sleeve for the Tokyo game show, success in Japan is looking as unlikely as ever.

Moore then talked about the Tom Clancy Series of games from Ubisoft and proceeded to show a trailer for Splinter Cell: Double Agent. To make a change the trailer did show a few seconds of in-game footage and it looked very impressive. Double Agent will be released this September for the Xbox 360, making it the only next-gen version available.

Microsoft announced Rare’s Viva Piñata a few months back, and it was a little surprising to see a large chunk of the conference dedicated to a demo for the game. The game clearly isn’t tailored to the horde of journalists in the crowd, but there’s no denying that it has a beautiful look, and could well be a big hit with kids later this year. Microsoft could well have something big on its hands if the TV show of the same name is a success. Viva Piñata will be joined by other kid-friendly titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

After a short section talking about downloadable content on Xbox Live Marketplace, which included news of a documentary following Gears of War’s journey to E3, Peter Moore showed the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and announced that it will be available this holiday. Sadly, details and a price were lacking in the announcement, leaving the add-on in pretty much the same position it was in leading into the conference. It did look smart though, and Moore stated that it would be much better value than other HD DVD players already in the market.

With a slight smile on his face, Moore then reeled off some jokes, making fun of Sony’s Phil Harrison and the ducks he’s so fond of. Moore was setting us up to see a new tattoo, which after his previous Halo 2 tattoo, everyone believed would be Halo 3. We were all wrong though, as the tattoo was revealed as Grand Theft Auto 4. The words exclusive were missing though, which made the announcement somewhat less spectacular. However, this will be the first time the game hits an Xbox platform at the same time as a Sony platform, with both versions due October 16, 2007.

Leaving the Xbox 360 behind for a while, the conference moved to Windows Vista gaming. Crytek then took to the stage to show Crysis running on Windows Vista. The demo showed a huge mechanical creature causing havoc at night on a cargo carrier, and looked pretty stunning.

Next up was a video for FASA Studio’s Shadowrun. The game will be a joint release title for the PC and Xbox 360, and is due January 2007. Alan Wake was then announced as a Microsoft Game Studios title for Windows and Xbox 360. The Remedy developed supernatural title caused a stir at least year’s E3, and the Xbox 360 and Vista exclusivity can only be a good thing for Microsoft’s gaming platforms.

A surprise entrance was then made by Bill Gates, who rather unfortunately spoke for what seemed like an eternity about where Microsoft’s entertainment platforms are going. After it had dragged on for far too long, Gates then introduced a demo of Shadowrun on the Xbox 360, which showed how Xbox 360 and Windows Vista could be integrated over Xbox Live. Windows Vista and Xbox 360 gamers will be able to play against each other in cross platform matches, and send each other invites over the Live service. While the cross platform play seemed great, the reinvention of Shadowrun as a multiplayer online shooter is bound to leave many people sorely disappointed.

Forza Motorsport 2 was then shown as an example of a game that can be played across Windows Vista, Xbox 360 and mobile platforms. The way users will be able to interact with the game on each platform seems like it could be very interesting. The demo showed how a car could be sent via a mobile to a friend’s mobile phone, then upped to the Live servers, given a custom design job in Windows Vista, and then raced on the Xbox 360. This kind of functionality could really enhance the next crop of next-gen titles from Microsoft, and it’s an area that we’ll hopefully see a lot more on soon.

That seemed to be the end of the conference, but as Peter Moore was walking off stage Bill Gates enquired about a video that the audience might be interested in seeing. Mr Gates was of course talking about Bungie’s Halo 3, which resulted in a huge reaction from the crowd. The trailer itself was small on action, but showed Master Chief and a huge Covenant ship passing overhead. Once the unmistakable Halo music kicked in, it was hard not to get goose bumps. Sadly, no real gameplay footage was shown, and the trailer ended with a message informing the audience of the game’s 2007 release date.

Summary

Microsoft had a huge chance to capitalise on Sony’s conference shortcomings, but they really didn’t take the opportunity. Gears of War was the only real gameplay demo aside from Viva Piñata, making the conference a little disappointing. Gears of War did look incredibly good though, and should spur 360 console sales when it’s released later this year.

Big name games such as Halo 3, Fable 2, Forza 2 and GTA 4 simply lacked weight due to lack of in-game footage, while other titles such as Mass Effect , Too Human, and Crackdown only seemed worthy of a few seconds of time on screen. The cross platform Live functionality could be the best news from the conference, especially if it’s used in a large number of games, but considering most people wanted to see and hear about Xbox 360 titles, Microsoft’s showing was rather hit and miss.