E3 2009: Day 1 Wrap
Microsoft started off E3 2009 with a bang, giving us one of the better keynote speeches of the past few years. The show started off slowly with The Beatles Rock Band, before they quickly moved up a gear and made big announcement after big announcement.
Instead of focusing on how well they've gone over the past couple of years (Nintendo, take note please!), they focused on games and new hardware features, claiming they were going to show instead of tell.
The show started off with an insane new Modern Warfare 2 trailer, as well as gameplay footage. The title looks set to knock the first one right out of the park, with breathtaking environments and new weapons. Microsoft also announced that DLC will be a time exclusive on XBOX Live.
Remedy came on stage and showed off Alan Wake (about time!), showing some amazing footage that showed off some of the games highly touted lighting and gameplay elements. The game was also confirmed for a Spring 2010 release, which is Autumn for us folks below the equator.
Final Fantasy XIII was confirmed for a Spring 2010 release and new gameplay footage show during the keynote highlighted combat elements and a boss battle from early in the game.
Donald Mustard and Cliff Blezinski from Epic Games presented a new XBLA game by the name of Shadow Complex, which looks like Super Metroid on steroids - it looked quite fantastic.
Probably the best part of the keynote was when Microsoft showed a montage trailer to announce some upcoming games. Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead and Splinter Cell Conviction were shown off during the trailer. Crackdown 2 seemed to garner the biggest response from the crowd, while Conviction looked amazing.
Maxime Beland and Anlexandre Parizeau demoed some gameplay from Conviction, going through some new combat aspects of the gameplay never seen before in a Splinter Cell title.
Forza 3 was confirmed for a October 2009 US release window, with Microsoft whoring up the title like no tomorrow, claiming it's the next best thing since sliced bread. A small glimpse of gameplay looked really, really good.
Joe Staten from Bungie gave us a first look at Halo: ODST which looks OK, before announcing a new Halo title called Halo: Reach, an all-new entry for the franchise. The trailer showed the planet of Reach being destroyed from space and was quite intriguing, although it's hard to base the game purely on that trailer.
Facebook and Twitter will both be hitting XBOX Live soon, as will a new Full HD movie and TV streaming service, which will also be available in Australia. Check back for our interview with Microsoft about that!
Kojima confirmed what many had anticipated - that MGS was coming to XBOX 360. Players will control MGS character Raiden in MGS: Rising.
Microsoft shocked everyone with "Project Natal", a full body sensoring feature that makes you the controller. A demo trailer showed people moving their body and controlling the action on screen. It actually made the Wii look stone-age.
But the biggest and most impressive aspect of Natal was Lionhead's "Milo" project, which absolutely blew us away. The conference is worth checking out simply for that, as it looks quite amazing. Milo is a completely virtual character that responds to human facial expressions and voice pitch. The demo trailer looked sensational and is something we can't wait to check out in person!
EA's press conference was nothing special, although the announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic and ensuing trailer were highlights. Check out the breathtaking trailer here.
APB was confirmed as being published by the company, although still no word on whether or not it's coming to console or if it's just a PC exclusive (we guess the latter).
Ubisoft's conference seemed to go on for a lifetime, making us want to eat our hand in anticipation of its conclusion - it went for two friggin' hours! James Cameron talked for 95% of that conference about Avatar and the official game, although he had absolutely nothing to show for either. With only 6 months until release of the film, he sure is leaving it till late.
There was a Red Steel 2 blow out as well as more of Splinter Cell Conviction. Assassin's Creed 2 was also on show and looks the goods.
Overall, Day 1 at E3 was pretty decent. Microsoft started the conference off with a spectacular keynote, while EA's conference was dull except for the Star Wars trailer and Ubisoft's just went for way too long.
Tomorrow we have Sony and Nintendo's keynotes, so be sure to keep checking back for more updates. We also have an interview with Adam Pollington, product marketing manager for Xbox 360, coming later today.
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