Microsoft Keynote – E3 Roundup

Well Microsoft didn’t fail to deliver at E3 with some fantastic looking games and one very interesting control system and some social networking thrown in for good measure. What we have done is try to condense everything down so you get the key points and can then go off and read about the stuff you really want to know more about.

So here we go

The Beatles Rockband Microsoft used the fab four game to open the keynote presentation with videos and also Harmonix representatives appeared on stage using the 3 microphones for 3 part harmony in a live demo. The game releases on 09/09/2009 the same day as the compilation albums and will have an Xbox 360 exclusive track which is All you need is Love with all proceeds going to charity. Downloadable content will be in the form of complete albums, the first being Abbey Road. Sir Paul MacArtney and Ringo Starr appeared on stage after Yoko Ono and the wife of George Harrison had appeared.

Tony Hawks Ride Tony himself appeared on stage complete with the interactive board that interestingly got accelerometers built in as well as the usual motion sensing devices.

Modern Warfare 2 The presentation began with the new trailer that’s been out just over a week and then it was straight into a live demo. The gameplay looks to be as good as C.O.D 4 and exactly what we expect for Infinity Ward. The demo also had an excellent snow mobile section which looked extremely good and this has surely got to be a must for all FPS fans as if it wasn’t already

Final Fantasy XIII Gameplay looks very good and well polished which is what we have come to expect, the presentation was very short but what we saw looked good. Game releases Spring 2010 and we expect this to be in Japan first although this was not confirmed

Everything from this point on is Xbox 360 Exclusive

Shadow Complex Epic Games revealed this Unreal 3 engine powered XBLA game that looks greatand looks to be a bit deeper in gameplay than your average XBLA game and its due for a summer 2009 release

Joy Ride Another XBLA game except the difference here is that it is free so everyone can play along with their own avatar and take them for a ride in one of the many vehicles. Seems a bit of a group / get together game that has downloadable content for those that want to pay to improve the experience.

Crackdown 2 Basically a trailer was shown to build up the hype, hard to tell what the game will be like from this but the crowd seemed pleased it was shown

Left 4 Dead 2 No sooner have we all played Left 4 Dead than its sequel is due for release and again a trailer was shown which looked full of blood and gore, but then again thats Left 4 Dead

Splinter Cell Conviction I have to say that this was the point for me where the Keynote got serious both in terms of gaming and exclusivity. the trailer was shown and it looks awesome, then followed a live demo of the game in which Sam Fisher has just got really brutal and plays a no hold barred part in the game. Their is the stealth side to the gameplayas you would expect but also we were treated to some straight on action and complete gun wielding mayhem, definitely one to watch.

Forza Motorsport 3 Racing gaming people of the world unite as Forza enters its 3rd generation and I have to say its looking better than ever. The game was shown alongside an Audi that was wheeled on stage. Other than it looks awesome, racing games really have to be played to be enjoyed.

Halo 3 ODST Microsoft started to raise tha bar again at this point with a new Halo game set as a prequel to the original series and has what looks to be an interesting storyline with gamers playing the parts of several characters to solve some sort of mystery, all good stuff but then again its Halo.

Halo Reach This game has been in secret development by Bungie for some time and although the trailer looked awesome and very well done, very little else is known other that Halo3 ODST players will be entered into the multiplayer beta

Xbox Live Facebook and Twitter fans will be glad to know that both applications are coming to Xbox Live along with Last FM which will be free for all Live Gold members. There will also be updates to Netflix and also for the first time Sky tv will be available live on Xbox 360 with no extra hardware required. Another development in the video are is Instant on Demand 1080p HDTV and the coverage of this will increase from 8 to 18 countries although exact countries were not mentioned.

Metal Gear Solid:Rising The legend that has given us Solid Snake was introduced to the stage. Hideo Kojima announced that the new MGs title will be Xbox exclusive but in a carefully rehearsed script Hideo revealed that Solid Snake is not the star in the game it is Raiden so Snake remains a Sony property fr the time being

Project Natal Saving the best till last is always what happens and this Keynote was no different, a motion controller with no controller. So how does it work, well its bacically a 3D camera that can track body movement and has built in speech recognition. The trailer shown looked awesome as the players simply moved themselves around to play the games and then we moved into a live demo. The presenter first logged into Xbox Live with facial recognition and that in itself was enough, then using hand movements browsed through the Xbox menus. This was followed by some demos of a basic brick breaker game and a paint program in which colours were selected by voice and paint applied by moving the his hand, all very futuristic and a taste of things to come. Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios then took to the stage as he had been using the camera for some time and introduced a video which was slightly sureal.

Anyway there you have a quick overview of the Microsoft press conference and some very interesting prospects for the coming months and 2010