Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference
Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference was held just last night and Microsoft
boldly showcased its plans to lead the industry in games, online services,
software to a new level. Loads of new information and dozens of videos where
shown and we will try to cover most of what happened in this feature. For a
quick over-view, Bungie was there and showed off the multiplayer part of its up
coming Halo 2, Electronic Arts announced that it will now be bringing their
games on Xbox Live, Forza Motorsport a new racing game from Microsoft was
announced, and much more than we ever expected all in one conference.
Videos from the Microsoft Conference:
Halo 2
Fable - Battle
Fable - Village
Dead or Alive Ultimate
Kameo: Elements of Power
The conference started out with a few trailers and commercials of upcoming Xbox
games. First being Unreal Championship 2 which looks great and action
packed as there are lots of things going on, lots of action, and lots of blood.
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The next trailer was of Shrek 2, and briefly showed off the game and some of
Shrek's friends. Following this we got to see a little clip from Full Spectrum
Warrior where it was described as "incredibly realistic."
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After Full Spectrum Warrior, MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf was shown followed by
Conker: Live and Reloaded which is now the official name for the new Conker
game. The videos went on and showed the anticipated game Fable.
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The last trailer went on to show a little of Star Wars: Republic Commando and
then the actual conference started with Jay Allard as he began talking about Xbox and
how successful Xbox Live has been over the few years it has been
online. He says that there are now over 1 million subscribers to the
Xbox Live service and 450,000 people have already upgraded to the newest version
of Xbox Live.
The new Xbox Live has many new features that where demonstrated during the
conference. One of them being the Xbox Live Arcade where the casual games people
love to play with their families will be playable on their television screens.
Games will include puzzle games such as "Bejeweled"; card games such as poker,
hearts and bridge; and classic action and arcade favorites such as Namco's "Dig
Dug" and "Galaxian." Microsoft is working with leading companies - such as
Atari, PopCap Games, GarageGames and Nolan Bushnell's uWink.com - to bring a
robust offering to the Xbox Live Arcade.
One other feature that was demonstrated at the conference was the ability for
users to send and receive video and audio voicemail. Xbox Live users will now be
able to send each other mail with a recorded message instead of just words or
even a video which will be done through an Xbox Live web cam. This features are
still in development and will be available hopefully by the end of this year.
Microsoft goes further on the fact that "software is the key to unlocking
hardware" and shows a new video of what XNA can do. The trailer was called
Crash: Reloaded where instead of a Saleen S7 crashing on to a wall at 200+ mph
it is now in a head on collision with another Sallen traveling at the same speed
and the destruction is catastrophic and shows off some of the thousands of
different car pieces that smashed, crushed, and sent airborne.
Bungie was also at the conference and showed
off their upcoming Halo 2 game, which is probably the most anticipated game of
all time. At last years E3 Bungie showed the single play aspect of Halo 2 and
this year they are displaying the multiplayer aspect of the game that will be
playable on Xbox Live. This got the crowd and the conference louder than ever
and surprised everyone.
The first part of the Halo 2 movies shows some of the new character models such
as the new human and covenant armor. Then goes on to show more of the weapons
that will be used in the game. The video now goes in a first person mode where
you are looking out of the body of a human and looking at a covenant eleet. The
human player pulls out the SMG and it looks quite nice but then goes to the side
and picks up a needler and is holding both in his hand at the same time. This
get the crowd’s attention and they begin cheering loudly. It is showed that you
can fire each weapon individually or fire them both at the same time with a
deadly result, which is displayed by killing the eleet. The human player then
goes over and picks up the eleets plasma sword and now holding it and which it
is referred to as "the-ultimate-anti-son-of-a-bitch-stick."
The next set of Halo 2 movies shows how some of the vehicles can now be used and
how realistic they are. First up is the ghost where the two players begin
fighting over control over it by kicking one another out of the seat. Next it
shows that the ghost is now equipped with some sort of booster which can get you
out of a sticky situation in a hurry or get you traveling fast enough to run
over an opponent. After its speed and movement is displayed the human player
begins shooting the ghost and it takes damage and then soon explodes and kills
the eleet.
After the eleet comes back on the screen he gets into a newer and better looking
warthog to show it off some. The warthog, like the ghost, can take damage and is
harder to drive and operate when it is damaged. The human player then picks up a
rocket launcher and shoots the warthog while it is in motion. The eleet is
thrown out of the vehicle and the warthog lands hard into some rocks and there
are some explosions, followed by a tire that comes rolling out of the mess. The
last part of the Halo 2 movie displays some of the graphics throughout the level
that the two where playing on.
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The conference continues and a few new games are discussed such as DOA Ultimate,
Doom 3, and Jade Empire. Then a few closing remarks are made about Xbox and Xbox
Live and how Microsoft is now a "recognized player" in the gaming industry.
We will continue to keep you updated daily on what is happening at E3 2004, so
stay tuned!
Article By: VGcore Staff
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