In the second article of the big 3 platform holders at E3, the first being Sony, we take a look at Microsoft. It’s a month today when Microsoft are the first of the big 3 to take stage at this year’s E3, a little more then a month away now. Last year, they had a very moderate press conference when they showed off Fallout 3 for the first time, Resident Evil 5 for the first time, a live demo of Gears of War 2 and a live demo of Fable II, followed then by casual stuff, Duffy, claims it’ll beat PLAYSTATION 3 this gen, embarrsing live demo of You’re in the Movies and more.
So yeah, it was a moderate press confrerence. Then suddingly, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada come’s out and introduces the 3 exclusive 360 RPG’s, Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean: The Last Hope and The Last Remnant. I bet most of you thought “okay, that was it, it was an okay conference”.
And then, BAM!
To say you seen it coming from a mile away would be stupid, I dont think any of us did. I nearly screemed my head off to be honest, it was that big. But luckully, I didnt but it was obvious as to what was going with me: Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360, it was big.
Unlucky fo the PS3 owners, they would turn their back on Square. Lucky for the Xbox 360 owners, they would get to blast over forums how Sony can kiss this gen goodbye. And as for the neutral who had both a PS3 and 360, it would be either a “I dont care” or “HOLY FUCK!”, mine was the latter.
But Microsoft arent gonna do the same stunt twice in a row now, are they?
Hardware:
They’ve already announced a new Elite SKU, featuring Grand Theft Auto IV. But what about another GTA IV SKU which is the same as the last one, but it also has The Lost and Damned and Episode Two? Also, an SKU to celebrate Halo 3 ODST in a 60GB Halo special edition bundle which includes Halo 3, Halo Wars and ODST.
It was at this time 2 years ago when Microsoft announced a 360 bundle for Halo 3, so for them to announce a ODST 360, be that on its own or with Halo 3 or Halo Wars could see a fair bit of 360 sales go up to combat a PS3 price cut.
Games:
But it’s all about the games and the centre of attention at the conference will almost certainly be ODST. That said, there should be appearences at the conference from BioShock 2, Mass Effect 2 and whatever Lionhead and Molyneux are up to next, could be Fable III.
Plus, the first playable demo of Lost Planet 2 at least (Producer Jun Takeuchi showed off Resident Evil 5 last year, would be plausable if he did it again with LP2) with Dead Rising 2 either playable at the MS or Sony conference or strictly trailer only.
And it wouldn’t be far out of the question if Square Enix decided to come back after their antics last year. Show off a batch of RPG’s never shown before followed then by a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII, then shock us all with Final Fantasy Versus XIII coming to 360, prompting Nomura to leave Square.
And then announce a remake for Final Fantasy VIII (not VII, VIII). Okay, I am joking with Versus XIII (at least I think I am) and FFVIII, but dont rule out Square for doing something big at the conference.
And what about Valve? Surely they’re nearing completion of Half Life 2: Episode Three, so maybe they could show that at the confernce and announce it for release on Marketplace sometime this year? We’d need to, it’s been way too long since Episode Two.
And a Modern Warfare 2 beta, Infinity Ward. Plzkthxbi.
And Crackdown 2 as well.
Xbox Live:
Any new features that will come to Live will probably fall under NXE. However, that said, there will be some Arcade games and Xbox Classics that will surely be announced at the conference. We havent heard of the South Park game since it was announced last E3 in July last year, so more info on that would be great. And as well as that, some new Arcade games which should be brillant, like Geo Wars 3?
And there are some serious rumors as to what Rare will have on Arcade now, what about Perfect Dark? A new game specfically for Arcade? Or maybe even, on the rare chance (no pun intended), Goldeneye?
And as for Classics, Halo 2 anybody, in the run-up to ODST?
NXE:
We’ve been promised some new stuff for the NXE at E3 according to Major Nelson and while he didnt elaborate as to what that was, it did sound very promising. And as well as that, we should hear some new stuff concerning Primetime, particuarly games amongist the lines of 1vs100.
Other then that, we know there should be something cool to show at E3 concerning NXE, we just dont know what it is.
Come back in 2 weeks when we bring to you the last of the big 3, Nintendo, and see what they’ll hopefully bring to the table. Hint: not a lot.
