Microsoft: ‘2010 will be the Biggest Year in Xbox History’
More news from Microsoft's CES press conference. Microsoft has announced that Natal will be available this Holiday 2010. It's an "entirely new, yet completely natural way to play," said Microsoft's Robbie Bach. With games like Alan Wake (which will have DLC episodes after its release), Halo: Reach and the release of Project Natal, "2010 will be the biggest year in Xbox history," he added. Other big games coming to the Xbox 360 include Crackdown 2, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Mass Effect 2.
Game Room was also announced, which will be a "place to relive the glory days of arcade games," and over the next three years, it will see the release of "over 1000" retro titles. It will initially launch with over 30 retro classics from Konami, Atari, Activision, and others. Every week, a new set of Arcade games will be released on Game Room, and it will be available on both PC and Xbox 360 with universal Xbox Live Achievements and leaderboards. Similar to PSN's Home, XBL Avatars will be able to inhabit gamers' arcade rooms, which can be customized and upgraded. Game Room will carry a two-tiered price structure. Gamers can purchase a title for 240-400 MS Points or pay 40 MS Points and play the game once.
Also, this spring, the first Modern Warfare 2 content packs will be available exclusively first on Xbox Live. What will the DLC consist of? No word yet, hopefully more Spec Ops missions and likely more game modes for multiplayer.
Overall, however, the conference didn't really reveal anything that we didn't already know (i.e. Natal, Alan Wake, etc.), at least for the Xbox 360, and the leaked interview blew the "surprise" on Game Room (which frankly, I can't see taking off -- I just don't think retro gaming is going to have much of an impact). Plus, we all knew Natal would be coming in 2010, so no shocker there. They also censored the Halo: Reach video and Game Room demonstration shown at the conference to all streaming users.
The conference primarily touched on Windows 7, which also comes as no surprise. None of the demonstrations shown were particularly interesting, but it seemed Microsoft was able to keep it a little more brief for each product unlike the Sony conference which took place earlier today.
Will 2010 be the biggest year in Xbox history? Let us know your thoughts.
