Welcome to the E3 Edition of Real Talk with Snake612. The day has finally come.
Its E3 2008!. The question is are you ready?
Well fasten your seat belts and get ready for e3 2008.
I will be giving you live coverage with latest news, trailers, and big announcements from E3 2008.
The celebration begins at 1p.m. with the Microsoft Conference
Microsoft Conference
(BengaBenga): I think there won´t be many surprises by Microsoft. Just like last year almost everything is already out in the open. But it remains a question how their motion controller will function and most importantly what games will be supporting it. My guess is that Banjo will be among the games that enable motion controls, but Microsoft will certainly have something like WiiSports ready to go with the peripheral.
Furthermore I expect something Bungie/Halo related. Very big of course. Maybe that's also the Peter Jackson thing.
For the rest I expect lots of Gears 2 and mainly trailers of the big exclusives and Resident Evil 5. Probably not a lot of the RPG's, this show will be more catered towards the American audience.
(Snake612): Will this price cut help 360 sales?
(BengaBenga): Well, technically it's not a pricecut, it only lasts until the 20GB systems are gone. A real pricecut would, imo, put it well in front of the PS3 in America. The 360 has a big lead there, it has the important "Madden" audience and also a huge share of the GTA gamers (so the core-casuals) and it would mean a $100,- difference with the PS3. Psychologically an important boundary for customers. I expect a real pricecut in November, but then Sony won't stay behind too long (maybe April 09) and during the holidays pricing is less relevant.
(Snake612): Do you think microsoft will announce a halo 4?
(BengaBenga): Halo 3 is already out for about 10 months, so I suppose you mean Halo 4.
I don't know, I think it's too early to announce Halo 4, but they'll definitely have something Halo related besides Halo Wars. The franchise IS the core of the 360 userbase.
(Snake612):Is it possible that microsoft will be releasing a handheld system?
(BengaBenga):Can't see that happening (yet). They have only just started to become profitable with the Xbox division and I don't think the company is really willing to invest heavily again in something outside their core-business. Especially not with Vista not going very well.
Besides that they have Zune to promote as well.
In the future, when the Entertainment Division has proven to be profitable for longer periods it might happen.
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(Snake 612): What games are you excited to hear about from Microsoft?(Final Quesiton) |
(BengaBenga): I'm really interested in Alan Wake, RE5 (ok not exclusive, but last year received lots of attention during MS's conference) and hopefully something about Star Ocean and Tales of Vesperia.
I also hope to see Splinter Cell, because I'm afraid the game will be cancelled if it doesn't get shown
Special Thanks to BengaBenga for the interview. Stay tuned. Microsoft's Conference is about to begin.
Major News:
- Final Fantasy XIII Announced. Day and Date with PS3 Version in NA and PAL Territories. Certainly the biggest of the bunch. Square-Enix president was live, onstage at the E3 presentation to announce FFXIII coming to the Xbox 360. The update from the Square-Enix conference seems to be that the PS3 version is still releasing in Japan first. But this remains to be fully confirmed (will the X360 get FFXIII in Japan at all?).
- Netflix Announces Strategic Partnership with Microsoft/Xbox 360. I've actually mentioned this a few times as being viable for both companies. What this means is that as a Netflix subscriber, you will be able to pay their normal, everyday rate and log onto XBL (Silver memership, for free), and download movies via XBL. This is huge as this partnership will most likely increase the depth of the movie service Microsoft offers, and will greatly reduce the current pricing for movies on XBL.
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Xbox 360 Games May Now Be Downloaded to Your Hard Drive. Not mentioned in the E3 presentation, and revealed on Major Nelson's Blog . This move allows you to download any, and all Xbox 360 games to it's hard drive. This will decrease load times for all games downloaded to the system. However, there is a catch: You must have the game in your hard drive for it to work. This (I assume) is to prevent pirating of games, and is a DRM issue. However, your game disc will not spin, decreasing heat production of the system. One can only wonder how far in the future that MS will take this further, and launch the Xbox 360 library for Digital Downloads without the DRM policy.
Middle-Tier News
- Portal Announced for XBLA. This is the beloved Portal from The Orange Box (released last year). However, this version is slightly different, as it will be a self-contained release, and feature new levels, exclusive to XBLA from my understanding.
- Banjo-Kazooie Announced for XBLA. Another key XBLA title to the library. Banjo is one of Rare's largest games, having sold a reported 3.65 million units worldwide. We currently do not have all of the details as to what this rendention of Banjo will have.
- Xbox Live Marketplace Will Be Accessible from the Internet. A major step in the right direction for simplyfing the marketplace. All content will now be available for purchase, or queuing from the internet. So should you be away from your Xbox 360 (such as at work), you can download it from there, and have a demo, or arcade game purchased and downloaded.
- Exclusive Fallout 3 Content for Xbox 360 and GFW. Todd Howard announced that the Xbox 360 version of Fallout 3 will contain content that will be unavailable for the Playstation 3 version. This content will also be available for Microsoft's Games For Windows.
- Avatars. Everyone knew about this. I'm not very impressed by it at all. However, the saving grace (from what I have seen) is the fact that they are partnering with EnDeMol (SP?) to build in gameshows for Xbox Live Primetime, to allow those avatars to compete on XBL-based gaming shows.
- Rockband Timed Exclusivity. Again, everyone knew this was going on. Good list of new tracks, ect. We knew this though.
- Geometry Wars 2 Next Month. Yep. August launch date.
- Last Remnant Timed Exclusivity. November 20th, 2008. Worldwide.
- Star Ocean 4. Spring 2009
- Infinite Undiscovery Launch Date. Sept 2nd in the US, 5th in PAL, 11th in Japan/Asia
- NBC and Universal added to Movies/TV Lists for XBL. Good news if you like either.
- MGM and Constantin added to European Movies/TV Lists for XBL. Again, good if you live in Europe.
Minor News:
- Your In The Movies . XBLA Vision Camera Game. Looked horrendously corny until the game put it all together to create an ultra-cheezy game. Looks like a bit of fun.
- Lips . Singstar-esque game. Big news is that it can import songs from your Zune or Ipod...That'll save a bit of cash. Not a big fan of non-Rockband games, but if you crave singing, this will fit the bill.
- South Park XBLA . New game, but very little information.
- Galga Legions. First "true" sequel from Namco. XBLA exclusive it seems.
- Guitar Hero 3 + World Tour Exclusive Songs. REM track pack from their new album, 3 songs exclusive to 360. Also, the 360 gets Eagles and Van Halen tracks exclusively. Whoop-De-Friggin-Do.
Other News:
- Viva Pinata 2. In VP2, you can scan trading cards in, and the critter will appear in the game to play with. Warped child of Eye of the Beholder maybe?
- Gears of War 2: 5 Player Co-Op Mode. Called "Horde Mode". You join with 4 others to fend off ever-increasing waves of locust. Seems like a fun little addition to the game.
- Resident Evil 5, 2 Player Co-Op. Looks like RE5 is taking a big hint from Gears of War 2. The 2 player mode looked great.
- Scene It: Box Office Edition.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY
