1225 replies to this topic

[Robo_1]

Times:

UK: June 4th 5:30 PM BST
EU: June 4th 6:30 PM CET
US: June 4th 9:30 AM PST
US: June 4th 12:30 PM EST

Video Streams:

http://www.xbox.com/en-gb/e3
http://e3.gamespot.c...e/microsoft-e3/
http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/
http://www.g4tv.com/.../microsoft/131/
http://www.youtube.com/user/E3

In addition, Gold members can watch the entire conference from the comfort of the dash.

What Are We Expecting:

With 360 entering it's twilight years, MS are expected to be focussing on service and content announcements, with the highlight being the unveiling of their 'Woodstock' music service, which is largely thought to be MS's answer to Spotify.

Another big focus of the conference will likely be the recently leaked 'Smart Glass' app, which will widen the reach of 360 to iOS and Android devices.

The true wild card are rumors of some type of new hardware reveal, that isn't the next Xbox. There has been evidence that MS have something in the works, which many initially speculated were Durango developer boxes, but more recent murmurings suggest that MS could be going for a revised 360 model.

On the games front, it looks as though MS will come out a lot stronger than many perhaps feared. Halo 4 is almost certainly going to be their big title, but recent leaks/announcements of a new Gears of War (developed by Epic owned People Can Fly), and an open world Forza game should keep the core happy. Doubtless Kinect will take center stage, but with Fable: The Journey, a new Panzer Dragoon, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, along with an exclusive Harry Potter game and Ryze, we should hopefully see more interesting demonstrations than the usual run of awkwardly stage prepped children fitting on stage.

On top of this, MS's show is almost certainly going to feature the first big look at the next Call of Duty game (even though I wouldn't bet against Sony nabbing them this year, to showcase their Vita title) and along with a healthy showing of third party titles, all things being well, MS should have a decent show ahead of them.

What We Got:



...seriously, I don't know what more to add to that..... well not today anyway.

Well, all credit to tnman again, who has put together a great bullet list of what MS delivered:

Halo 4!
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=slf8af7FzU8
Splinter Cell Blacklist
FIFA/Madden Kinect
Fable The Journey trailer
Forza Horizon
Gears of War Judgement
Tomb Raider 9
Resident Evil 6
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Dance Central 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
New dash functions, including Bing search genre. Fuck yeah.
Lots of new apps for sports
Xbox Music
Nike+ Kinect
Xbox SmartGlass, like Apple Airplay, can supplement content with maps of where characters are in TV shows.
Internet Explorer coming to 360
New IP: Ascend: New Gods
New IP: Loco Cycle (Twisted Pixel's new game)
New IP: Matter
New IP: Wrecketeer (Angry Birds rip-off)

[DC07]

Microsoft's E3 conferences have reached the point where it's unlikely that I need to watch to be able to comment in the thread. Ooh, the new COD to start things off. Ooh, some more multiformat games. All looking very lovely. Here come new Halo, Gear of War and Forza. And... aw, time for Kinect.

How great is it that E3 has fallen on our extended bank holiday, though?

[Vemsie]

Halo presentation apparently opens the conference, so as it might be the best thing about it, be sure to be on time. Around 10 minutes long or so.

[Uncle Nasty]

How great is it that E3 has fallen on our extended bank holiday, though?

Yep, the perfect geek Christmas.

[scottcr]

But will Halo be better with Kinect?

[p1nseeker]

Worth mentioning that gold members can watch the stream live directly on the xbox dashboard.

[Robo_1]

Cheers, added. If anyone has any information which they think would do well in the OP, then do let me know.

[Qazimod]

Just tried your YouTube link and it's pointing to G4...

[Aimless]

Whilst possibly not an E3 thing, Sam Lake Tweeted a link to this blog which is very obviously linked to Alan Wake if you're familiar with the game. Perhaps a Kinect-based downloadable title will be announced? (Hopefully not.)

[Robo_1]

Just tried your YouTube link and it's pointing to G4...

Cheers, fixed.

[Epcotman]

It's weird going from a few years ago, when Microsoft's conference would be the one I was most excited about. But they just seem to have gone in a direction that's less and less interesting to me. It's now fewer games, more services.

[Keyboard Koala]

I think a lot of people share that opinion.

[Napole0n]

The 360 is still my favourite console, but software-wise I think Microsoft as a publisher has taken quite a nosedive. If it's just another Gears, Halo and Forza they'll be showing this year combined with more Kinect tat I'll be quite disappointed.

[Robo_1]

The 360 is still my favourite console, but software-wise I think Microsoft as a publisher has taken quite a nosedive. If it's just another Gears, Halo and Forza they'll be showing this year combined with more Kinect tat I'll be quite disappointed.

Certainly, they're playing it very safe. In of itself it's not a bad selection of games, but I admit to being fatigued by their selection.

[Cosmic_Guru]

Yeah, likely to be wall to wall Guns and Kinect plus obscure American entertainment channels thrown in. When was the last exciting E3 announcement - Final Fantasy? GTA?

At least it's on at a civilised time and can be watched via the box itself.

[PC Master Race]

We need to setup some kind of live chat for these. We did one for the video game awards via Steam and it was pure amaze (far better than the award ceremony anyway).

[simms]

360 is still the hardcore fav and there are more games than I would be able to play yet to be released. The ms conference would be much more exciting if they were doing a proper unveil of their next gen hardware as it is we may get a sneak peek.

[Super Stu]

Interesting comments about stagnation, is anyone innovating right now? I'm a bit out of touch with what's on its way to any platform.

[Mentazm]

We need to setup some kind of live chat for these. We did one for the video game awards via Steam and it was pure amaze (far better than the award ceremony anyway).

twittor

[Boozy The Clown]

Forza Horizon is going to be amazing.

edit : some pics have "leaked" before tomorrow's reveal.



I've put the rest in the Forza Horizon thread.

[Eighthours]

Forza Horizon is going to be amazing.

Yeah, that's my pick for surprise goodie of the conference. It looks like a mixture of Test Drive Unlimited and Smugglers' Run with a AAA budget.

[Dudley]

The 360 is still my favourite console, but software-wise I think Microsoft as a publisher has taken quite a nosedive. If it's just another Gears, Halo and Forza they'll be showing this year combined with more Kinect tat I'll be quite disappointed.

To be fair, this isn't "Just another Forza" but I agree, they've never been the best for first party/second party games but the days when you could at least get an Oddworld or Mass Effect out of them seem gone.

[Stanley]

I'm looking forward to seeing Halo 4. The last one I played was Halo 3.

I think Microsoft will mention new hardware, even if only an indirect hint.

[dayte]

Are you sure it's 5.30 here? We're only 5 hours ahead of the US

[Aimless]

I think Microsoft will mention new hardware, even if only an indirect hint.

I could see them talking about Windows 8 connecting with "current and future Xbox platforms" or the like, but nothing more explicit.

Thinking about it, Microsoft will probably be the ones to show off Splinter Cell 5. Tomb Raider and RE6 are fairly safe bets on the third-party front, too.

[Robo_1]

Are you sure it's 5.30 here? We're only 5 hours ahead of the US

There seems to be a 30 min discrepancy between reported start times on different sites, which I'm guessing just means some sites will begin 30 mins early, and preface their streams with their own musings. I've run the local start time through the world clock, and it says 5:30 is correct BST.

[Dudley]

Are you sure it's 5.30 here? We're only 5 hours ahead of the US

We're 8 hours ahead of where E3 is.

[dayte]

I will be here at 4pm tomorrow, anxiously pressing F5 every few seconds, just in case.

[Stanley]

There's a countdown timer on the Xbox App anyway.

[Asura]

I'd better get on and download that app soon, in case the live servers melt down. Is it easy to find when I turn the machine on?