Microsoft's Peter Moore opened this year's E3 press conference highlighting the fact that all of the titles that would be shown (with the exception of one, which I'll mention later) during this event will be released by the holiday season. As you'd expect on an off-year for a console maker, there were not too many blockbuster announcements but there were a handful of surprises..
Moore kicked off the festivities with the world premiere of Harmonix and EA's Rock Band. With the game playing on the screen Moore crooned along to some song i couldn't make it with several folks from Harmonix. The game let's you sing along American Idol style to a diverse list of songs. Unfortunately for us, Moore isn't a very good singer but he showed why this game is going to be popular to the entire family.
Moore then showed Viva Piñata Party Animals, a sort of sequel to Viva Piñata. In the game you play as a piñata from the popular 4Kids show for tons of animated chicanery. The game promises
15 mini-games and races. The game will be released during holiday 2007.
Moore then showed off a new clip from BioWare's Mass Effect. The game continues to impress and it wouldn't be a shock if it was in a battle with BioShock for Best game of E3 2007.
Mass Effect will be in stores this November and is an Xbox 360 exclusive.
Moore then pointed out that the Xbox 360 is outselling the PS3 2 to 1, and sort of conceded that the Wii is giving the system a run for its money. Besides having a decent installed base,
360 has more games than anyone else on the market - more than both systems combined, says Moore.
2/3 of third-party games are on Xbox 360. To date 2.4 billion USD has been spent on 360 hardware, software and accessories.
Moore then talked about the trifecta of gaming that will put them in the history books this Christmas - GTA IV, Halo 3 and Madden NFL 08. Xbox 360 is the only system to have all three.
Other games this holiday (or before) include Project Gotham 4, Dynasty Warriors: GUNDAM, Call of Duty 4, Stranglehold, Guitar Hero 2, Beautiful Katamari, Lost Odyssey, NBA Live 08, Mass Effect,
Fatal Intertia, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Tiger Woods 08, Ace Combat 6, NHL 08, Assassin's Creed,
Spider-Man Friend or Foe, The Simpsons Game, Splinter Cell: Conviction, NASCAR 08, Eternal Sonata,
BioShock, Madden NFL 08, Crash of the Titans, The Orange Box, Bee Movie Game, Rock Band Naruto: Rise of the Ninja and many more.
Peter Moore took a brake at this point, letting Jeff Bell corporate VP of global marketing for Microsoft, showed off some properties that would appeal to the whole family.
Bell showed off a new family title called Scene It. This new game based on the classic party game
will feature new trivia, puzzles, movie clips, HD support and special new controllers
The controller looks like a track ball with the familiar four Xbox 360 buttons below it (sort of like an odd magnifying glass with a giant button on the top. Scene it will come with four controllers with package so the whole family can play..
Next up was the announcement that a new Naruto titles is on the way from Ubisoft. Naruto: Rise of a Ninja is published by Ubisoft exclusively on 360. The film clip showed off Naruto
in a wide open 3D world as he traversed a city, running the streets, jumping, climbing walls and more. The clip completed with an anime quality in-game fight that was pretty impressive.
Next up Bell discussed sports franchises and EA Sports commitment to the platform when it launched.
EA's 2008 line-up was highlighted, promising better graphics and smoother, faster gameplay.
New Orleans Saints' Reggie Bush takes the stage to battle Bell in the latest Madden title.
Bush says that he's excited about EA's football titles and proves it by taking Bell to school in a few plays.
Bell moves onto Xbox Live and the massive community it now enjoys. Last year Microsoft said it would hit 6 million users in one year - they beat that estimation - and hit the 7 million mark.
Microsoft says that that's approximately a new member every 8 seconds. By this time next year they estimate a userbase of around 10 million - no doubt they are underestimating that number on purpose.
To date, users have committed 45 million downloads from Xbox Live. Microsoft says that at the end of this year they hope to have 100 games for Xbox Live including
Bomberman Live, Undertow, Hexic 2, Sonic The Hedgehog, War World, Sensible Soccer, a new Every Extend Extra title, Wing Commander Armada, Feeding Frenzy 2, Spyglass Board Games, Golden Axe,
Space Girrafe, Word Puzzle, Marathon, Poker Smash, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest and more. Bell also announced that two new games have been released on Xbox Live: Sonic and Golden Axe.
