Microsoft kick off E3 with a bang!

The Microsoft E3 conference just finished up and boy was it interesting. Some shockingly fantastic announcements and some funny on-stage antics, here is what went down just a couple of hours ago. Please click keep reading for the whole article, hope you have time to read through it all!

• Beatles Rockband opens the show. Nice little retro style introduction. After some chatter here and there we are shown a gameplay demo on-stage, looks pretty cool. After the demo a trailer is shown with songs that will be included in the game. The game will be released September 9th. Paul McCartney and Ringo Star come on-stage. They look like and act like they don’t know what they are about. Quality!
• Tony Hawk’s Ride footage/trailer is shown off. Tony himself comes on stage and talks about the game. Hmm, nothing to write home about there!
• Now we’re talking. Modern Warfare 2 trailer is shown, it is the same one that was revealed a few days ago. Couple of guys from Infinity Ward come on-stage to demo the game. Gameplay starts on snowy cliff, player slowly moving along a massive cliff. Eventually he climbs up to the top of the cliff. Thank God as that was kind of boring. Next up, the character has a new gun with some sort of radar/heat sensor device attached to it. Visibility is quite low so yeah that is a good idea I guess! Gunfight takes place, looks pretty good. Finally we are shown the snowmobile gameplay , looks awesome. One of the guys announces that the first two map packs will be coming exclusively to the 360.
• Two important people from Square Enix come on the stage. They talk about Final Fantasy 13 and then show some gameplay footage. They point out that this is running on the 360. Nice, how much were they paid to sneak that in then?! Looks lovely but no solid release date is given. Boo.
• We are told from this point on only Xbox 360 exclusive games will be shown.
• Cliffy B from Epic Games comes out on stage with some other dude, no idea who he is. They announce an Epic XBLA title called Shadow Complex. Gameplay is shown, its looks like a side scrolling shooter in the mould of the old Metroid games. I have to say it looks very nice.
• Another XBLA title is announced called Joy Ride. It is a racing game that uses avatars and will be available this winter.
• First big news of the conference, Crackdown 2! A trailer is shown, looks like there is some sort of infection in Pacific City and you are the only cure for it. Awesome news, the original game was brilliant.
• Oh my, more big news. Left 4 Dead 2 trailer is shown, can’t see any of the characters from the original though. The game is due to be released November 17th! Wow, didn’t expect it to be out so soon. Great news.
• The big games keep on coming. Splinter Cell Conviction trailer is shown and it looks fantastic. Two guys from UbiSoft come onto the stage to demo the game. UbiSoft logo transcends into actually gameplay. Sam Fisher takes out a few guys in a toilet and is left with one of them. He interrogates him aggressively as some text pops up on-screen. We are told the story unfolds real-time, so all your objectives will flash up on the screen to keep the immersion, nice touch. A new ability called mark and execute is shown. It is similar to the “tag” feature in Rainbow Six Vegas. The game looks amazing, the stealth is still there, which is what we like to see. The game will be released this autumn only on the 360.
• Next up is Forza Motorsport 3. We are constantly told this will be the definitive racing game for any console. Is that a sly little dig at Gran Turismo?! Hmm. Anyway a trailer is shown and then we move onto a gameplay demo. The game looks nice enough, a definite improvement on Forza 2. The in-car view is shown off, now that looks nice. The guy playing crashes the car and then ends the demo, nice driving mate! We are told the game has a new graphics engine and will run at a smooth 60fps. There will be 400 cars and 50 manufacturers. New gameplay features include the ability to rewind. Nice to see they took note from GRID! Ah some great news, the user created content is back. Full customisation of cars like the previous iteration and now users can also upload high definition videos via the in-game video editor.
• Some dude wearing a Bungie top comes onto the stage, I wonder what game is up next?! Halo 3 ODST gameplay footage pops up on-screen. We are shown the view of a soldier inside a drop pod, he is called “the rookie”. The game is set weeks before the start of Halo 3 and you will play as Shock Trooper separated from his team. Hmm, the game pretty much looks like Halo 3 but without Master Chief. September 22nd is the games release date.
• Ah a brand new Halo game called Halo Reach is announced. A very short trailer shown and we are given 2010 release. A nice way to boost sales, when you buy Halo 3 ODST you will also get invited to the Halo Reach beta.
• A couple of guys from Remedy come onto the stage and (yes folks, it’s true) talk about Alan Wake. We are treated to a demo which starts off by bringing up a message on-screen, “Tonight on Alan Wake”…..quality! The game looks fantastic, very atmospheric and creepy. As Alan walks through the woods with his flashlight, there are trees falling in the background. Alan narrates as you play the game, another nice touch. Some “people” start to attack and some combat ensues. Eventually Alan goes into cabin and someone in a tractor takes the cabin out, end of demo. Alan Wake will be coming to the 360 in 2010.
• Some smaller but still impressive announcements are made. On-demand music coming to XBL via Last FM.  It will be available to XBL gold members for free later this year. The deal with Sky in the UK is mentioned.
• The current video service is going to be relaunched as Zune Video. Full 1080p Movies and TV shows available instantly, no need to download. Users will be able to get into a party with friends to watch movies or TV shows.
• XBL partnership with Facebook is announced. Some unknown chick comes onto the stage and demos the Facebook channel on the XBL dashboard. There will be a friend linker, so users can see XBL and Facebook friends together. There will also be a feature that will allow you to capture screen shots from games and upload them to Facebook immediately.
• Time for some MEGATONS I think, as Mr Don Matterick steps onto the stage. “What is the one game people would like to see on the 36o?” Totally unexpected but Hideo Kojima pops up on-stage and announces a new Metal Gear Solid game for the 360. The game will be called Metal Gear Solid Rising and it seems like Raiden will be the main character. Wow, a complete shock! Is that the game Kojima Productions have been teasing at or will we see something else during the Sony conference tomorrow?! Reports suggest this could be an Xbox 360 exclusive!
• As expected, a new 360 controller is unveiled. Apparently “you are the controller”, well via a new motion sensing camera anyway. Many games are shown including  a simple football and racing game. Users will be able to scan their own things in. The person in the trailer scans in a skateboard. I guess that makes the skateboard for Tony Hawk’s Ride completely useless then! There is also face recognition and voice recognition. What is really cool though, is the ability to control 360 dashboard with your hands, sort of like Minority Report! The camera is called Project Natal and will work with every 360.
• Steven Spielberg comes onto the stage and talks about how revolutionary this new camera will be. Thanks Steven, now go back to making movies.
• Project Natal is demoed on-stage. Dashboard navigation is shown, looks really cool. Now for the funny stuff. A game called Ricochet is shown off and the person playing it looks crazy. You can’t help but look at this all and think Wii Fit. The guy talking about it even takes a horrible swipe at Nintendo, “This is not just preset waggle commands”. Come on now, there was no need for that.
• Another “game” called Paint party is demoed. The guy playing “throws” around paint, fun times. Yawn.
• Peter Molyneux comes on-stage and also talks about how revolutionary this new control method is. He even says that the current control pads are actually a restriction for developers. Anyway he shows off what his team at Lionhead have been doing with the camera. It is something called  Milo, some sort of AI character. The video shows a woman interacting with this young boy. It looks ok but it all seems a bit fake as if it was planned out or pre-recorded if you will. The woman talks to the boy and “steps into his world” as she “touches” water, causing ripples on-screen. Finally the woman draws something and passes it “through” the camera, now that looked good. She draws a face and he recognizes it. Impressive tech demo but it was all a bit creepy to be honest. I mean, do we really want virtual friends who are young boys. On that note, Don Matterick says a few words and raps up the conference.

Overall that was a very impressive conference from Microsoft with games like Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Splinter Cell Conviction, Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Reach and Metal Gear Solid Rising. They have a very strong line-up. Add to that, Project Natal and some major additions to XBL, well you have a winner. The conference dragged a little towards the end but it was nice to see there were no sales charts or figures, refreshing! Sony and Nintendo certainly have their work cut out tomorrow to match this, the results should be very interesting.

The full conference can be watched at IGN.com if you missed it.