TANKS E3 Press Briefing summary

All these games are coming this year.

8:39 : Harmonix on stage demoing Rock Band with Peter Moore
2 guitar players, two singers and one drumming. Drumset looks pretty compact, has foot pedal

8:43 : New Viva Pinata game 'Party Animals' announced.
50 minigames and races

8:45 : Mass Effect being shown on screen.
Officially dated coming November 2007

8:48 : Install base of 8.5 million in USA
Xbox 360 has sold more games than any other consoles since November
Xbox 360 games cracked top 10 list 18 times, competition 0 and once.
Half of all software sales in this generation are on Xbox 360

8:50 : 4th quarter 2004 had Madden, GTA and Halo for best year end of sales on record.
Xbox 360 is the only system with these three franchises all coming this holiday season. This
perfect storm of titles are predicted to sell 1/3rd of the software sales this holiday season.

8:52 : Video montage of coming games. GTA4, Lost Odyssey, NBA Live 08, Mass Effect, Fatal Inertia, Medal of Honor Airborne, Tiger WOods,
Ace Combat 6, NHL 08, Assassins Creed, Spider Man friend or foe, Simpsons, Splinter Cell Conviction, Nascar 08 , Bioshock, Madden 08, Tony Hawk Proving Ground, Crash of the Titans, Harry Potter, Orange Box, Bee Movie, Rock Band and Naruto

8:55 : Jeff Bell on stage pimping the 'family' use of Xbox 360. SceneIt announced. New controller announced ! You get 4 controllers and SceneIT for 59.99, it has a big red button to answer the questions with like on a trivia game.

8:58 : Naruto Rise of a Ninja announced for kids. Popular kids cartoon game adaptation. Trailer playing.

8:59 : EA's 08 sports lineup will all be running at 60fps starting with NCAA 08 launching next week. Reggie Bush on stage to pimp Madden and do a live demo vs Jeff Bell.

9:02 : Xbox Leading in online community. Live at 7 Million members, a new member joins every 8 seconds. By next year they hope to be at 10 Million members.

9:03 : XBLA has had 45 million downloads. By end of the year there will be 100 games.

9:06 : XBLA Games coming by the end of the year :Bomberman, Hexic 2, Sonic The Hedgehot, War World, Sensible World of Soccer, Every Extend Extra, Geon, Wing Commander Arena, Feeding Frenzy 2, Track & Field, Spyglass Board Gmaes, Golden Axe, Space Giraffe, Super Puzzle Fighter II, Word Puzzle, Marathon, Poker Smash, Switchball, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest, Suduku.

9:07 : Golden Axe and Sonic available NOW


9:07 : Over 2000 hours of HD content, twice the size of largest cable provider. $125 Milion spent on downloadable content so far

9:08 : Disney bringing their classics to Video Marketplace, Hunchback, Pooh, Atlantis, Herculese, Emporors groove, armageddon, sky high, waterboy, bad company, unbreakable, brothers grym, coyote ugly, taxi, deja vu, primeval, the queen, venus. All in High Def. Xbox Video Marketplace is largest provider of high def content. ALL these available NOW in High Def plus all their new theater releases will be coming to Marketplace.

9:10 : By end of the year, Canada and Europe will be on board with Video Marketplace.

9:10 : Aug 24th, Elite being released in Europe.

9:11 : Shane Kim on stage.

9:12 : In last two hears MGS games have received highest average game review scores. Forza on tack to selling more than 1 million units.

9:13 : PGR4 being showing on-screen. Motorcycles added, all top manufacturers will be included like Honda and Ducati. PRG4 will have dynamic weather. PGR on demand announced to share pictures and videos of your moves. PGR4 coming September.

9:17 : Lost Odyssey exclusively on Xbox 360. Lostodyssey trailer up on screen

9:20 : Gears of War announced for PC as well as Viva Pinata. Gears will have new content and a game editor.

9:21 : Cliffy B on stage. Gears on Xbox 360 is #1 selling game and #1 on Live.

9: 22 : Demoing Gears on Windows. 5 new 1p chapters, new achievements and 1 new MP mode. You can also fight that huge Brumak in the PC versino. Demoing fight now on-screen. HOLY SHIT is that thing HUGE! Gears will be on Vista and XP.

9:25 : Peter Moore back on stage. Sega, EIdos and THQ all on board for Games for Window sLive support. Games for Windows Live support will now be built into Epic's Unreal Engine 3 !

9:26 : Windows Vista has 10 Million gamers with more than 60 Games for Windows games available by this holiday. Crysis, Hell gate, World in Conflict and Conan all coming titles this year for Games for Windows Live. Video montage of GFWL games on-scree. FLight Sim X, Thrillville off the rails, Bee Movie, Hellgate London, Age of Empires 3, Stranglehold, Gears of War, Bioshock, Crysis, Universe at War, Blacksite, World in Conflict, Age of Conan, Lost Planet, Kane Lynch, Company of Heroes, Zoo Tycoon 2, Juicd 2, Viva Pinata, Spiderman Friend or Foe.

9:29 : August Bioshock will release, exclusive to GFWL and 360

9:29 : Call of Duty 4 onscreen. Coming for GFWL and 360. W-O-W ! Must buy!

9:31 : Infinity Ward on-stage to demo COD4.  Variety is their goal in COD4, much more depty.  Jason West fires up demo.  Oh my god i totally didn't see the guy beside the player laying prone in a ghilli suite.  NICE graphics !  Showing a 2 man sniper team right now.  Seems like maybe this is the training mission?    This game looks beautiful.    Looks like a checkpoint system for saves.    The grass/weeds/brush look outstanding running or crawling.  AI will pick up quick movements but not slow movements.

9:37 : exclusive to 360 there will be an online multiplayer BETA.  Check out charlioscardelta.com for more details.

9:38 : Splinter Cell up next, exclusive to 360. 

3:38 : GTA 4 being talked about.  All current trailers are 360 gameplay.  Trailer playing onscreen now.

3:39 : GTA 4 coming October to Xbox 360.  Two exclusive expansion packs will be released for Xbox 360 to continue the game beyond what's offered on the competition

3:40 : All major Japan developers have announced support for 360, some with exclusives.  Ace combat 6 and eternal sophiata are exclusives.  Resident Evil officially announced as coming to 360 for the first time.  In-game footage trailer being shown, looks amazing.  Will not be coming this year though.  July 26 you can download the trailer on Marketplace

3:42 : Assassins Creed being demoed.  Crowd interaction is unbelievable but game still has noticable glitches.   Fighting looks pretty good but it's based on counter attacks and well timed combos.  Could be fairly complicated.  Four different weapons available to fight with.   Chase AI makes it so no two chaces are alike, infinite replay value.    Bumping into crowd seems like it's an overexagurated delay like you almost fall over if you bump into them in the slightest.  Could be irritating.  Assassins coming November 2007

3:49 : Some type of Halo3 trailer shown but it looked live action.  Pretty damn suite.

3:52 : Sept 25th Halo 3 will launch.  New console being announced for Halo.  The Halo 3 special edition console along with other Halo3 themed accessories.  It actually looks gunmetal green, not grey.  No word on what 'guts' it has.  Halo will be a billion dollar franchise by the end of the year.

3:54 : Peter Moore summarizing, wrapping up the presentation.   Halo 3 trailer showcasing single player and multiplaryer. This will no doubt be on Marketplace tomorrow.

END