First Out of 3: Highlights From Microsoft E3 2008 Media Briefing

July 16, 2008 by Chapree

Microsoft E3 2008 Media Briefing
Panoramic view of the media briefing.
Photo credit: Xbox.com

It is indeed an annual tradition at E3 where the three gaming giants: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will held a media briefing to announce their world domination plan to the masses. Microsoft started the race once again as per previous years and announced lots of stuff especially for their Xbox 360 platform.

New games, new updates and one very surprising announcement were unleashed to the folks that attended the briefing and tons of others who watched the event live stream on the net. Without further due, check out the highlights from this year’s Microsoft E3 Media Briefing.

E3 2008 Center @ Lowyat.NET Forums
Microsoft E3 2008 Center @ Lowyat.NET Forums

Game Announcements

Final Fantasy XIII
We going to 360?

Final Fantasy XIII: Teh announcement that set E3 on fire. The game will be out on the same day as its PS3 sibling. I believe many hardcore Sony PlayStation fans out there are face-palming themselves.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise: a new feature was included in this sequel where players can scan a character card using the LIVE Vision camera and the character will appear in the game.
Scene It: Box Office Smash: one of the first games that use the new Avatar function.
You’re In the Movies: Using the LIVE Vision camera, gamers will be presented with a couple of mini-games and will be recorded while they were playing. All those recordings will then turned into a movie by the console. Reminded me of PS2’s Eye Toy. Oh, the game will include the camera when it comes out this holiday season.
Guitar Hero World Tour: the new rival of EA’s Rock Band - will be shipped with 85 songs on disc. Van Halen + The Eagles pledge exclusivity and R.E.M will release track packs containing their new songs even before the album comes out. Also, Metallica upcoming new album, Death Magnetic will be DLC for GHIII and GHWT on the same day it comes out.
Lips: Microsoft’s own karaoke game, coming this holiday. Gamers can sing along to their own songs by hooking up their music players such as Zune and Ipod to the console. The game utilized a wireless microphone which you can shake it as tambourine. Created by the same person behind Elite Beat Agents, Keiichi Yano.
Rock Band 2 : Will debut exclusively on 360 this September with 84 master tracks on the discs such as first track from Guns ‘n’ Roses 14-years in the making new album - Chinese Democracy, Bob Dylan and AC/DC. I hope EA Asia Pacific is finally going to release this game to Asian market after they blue-balled us on the first one. Yes EA, I’m still emo about it.
Infinite Undiscovery: Collabration between Microsoft, Square Enix and Tri-Ace. A 360 exclusive, it will be out on September 11th for Japan and Asia region.
Last Remnant: Another Square Enix title, this RPG will also be available on Games for Windows and will be out on 20th November this year.

Xbox Community Games: a new addition to Xbox Live Marketplace where games built through XNA will be available this coming Fall.

Colosseum

Hot Potato Online

Word Soup

Xbox Live Arcade

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
Galaga Legions: touted as “the first true sequel” of Galaga. Available next month.
Portal: Still Alive : Confirmed by GLaDOS special appearance at the event, it will feature brand new levels + new achievements this coming Fall.
Uno Rush: will utilize the new Avatar function. At the media briefing, the game was used to demo the new Live Party function.
1 vs. 100: based on a real-life TV show with the same name, with constantly updated contents and chance to win real prizes (which I don’t think applies to our country). Will also utilize the new Avatar function.
Last but not least, the original Banjo-Kazooie! Originally released on Nintendo 64 in 1998, it will be released in conjunction with the new Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Other mentioned games: South Park (2009), Prince of Persia, Call of Duty: World at War, Need for Speed Undercover, Tomb Raider Underworld, PES 2009, Mirror’s Edge, Star Ocean The Last Hope (2009)

Services Announcement

Windows Media Center + Windows Vista Aero = Xbox 360 new dashboard?

The new dashboard : a sleek and spanking new look, coming this Fall.
Avatars : which looked like it’s being ripped off from Nintendo’s Mii. Looked a bit livelier though. Designed by Rare, the new Avatar feature is the next evolution of 360’s gamertag and comes together with couple of interactive functions such as Live Party.
Live Party function : play games, share photos, watch movie & tv shows together. Not that it can’t be done before, just that it look better and more interactivity this time around.
Xbox Live Primetime: a new channel where the 1 vs. 100 game mentioned earlier located. This channel basically similar to SMS trivia games (minus the SMS charge) on our TV with real prizes to boot. Microsoft promised continues fresh and new contents will be made available for this channel.

That’s about it from Microsoft E3 Media Briefing. A new Dashboard slated for the upcoming Fall update is indeed pretty plus with the new cute Avatar all. I do suspect that the Avatar will be another micro-transaction scheme of Microsoft (kinda obvious). But the biggest bomb is still the Square Enix announcement of FFXIII for Xbox 360.

Both Nintendo and Sony already held their E3 Media Briefing earlier this morning, so don’t forget to check back for the highlights from both events later today.