The media briefing at Microsoft's X06 event in Barcelona has just finished and Peter Moore and company have revealed some interesting information on the Xbox 360, their future plans and of course showcased some great looking games.
The press event began with the usual figures being banded about, 10 million downloads so far on the Xbox live arcade and the mention of the earlier news that Codemaster's Sensible Soccer will be making a welcome addition to the comprehensive list of games already available, but he also revealed that Doom will be available via the Xbox live arcade tonight as part of Microsoft's X06 content.
After a fair amount of PR spiel, Peter Moore introduced Gears Of War (which incidently is released on November 17th , PS3 launch day) where the audience were treated to a hi-def trailer (this should be available online shortly!). The X06 press briefing focused heavily on the Xbox 360 games as Microsoft showcased Halo 3 (old trailer), Forza 2, Crossfire, Fable 2 and many other top titles, including the first demo of Ubisoft's free-roaming action adventure Assassin's Creed, which incidently looks stunning (trailers should be online soon),the - already multiple award winning - Bioshock, the first ever trailer of PGR4 and a look a the new Halo Wars!
“Halo Wars” is an all-new real-time strategy game based on the legendary “Halo” universe and designed exclusively for Xbox 360 by Ensemble Studios, creators of the “Age of Empires” franchise.
As far as Xbox 360 exclusives go, Peter Moore revealed that GTA IV will launch on October 17th 2007 in Europe with two new episodes that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and that Splinter Cell : Double Agent will be exclusive to Windows and the next-gen console.
Aside from the many games on show, Microsoft used the opportunity to talk about the new HD DVD add-on, that runs at 1080p and will have over 50 titles available for the Christmas period. The Xbox 360 HD DVD external drive is roughly the same size as four stacked DVD boxes or one Nintendo Wii console. The outer casing is styled by Microsoft to match the Xbox 360, but Toshiba are supplying the actual HD DVD drive inside and it will retail at £129 in the UK.
Of course X06 isn't all about the Xbox 360, Microsoft are there to talk about Windows games too, so it was no surpise that the amazing Crysis was mentioned alongside the likes of Company of Heroes and Hellgate London. Peter Moore continued on the Windows theme by talking about Live Anywhere in which Shadowrun will be the first to exploit the new interface.
Live Anywhere is a schedule feature for Xbox Live. It will enable a variety of non-Xbox platforms such as a Windows Vista PC, Windows Mobile phones, and Java-enabled phones to connect to Xbox Live. Users, each with a unique Gamertag that carries over from Xbox Live, will be able to play online, keep track of their friends' status, send and receive messages, purchase Xbox Live Arcade games for cell phone use, gain and keep track of Achievements, and more. Moore also mentioned that Marvel Universe Online will be another title that will utilise the Live Anywhere service.
Other interesting news involved an appearance from Peter Jackson himself who is striking up a long term partnership with Microsoft, perhaps in a creative role. Jackson believes that story-telling is important in games and apparently he has some great ideas (but of course couldn't tell us), although one of them does involve the Halo universe!
A landmark partnership announced between Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Fran Walsh, and Microsoft Game Studios will create two new interactive entertainment series exclusively for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. The first series will be a collaborative effort with Bungie Studios to co-create the next great chapter in the “Halo” universe. The second series will be an entirely original property targeted at bringing new audiences into the captivating world of interactive entertainment. In addition, Microsoft Game Studios will partner with Jackson and Walsh to establish Wingnut Interactive, a studio dedicated to the creation of world-class interactive entertainment.
So it's all over for another year, a slightly dissapointing conference with no more news on Halo 3 (Moore says we will hear more by the end of the year), but Assassin's Creed, Bioshock and Lost Odyssey look great and there were plenty of new trailers to get excited about and the Jackon deal can only be good for us gamers!
We'll have further information on the showcased games shortly. Picture : Courtesy of Major Nelson.com
