Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Microsoft's Xbox 360 E3 event
posted May 16th 2005 10:03PM
Hey everyone, we up in the Shrine Auditorium to give you complete live coverage of Microsoft's Xbox 360 E3 event. We know they formally announced the device last week on MTV, but hopefully we'll all get some of these burning questions answered this evening. Stay tuned: we're live!
While we're waiting to get this show on the road, here's a quick recap of what's gone down. Today's Sony PS3 unveiling has opened up a world of questions regarding how Microsoft expects to maintain a competitive edge against a system that will supposedly have more than double the raw processing power, a next-gen media drive (Blu-ray, in this case), two-generation backwards compatibility, and even support for 1080p hi-def. We also still don't know how much the Xbox 360 is going to cost, an exact release date, what kinds of configurations it will have, and, of course the big question: will it have backwards compatibility?
Ok, we're getting started. Let's roll!
Kim's here to "start us on a journey". Man, Microsoft, hyping this at all?
They're showing what appears to be a commercial for the device. A commercial eh? Feels a bit like that's what this
whole event happens to be.
We've got three execs up on stage, including Xbox posterboy J. Allard. They're calling this the "most powerful entertainment system in the world". Ok, we'll let them prove it to us then, yeah? They're talking up their successes with the original Xbox—"over 20m customers", and a $125 million in sales in one day with Halo 2. Yes, yes, we know. Now they're chatting up new Xbox 2005 titles. Can we hit the 360 yet, s.v.p.?
Two words: backwards compatability! That's right, everyone. It'll play Xbox games! (Well, some of them, anyway)
They still aren't giving up any specific date, but we can apparently expect the Xbox 360 to hit stores this year. The interesting part? It'll be a simultaneous launch for the US, Europe, and Asia—something we've never really seen anyone attempt (successfully) before.
They're showing off a rather long, elaborate demo of Dead or Alive 4 for the 360. Showing off cutscenes and video shots this way makes it hard to tell how much is prerendered—so we're assuming it all is. But if most of it isn't, well, we're more than a little impressed by these visuals.
J. Allard's back up. He's claiming that we can expect between 25 and 40 game titles for the 360 this year, and there are more than a hundred additional titles yet in development. He's talking up "the HD-era", and how they're going to "reach one billion people with our medium."
J's showing off the new dashboard system, and talking up Xbox Live Silver, their free level of out-of-box service. This will include the bread n' butter online gaming, as well as video messages, player matching, tourneys, music and photo sharing, the gamercard and gamer achievements, the Live marketplace, and more.
He's talking about Xbox Live Arcade, targeted at "non-gamers", which is a simplified "old school/retro" gaming experience. It appears to be free to Xbox 360 owners. Hmm, hardware margin.
They confirmed it! iPod and PSP integration! How much? We dunno, but we're definitely going to find out for you exactly what we can expect.
Uh, they're showing a total nonsequitur video of Gates and Ballmer hanging out in line in the Star Wars line to try and understand their demographic. Ballmer says, "HD! HD! HD!" Man, no one else here found that funny. But Allard got it right: "Billionaire software moguls attempting to be funny." Um, yeah.
Peter Moore comes on to yammer on about the zen of running. He wants to deliver "the Zen of gaming", and he's
introduced a demo vid of Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest masterpiece. Looks totally
hot, very classic Japanese RPG drama. They're also showing off in-game vids of Ghost Recon 3, which looks unbelievably
hot. They are also showing off NBA 2K6 and Kameo. Their Call of Duty 2 demo was a little choppy, which is a little
unexpected. Oblivion—the sequel to Morrowind—is being narrated by none other than Patric Stewart. Patric freaking
Stewart, dude. Now Gears of War, which will apparently "literally make you afraid to lift up the controller."
Don Mattrick, Pres of EA studios worldwide came onstage. He looks a lot like a (very) poor man's Tom Cruise—let's say
Risky Business era—and he also brought with him Oakland Raider Robert Gallery, who's only about 800 times larger than
both of them put together. He's claiming this is the largest EA dev commitment in their history with 25 titles in
development. At least 6 will be out this year, including Need For Speed: Most Wanted, The Godfather, Fifa 06, NBA Live
06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, and, of course, Madden 06.
Microsoft brought out Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, to announce their partnership and in developing for the Xbox 360, specifically Final Fantasy XI with Xbox Live integration.
Well, that's it! They're wrapping up here, so be sure to get up early (if you're on the left coast, anyay) for our live coverage of what Nintendo's got up their sleeves. We out!
FYI indie rock nerds: they're outroing with the Kaiser Chiefs. FYI everyone else who was soo excited last week about the Killers playing music in promotion of the new Xbox 360. They're playing live here tonight, and yeah, we're gonna heckle them like bigs. "Play Worked Up So Sexual!" Ok, maybe not.
FIRST
Lucky mumble grumble people at e3
XBOX360 SUCKSSSSSSSS
PS3 ALL THE WAY
SECOND BOOYEAH I CANT WAIT FOR THE UPDATE!!whatta rhyme
Sony will reign.
#2... fanboy
seriously, PS makes consoles based on characters, hype and image. NOT power, graphics, and gameplay. for that you have to look at XBox or Nintendo.
bet you there's a sony rep trying to get his hands on the xbox controller
PS3 wins xbox360
bet you there's a sony rep trying to get his hands on the xbox controller
my bad, i cant count, but i was supposed to be second!!!
damn...Sony converted so many xbox-lovers soo quickly..can't get enough of that PS3...nothing announced here about the Xbox 360 seems to be able to change that.
Let's hope the backwards compatibility issue is solved once and for all.
The console designs may be debatable, but that PS3 controller is the ugliest thing either company has designed.
god, the ps3 is so ugly, it hurts to look at it. WTF were they thinking when they designed that controler. Its worse that the duke. who can use that, demented cripples from space.
#10, you must be high.
I think the fighting will be between PS3 and the Revolution. gameplay vs. power. Who will win?
Let's be real folks, the future of gaming is online. Both systems are going to have superb graphics and speed. They will also have their fair share of big title games. However, the contest is won when you look at the incredible online community built up around the Xbox already. It will only get better with such a great system coming out. If Sony is to compete, they have quite a bit of catching up to do, regardless of the specs they can deliver for the PS3.
Playstation has always had a mix of good multiplayer and good single player. This is why I own both Xbox and Gamecube. Xbox has better multiplayer than PS2 though not great single player, and Gamecube has better single player than PS2 but not great multiplayer.
the ps3 looks like somebody took a crap, ate it, then threw it back up.
x360 owns.
14. Well said.
the ps3 controller looks like an anorexic 80's sega genesis space ship ( i almost typed space shit, lol, would have been correct either way) #10 your dead on (i'm leaning towards the 360 inhale though)
360=inhale
ps3=exhale/vomit
woah hey buddy who cares about thexbox360??? its horrible the ps3 blows it out of the water, this just announced....Halo Station, Mario Station LOLLLL xbox sucks! bill gates is a dick!
#12: You like that controller?! It's HORRIBLE. It looks like a rejected spaceship design from a cheezy sci-fi flick.
Okay, this is my opinion, and this may be wrong, but here goes.
the PS2 botched online heavily. They let the multiplayer functionality be up to the individual game, and didnt push it hard enough. plus lets not forget the fact that you had to drop money on an adapter. Yes, Xbox live cost money, but people werent willing to go to the store to buy another thing, when they could just plug in and punch in their credit card. Anyways, Xbox pushed really hard to make the online experience universally good. One headset adapter that would be used, no extraneous wires.
It just seems that the PS2 wasn't built for online, but the xbox was. We'll see how well this works out now that it looks like the PS3 has like 3 cat5 ports, and if/how much they charge for the service
LOTS of sony fanboys... contest between revolution and ps3? Please, you're in denial. sony is built on hype, characters, and image.
Seriously, Spiderman font on the front of the PS3? give me a break.
oh yea, when I throw the ps3 controller disgusted from the 2 hour loading time, does it come back and hit me in the head.
woah hey buddy who cares about thexbox360??? its horrible the ps3 blows it out of the water, this just announced....Halo Station, Mario Station LOLLLL xbox sucks! bill gates is a dick!
I concur 14
My god you people are always griping about design this and looks that... you have to sit back relax and relize that we are going into the 3RD GENERATION of multi-platform gaming in the home. All of the companies have come a long way and we need to appreciate all that they've put into these machines. In other words get over it. If a few people don't buy it because they judge things by looks the companies still have thousands of other gamers that will buy it because they want is to experience the next generation of gaming. If you don't want to be apart of it because you think the new systems are ugly then that is your choice and please stop flooding every news post about how much you hate the design.
dude wtf is 23 talking about? are all the customers of sony on mushrooms or something?
i meant 24
PS3 is only for games and has 1 processor. x360 has 3 processors that are about equivalent with teh ps3's so sony must be BSing. Either way, I'd much rather be playing an x360 with media streaming from my computer while playing halo 3 or Final Fantasy 11 than to play some ps3 title. MS is bringing over better developers so stfu sony fagg0ts.
if the ps3 is faster than the xbox360 how in the fuck would it have longer load times, use your brain #23 you friggin idiot
I really want to hear how MS can compete with such advanced technology. What are they going to say. How will they react. I would suggest the MS buyout squad should start looking at exclusive developers. We still dont know about nintendo revolution. Will it really make any difference in the next console war.
Actually comment number 24 was quite clever.
#23 is talking about the ridiculous bottleneck, who cares how many terraflops the thing has the blueray drive reads so bloody slow that the load times are gonna be insane.
You fanboys are really rationalizing the fact that the PS3 looks like a kitchen appliance. Does it makes ice cubes?
I agree with 26... shoot the xbox when it came out looked like crap... ahh NOW that controller was bad -- but with some cool aftermarket ones - like the mini xbox controllers.... things came around.-- xboxs still were able to sell decently-- especially with the mod community.. Oh i do recall HALO going platinum irregardless of the design.... your still going to buy it -- but sure sony didnt have to go soo extreme with their controller or design for the system
hey numba 30, you are a dumbass. do you even read anything on the x360? apparently not because you are too busy hating on it when you know nothing about it. it will have zero load times. microsoft made a special contract with a leading israeli company that focuses on flash technologies to make this happen. You are the "friggin idiot" because you are ignorant in making comments about something you don't know about. stuf, kthx.
Does anyone know the read rate of the blue ray drive in ps3. 24 might be on to something.
It is a waste of time to criticize the designs of these systems. Everyone had a preconceived notion of what they want a new system to look like, there can only be one design, so people are inherently disappointed. Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are great looking systems (except for that PS3 controller). Just because it isn't what you envisioned when you thought about next-gen gaming systems doesn't mean it is ugly, only different.
The performance of these systems is also comparable. In my opinion the only things up for debate are the gameplay and online capabilities that each system will offer. Admittedly I enjoy Xbox titles and Xbox Live much more then PS2. However, it will be at least a year and a half before we know for sure which of these new systems will prevail. I am also sure that Nintendo has more than one rabbit up its sleeve.
"if the ps3 is faster than the xbox360 how in the fuck would it have longer load times, use your brain #23 you friggin idiot"
The PS2 was far superior to the Dreamcast, yet it had notorious loading times.
from IGN:
"Xbox 360 officially will be backward compatible with the prior system's top-selling games, said Microsoft's Vice President Peter Moore. Microsoft will pick and choose only the most popular Xbox titles from its huge backlist of games and will most likely use emulator software for those limited titles."
New name for the PS3: The refrigerator.
x?x 6?> ??
x?x 6?> ??
#30, since when does the xbox have 3 processors? It has 1 processor with 3 cores, while sony's has 1 processor with 8 cores, and a faster video card. Thats why the ps3 is faster.
After reading the PS3 thread and now this one, I'm just wondering if any of you realize how incredibly femme all of you look for arguing over which system will look prettiest?
Yes! The PS3 is "the refrigerator!"
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/16/news_6124746.html
well, if anyone knows anything about computing. more processors (or virtual ones like in a multi core system) is harder to use for useful purpiuses (like playing games)
xbox is crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but so is ps3 they are both so crappy i fell like i craped in my pants 4 3 days and sat in it and then went to bed and then i woke up covered in nex gen consoles i mwaan WTFMA?A??A
ATARI2600RULLLZZZZZ
"To handle the increased amount of data required for HD, Blu-ray employs a 36Mbps data transfer rate, which is more than enough to record and playback HDTV while maintaining the original picture quality."
from http://www.blu-ray.com/info/
more than enough? yeah right!! my usb 2 does faster than that and it takes forever to load 30 gb, and the disks hold close to that much on blue ray am i wrong?
The refrigerator. That could stick.
Don't forget.. you can watch the event live on xbox.com -- but everyone's sucking up my bandwidth!
The increased power of these systems (both the PS3 and XBOX360) are irrelevant--we need better games. Who the crap wants to play yet another version of halo, yet another version of devil may cry, yet another version of gta? video games have become like broadcast teevee: redundant crap. cop shows, reality shows, game shows parallel fp-shooters, sports games, and fantasy rpgs.
where is the innovation?
P.S. #36: "irregardless" is not a word. you're just embarassing yourself.
Xbox 360 all the way Halo 3 will take out ps3 through every thing yeah!!
boo ps3 whos with
listen- xbox_360_sucks. We dont like ur kind. Fan boys enrage blog readers anywhere. So keep your opinion to ur self.
Adam, let me correct you. It has 3 processors with 2 cores each at 3.2GHz. They also have more regular system ram that is shared with the video ram. Do you have evidence of the 8 cores? I have not heard of a computer to date that has 8 cores. 2 cores, yes, but not 8. That many would not fit into one processor. The video card is a bit better, but not by much
Why is the maturity level so low... pathetic.
#53, 36mbps may not seem like much, but the 12x dvd drive in the xbox360 is only 16
Load times are not directly related to the processing power of a console. So how fast does the blu-ray load? And why is Sony being so quick to push their proprietary blu-ray format when its not a standard yet? Hollywood will most likely adopt HD DVD because of lower manufacturing cost.
get pics of j allard, hes the hottest!
Your onto something #64. Download beer through the XBOX live marketplace!
yeah but a lot less data to load, and the flash drive built in to the 360 should reduce it some...but your right, 16 is dog slow....that seems strange that they would do that, but i still think sony is spitting us lie after lie after lie, all the stuff today was just posturing and crap on both sides, we will see which console really wins in a little while
What are the video cameras up front for? Is there any site offering streaming coverage? I'm finding this whole text thing a little dry.
the ps3 is goin to friggin suck.....just look at it....the controller looks like an akward double sided vibrating dildo.....ps3 is gay......XBOX360 all the way
michaelg, no I was right the first time. Here is the info on the xbox360
Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
I was wrong about the ps3, it actually has 10 cores.
hey numba 30, you are a dumbass. do you even read anything on the x360? apparently not because you are too busy hating on it when you know nothing about it. it will have zero load times. microsoft made a special contract with a leading israeli company that focuses on flash technologies to make this happen. You are the "friggin idiot" because you are ignorant in making comments about something you don't know about. stuf, kthx.
Okay, I lied.. STOP VIEWING THE WEBCAST!
"Buffering..." does NOT look like a good game! :P
Dude your wrong i already have PS4 and Xbox 720 cuz my dad is head of xbox development team and i saved Sonys president so i have both and you all lose. Mwuahha
The ms stream is being hammered, its skipping
I don't like this model, just as a computer
a. poster 61: Cell has demoed a 9 core version of their processors.
b. anyone who is complaining about the controllers forgets that they are modular and that many companies will probably sell improved variations of the controllers.
Was the PS3 designed by Sony or Kenmore? God, the thing's a fridge.
Hey #58 (voice of reason): irregardless is a word, you boob!
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=irregardless&x=0&y=0
More like "voice of treason."
ROTFL, Congrats on the xenon launch. Even the developers didnt know the name
LMAO, I just figured it out! I was looking at the 360 and the PS3 standing vertically next to each other. The PS3 has the male parts and can bone the 360. Or you could let 360 ride the PS3 when you lay them horizontally. I wonder what their offspring will look like?
Backwards compatible is nice i guess! How is sony going to make their console affordable??!?! I still don't get how microsoft is going to do it, but it's more possible than sony :)
why does every thread on every f******* site turn into a fanboy war, i would like to talk about the new consoles with someone intelligent, not someone who is 15yrs old or someone who is acting 15yrs old. xbox 360 has backwards compatibility, now all 3 new consoles have it. nintendo has to pull something out of its bag soon, they need more than what they have showed(or said), i would like to know though, if you only get one controller with the 360, and you have to buy more, how do you program that particular controller to work with your xbox? same thing with system link, how would both xboxes know which controller 1 input is to go to what xbox
no I was right the first time. Here is the info on the xbox360
Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
I was wrong about the ps3, it actually has 10 cores.
michaelg, no I was right the first time. Here is the info on the xbox360
Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
I was wrong about the ps3, it actually has 10 cores.
Engadget didn't talk this much shit about the Sony press conference. I think I see a distinct bias in their coverage.
#86 the xbox360 is the bitch in the relationship hahahaha
"Sony will be co-marketing this with Budweiser"
That would explain why the PS3 looks like a refrigerator.
#28: what are you talking about?
Atari/Colecovision/Intelevision : 1st gen
NES/SMS : 2nd gen
SNES/Genesis : 3rd gen
PS1/N64/Saturn : 4th gen
PS2/GC/Xbox/Dreamcast : 5th gen
PS3/Revolution/XBox360 : 6th gen
6th generation, not 3rd.
Honestly, the actual design of the PS3 is pretty lackluster. No matter what way you look at it (unless you happen to be looking at the specs) it's just not that pretty compared to the 360. On the other hand, m$ is going to have to pull some punches to handle a console twice the strength, even if it is beating the release by a year.
#84, BLURRZ . . . must be a description of your mind.
Oh, you're right, irregardless is a word, typically used by simpletons: "it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead." From the link you courteously sent me. Thanks for confirming.
BLURRZ probably wants to play Devil May Cry 4 while he watches reality teevee and cop shows.
it's streaming live at xbox.com
Well MS just now signed Square to make Final Fantasy. Now they need to get RockStar games to end their stupid contract with Sony.
lol. the same camp that came up with the totally bullshit arguement that the ps2 is superior simply because of the awe inspiring power of the dual shock kiddy controller is saying that this new controller doesnt matter. because theyll buy a different one. you fucking retards. buy the console based on its quality. not whether or not sony makes expensive shit that best buy sells at 3 times its worth.
and the font on the side of the ps3 (ps3, creative) is the spiderman font, no? wtf?
OMFG, DID I SEE THE PSP, HOOKED INTO THE XB360
This Video Stream Is horrid, i cant hear a word hes saying.
XbOx 360 PwOnz Ps3!! OmG SonY R NuBz!!
"i would like to know though, if you only get one controller with the 360, and you have to buy more, how do you program that particular controller to work with your xbox? same thing with system link, how would both xboxes know which controller 1 input is to go to what xbox"
I was wondering the exact same thing and I assume that each controller is given a key at the systems launch. That way a key is determined at run time that would bind a controller and an Xbox for the duration of the session.
Yes you did, also you can connect an iPod
TELL US THE PROPRITORY INFORMATION
The stream stopped. Boo.
BACK
LOL@n00bmaster: Oh it's over, apparently billy boys been funny...
blocking proprietary information? it's going to leak anyway, what's the point!?
#55, 36 mbps is really outstanding as far as optical media goes. Rememmber that you're never going to load the entire disc to the ps3's memory...