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.
why isn't there a technical lecture during the 360 conference? do you think they dropped it after seeing sony's presentation?
and why is MS only showing games that look like high end current PC stuff? where's the "next gen" xbox stuff?
the PS3 games look like movie quality CG wtf
and the PSP connects to the PS3, wirelessly if you're in the same room, and anywhere in the world as long as you're near a wi-fi network. AND can be used as a secondary controller and screen! WTF is going on!
Beats connecting with a USB cable to drag mp3s from a wimpy 40gb drive.
I mean, you are all talking about the super-incredible-oh-all-
great-playstation3-mighty-power-that-can-
render-amazingly-superb-graphics-with-a-super-cell-processor-
blablabla, and that xbox360 can't even compare with it, because of the super cell-processor that you heard so much but never saw one running and base yourselves in what other's say. I mean... wake up, even if ps3 system is the avant-garde of technology, I think you are all forgetting two BIG things, first Microsoft's huge money pocket(yes, even bigger than sony's one)and inside the console itself, ATI's next gen graphical chip, which at the date has the most advanced and powerfull graphical cards(sorry nvidia users[I'm one too] but we must admit the facts). The whole thing is, until we see the system running in front of our eyes we can't say "This one is better than that one and so on and so on", so just shut up, wait some months until you touch the console, turn it on, and play a game on it(both consoles), until then, remain yourselves quiet.
Best Regards.
why isn't there a technical lecture during the 360 conference? do you think they dropped it after seeing sony's presentation?
and why is MS only showing games that look like high end current PC stuff? where's the "next gen" xbox stuff?
the PS3 games look like movie quality CG wtf
and the PSP connects to the PS3, wirelessly if you're in the same room, and anywhere in the world as long as you're near a wi-fi network. AND can be used as a secondary controller and screen! WTF is going on!
Beats connecting with a USB cable to drag mp3s from a wimpy 40gb drive.
I hear that Sony is creating an Asian PS3 version to secure its base there. Apparently it will be able to store both sake and soju at the right temperatures. This is a great time to be a drunk Asian gamer! Now if there were only a refrigerator attachment for storing mochi...
playstation may have super cool graphics or whatever, but will the be able to combine that with awesome gameplay... like Halo: CE graphics are pretty crap compared to Halo 2 but halo is still awesome to play... so my point is, graphics dont mean everything! xbox owns the online gaming world, and thats the future... i really dont think playstation is going to be able to catch up. i think people worry too much about whats under the lid of the console... its all well and good if you have some super computer powerful thingy ps3.. but if the games suck then what does it matter!
i am with 234 on that one. power isn't everything, ps led the market last time and it was weaker, it came out earleir and was a known system ie ps1. for xbox to come out the box and steal second is huge and the online play is what did it, or the lan parties most xbox owners had with halo. i never had a party with my ps2. online play has carried xbox and will do it again and the release date will hurt ps3, but since the release is so far away from when the xbox 360 comes out won't be a problem to get both.
also why is the ps3 not ready for xmas this year?
maybe somethings not ready or right with it so don't hype the power or the really untestes cell tech till its in ur house, we all know that xboxes hardware is reliable hence why it is ready sooner, less bugs to fix.
just makes me wander bout the ps3s power
Man, I don't want another computer. What are they doing?
but thats the what a game console has to be to be able to give us what we want in game play and power
The PS3 isn't ready this year because it's much more powerful, like you said. Isn't that very simple logic?
it iosn't ready cause its more powerfull lol, dude u trying to turn this into a xbox ps thing when i love both. i am being serious. sony said they hacve had to leap major obstacles to acheive the cell technology and incorporate it in gameplay. and it isn't ready, it might work fine but under certain situations where its running at peak capacity like in a game with alot of explosions sort of like halo or socom the sytem probly crashes, happens to all sytems till u work out the kinks, when they get it ready it will be a monster i am sure, what i am saying is if it was ready they would put it out by xmas. like wise the xbox 360 is not readu itself, they are still finalizing backward compatibility and the kinks with that (obviusly sony has the advantage on the bc)
and there is no technical lecture because they already did that last week, this is not their unveiling like ps3 and nintendo, this is them showing u more like ff xI and more on what you can hook to ur xbox
"worked up so sexual" is by the Faint, dudes . . .
or were you being facetious?
i love how all these ps3 guys are trshing the new xbox, but i will be living it up playing my hott new system while they wait 12-18 months for their new ps3, yeah thats right, do the math fall 2006 is 18 months away, xbox will be out in 5 months, seems like ps3 isn't ready and i c all those ps3 guys buying the new xbox so they don't get left behind, or are they going to play there 333mhz ps2 for 18 months lol
Guess what MS. You ain't cool, you don't know cool, you can't buy cool, and you never will be cool so stop with the act. You look like goddamn posers when you try to be hip. You are a marketing company that makes software, iffy hardware (Though I love your mice.), and really cheap*** business practices. So please for the love of god please stop trying to be the rapping granny from Wedding Singer. Please?
lol no problem, but if u don't buy an xbox 360 you can come to my house and play mine till the ps3 is ready, thats what 12-18 months lol next xbox be out by then
wow... compatibility with other companys' products?! Thats a new record for microsoft!
When did Engadget become a drop-off daycare. Whats with all the 5 year old comments jeeze. This post is about the Xbox360 which looks very promising online-wise and media integrated wise. The PS2 looks very powerful and I would buy both if I could.
But the controller is hideous. And it isn't as online-centric as Xbox(360) so you know where my cash is going.
Don't forget the best parts of the X360 according to their launch show:
1. Changeable faceplates
2. Power button that lights up!
I don't know about you, but that sure sounds like the future of gaming to me!
What the helll is going on the X box 130 This is only half of what i expected and from the picture this shits only going to have 2 joystick socets some one please end the horror some one please tell these jack asses their making a big mistake
2. Posted May 16, 2005, 10:15 PM ET by iammzac
XBOX360 SUCKSSSSSSSS
PS3 ALL THE WAY
Burn.
3. Posted May 16, 2005, 10:16 PM ET by adam monroe
SECOND BOOYEAH I CANT WAIT FOR THE UPDATE!!whatta rhyme
Failure.
This looks awesome, iPod AND PSP stuff? Kickass.
What the helll is going on the X box 130 This is only half of what i expected and from the picture this shits only going to have 2 joystick socets some one please end the horror some one please tell these jack asses their making a big mistake
Hey any one out there can tell me how many joy stick sockets this peaces shit is going to have have quite frankly lokking at it affends me
Correcting myself after seeing part of their press conference. Sony is only using 7 of the 8 SPEs that Cell has. I'm also not sure if they're using that 8th SPE or one of the 7 for redundancy (it was late). I can only guess that they'll keep the 9th core with dual-threads.
You just know that people are going to have all 3 systems by the end of next year. First X-box 360 then PS3 then Revolution.
X box is crap. There games have no souls, they're just war games knocked out to make cash. If I wanted to know about ram and all that crap i'd play on a computer. X box is not a games console. Just a pc!
an xbox being compatable with the PSP and iPod... ahahahhaha. Take that sony. The Sony's graphics are certainly looking amazing, but the xbox's online is still looking to me much more widespread and advanced. Not to mention the controller is actually comfortable.
The xbox 360 has a 3 core cpu not that different from the Cell running at ~ 3.2 Ghz , the PS3's cell has 8 running at 4 Ghz...On paper it looks like the cell has it, but is it that simple? Ummm, No, it's not that simple. Cell has different types of cores, many of them specialized. Depending on how you measure performance, either could be faster. They both could also be equally as powerful if the software that runs on them is properly optimized for the processor it's running on. The cell processors are to handle single threads and single task while the 3 cores of the 360 each can handle 2 threads....So it isn't as great as the numbers may first seem...
overall, it comes down to what developers do...if they work hard, the ps3 has a better cpu...but a hard one to work with, i've heard..
I'm going with Xbox360 bitches!!
lolz at the 'worked up so sexual' joke.
lets read stereogum and spoon, k?
# 259 you are stupid
Xbox is going to kick ass, plus if it is released this year it has a year advantage of sales over ps3
I think there is a minimum graphical threshold. If the next gen console systems reach that threshold, it doesn't matter which console has more power under the hood...unless you make the graphics real-time 3D, where you can actually be in the game. (but we do not have that kind of technology yet.)
Currently, MS performs better with on-line game play. But this time Sony's PS3 is capable of a great on-line experience like MS. So on-line experience will be equall for both xbox 360 and PS3.
I don't think that xbox 360's earlier release date will be an advantage over the PS3. Sony sold alot of PS2 units. Those buyers will definitely buy the new PS3 and maybe alot of them will buy the new xbox 360. So basically it is even. If you have 100 million buyers, and those buyers bought both ps3 and xbox 360, then both company wins.
Let's just enjoy the new consoles instead of judging which is better. They are both great!
It is not at all clear that the ps3 will have an equal online experience to the xbox360. On the contrary, I highly doubt that, given that the Sony press conference did not mention the improved online experience at all. It seems highly likely that the ps3 will have a very similar experience to the ps2, which will be very sad for Sony, and a major boon to the next xbox.
Xbox 360 specs located on the bottom of this page
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/factsheet.htm
God have any of you actually looked at the screenshots or movies from both of these systems? Im so sick of listening to the design aesthetics of them as opposed to the graphics they produce. X360 hasn't shown me anything that stands out graphics wise and all the trailers they show look rendered and not real time on the spot game-play. The PS3 Shots I am BLOWN AWAY with, and watching the movie they show a whole scene that looks CG rendered, but then they rewind and move the camera around and show you the detail and the CELL does everything in real time and it is truly amazing to me at this point how much better the PS3 graphics appears to be compared to M$.
quick ? where are PS2 toy story graphics in games?? where are the mind blowing soccer game i remember seeing or the MSG2 demo?? umm i bet you guys are still waiting?? Tech Demos dont mean squat. Both systems will have much power and the bad thing I think we will never see what these two bad boys are possible to do. Why? I think due to software so far behind the hardware. Before it was the software to advance to play on the hardware. Now the hardware is there but dammm the software is so far behind to even ever take advantage of the 6 to 9 threads this two giants will do. Both systems will be huge in there own right.. I want to know prices. I also want to know if Sony can keep up with things like sending IM's while watching Dvds. My own music library in all games. Because of things like that i am geared to x360. I think sony has some catching up to do in terms of programing and other neat things MS already has planned or already offers on currrent xbox live.
Does anyone know if the badboy will upconvert dvds to HD. I'm guessing it will, but I might be wrong
I like the look of the PlayStation3 and its line up of games. I think that Sony will just bearly beat xbox360 because of it's BlueRay discs. So when people are looking for a BlueRay player (when they start making movies in blue-ray) they will automatically look at the PS3, much like people did with their PS2's.
I might be wrong but the PS3 definatly impresses me more that the "xbox 1.5" as Sony calls it
*************
Microsoft is renaming its console the Xbox Gay-sixty!
I wonder why Gates would do that.... oh no wait a minute I know why, because it is homosexual.
**************
!!!!!!!! MORE COWBELL !!!!!!!!!
I've got a fever and the only cure is more cowbell
I take back what I said on lines 260 and 261. After actually looking at the new PS3 I must admit the PS3 is 360 degrees better than the xbox 360
I heard that this thing is junk my friend Carsten Bogner says he owns one and he says the first xbox graphics are actually better than the graphics right now on the 360.
Actually this is a pretty good overall column about the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms. Very objective and I believe dead on.
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/05/17/xbocps3/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
right now, i have no desire to own an xbox360.
i'll play my PS2, PSP and the HDR advances from valve until the PS3 is released.
What am i going to miss out on? ordering a t-shirt from velocitygirl?
Don't know what hte deal is I'm just getting all 3 no fuss no muss I only care about the best games.
#48
PS3 DOES NOT have 8 cores, it has 1, and 7 of something else (there's an interview on extremetech.com about it)
Xb360 will be easier to develop games faster, plus its coming out earlier... so, with all said, xb360 blows ps3 out of the water, and kicks it while its on the ground.
this is to Joe Dimashio i think u r full of shit when u say your friend has this machine already any proof of that the xbox360 is only running the alpha on games rite now wich uses max 40
% of power the games are not running on the real system power so if that is not even in develepment yet set some time in july to release final hardware how does your friend have one u r full of bs. i have your imaginary prove it bs.bs.bs.bs.bs.
Joe Dimashio no what u r talking about cause no one can get there hands on the real xbox360 till sometime in july and if your friend does have one then he must be running the one micrsoft showed on E3 think u r just nocking the xbox360 because the p23 is stronger but what if it wasnt stronger bet u wouldnt say the xbox360 is worse than the first xbox they are just starting out with this. Halo3 will kick major ass!
lol @ badtazz
im seeing comments on here from sony fans did you forget that it said xbox360 you guys have your likes about playstation we have ares about xbox one thing to keep in mind. Halo 2 genereated over 125 million copies in one day of sales and still rising sony has yet to release a game that does that much and the nre xbox comes with so many features other that a gaming console to keep us satisfyed over the playstation 2 or even the 3 when it comes out and last time i checked if you take any game that came out on both the playstaion and the xbox and put sided by side you would relize that graphic wise we kick sony ass and the dvd player is much better on the xbox thn the playstion so if you want to come onto the xbox side and start trashing it let me remind you tha the xbox ius by far surperior than the playstion and yes they may have sold more then the xbox but i own both systems and my playstation 2 just lacks the excitement and graphics of the xbox and they have nothing that can get you online playing friends and foes for hours and hours like halo 2 and just wait to see what halo will look like on the xbox360 you will soon also xbox customers.
Can anyone out there tell me where I can find the picture of J. Allard sitting on the angular platform all non-challant after the lights come back up from the XBOX press conference?