Engadget & Joystiq live from Microsoft's E3 2007 keynote
By Ryan Block 
posted July 10th 2007 11:15PM
posted July 10th 2007 11:15PM
8:19PM PDT - Hip hop and Chemical Brothers blasts out amid the green neon lights and giant silver balls. Microsoft's decision to hold the event outside is taking its toll on us. The chilly breeze is making us wish we wore jackets. Pants too.
8:20PM PDT - The intensity of the green stage lights seems to be increasing. It's somewhat disconcerting to view the people next to us turning a bright shade of green in the resulting glow. We're surrounded by aliens...or very ill people.
8:23PM PDT - "Ladies and gentlemen, the show will begin in ten minutes." A mysterious fog is appearing on the edges of the stage. Did a 360 just overheat? LOLZ!
8:28PM PDT - Two white 360s and a black Elite are up on stage. If there's a gray system around we don't see it.
8:30PM PDT - There's a low object covered in a black shroud on the left side of the stage. What could it be? Maybe the return of the original Duke controller?
8:28PM PDT - Two white 360s and a black Elite are up on stage. If there's a gray system around we don't see it.
8:30PM PDT - There's a low object covered in a black shroud on the left side of the stage. What could it be? Maybe the return of the original Duke controller?
8:32 PM PDT - "Please turn off your cell phones and pagers." We're pretty sure nobody here has a pager.
8:34 PM PDT - Five Halo fans from Libertyville, Illinois, are playing Halo 3 music. Two guitarist, a violinist, and a drummer -- there's even an electric fiddle. The audience is drooling profusely.
8:36 PM - The violinist is flipping out to a hard rock version of the Halo theme. Well, flipping out as much as she can. It is a violin, after all.
8:38 PM - Peter Moore steps out and thanks the band, Capareal. "These fans represent the people who will be playing Halo 3 in just 11 weeks."
8:40 PM PDT - Every demo shown tonight will be released this year. "It's the greatest lineup in video game history." A giant Rock Band logo appears on screen and Peter starts playing.
8:42 PM PDT - He's singing now. Somebody get us out of here! The drummer is thoroughly abusing his fake drum set. Moore accidentally pauses the game. "It's me." he cries.
8:44 PM - "The Strokes, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, The Who and more bands coming later this week." You can build bands online too ...
8:45 PM The Viva Pinata crew appears on screen. "The party animals are coming." A series of mini-games with the Viva Pinata animals. It's... Viva Pinata: Party Animals.
8:47 PM PDT - Moore goes from cuddly critters to Mass Effect. A video with large cities and characters discussing a disgruntled alien plotting to wipe out the galaxy.
8:48 PM PDT - Mass Effect will be coming in November. On to the numbers. "Xbox 360 has the largest installed base with 5.6 million units in the US. ... We're outselling PS3 by nearly two to one."
8:50 PM - Moore: "Since November, Xbox 360 third party games have cracked the top 10 list 18 times. Number of Wii and PS3 titles in the charts in the third-party top selling sales charts: zero, nil."
8:52 PM PDT - Half of all consumer spending in this generation is on the Xbox 360. The top five games of the last gen were all Halo and Grand Theft Auto or Madden.
8:53 PM PDT - The only console that has GTA, Halo and Madden this holiday is ... well, you know. Take out Halo though ...
8:56 PM PDT - A crapload of video demoes on screen. Project Gotham Racing 4, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, Call of Duty 4,Stranglehold, Guitar Hero 3, Beautiful Katamari, Lost Odyssey, NBA LIVE 08, Mass Effect, Fatal Inertia, Medal of Honor Airborne, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, Ace Combat 6, NHL 08, Assassin's Creed, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, The Simpson Game, Splinter Cell Conviction, Nascar 08, Eternal Sonata, BioShock, Madden NFL08, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Crash of the Titans, Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix, The Orange Box, Bee Movie Game (YEAH!), Rock Band, Naruto: Rise of a Ninja.
8:57 PM PDT - MS VP Jeff Bell steps out to show of an Xbox Live version of the DVD game "Scene It!" It's a hideously mutated remote with an enormous red button. "Four controllers and the game are included for the price of one Xbox 360 game."
8:58 PM PDT - "I'm pleased to announce that our friend at Ubisoft will be bringing Naruto: Rise of a Ninja exclusively to the Xbox 360." OK!
8:59 PM PDT - Naruto demo shows on-screen. Hyper-kinetic fighting is the order of the day. The graphics capture the anime quite well.
9:01 PM PDT - Jeff Bell pimps out the fact that this year's EA Sports games will be "twice as fast" as last year's games. Reggie Bush comes out and proceeds to wallop Bell, running four gazillion yards for a touchdown.
9:06 PM PDT - Xbox Live has more than 7 million members. "We've added a new member every eight seconds." New games for XBL Arcade: Bomberman Live!, Undertow, Hexic 2, Sonic the Hedgehog (finally!), War World by Ubisoft, Sensible World of Soccer, Every Extend Extra Extreme, Geon by Eidos, Wing Commander Arena, Feeding Frenzy 2, Track and Field, Spyglass Board Games, Golden Axe, Space Giraffe, Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Turbo Remix, Marathon: Durandal, Poker Smash, Switchball, Tetris Splash, Puzzle Quest.
9:08 PM PDT - The video store is the fastest growing part of Xbox Live. Two thousand hours of entertainment in the last year, 500 in HD. $125 million has been spent on this content. Disney movie titles are coming to Xbox Live!
9:10 PM Disney movies will be available tonight and in high-def!
8:44 PM - "The Strokes, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, The Who and more bands coming later this week." You can build bands online too ...
9:08 PM PDT - The video store is the fastest growing part of Xbox Live. Two thousand hours of entertainment in the last year, 500 in HD. $125 million has been spent on this content. Disney movie titles are coming to Xbox Live!
9:10 PM Disney movies will be available tonight and in high-def!
9:12 PM PDT - Elite is coming to Europe on Aug. 24. VP Shane Kim comes on stage. He runs down a list of some of the same games we saw earlier. Yawn.
9:15 PM PDT - The Project Gotham Racing 4 team comes out to show off the game. "For the first time ... bikes will be introduced to PGR4 ... Honda, Suzuki, Ducati, and more."
9:16 PM PDT - Dynamic weather effects are shown off. There's fog in Shanghai. You can share photos and videos online when the game comes this September.
9:18 PM PDT - Alan Wake, Too Human, Fable 2 and Halo Wars show how MS has "given game creators the resources to shoot for the stars, take risks, and go for things other creators can only dream of."
9:19 PM PDT - Lost Odyssey is next up. "What is the cost of my immortality?" asks the protagonist.
9:20 PM PDT - Intimidating architecture and loud noises aplenty in the trailer.
9:22 PM PDT - Games for Windows now. Gears of War coming to PC ... big surprise (not!). New content, a game editor, and "some very big surprises are in store." Cliffy B comes out to show Gears on the PC.
9:23 PM PDT - Co-op will be in the Windows version. Marcus Phoenix goes against a massive Brumak in a typical dilapidated Gears environment.
9:25 PM - Five new single player levels in the PC version. The game is clearly running at 60 FPS. Cliffy leaves and Moore comes back on stage.
9:27 PM Sega, Eidos and THQ are delivering a dozen Games for Windows Live games this year. Epic is building GFW Live into Unreal Engine 3.0.
9:29 PM PDT - Nearly ten million gamers have moved to Vista. Games like Crysis, Hellgate: London, and Conan: Hyborian Advenures on Windows are all joined by: Thrillville: Off the Rails, the Bee Movie Game
(YEAH x2!) Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Bioshock, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Blacksite: Area 51, World in Conflict, Lost Planet, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Zoo Tycoon 2: Exctinct Animals, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Viva Pinata, Spider-Man Friend or Foe
9:31 PM PDT - Call of Duty 4 gets shown off. A scary (and obscenely loud) voice talks about honor and economies. Probably a villain of some sorts then.
9:34 PM PDT - Two Infiinity Ward developers come out. They're promising "variety" in their next game. A real-time demonstration begins with the character inching his way through a bleak field, shadows bouncing off a very detailed rifle. He scans the grass for enemies, takes aim and kills an enemy from a far. "He's down. Goodnight."
9:35 PM PDT The shadowing is impressive, with seemingly every branch of a nearby tree casting an inky shadow on the soldier's weapon, and his comrade.
9:38 PM PDT - Exclusive multiplayer beta of CoD4 coming to Xbox Live. Check the Call of Duty web site for more details. Back to Peter!
9:41 PM PDT - Now we've got Grand Theft Auto 4. Real time footage is all from the 360 version, Moore notes. Episodic content coming sometime in Spring 2008.
9:42 PM PDT - Resident Evil 5! It won't be out this year, unlike every other game shown today.
9:43 PM PDT - The RE5 protagonist seems to be in a creepy, dusty African town. Oh, and crazy sickle-wielding citizens? Yeah, they're back. Full trailer on XBL marketplace July 26.
9:44 PM PDT Assassin's Creed. Jade Raymond comes up, accompanied by hooting and whistling. A new sprawling city is shown, with the protagonist high atop a tower. He leaps into a passing hay cart. "Luckily no one saw that."
9:46 PM PDT - The city is Jerusalem. "Part of your experience in the game is getting to know the city, and getting to know the people. They may help or hinder you. ... Last year we showed you the monks as one way to get in, but tonight we're going to show you a different way to get in."
9:47 PM PDT - Altair (the protagonist) distracts some guards with a well-placed, err, corpse. He dispatches another feeble guard and enters a dusty home. He then runs into a trap and is surrounded. "So now since we're cornered ... it's a good time to fight."
9:48 PM PDT - Altair's perforating his enemies with deadly efficiency, hurling an enemy through a set of nearby shelves. Animation seems a little rough in parts. "No two chase animations are the same," says Raymond. Altair pushes people out of the way as he chases someone across the rooftops. They still slow him down a bit.
9:50 PM PDT - November '07 for Assassin's Creed. Peter Moore returns. "Now each generation brings with it a few select stories that are groundbreaking and define storytelling. For many, that story was Star Wars. Thirty years later, a new generation is claiming a new story, and a new title ..."
9:51 PM PDT - Moore: "I'm very pleased to present to you a unique partnership between Bungie Studios, Weta down in New Zealand, and director Neil Blomkamp. This live-action trailer gives you a chance to see what they've been working on, and a new chance to believe."
9:52 PM PDT - Green text on a computer screen. "Re-armament initialized." Machinery in a large factory is manufacturing UNSC helmets, a young man is getting his head shaved. A huge array of Warthogs and weapons are shown, with a Pelican rising from beneath a cargo door.
9:53 PM PDT - The gray console is back! It's a new console for the "Halo Nation" (read: you). A Halo 3 special edition with a gray controller and other accessories.
9:54 PM PDT - The special edition is out this holiday as part of the greatest holiday lineup in history, sez Moore. Reaction in the crowd is lackluster.
9:58 PM PDT - A voiceover warns that "your world will BURN." A wide variety of locales is shown: underground caverns, a murky swamp, a desert. We see Cortana clutching her head and falling to her knees. Glimpses of a large space battle, Master Chief firing a stationary turret from within a Pelican. He seems to have a violent disagreement with the Arbiter at one point (oh, those two!)
9:59 PM PDT - The conference is done. The band from earlier returns to play us off to our appointment at the chiropractor (this ampitheatre is not comfortable).
9:16 PM PDT - Dynamic weather effects are shown off. There's fog in Shanghai. You can share photos and videos online when the game comes this September.
9:18 PM PDT - Alan Wake, Too Human, Fable 2 and Halo Wars show how MS has "given game creators the resources to shoot for the stars, take risks, and go for things other creators can only dream of."
9:20 PM PDT - Intimidating architecture and loud noises aplenty in the trailer.
9:25 PM - Five new single player levels in the PC version. The game is clearly running at 60 FPS. Cliffy leaves and Moore comes back on stage.
9:27 PM Sega, Eidos and THQ are delivering a dozen Games for Windows Live games this year. Epic is building GFW Live into Unreal Engine 3.0.
(YEAH x2!) Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties, Stranglehold, Bioshock, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Blacksite: Area 51, World in Conflict, Lost Planet, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Zoo Tycoon 2: Exctinct Animals, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights, Viva Pinata, Spider-Man Friend or Foe
9:31 PM PDT - Call of Duty 4 gets shown off. A scary (and obscenely loud) voice talks about honor and economies. Probably a villain of some sorts then.
9:43 PM PDT - The RE5 protagonist seems to be in a creepy, dusty African town. Oh, and crazy sickle-wielding citizens? Yeah, they're back. Full trailer on XBL marketplace July 26.
9:50 PM PDT - November '07 for Assassin's Creed. Peter Moore returns. "Now each generation brings with it a few select stories that are groundbreaking and define storytelling. For many, that story was Star Wars. Thirty years later, a new generation is claiming a new story, and a new title ..."
9:51 PM PDT - Moore: "I'm very pleased to present to you a unique partnership between Bungie Studios, Weta down in New Zealand, and director Neil Blomkamp. This live-action trailer gives you a chance to see what they've been working on, and a new chance to believe."
9:52 PM PDT - Green text on a computer screen. "Re-armament initialized." Machinery in a large factory is manufacturing UNSC helmets, a young man is getting his head shaved. A huge array of Warthogs and weapons are shown, with a Pelican rising from beneath a cargo door.
That scene it buzzer is the biggest rippoff of sony's buzz! I have ever seen
I am never watching E3 again... how in the HELL are you going to interrupt HALO 3 for a dumb ass commercial!?
I'm sorry I mean G4...
I watched the 1up.com stream and it was great! No commercials or interruptions at all. =)
1up has a great live feed.. thats what i used. No comeercials.. the whole thing was hohum anyways.
try looking at it through the WEBCAST STREAM...many have provided a link to it, maybe you can be a bit productive by looking for it.
*hint, it has to do with G4's website...
I have learned the errors of my ways... :P
Holy crap, that was lame! New green console! It will go great with all of my green home theater components. Sony, you better step up and destroy Microsoft's keynote (shouldn't be hard).
Worst... Keynote... EVER!!
Overall I'd have to say RE 5, CoD 4 AW, and Assassin's Creed were my top picks of the show. That ugly baby shit green Halo console is a waste, but will probably be the only 360 with the 65n chip in it and built in HD Dvd. lol
I'm guessing the Halo Edition 360 is the Elite clad in green. Don't expect much more than that.
Wow that guy was about as boring as you can get.
Hey Microsoft next time hire Bill Lumberg. He could do a better job.
I like how he just kind of waltzed out carrying the new halo edition 360 and just says in monotone "here is our new xbox 360 halo edition" He said it so unenthusiasticly that the crowd wasn't even sure if they should clap.
lol yeah I caught that as well. It definitely didn't make me a Halo convert. Comparing Halo to Star Wars was lame as well. Han Solo, need I say more?
Cant beleivei stayed up for this.. off to bed for me now.
I do believe Sony was the only ones applauding that keynote.
There was applause?
lmao..., if you were watching the 1up feed.. did you notice the single clap after every little annoucement.. there would always be a delay, because they werent sure if tey should clap or not.. but, it was always a single person clapping
Yeah I did notice that! You would think that Microsoft with all their coin, would put on a show to end all shows. Alas what we got was crapola. Hopefully Nintendo and Sony's shows are better. =)
I love the Xbox360 and love Halo but that special edition console of theirs is ugly as sin. Ugh!! that thing is going to give me nightmares.
Jeez if you look at even half the decent mods of 360 wrt Halo3 on xboxscene they are a million times better. I know Microsoft wasnt big on design but coloring something green and orange doesn't make it good looking, even I know that.
The game lineup though must admit looked pretty sweet. Have to hand it to Microsoft for really trying to get good games on their platform now only if they can fix the heating issues!!(heck I bought Forza2 just to push the console to its limit)
Booo what a crappy keynote.
I'm starting to think about ebaying my 360 in the next few months. It's been a pretty bad week for MS and the 360 between the $1b+ write off on warranties (yay for consumers), disappointing sales figures, a class action lawsuit, and this god-awful keynote. This even came across as somewhat desperate...a sort of "we're still in the lead, see?" Yea, for now with your 1+ year lead.
I'm doubt that you even own a 360, but if you do then that has to be the lamest reason to sell a console possible. How do sales figures, the quality of a keynote, or a lawsuit have anything to do with your personal enjoyment of a the 360? Oh I forgot, they extended the warranty. What bastards!
no!! bringing more movies and games to the 360 is bad!! let's all hurry and sell ours before halo 3 comes out.....hurry we only have 11 weeks!!
/sarcasm
Apparently no one here gets excited for games. The video game lineup for the second half of this year is insane. Not to mention look at all those games that used to be PS only. The NPD numbers are pretty telling to. They looked at sales since the November launch of Wii and PS3. Obviously, they will sell more games but did you look at hardware sales?? Of course the Wii is up but the 360 is almost 2 to 1 on the PS3 since November. That is pretty telling.
GTA4 trailers have all been made from a 360, this means PS3 owners have been downloading 360 videos on their PS3 lol.
Also, Halo 3 looked amazing. I am continually amazed at people who are dogging the graphics, from my point of view they look great and I can't wait to get a hold of that game. Was it just me or did we just see some hints that the Halo movie is not dead at all. The clip looked very exciting, but I wish there would have been a little Master Chief in there. The Halo 3 clip looked great, and hopefully means the campaign this time around is going to be much better than Halo 2.
Leaks killed the excitement of the conference I will agree. Gears of War could've been a great suprise (granted the game still looked awesome) and the Halo console basically came out as idiotic after those advance console pics on the internet.
Also, where is the price cut? My guess is the 65 nm chips aren't ready yet, but there is little doubt when they come the price will be cut. Still, Sony may have dropped the price but MS is still facing the same pricing scheme 499 and 599 as launch. Honestly if people see 120 GB vs. 60 GB they may pick the Elite just for that. Also, a question to PS3 owners blasting the Elite for the additional HDD space... whats the point of the 80 GB PS3 then?
But still, no price cut.... come on MS!!! Still if you thought this was boring you should look at some of Sony's past ones... none of these get really exciting. Unless of course, you are Nintendo.
Anyone notice that they keep saying "Grey Special Edition Halo 3 Console" and it green..?
Oh my god Microsoft! What did you do to my precious Greek Theatre?! Actually, Props to Mr. Gates. Samohi couldn't have done up the Greek better.
Hmm, if it was a Apple keynote or event, I bet you wouldn't be that critical on very small details or just toss details out. If Steve Jobs had said the specs of the iPhone out 18 times, you would have blogged them word for word 18 times. Great website, pls get rid of the bias. Here's a hint.. Apple is NOT perfect.
Stay away from G4. Last night they ruined the Microsoft conference by showing commercials, worse they did it half way through halo 3, assassins creed and mass effect and during some other games i didn't care about. It wasnt short 60 second commercials either, it was infomercial type stuff.
suck shit! you wont get GTA IV!!!