Advertisement

Live from Microsoft's E3 2010 keynote!


After last night's Kinect-ic event, what on earth could Microsoft have in store for its big E3 2010 press conference? A slimmer Xbox 360? Valhalla motherboards? Hulu integration? Surely there's gonna be a new game or two in store. Stay tuned -- doors open at 10:00AM PT / 1:00PM ET and the magic starts shortly after!


2:01PM It's over -- with no Kinect pricing. Curious! We're out of here, but stay tuned for way more coverage all week long!


2:00PM So hey -- how much is the Kinect going to cost? Anyone?




2:00PM In stores later this week -- but everyone in the audience gets one. Yes, we're going to tear into ours as fast as humanly possible.





1:59PM Shipping today!


1:59PM "Sleeker, smaller, whisper quiet with a 250GB hard drive and WiFI N. How much will it cost? All of this in your new 360 for the same price." $299.





1:58PM We knew that white Xbox was a fake -- he pulled it off to reveal the new black Slim underneath it.





1:58PM Xbox 360 Slim!


1:58PM "In the decade ahead, we will reach beyond 10s of millions, to 100s of millions."


1:57PM "This is the year we introduce a whole new way to play, with Kinect. We believe interactive entertainment is the greatest form of entertainment."




1:57PM Don Mattrick is back out, we're getting the feeling this is going to wrap up with a pricing announcement.


1:56PM Forza coming in 2011 -- "Welcome to the future of racing."




1:56PM Whoa, you can open the door and get in. That's pretty sweet.



1:55PM "Let's look at the fire-breathing heart of this beast." We've definitely said those exact words while playing video games.




1:55PM You can walk up the car and look at it from any angle, using gestures to zoom in and look at features closer. This is pretty wild.





1:54PM Demoing Forza now -- "These are experiences that could not be delivered until now."






2:53PM They just showed a trailer from a Star Wars game that will launch next year. It's the same one we saw last night, that looks very pre-rendered and on rails... but also very lightsaber-ey.




2:52PM Correction: in US on November 4th, worldwide this holiday season.





2:51PM Announcing that Kinect will launch worldwide November 4th.








2:49PM Alright, Phil Spencer is back on stage.



2:49PM There's a total square dancing right now, and we can't tell if we're supposed to feel sorry or proud for him.





2:48PM Uh oh, here come the elbow throws.



2:48PM There's a mode called "break it down" that teaches you the moves slowly like a real dance instructor. Complete with the "one and two and..." you learned so well in middle school.






2:47PM "We set out to make the first title that's all about immersive, real-body dancing. Lady Gaga, MIA, No Doubt, etc. will be featured. Some of the routines will be recognizable from the original music videos.



2:46PM Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix, is out to talk about it.




2:45PM It's really the Rock Band of dancing.




2:45PM This looks pretty great in action, you're doing real dance moves in sync with the on screen characters, with the move names and shapes scrolling up on screen.





2:44PM Now it's MTV Games / Harmonix to show Dance Central.


2:44PM Your Shape is tracking the actual skeleton, and can tell you the exact distance to fix your pose.




2:43PM The gym activities works in the the competition. Now there's a "zen energy class." It is indeed pretty zen.






2:42PM There's a 3D example that you track with, while your body is being tracked in 3D next to it to see how you're doing. Now it's combo training... this looks pretty cool, she's kicking and punching 3D blocks.





2:41PM "Let's start today with your favorite: the knee front."


2:40PM Here comes fitness trainer to the stars, Michael George. You can do training, classes, or "fun gym activities."





2:39PM The game creates tailor-made fitness routines based on your body shape.


2:39PM Felicia Williams from Ubisoft is on stage. There's a virtual 3D representation of her in the main menu, that keeps up with her as she removes her sweater. A full body scan creates a more accurate avatar, and the menus stay within arm's reach as you do this.








2:38PM The title is called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, and it's from Ubisoft.



2:37PM It's the fitness title. An attractive woman loses motivation to run up a hill, but then NICK, CARDIO COACH beams his pearly whites at her and somehow she finds the will to go on.





2:36PM Now it's time for 3rd party Kinect launch games.




2:36PM Shannon and Abigail (from last year's E3) are showing off the rafting gameplay. It's not as spasmodic as it could be, but it's pretty spasmodic. There's a vague feature that involves taking hilarious photos of you at opportune moments during the game. Sort of like those pictures you get after a roller coaster ride that you buy but never show anyone.





2:34PM They're doing the mining cart game, and a friend can jump in to play along. We don't get this mining cart idea at all. Kudo says it's to get the family off the couch, which is something we're not at all in support of.







2:33PM Now it's time for Kinect Adventures: the demo guy says "thank you Lorenzo Lamas." Kudo must get that a lot.




2:32PM Her controls include turning a virtual steering wheel with her hands, twisting her body for a spin, and pushing her arms forward for a boost.






2:31PM Now it's Kinect Joy Ride, with Charmie from Big Park Studios to demo it. We're not sure if that's how you spell her name, but we're sticking with it. As Kudo points out, they're out to revolutionize the "kart racing genre," which is obvious the more footage we see.








2:29PM That was the exciting 200 meter hurdles, Kudo is back, and we see icons for boxing, running, soccer, volleyball, bowling and ping pong on screen.





2:28PM And they're running in space maniacally. The Power Pad is back, folks!


2:28PM He's playing to the crowd, raising his hands makes the crowd going while, put them back down and it sits down. He's got a friend out for a 2-player race.






2:26PM Now it's time for Kinect Sports. Shin from Rare Studios is here to demo it.



2:26PM They're playing jump rope. Skittles is licking the screen. Our hearts are bleeding. "Goodbye Skittles, I love you!" So, that was Kinectimals. 30 unique activities.





2:25PM She's playing hide and seek! "Shh, don't tell him I'm hiding." The adorability factor just blew through the roof. Skittles, the tiger, puts his paws up on the screen a whines. "Skittles, I'm back!" Skittles is pleased.







2:24PM There's a demo of Kinectimals, with an adorable small child tickling an adorable small tiger.




2:24PM "These are all experiences that can only be played without a controller, and are only available on the Xbox 360."



2:23PM Here's Kudo Tsunoda to talk Kinect. "We've been talking about this for a year now, and the time for talk is over."






2:21PM Marc is back... ESPN is free for Xbox Live Gold members!




2:21PM "ESPN is being redefined on Xbox."


2:21PM Now we're watching the NBA finals. "And that in a nutshell is ESPN on Xbox 360."





2:20PM Now there's trivia on the bottom of the screen.


2:19PM "It gets better every time... and they're still not going to tackle him!" A touchdown... it's kind of like an explosion, but for sports.



2:19PM "Xbox, replay." It works!



2:19PM They're watching a USC game, and a poll below asks who you're rooting for. "Xbox, join USC."




2:18PM The 3500 live sporting events will be covered in year one, with most of them in HD.



2:18PM College football, college basketball, MLB, NBA, soccer.




2:17PM "Please welcome Josh Elliott and Trey Wingo."


2:16PM Basketball, baseball, other sorts of ball. And now we have a faux Sports Center to tell us about it.




2:16PM Not what we would've guessed, but alright. "Over 3500 live and on-demand sporting events."



2:15PM So, this is great and all, but... "for many people in the house, we're missing one important thing." ESPN!



2:15PM Kinect can track you and keep you in frame... we're not sure how, perhaps pan and scan? "Xbox, end chat" kills the call.




2:13PM They can pull up a video to watch in between them from a Bing tie-in below.




2:13PM Now she's live chatting with "Kirsten" over the magical internet. The screen is split between video of the two participants, with little weather modules above each video chatter.





2:12PM Someone's out to demo, she pulled up her friend list, which is mixed between Xbox Live and Windows Live Messenger.




2:11PM "We've always believed in voice chat and party chat... now with Kinect there's "Video Kinect." You can video chat without a headset.



2:11PM Marc Whitten is out. You can also use these controls for Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, etc. Bringing Xbox Live to every country where Xbox is sold, along with Windows Phone. Would've loved to dwell on that, but we're moving on to Kinect.







2:10PM This looks pretty slick, we lick the option of switching between voice and hand control.



2:09PM "Xbox, stop." Hops out of the video. "Xbox, play music." Justin Bieber kicks into gear!



2:09PM "Xbox, pause." Pauses the movie. Applause! "Xbox, play." Similar success.



2:08PM "It's simple, it's natural, it's effortless."



2:08PM Hovering a hand over a clip starts playing a preview. Bring your hand up and you can scrub the play head with your hand.




2:07PM Like we saw last night, it's controlled with a move of the hand. You can also control the box via voice. Just say "Xbox" and it starts listening. The "Zune" gets him into the Zune UI, which is also simplified for Kinect's purposes.






2:07PM You wave to sign in, and wave again to get into the Kinect Hub.





2:06PM Now Ron, an engineer from Xbox Live is out to demo controlling Xbox Live with Kinect.








2:04PM Trailer ends by blasting off into space and shooting things... in space! The game lands September 14.












2:02PM But it's still Halo, full of cute things with plasma shields being killed by cold, heartless humans.



2:01PM Gameplay has the air of storming a beach. Complete with beach and storming.






2:00PM After a brief glimpse of space, we're planetside and in-engine. "Is there any place the Covenant isn't?" asks one hapless soldier.






1:59PM The game is shipping this September, we're going to take a glimpse.


1:58PM "Halo Reach is the most ambitious game Bungie has created."




1:58PM Marcus Lheto is out, director of Bungie.



1:58PM Now it's Halo's turn. 34 million units sold, over 2 billion hours played.




1:57PM It's a Crytek-powered game. We can't tell if we're looking at 3D or film, but whatever it is, it's pretty gritty. The game is codenamed Kingdoms.





1:56PM Phil is back, announcing another exclusive. Here's the trailer: it looks like 300.




1:55PM The game looks like it's much more epic in scope than the last one, with the player set up as a revolutionary.






1:54PM It's shipping October 26th, now it's time for a trailer.


1:54PM Now it's time for Fable III, with Peter Molyneux out on stage.





1:53PM "And that's our demo." Our eardrums are ringing.



1:53PM And now they're safe in a base. Or are they? No, they're not.






1:52PM A huge Locust just got spit out of a larger Locust and proceeded to throw a car. If only Solid Snake was here!





1:51PM A lot of new enemies, one of them has a scorpion-like flame thrower tale. Can't fault these guys for imagination.



1:50PM Gameplay looks a lot like Gears of War, running to cover, killing things. Cliffy B. just stuck a grenade to a Locust, and now he's swapping guns with a teammate.






1:48PM We're going to see live in-game 4 player story-based co-op of Gears of War 3. That's a lot of words, but what do they mean?




1:48PM And here's Cliff Bleszinski. "What's up guys, how you doing?"



1:48PM "From this point on, everything we show you today is available only on Xbox 360."


1:47PM "We're also creating new ways to play with Kinect for Xbox 360."



1:47PM "This is our biggest year ever... Halo: Reach, Fable III, Crackdown 2."





1:46PM Phil Spencer is out, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios.




1:46PM And now he's slicing little bits of watermelon. "The blade is in your hands."



1:45PM Cutting to action, which is all cutting. HE JUST CUT A CHEVY ASTRO IN HALF WITH HIS SWORD.




1:45PM But Solid has a red eye... is he a Cylon as well?



1:45PM We've cut to a trailer, where a Cylon with a gun arm is stalking through a broken down factory. And here comes a Solid Snake-like figure to cut him half and tear out his... spine?





1:44PM "Let's take a look at what this means."



1:43PM Gameplay is based on a term they created: "Zan-Datsu." Zan means to cut, Datsu means to take.



1:43PM "Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Shigenobu Matsuyama." A Producer on Metal Gear Solid Rising.


1:42PM Hideo Kojima. "Today we will premiere the very first footage of the game in action."




1:42PM Here's Hideo Kojimo.


1:42PM "Once again, it's all about showing, not telling."


1:41PM "We've given Project Natal a name: Kinect for Xbox 360." Bit of a mouthful all together like that.





1:41PM "If you love games, Xbox is the only place for you and your friends to play all three of the biggest blockbusters... Halo, Gears of War, and Call of Duty."


1:40PM "Welcome to everyone." They're live streaming in Times Square!




1:40PM Announcing that all add-ons and map packs for Call of Duty in 2010, 2011 and 2012 will launch for Xbox 360 first.


1:39PM And here's Don Mattrick, Senior Vice President of Xbox.


1:39PM And that's it! "Thank you everyone, have a great show!"



1:38PM Most of the jungle is on fire, thanks to our meddling, and there's some sort of alarm going off in the helicopter.


1:38PM War is hell.



1:37PM Now they're flying a helicopter that they stole without asking. Turns out helicopters are a great way to blow things up as well!


1:36PM Lots of people getting shot in the face. Perhaps this is a Call of Duty title after all.



1:35PM "In the interest of time..." We're cutting to a jungle scene. Going to ambush an enemy base, black ops-style no doubt.



1:34PM He's playing the game live on stage. Crawling through a tunnel with a flashlight and a pistol. And his buddy just got stabbed in the neck. Man, we're glad we didn't bring any small children to this event.




1:33PM Mark Lamia is out, studio head of Treyarch.



1:33PM Just a note, we have a link to the livestream up near the refresh control, in case you want to check that out.



1:32PM We're probably up to 20 explosions. "We live in a world where everything you know... is wrong." Or exploding.




1:32PM And we have our first explosion. It's a trailer for Call of Duty Black Ops. "A lie is a lie... just because they write it down and call it history doesn't make it the truth." Heavy stuff.



1:31PM The kind female voice in the sky says welcome... and we're off!


10:31AM Status check: no one is floating from couches -- yet. Guess it was too much to ask that they bring that back in from last night's event.


1:30PM "Please turn off your mobile devices." We're getting close!




1:25PM Microsoft's WiFi is horrible here, and 3G is dicey. Yup, seems like we're at a live press event!




1:24PM We're in! After a 30 minutes of baking in the LA sun while standing on white carpet we might not be coherent, but at least we're alive. We'll be getting started in about 10 minutes.

.