The Microsoft E3 2008 press conference was held today and showed off a ton of new footage and some new game announcements.
Here’s a list of the keynotes:
* Fallout 3 “is a huge game with over a 100 hours of gameplay.” You can go to the top of the Washington Monument if you can be bothered.” There will be “substantial downloadable content for Fallout 3 and it will be exclusive to Xbox 360 and Windows PC.”
* Resident Evil 5 will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as a worldwide simultaneous release on Friday the 13th, 2009. It will feature online co-op.
* Fable 2 features instant online co-op at any point during the campaign. Expect the game in October 2008.
* Gears of War 2 has a badass new trailer. New co-op gameplay hinted at enemy animals like the Reaver and Brumak being controllable in-game. New mode: Horde 5 player co-op. Gears of War 2 will be available exclusively on Xbox 360 worldwide on November 7th, 2008.
* Video games are now the biggest entertainment form at $48 billion this year. Bigger than box office, music, and DVD sales.
* 5+ million in hardware sales in US. 3rd party revenue on Xbox 360 outpaced Wii and PS3 last year. Confident will sell more than PS3 this year.
* Xbox Live members have increased from 6 million last year to 12 million right now. A new member joins every 5 seconds. Consumers have downloaded more than half a billion pieces of content off Xbox Live and spent over $1 billion.
* More than 10,000 movies & tv shows on Xbox Live. Worlds largest provider of on-demand Hd movies & TV shows! A third of all xbox live paid downloads are movies & tv shows. New movie & tv partner: NBC, Universal Studios (NBC, USA Network, Sci-Fi Network)
* A Dashboard Spring update will add: 3D avatars will be added to your profile (like the Wii’s Miis). The interface will be redesigned. A new Community channel shows your online friends. The Primetime channel is a Endemol partnership to broadcast live TV shows like 1 VS 100, Xbox Live Trivia that you’ll play against all of Xbox Live, where you can win actual prizes. You can create a party of friends and jump into games with them, like the new Uno Rush. New My Xbox Software channel makes the Dashboard more fun, social, simpler to use.
* Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 will be released on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 6th, 2008. It features 4-player modes locally.
* A classic returns with Galaga Legions exclusively for Xbox Live Arcade. It’s the first true sequel to the game from team that brought you Pac-Man: Championship Edition.
* Portal: Still Alive is coming exclusively to Xbox Live Arcade with brand new levels and achievements.
* South Park is also getting a new game for Xbox Live Arcade.
* Xbox Live Community Games: First wave of Independent Games will be coming soon.
* Microsoft will partner with Netflix movie rental for no additional costs if you’re already a Netflix and Xbox Live Gold member, meaning it’s an Instant Queue. You can share your movies with your Xbox Live party friends to watch movies together!
* The first downloadable episode of Grand Theft Auto IV will come out later this year.
* The original Banjo-Kazooie (and Banjo-Tooie?) will be released on Xbox Live Arcade.
* Viva Pinata 2: Trouble In Paradise has a new feature called Pinata Vision, which uses the Xbox 360 Vision Camera to scan real-life cards to import new Pinatas into the game.
* Scene It 2: Box Office Smash will be released on Xbox 360 with online multiplayer and you can add more quizzes via downloadable content. Supports avatars.
* You’re In The Movies (which includes an Xbox Live Vision Camera) is an Xbox 360-exclusive that allows you to play in B-movies though various mini-games and improvisations, which play like Eye Toy games. Those videos will be edited (via a director’s mode) into fun B-movies, which you can share with the rest of the world by uploading them.
* When Guitar Hero: World Tour launches this fall, Xbox 360 gamers will be able to get a free REM song pack with 3 songs from their upcoming new CD. Eagles and Van Halen songs plus Metallica’s Death Magnetic album will also appear exclusively in this music-rhythm game only.
* The Lips karaoke music game for Xbox 360 will come with light-up, motion sensitive, wireless microphones. It’s the first game to let you sing along to your own music collection.
* Rock Band 2 will premier exclusively for Xbox 360 in September 2008, includes the debut of Guns N Roses and lots of others. Over 500 songs available by the end of the year.
* Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada announced:
— Infinite Undiscovery exclusively for Xbox 360 with a release date of September 2nd in America, 5th in Europe, and 7th Japan & Asia.
— Collaboration between Microsoft, Square Enix & Tri-Ace. Who teamed up for Star Ocean: The New Hope that’s set for release in the Spring of 2009.
— The Last Remnant available on Xbox 360 first on November 20th, 2008, worldwide. It will also be available on Games for Windows PCs.
— Final Fantasy 13 has been confirmed for release on Xbox 360! But it hasn’t received a release date yet.