nzherald.co.nz technology editor Matt Greenop reports from the biggest event in the gaming calendar - the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, California.
LOS ANGELES - It was a star-studded line-up at Microsoft's Xbox 360 media briefing today on the eve of this year's E3 Expo, the annual gaming industry shindig that shows off the best - and sometimes worst - of what's to come.
Today had the type of atmosphere you'd expect at a rock show - and for good reason.
Kicking off the Xbox showcase was a first look at The Beatles: Rock Band, which won't be released until September, but gave the audience a sneak peak of some of the wildly-hyped music game's content. First they wheeled out Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison - some reasonably high-quality celeb cred there - but followed it up with an appearance by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
"The game is good," said Ringo to wild applause, "the graphics were very good and we were great."
Footage from the new game - which will include Beatles-style instrument controllers like McCartney's violin bass - saw psychedelic Beatles imagery at its finest. Some highlights of the 45-song track list were revealed: I Saw Her Standing There, Hold Your Hand, I Feel Fine, Day Tripper, I Am the Walrus, Back in the USSR, Octopus' Garden, Here Comes the Sun and Get Back.
It was also announced that extra songs will be available as full album downloads - kicking off withAbby Road following the game's release.
All You Need Is Love will come out as a download via the Xbox Live service, with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.
"We love the game," McCartney predictably told the audience, "but who would have thought we would end up as androids?"
Other multi-platform titles were also put on show, including skateboarding megastar Tony Hawk's new Tony Hawk Ride, which comes with a wireless skateboard controller fitted with infrared sensors and accelerometers.
"It responds like a real skateboard," said Hawk. "I've wanted to do something like this for a long time - but the technology just wasn't there."
See the game trailer at tonyhawkride.com
Another much-vaunted title to tempt first person shooter fans was Modern Warfare 2 - with a demo level, called Cliffhanger, played for the audience's benefit. It looks like the mega-selling original will be followed with similarly stellar sales. The graphically-lush level showed players climbing a sheer cliff with ice picks before letting lose on a terrorist group's fueling station with pyrotechnics, before a massive firefight culminating in a gun battle on snowmobiles heading down a snowy, tree-covered mountain. Two multi-player map packs will be available for download at launch.
One game to make its first jump to Microsoft's next-gen console from its last home on PlayStation was Final Fantasy XIII, presented by producer Yishinori Kitasi. The original was released in 1987, and Kitasi described as "one of the most loved RPGs" with 85 million sales. He showed a modified level featuring a battle against a Warmech, pointing out advanced combat abilities before busting out a conjuring trick, summoning Odin to destroy the massive 'mech.
Xbox 360 exclusives
Exclusive titles can make a huge difference to a console's popularity, and Xbox rolled out a fair swag of titles, some strong, but some appearing a bit on the silly side.
Shadow Complex: This title from Epic was described as exploration punctuated with hardcore combat. Giant maps were shown off, plus a frantic battle against a giant metal spider and one cool trick - using a foam gun to climb between disconnected levels of a building. It's said to be a solid ten hours of what appeared to be fairly engaging gameplay, with free ranging nature adding more hours - there are 120 hidden items throughout the game.
Joy Ride: Xbox Live users can play this one for free using their own avatars as their character. It's designed to meld social networking and car racing on fantasy tracks, but looks pretty cheesy. Players can customise their cars, buy extra bits and purchase new tracks. One nice point though - you can share tracks with your mates even if they haven't paid for them.
Crackdown 2: "The city is infected and you are the cure," was the catchphrase for this long-rumoured open world shooter. The audience only saw a brief trailer, but it looked tight and on-theme with the original, with Ruffian Games promising a ground-breaking co-op and multi-player experience throughout the crumbling Pacific City. Slated for 2010 release.
Left for Dead 2: Co-op zombie blasting at its absolute finest - an ultra-meaty demo showed chainsaws, shotguns and axes among the methods to dispatch the undead. It promises new zombies - some of the brain-suckers seemed fairly resilient on the stunningly gory demo - plus new weapons and new locations across the American Deep South.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction: Sam has changed - and is now on a personal mission to find out who killed Sarah. This time around the story and objectives will run out in real time. He still favours stealth and darkness, but is "now the ulimate predator" the game's producers told us. The in-game demo showed him charging through a front door, killing a few targets before jumping out a window, crossing a ledge with fingers and then smashing through another, guns blazing. Nice stuff, due out in Kiwi spring.
Forza Motorsport 3: Dan Greenwalt, the director of Microsoft's Gran Turismo competitor seemed quite excited as he appeared on stage in an Audi R8 V10, continually labelling it the "definitive racing game of this genre". The tracks, vehicles and environments all looked brilliant running under a brand-spanking graphics engine, putting out a flawless 60fps (frames per second). There are 400 cars from 50 manufacturers, with the ability to customise them even more thoroughly than before. Over a million vehicle designs were uploaded to Xbox Live from earlier versions and now you can upload hi-def clips made with its inbuilt video editor. Available October.
Halo 3 ODST/Halo Reach: Joe Staten from Bungie was pretty excitied about two Halo titles - one, Halo 3 ODST, we already knew about. It's set in New Mombassa just weeks before the Halo 3 storyline. Gamers now play as a stranded rookie ODST soldier, with different weapons and strengths to the Spartans. As character is playing solo, stealth is more important than ever. A new visor gives excellent low light mode, like switching on the halogens without the enemy even knowing. To fill in gaps in the story, players also head back in time to play as other ODST troops. It will ship worldwide on September 22. Halo Reach is a "top secret" project due for release next year, but those who buy ODST will get an invite to beta Reach multiplayer maps on Xbox Live.
Alan Wake: Adventure thriller about a writer who moves to a new small mountain town (why is it always a small mountain town?) with his wife to work on a new book. Character Alan Wake is writing a - wait for it - supernatural thriller, and when the missus goes missing, he realises that the book is coming true. His manuscript disappears and he has to get it back to solve what has happened. Demo featured powered-up ghoul-slaying shotguns against 'dark forces' that threw cars, and a nasty swarm of black, swarmy things. Slated for release next year.
Check back for more news from the Xbox 360 media briefing - including how New Zealanders can watch 1080p 'instant on' movies through their consoles, and Microsoft's gaming vision of the future.
Matt Greenop is attending the E3 Expo courtesy of Sony PlayStation.
