Microsoft TGS Keynote Finished
Microsoft announced a release date for the New Xbox Experience dashboard update, unveiled Halo 3 Recon and announced that Tekken 6 would be released on Xbox 360 during John Schappert's busy old Tokyo Game Show keynote earlier.
We got up in the middle of the night to relay the reporting of Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson, who was on the scene to bring it to you live. You can check out the full transcript below.
Other announcements include Metal Slug 7 and King of Fighters 98 Battle Match for Xbox Live Arcade, some stuff from Taito, a new Ninety-Nine Nights game, and a walkthrough of the New Xbox Experience. Read on.
Our live coverage has now ended. Here's what you missed: Updating...
Hello! The lecture - and it is a lecture - is about to begin. We're just waiting for our Japanese correspondent to get into gear. Don't panic.
And so it begins! Nearly. They're starting off with a Last Remnant trailer. No sign of Schappert yet.
It's out on 20th November, but then we probably knew that [yes we did - Ed]. And that it would have loads of spiky-haired people in like in the trailer.
Schappert's on stage. He says Last Remnant will "premiere exclusively" on Xbox 360 in Japan on November 20th [we knew that, too - Ed].
He "couldn't be more excited" to be back in Japan. Now he's going on about how marvellous Japanese developers are. "Back when I was in school, my idols were people like Miyamoto-san."
"As an industry we all look to Japan, because this is where iconic franchises are created." He loved the Super Famicom.
He reckons the industry ought to provide world class development tools, an online service and a console "at a price the world can afford" to help developers reach "consumers anywhere", but especially in Japan.
Oh come on John, say something about Halo. Or the New Xbox Experience. Or something else that doesn't include the world "global".
They're showing off some graphs - following the recent price reduction of 360, sales are up 62 per cent in Europe, and five-fold year on year in Japan.
Consumer purchases of Japanese-developed 360 games are up 60 per cent to reach 811 million dollars, compared to 512 million on Xbox 1. "By the end of this holiday, we estimated total worldwide sales of Japanese games will top USD 1 billion on Xbox 360."
So he's going to show us some titles for Xbox 360 developed in Japan. "Let's start with RPGs." How unpredictable.
He's going to show us Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Trailer time!
Piano music. A submarine. "AD 2064, planet Earth was on the brink of destruction."
"Man began to seek new worlds beyond the stars." Lots of shots of spaceships and planets.
Some spacemen land on a planet. Name of main character is "Edge Maverick", which could well be the best name of any character ever.
He's got some girly friends, they're all wearing futuristic armour and have big swords. They're kicking the business out of loads of enemies in a montage "stylee".
Japan - 19th February, North America - 3rd March, Europe - TBC.
"This title will also come to Asia and Europe," but Schappert's not saying when. Time for action games now, starting with Resident Evil 5 - or BioHazard 5 as it's known in Japan. Let's look at this "intense horror-themed game"; trailer time.
A man is crouched in a dingy room with a hooded figure standing over him. Jeeps thunder through dusty streets; looks like Africa.
The hooded figure circles the man. He looks worried. He grabs the hooded figure's hand, his eyes fill with black ming.
Cut to troops storming out of the jeeps. Back to the man, who's really not very well - black snake things are encircling his whole body. The hooded figure walks away.
Another dusty street. The main lady [Sheva - Ed] is loading her gun. A man wearing a headscarf is giving her and her mate directions.
"You must find a man named Irving, he is our only lead," says headscarf man. "And be careful out there." Thanks for that.
The two Resi 5 leads enter a dilapidated building. Outside, hordes of people with funny eyes are waving weapons and shouting.
A man with a megaphone addresses the crowd. The headscarf man is being held in chains. An executioner wields a huge axe and takes him out.
Our heroes are taking on the army of zombies. Lots of headshots and blood.
A shot of a man wearing dark glasses and a horrible suit. He laughs smugly.
Tentacles burst out of another figure covered in lesions. Now our heroine is fighting the man in the specs.
The hooded figure shows off some Matrix-style slow-mo moves. The specs man, it seems, can disappear and reappear at will in the middle of combat. And it's over.
More than 35 million BioHazard games have now been sold worldwide. The new one is out in Japan on March 12th.
Ninety Nine Nights 2 is coming to Xbox 360. Developed by Q.
It's exclusive to 360.
There's a Namco Bandai logo on the big screen. Snow falls on a huge army of mech troops. "The King of Iron Fist tournament is about to begin."
It's Tekken 6! Tekken 6 is coming to Xbox 360 at the same time as PS3.
"Breathtaking visuals and online modes never before seen." Will launch in Fall 2009.
Now Schappert's on about Xbox Live Arcade. "We've created an ideal eco-system for the most beloved games of all time." Well done John.
The next wave of classic games coming to XBLA will include a couple from Taito, apparently. Space Invaders is on the screen. Are they doing a remake?
Yes. The "modern update" will feature beautiful graphics and online features. It's called Space Invaders Extreme. Sounds and looks a bit like Rez.
Arkanoid Live is on the way, too. 120 stages, with online co-op and versus modes. More Rez-style sounds and visuals. Both titles will launch this winter, says John.
SNK Playmore, now. Metal Slug 7 is coming to XBLA, with new weapons, missions, bosses and game modes.
King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match is on the way too. It will launch in spring next year. No word on Metal Slug 7 date, though.
R-Type Dimensions trailer. Side-scrolling retro fun!
The graphics look pretty, they definitely have a retro feel but some tip top next gen shading.
Local and online co-op for two people, and you'll be able to switch seamlessly between 2D and 3D graphics. Crikey.
He's on about Xbox Live community games now. Over 1000 have already been submitted.
They now have 14 million members on Xbox Live, says John.
"For the first time in history, we will completely reinvent a device through the magic of software." He must be talking about the New Xbox Experience.
He's going to share "the complete" New Xbox Experience with us "for the first time ever". He's inviting Ben from the Xbox Live team to show us how it works.
A group of avatars are on the screen. It's "simple and effortless" to create yours, says John.
His is called "Schapstick". Brilliant. It's got a lot more hair than him, and a gold chain with a dollar sign on.
He's given himself some spiky hair. He now looks like Leo Tan from Capcom.
There are different outfits for different occasions - he's showing a light blue tuxedo and some "street" clothes.
You can use your avatar in your Gamerpic, or choose not to if you prefer.
It's the My Xbox channel. Instead of the blades there are a series of rectangular panels. Your Gamercard will be "much more personal" - there are more rectangles, one for each game you've played, and you can flick through them. "It's like baseball cards," says John.
We're off to the Friends channel. You can have custom environments tailored to the themes you choose.
It's Bill Gates' avatar. He looks awfully young. Nice chinos.
Meteos Wars: coming to Xbox Live "later this year". But then we knew that.
The new games detail page will show everything "in one place": screenshots, back of the box details, videos etc. This goes for XBLA games as well as boxed copies.
Off to Live Marketplace now. Instead of just seeing a list of titles, you can browse images. The best-selling content for each region will be brought to the front of the list. And all of the Marketplace will be on the web, so you'll be able to download stuff via your PC.
More locally produced content is promised for the Xbox channel. There will be daily updates, with event coverage, previews and more.
The Spotlight channel now: your guide to what's on Xbox Live, with the best of the best all in one place. That means movies as well as games.
There's a new guide that lets you go anywhere on Xbox Live with a push of a button. Looks not unlike a mini version of the blades system to be honest.
The new game launcher will let you instantly boot any game you've got stored on your hard drive.
Date time... New Xbox Experience will be released in 26 countries on 19th November.
Halo news time!
"We didn't have much time at E3 to share Halo news - you may have noticed." Oh, a time issue was it? Righto John.
Graeme Devine, the story writer on Halo Wars, is taking to the stage. "Thanks John." He's "thrilled" to be here.
"Halo is the biggest name in gaming." Starting big then. Halo Wars is set 20 years before Halo 1, when the Covenant are at their most evil.
They're going to prove strategy belongs on consoles. Or rather, console, presumably.
Cut-scene time. A shaven-headed chap watches a giant door open through binoculars.
"That's Captain Cutter and Serena," says Graeme. We're being shown how you build a base. Looks pretty straightforward.
There's a radial menu for building barracks and the like. The barracks come up from underground, like you'd see aircraft come up from underneath on an aircraft carrier.
Pressing and holding down the A button will let you paint over as many units as you want. They can then be moved using the X button.
A couple of tanks are leading the charge into combat as marine troops follow. Graeme launches a carpet bomb attack from above as the troops take out a Wraith Tank.
Now there are some Hornets and Vultures flying about. Looks like Graeme is making good progress. He's going to launch a cryobomb to kill the Scout - the most powerful unit the Covenant can field.
Once the Covenant bases' shields are down, they're actually pretty easy to take down, apparently.
There's another enemy you'll be fighting - The Flood. Giant tentacles squirm round what looks like chrysalises as troops of blob-like creatures race about. The image is only shown for a second or two, then the demo's over.
A billion hours have now been spent playing the various Halo games on Live. "We aren't quite done with Halo 3 yet."
He's going to show us the second part of the Madeleine [Keep it Clean - Ed] trailer. Quick shots of towering buildings, as seen through electronic binoculars.
What looks like a meteor storm rains down. "Please remain calm" message flashes up. More shots of those buildings, more meteors rain down, huge clouds of dust billow up to obscure the view.
"Lumumba 2594" it reads in the bottom right of the screen. Now a ship is hovering over the debris, a searchlight scouring over it.
Aha! A chap in a suit emerges from the rubble. Doesn't look like Master Chief, though. He spots a load of Brutes stalking nearby, but they don't see him.
Halo 3 Recon: "New hero, new campaign - Prepare to Drop in Fall 2009."
Some mild clapping. Halo's clearly not that Big In Japan. It'll include new multiplayer maps, says John.
Looks like he's winding up. "As you can see, we're marvellous," he says. I'm paraphrasing.
"Together we will write the next chapter of gaming." Look forward to it.
And it's over. All the Japanese attendees rush out to look up Halo on Wikipedia.
Latest comments (122)
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Meanwhile MS blow $375m on Rare who have delivered a series of duds. Thank goodness for Sony and its creativity eh? MS trying to copy Home, then Singstar and next it will be be LBP.
Who knows, maybe MS will even be able to develop a reliable console that doesnt sound like a dyson!
Besides, you only ignore the RROD because you're an Xbot who'll accept the shit MS puts out. Shit, you've probably got the HD DVD drive attached to your 360, with all 7 HD DVD's produced beside it
And Blu-ray for the flop? Good one. You been into HMV lately? As they say in the industry, 'If it makes it makes dollars it makes sense', and the margins for Blu-ray bring in the money for retailers and the studios that DVD cant.
And Blu-ray for the flop? Good one. You been into HMV lately? As they say in the industry, 'If it makes it makes dollars it makes sense', and the margins for Blu-ray bring in the money for retailers and the studios that DVD cant.
And Blu-ray for the flop? Good one. You been into HMV lately? As they say in the industry, 'If it makes it makes dollars it makes sense', and the margins for Blu-ray bring in the money for retailers and the studios that DVD cant.
And Blu-ray for the flop? Good one. You been into HMV lately? As they say in the industry, 'If it makes it makes dollars it makes sense', and the margins for Blu-ray bring in the money for retailers and the studios that DVD cant.
Shane Kim got it in the nuts too didnt he?
The one I feel sorry for is Robbie Bach. I mean at least in the console war, MS will finish a respectable third. As far as the Zune goes, MS is gonna get spanked by Apple, Phillips, Sony, Creative Zen...
Henceforth, you will simply be known as:
'Ballmer's bent bitch'
Procrastination Station 3
or
PS (only) 3 exclusives that MS haven't bought out.
or
PS3lol
or
Delay Station 3
or
1080p, 4D, 120FPS LOLAZOR!
or
PS 3 less exclusives than the last time you checked.
Any of the above will do, OK?
Or Halol.
Or 3-fix-me.
Or Steve Ballmer's rentboy?
OK?
You force your mates to go with you?
Dude thats sick.
/Vic is getting a trouser tent after reading my post.
Sorry mate, but I've never said anything anywhere near as gay as 'I enjoy lavishing myself in sweet milky nectar'
/Kryon is jizzing over his Steve Ballmer celing poster as I type
HAWT!
/Uh-oh, I iz loozing teh argumentz innit!
/I noez, I wyll kall him teh GAYER and say dat EG iz teh bias!
/Yer, dat shud work, innit!
/I hopez he sez dat he iz teh gheyz, den i kan kiss him on da willy mmm!
Guess that explains why you rate Gears so highly. 'Ooh look at those muscular characters, let me lavish myself on those big muscles...'
"Boohoohoo, teh EG is biased and M$ payz for teh good revooz skore, Waaah!" ;__;
Denial, it's a sad, sad thing....but it's OK because it's quite funny and I enjoy lavishing myself in the sweet milky nectar of your tears, so do carry on
Halol
Killzone 2 will be the best looking console game released this generation
Eh, What? Did Apologie just posses your soul for a minute there?
And for the record, Killzone 2 will be the best looking console game released this generation, ahead of GT Prologue. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an assclown
Yes, I do, by far (and so does everyone else) and it will be a better game aswell. Keep clutching at those straws though mate, it's quite amusing
Oh...and for the record, Resistance has an EG ranking of 6/10. Not bad for a game that 'looks a bit shit' eh?
Lol, fixed.
Gears2 VS KZ2 comparison...LULZ
I guess I cant expect you to say no, but I would happily admit that GOW looks better than R1 and COD4. BUT, its a forumlaic game, with very generic textures. Killzone 2 looks better than GOW2 from what I've seen, and I think you'll find that most neutral people would agree.
Plus, what Guerilla are doing with KZ2's online mode looks awesome with all the different classes and game modes. And of course R2 has a 60 man mp mode and 8 player co-op. But I wouldnt expect you to say anything other than 'teh PS3 FPS suckz', because you're too far up Mr Gates' arse
Seriously, is this you?
Thankfully, neither R2 or KZ2 look like high-res versions of last-gen games like...Halo 3
I am dead jealous of Viva Pinata and Banjo though. LBP looks like a kids game
lol, you're really cluthing at straws, look son, you enjoy your PS3 and PC, if you're happy with lame ports, lack of exclusives and waiting for a few years to scrape up the few 360 crumbs that are left for you on your precious PC, good for you. The thing is, you keep on brining up the fact that 360 games come to the PC, so you're obviously desperate to get some 360 action, why not just buy a 360? They're affordable now, even on your pocket money you could save up for one and then you wouldn't need to live in your delusional world where Sony is your daddy.
In the next few months, I'll be enjoying Last Remnant, Gears 2 and a few others, what will you be playing? Haze? LOL.
Actually, that Left 4 Dead looks pretty good, oh wait...
What, you mean like Soul Calibur? /yeah because that was totally 'down graded' because of the 360, lol, even though it runs at a higher res and doesn't require an install to achieve decent load times on the 360, lol...SDF=funny.
Seems next gen games are getting more and more expensive as the cover-up being that "more people can enjoy tekken" is being told rather than them telling us straight that it would not be financially beneficial to them if it stayed as an exclusive to a certain console. Pity no cash injection from Sony like MS do to bribe their way into exclusives.
No doubt it will the same for every single PS3 system seller (though we'll have to see if any of them are worthwhile).
So really, me and my mates who used to have PS3's before they got bored of crappy ports, have no need for the PS3. Most of the truly unique games (Viva Pinata, Geometry wars, Lost Odyssey, etc ), and technically great games, well, I won't bother listing them as technically the 360 has most of the PS3 exclusive and multi-plat titles and they are all 'technically' better on the 360...
See what I just did there? lol...
M$--ker-ching!!
I love how easily riled you are
Most of the good 360 games like Halo and GOW end up on the PC, which means I can have the best of the 360, and in a higher resolution on my PC, which I know wont overheat and break down after 2 months.
No doubt it will the same for Fable 2 (though we'll have to see if that isnt as pretentious a game as its predecessor).
So really, me and my mates who used to have 360's before they got the RROD, have no need for the 360. Most of the truly unique games (Little Big Planet, Motorstorm, Heavy Rain), and technically great games (Uncharted, MGS4, Gran Turismo and Killzone 2) are on the PS3 anyway.
You're obviously not smart enough to work out that you've just pwned yourself. Yes, you're right, there are some games you can get on the PS3 that are not available on the 360 (see where I'm going with this?) yet you seem to think that you can get every single 360 exclusive on the PC? Lost Odyssey, PGR, Dead or Alive, etc, etc, blah, blah... Yes, some of the most comercial 360 titles (Halo, etc) do end up on the PC a few years later, but most of the important (i.e. system selling) PS3 titles (which used to be Sony exclusives) end up on 360 at the same time and are better. Do you now understand why your comparison was a bit stupid?
To put it in thicko language, so you can grasp it, basically, saying "I have a PC for 360 exclusives" is no different from saying "I have a 360 for PS3 exclusives"...Get it?
*dribbles*
Eh?
Resistance 2?
Motorstorm 2
SOCOM
Little Big Planet (Ooops, I forgot you have zero interest in this).
Valkyria Chronicles
Yakuza 3
Heavy Rain
Killzone 2
God of War 3
Most boring man in the world? Most deluded
world's most boring man! you don't like ps3, we get it!
I know you think you have it all worked out with the old "yer but no but I got a PC for der 360 exclusivez, and it'z teh betterer on PC", but I could say the same thing about the PS3, i.e. "I don't need a PS3 because I can get all the PS3 exclusives on 360 and they're better and I don't even have to wait two years for the port and unlike the PC, a 360 is actually the cheaper option"... So that angle is really rather pointless for an SDF grunt like yourself, don't you think? It just draws even more attention to the fact that the PS3 is an overpriced movie player.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-T
ype_Final
I know silly me.
Nope. I'm sure they're happy having already paid more for those few frames less
"Thirded. But I highly doubt that he actually bought one."
Doubt it all you like, if you'd like to pm me your PSN id, I'll be only too happy to kick your arse on Tekken DR or SCIV. The fact is, I used to be an avid Sony fan, they have just lost it, every franchise that was once important to the PS brand has been made multi-format now. There is no longer a need for this console unless you enjoy shit ports or can't afford a proper Blu-ray player... Sorry, but it's fact.
Yes I'm sure PS3 owners will be rushing out to get 360's for those extra frames that will make all the difference.
LOL
Haze, probably?
Define the etc.
All or almost all of the multiplatform titles will have used the 360 as lead dev. platform.
Heh! That made me chuckle. ;p
Sure, not much else that really exciting aside from Fable 2, Banjo and Left 4 Dead for me! Just a proof that HD gen is much more expensive gen and that devs/publishers need to go multi format to recoup enough business.
They already had it... apparently they didn't show anything interesting.
Racist.
in all seriousness though, the devs have talked about how much they learned from the success of COD4 so i think we should be expecting a big step up, especially in the MP stakes
Thats quite some lineup! My bank account is going to get an old fashioned raping
tut tut
fantastic stuff, Star Ocean 4, Last Remnant and now Tekken 6, along with a "new" Halo and that update to the dashboard that I think looks absolutely brilliant. Great conference! Just hope that at Sony's they give more details on God of War 3 and hopefully a new Unchartered or something from Naughty Dog *prays for a new Jak game but knows it'll never happen*. When is the Sony whatsit?
* Xbox Arcade for under
Also kind of futile when you say "oh, what do you think of the new titles?" only to get batted away with an "I don't care, I think they're all shit mah mah mah" attitude. Sometimes it does feel like clutching at straws when the drastically out of date Tomb Raider series is to be championed ahead of Uncharted.
Sony will do a better press conference. They always do!
They said on EG before that they are announcing 12 brand new exclusive ps3 games in their conference.
Can't wait."
lol, Sony already had their press conference (or 'business meeting' as they called it) earlier today, it just wasn't liveblogged anywhere. About the only thing they announced was that all first party PSP games, old, new and upcoming, will be delivered straight to the PSP store.
Those 11 (don't exaggerate!) 'unannounced' games have slipped out over the past week in various news, some of which are for PSN, PSP and PS3, or SCEJ releases of SCEE and SCEA games.
You will have to wait until E3 for those. Mistwalker has a 2 year dev cycle.
Where is my Cry On, my Blue Dragon 2, My Lost Odyssey 2 ???
you bought a PS3 for flagship titles like RE5 shame that got announced multi format way before the ps3 release you do need to do you research alot better dont you.
as said above please sell you PS3 give it to someone who dosnt have a grudge and knows all the great titles coming out.
jeesh.
:-D
Yeah, and then everything they anounce will come out on the 360 without bloody forced installs and with better graphics :/
Sony will do a better press conference. They always do!
They said on EG before that they are announcing 12 brand new exclusive ps3 games in their conference.
Can't wait.
Hey, I'm just speaking of my own opinion here, but I, like a lot of other fools, bought a PS3 for the upcoming 'flagship' titles, i.e. Tekken, FFXIII, RE5 (the list goes on, as you know) and every few weeks since my misfortunate purchase it comes to light that every single one of the games I bought the system for are getting a (probably better) 360 release, and no, I don't have any interest in LBP and crap like that, so yeah, for me, the system just gets more and more useless every f***ing day. The 360 now has all the best fighters, JRPGs,FPS, racers (imo, as I don't enjoy GT5P much, although it does look nice). Uncharted wasn't bad but the new Tomb Raider (with exclusive 360 DLC) will probably better it. MGS4 was good as an interactive movie but what reason is there to have spent
Was certainly expecting more on the retail side though. Couldn't give a shit about Tekken 6, and was expecting something more Earth-shattering, perhaps a new Mistwalker RPG, SE game, or just about anything other than Ninety bloody Nine crappy Nights 2.
/stifles yawn
I couldn't care less about it. Loved the first two games, thought Halo 3 was a tad disappointing both in technical terms and in the sense that it had barely progressed beyond the Xbox versions in terms of gameplay plus was totally lacking in any suspense or surprises. This new game is going to have to be absolutely utterly exceptional to get me to buy it. And I won't be buying the Limited Edition version either after the previous fiasco in which my discs arrived scratched to smithereens!
That gave me absolutely zero to look forward to.
Just like Soul Calibur and Tekken haven't advanced for 5 years, except by adding imbalanced crappy characters. For a good fighting game its smash brothers brawl or a proper OLD tekken/sc any day of the week.
Sigh.
Tekken 6 is rather big news I'd figure, even though I'll never play it. Having a date for NXE is also nice.
"OK, So Tekken will now be released on the 360? There is now no reason to own a PS3, anyone wanna buy mine? "
Yes, no good games coming to PS3... NONE AT ALL!!
Just keep telling yourself that
In one phrase that describes why I wish these RPGs weren't 360 exclusives...
Great news that we don't have to use those crappy avatars, though.
the former I reckon.
LOL!
New online modes for Tekken? Other than some random belting the hell out of some other random? I forsee a LBP game2.0 design a flat piece of ground for battering someone in mode.
The next-gen really isn't selling as well as anyone would have hoped.
Make mine a filtered coffee, one sugar please, ta!
One lump or two, Ellie?