E3 2009: What Microsoft needs to do to win E3 – Xbox 360
Microsoft has been practically dead silent all year long, announcing very little. However, speculation around a new motion sensing controller and camera has been rampant across the Web. Also, very little has been revealed regarding the Xbox 360′s lineup this year. Many are speculating that Microsoft may be saving all of its announcements for E3.
Yesterday, I talked about what Sony needs to do to win the best of show for E3. Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about what Microsoft needs to do to win best of show for E3. As many of you already know Microsoft has kept a low profile this year with very little announced. This sort of reminds me of how Sony was in 2007.
There were a couple of exclusives that flew under the radar for the most part such as Ninja Blade and Halo Wars. There is also a big rumor going around that Microsoft may make a huge shift towards the casual market. Recent decision to axe Ensemble Studios and buy up Big Park seems to somewhat support these rumors.
Also, Microsoft even admitted that the company needs to focus more on scalable games which are low in production costs yet yield high return. Its no secret Steve Ballmer, CEO and president of Microsoft and other executives have been eyeing the Wii’s success. The company is no stranger to seeking greener pastures which is evident from its ongoing Google envy.
Going casual like the Wii may be the best business decision Microsoft can make with the Xbox 360 costing less then the Wii. However, the reception from the media will not be all that favorable. When Nintendo announced the Wii-fit balance board, journalists around the globe criticized the company for not catering to the hardcore. However, a year later the balance board have currently sold over 20 million units.
To win the recognition of the journalists at E3 I strongly feel that Microsoft needs to bring back its hardcore A-game. We already know that full games: Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 will be shown at E3, despite the high probability the latter two will launch in 2010.
However, let’s hope that Microsoft reveals more hardcore games at E3 that will release by the end of this year. The big speculation is that the Xbox 360 might get some form of Metal Gear game on the system. That would be out of the blue, but not all that surprising considering the fact we are living in a non-exclusivity video game era.
Related Posts:
41 Responses to “E3 2009: What Microsoft needs to do to win E3 – Xbox 360”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
May 27th, 2009
‘Sorry Mike but that casual BS is nothing more then your own made up non-sence. It a console that has games for everyone. Anyways here is an update on what’s been going on.’
Was that the only part of the post you wrote?
Just give linkage next time, we’re smart enuff to fill in the *’s in h**p://.
Who care if MS going casual, that doesn’t mean the developers are all of a sudden going to start making ‘cake cooking with Jane & Steve!’… They know they already have a masive install base of people willing to buy ‘hardcore’ games.
May 27th, 2009
ahh to win e3 they should have a massive price drop…where the fuck i hear that before??
May 27th, 2009
charlieb,
It’s dropped down to 85 now.
May 27th, 2009
SW
With that much information I’m not spending the time to make it my own. besides Links don’t get the message accross and why link it when you can read it.
May 27th, 2009
That’s ok, I usually just zip past it.
Microsoft is an odd one this year. Asides from Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 – I would bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of the Halo Expansion. Anything else at this point will be a surprise. I think Mike had a decent point, that a number of the known games might not be ready for 2009. I really wonder what will be M$’s big holiday title this year?
Waggle will definitely be a part of there show this year.
Then there’s the whole MGS5 thing. It could be going multiplatform, or maybe it will stay exclusive to the PS3 and Zone of Enders will be multiplatform, or even a 360 exclusive… who the hell knows. I have a feeling Kojima is going to make the most waves this year regardless what happens.
May 27th, 2009
Honestly, I hope Microsoft has some good things up their sleeves! Cause as much as I love my 360, that mofo has been eating dust! I know there are some great games on the way, it just seems so long since anything on the 360 has really caught my interest. Really looking forward to see what they have in store!
May 27th, 2009
Zune HD will probably be their big talking point now they’ve confirmed it.
Though why it’s called “HD” I don’t know…HD on a 3.3 inch screen?
May 27th, 2009
R.I.P.
May 27th, 2009
Wow an HD Zune. The 3 people that bought one will be thrilled to hear that.
May 27th, 2009
lol at zune hd. yeah the “hd” is turning into a buzz word. hd radio anyone?
so they zune is concentrating on games and is going to be a touchscreen device? Kind of sounds familar.
I wonder if the same people that rasied hell about the ps3 being more than just a game machine will have anything to say about a music player playing games. omg….MS is losing its focus on what it is.
May 27th, 2009
I just think it’s interesting that the music store on Zune is (rumoured) to be going to the 360.
What are Sony getting out of it? Given that Sony are one quarter of the music industry, Sony can’t be too pleased that their content is going to be enhancing a rival service.
Well, unless MS has written Sony a large cheque…
May 27th, 2009
Yes we all know how Sony loves using the Term “Full HD” even on products that aren’t HD. Example Cameras.
May 27th, 2009
Yeah, I read that. If they can integrate the Zune music store into XBL, that would be pretty huge.
Sony has VidZone, the music& music video on demand service coming to the UK. There’s no word on the other regions, but I can’t imagine they won’t expand it.
May 27th, 2009
Phranctoast
Not quite losing their focus like when the the PS3 first came out with no games and bundled with Spiderman 3 the movie. That’s losing focus.
May 27th, 2009
Whoops, actually it’s a lot more than the UK.
“The company said it will make the app available in the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and Australia.”
May 27th, 2009
VidZone looks utterly pointless.
May 27th, 2009
@ Cad
“Not quite losing their focus like when the the PS3 first came out with no games and bundled with Spiderman 3 the movie. That’s losing focus.”
Thats not losing its focus. Ppl already knows the ps3 plays games but most of them didnt know you can play bluray movies on it too. So i think it was a good strategic and the results was Winning the HD format. so there.
May 27th, 2009
Thats amazing CAD. I bought a launch ps3, and games existed. Spiderman 3 wasn’t released until a year after the ps3 first came out.
May 27th, 2009
“I just think it’s interesting that the music store on Zune is (rumoured) to be going to the 360.
What are Sony getting out of it? Given that Sony are one quarter of the music industry, Sony can’t be too pleased that their content is going to be enhancing a rival service.
Well, unless MS has written Sony a large cheque… ”
Sony and Microsoft, unlike most fanboys, can put aside their differences and have always collaborated with each other for years.
Sony Vaio and Microsoft Windows?
Also, on the music service, sure Sony could “cockblock” them, which would actually be a huge chunk of the market (Shakira/Doctor Dre/Eminem/50Cent/Alicia Keys, to name a few a re all under Columbia Records ) but why would Sony miss out a chance to make double profits? LIVE has 20million+ users thats one artists’ single sold potentially 20milion+ times.
There are 20million+ PSN users. Thats another potential 20million sales….no, Sony at times are arrogant and say stupid things, but they know how to run their main businesses
May 27th, 2009
Yeah jojo, I wasn’t implying that Sony won’t licence their music for use on the 360 as they clearly will, the interesting question is terms Sony will demand, because Sony are not going to just give their content away…especially to enhance a rival service.
May 27th, 2009
Phranctoast
That’s not true. It was bundled from day one
And ROCA
“Thats not losing its focus. Ppl already knows the ps3 plays games but most of them didnt know you can play bluray movies on it too. So i think it was a good strategic and the results was Winning the HD format. so there”
Here is a Quote form Ken Kutaragi and Kaz Hirai.
“The PlayStation [3] is not a game machine. We’ve never once called it a game machine,” stated Kutaragi at the beginning of his latest interview. “The PS3 is the product we have been aiming for since the establishment of SCEI”, said Kutaragi. “We haven’t been creating our [past] PlayStations for the sake of games. Our belief, and the motivation behind running our company, has been to (explore ways of) applying the power of computers to entertainment and enjoyment. We equipped the original PlayStation with a 3D graphics chip, and we equipped the PS2 with the Emotion engine. The PS3 isn’t designed to lean towards games.”
“As the fundamental point of our system, I think it is still a game machine,” Hirai said
So Ken says it’s not a game machine and Kaz thinks it’s a game machine but it does not seem like he’s sure. Sounds like a company loosing their focus. Thank God for you guys that they finally got it right after copying the 360′s features. See they had to look to a true game machine to find their way. Your welcome Sony!!
May 27th, 2009
‘That’s not true. It was bundled from day one’
Considering the PS3 launched in 2006 and the spiderman 3 DVD’s (not even blu ray which would come later but I can’t find the date) were not available until at least mid 2007, I don’t see how that can be true.
May 27th, 2009
“Thank God for you guys that they finally got it right after copying the 360’s features. See they had to look to a true game machine to find their way. Your welcome Sony!!”
Features like the video marketplace?
Well at least MS is focused on just gaming/sarcasm
May 27th, 2009
OK so I’m going to run down some possibilities (Rumors) for the 360 at E3 and yes it is all Copy and Paste.
1. In September of 2007, Microsoft officially closed FASA Studios. However, on the 15th of October 2007, FASA founder Jordan Weisman announced that his new venture, Smith & Tinker, had licensed, from Microsoft, the rights to his previous creations including MechWarrior, Shadowrun, Crimson Skies, and other FASA titles. He also mentioned that he would be announcing plans for these intellectual properties at a later date.
2. According to Gamesindusrty, in January of 2009, Ruffian Games was announced as a new independent studio currently working on a project for a major international publishing company. The team includes veterans from Climax, DMA Design, and Realtime Worlds, who have worked on a number of AAA titles including Crackdown, Project Gotham Racing, Fable 2, and Grand Theft Auto. Nevertheless, it would be important, at this point, to clarify that the majority of the team has worked on Crackdown.
Additionally, Billy Thompson, Ruffian’s Creative Director, made the following statement: “We want to provide an online experience rivaling any other through co-operative and competitive multiplayer gaming“. He went on to say: “Online play is the future of gaming and we’re incredibly excited about where that is going to take us.â€
More importantly, according to VG247, Microsoft is currently funding Ruffian Games specifically to develop Crackdown 2. That would make sense, especially since Realtime Worlds is too busy with APB. Interestingly enough, in a recent podcast, Major Nelson, Xbox Live’s Director of Programming, told Phil Spencer the following: “I’m here to tell you on behalf of the community, I want – we need – another Crackdown. That’s all I’m going to say, so you don’t have to confirm nor deny anything. I’m just saying we want itâ€. Surprisingly, Spencer replied: “Yes, Crackdown’s one of my favourites. I’ll leave it at thatâ€.
3. According to an article posted on Ripten, in early 2008, the only piece of information that we know regarding Project Dimitri is that it will allow the player to relive their individual life. However, in an interview with Gamersglobal in March of 2008, when asked about his next project, Peter Molyneux, Founder of Lionhead Studios, replied: “Dimitri was always an experimental thing, which is why I never showed it. And then it moved from that experiment to a moment in time that happened six months ago when a discovery was made, and this discovery has been so exciting that it has lead to Lionhead focusing on it and sculpting a game around that. I think that discovery is so significant… This discovery has lead us to start a game and that game will be on the front cover of Nature magazines and Science magazines“.
4. According to an article posted on Addictgaming in September of 2008, Turn 10, the developer of the Forza franchise, is currently working on the next installment of the Project Gotham Racing series. The idea makes sense since Bizarre Creations is no longer able to develop the PGR series due to the fact that it is currently an Activision-owned studio. More importantly, Turn 10 is more than qualified to take this franchise to the next level. The news came from an undisclosed Turn 10 employee that said that Microsoft assigned them to PGR5.
5. I would not be surprised if, at E3 09, Microsoft announces the acquisition of Gearbox Software in addition to announcing it as the developer of the next Halo installment. They are the best choice for the next Halo project and my reasons for stating that are as follow:
First, this video game developer started with developing expansions to the game Half-Life. Prior to Half-Life 2, Gearbox had developed or helped develop every Half-Life expansion game or port, including Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, Condition Zero, Half-Life for the Sony PlayStation 2 (Half-Life Decay), and Half-Life for the Sega Dreamcast. As a result, not only are they currently experts in the FPS genre, but they are experienced in developing games for consoles as well.
Second, they also worked on porting games from console to PC; their most important project was Halo: Combat Evolved. Meaning, not only are they familiar with the franchise due to the fact that they have worked on it, but they have a good professional relationship with Microsoft as well.
Third, the fact that they are developing Borderlands means that they are adding to their experience the open-world FPS genre, which could be an interesting new direction for the Halo franchise.
Lastly, the fact that they have been working on Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands means that they are becoming more experienced in sci-fi, which is exactly the kind of developer that Microsoft would need for the Halo franchise.
6. In case no one was paying attention lately, Denis Dyack is missing; however, he is missing for a very good reason; he learned his lesson well. To be clear, I believe that Denis Dyack is the main reason why Too Human was so violently opposed and aggressively criticized by both journalists and gamers. After all, he did overhype it, describe it in a way that mislead everyone, and show it too early. Regardless, to be fair, there were other factors beyond Dyack’s control that prevented this title from living up to the hype, but that would be another story to be told at a later time.
Despite being flawed, I know that every gamer that went through it more than once would agree with me when I state that it was an extremely fun and highly addictive experience. It was the kind of game that would grow on you if you gave it the time, but I will leave this argument for another article that Too Human truly deserves.
According to my sources, Dyack is hard at work on the sequel to Too Human titled “Rise of the Giantsâ€. Gamers that enjoyed the first installment should get excited about this sequel, especially if they are familiar with Norse Mythology. More importantly, we need to keep in mind that Microsoft will not continue the trilogy unless they know something exciting about it that we don’t.
In fact, in an interview with MCV, on the 19th of August 2008, after a few days of mixed reviews, when asked about the level of commitment to the Silicon Knights franchise, Stephen McGill, Microsoft’s head of gaming and entertainment, replied: “Too Human is an overarching epic with a rich and vast game universe that cannot be told in one installment. This game will begin the saga of the god Baldur in the narrative tradition of classic trilogies, such as Star Wars and Lord Of The Rings. We will talk about the full trilogy and we are very excited about its potential“.
In the end, as long as Dyack does not overhype this title, describe it incorrectly, nor show it too early, it will turn out to be a great one. Mark my words, when Too Human: Rise of the Giants is finally unveiled, it will be something very special.
7. Are you aware of the fact that Microsoft is creating an internal studio dedicated to the Halo franchise? According to several sources, this studio will be creating titles in the Halo universe as well as overseeing any other Halo project developed by other studios. Let me break down the facts at hand regarding this matter:
First, in September of 2008, Gamasutra discovered new job postings indicating a new internal Microsoft Game Studios division called Spawnpoint Studios. Apparently, they are composed partly by members of the Gears Of War 2 team. My question to you is, could this be the name of the company’s internal Halo development division?
Second, in September of 2008, in a GamesIndustry.biz interview with Phil Spencer, Head of Microsoft Game Studios, when asked about this matter, he replied: “There are more than two or three teams building Halo things right now. Some of them we will own, some of them we won’tâ€.
Lastly, in October of 2008, Phil Spencer told Edge that the company has added a “group of industry heavy hitters†to its lineup, including Ryan Payton, former Kojima Productions Assistant Producer, Corrinne Yu, former Gearbox Software Director of Technology, Kenneth Scott, former Id Software Art Director, David Wu, former Pseudo Interactive Technical Director, and Frank O’Connor, former Bungie Content Manager.
For those of you that don’t know, Payton was the assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4, playing a role in injecting Western design elements into the Japanese series. He also helped in the actual design of Metal Gear Online and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. To gamers, he’s best known as the Western Liaison for Kojima Productions, the studio behind Metal Gear. In early 2008, due to family-related issues, he left Kojima Productions and went back to the US. Interestingly enough, he is rumored to be directing a new Halo project; even though Microsoft would not confirm that information, they did state that “The team is working on upcoming and existing Halo games.â€
More importantly, Corrinne Yu was the Director of Technology at Gearbox Software; her final projects at Gearbox included programming Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Borderlands. In addition, while working at 3D Realms, she was the Lead Programmer on the Prey Engine. Interestingly enough, She was also the Lead Programmer for the Asian launch of the 3DO. In fact, she is known as “the John Carmack of female programmersâ€. In August of 2008, according to Kotaku, they have come across an interesting internal Gearbox e-mail that Yu sent out. The most important part of it reads: “I was offered and recruited to the position of Principle (Lead) Engine Architect of Halo Franchise Team at Microsoft. I accepted the offer to lead the team to build the engines and games for future Halo’s on Xbox’es and PC’s at Microsoftâ€.
Additionally, Frank O’Connor was the Content Manager and the lead writer for Bungie. He lead the team responsible for writing Halo material, including game scripts, dialog, and books. As a result, he became the public face of Bungie.
As for the rest of the Dream Team, Kenneth Scott was the Art Director of Doom 3, and David Wu was the Co-Founder and Technical Director of Pseudo Interactive, the developers of Full Auto, in addition to being the actual creator of Full Auto.
Spencer also stated that “Microsoft Game Studios is thrilled to have such talented people working to develop new and exciting projects within the Halo universe and supporting existing projects from studios like Bungie and Ensembleâ€.
8. If this turns out to be true, then Microsoft has won itself an unrivalled ally. The circulating rumor is that when Tomonobu Itagaki, creator of the Dead Or Alive franchise and the 3D Ninja Gaiden titles, left Tecmo along with over 30 key members of Team Ninja, he was embraced by Microsoft!
According to the rumor, not only has Itagaki formed his own development studio that is composed of the key Team Ninja members that left with him, but he is currently working on a new IP and is being funded by Microsoft as well!
(if you read the news today you will know that this is true)
May 27th, 2009
“7. Are you aware of the fact that Microsoft is creating an internal studio dedicated to the Halo franchise?”
They’re not?!
May 27th, 2009
360 needs a few good titles. It’s been a slow year, although there have been some brilliant 3rd party games to keep me happy.
May 27th, 2009
OK here is some news for the PS3 People
At the end of the recent Konami countdown it revealed an image of the Iconic character Big Boss from the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I’m sure that this is all the conformation we need regarding Kojima’s next game being a Metal Gear Solid game, also the next countdown is set to end in about 116 hours from now which isn’t to far off from E3. So stay tuned to E3 for the official announcement.
As reported earlier today the Kojima teaser site was updated with Big Boss’s picture flashing every minute or two. Now a screen was leaked on the internet of the upcoming issue of Famitsu. The magazine shows both the Big Boss picture currently on the teaser site, and Raiden’s picture. This game is obviously a Metal Gear, and not Zone of Enders or Lord of Shadows like the conspiracy reports were suggesting. Well it’s either Metal Gear or Kojima is really messing with us this time. Raiden and Big Boss in one game seems epic. Also, the game will most likely be called Metal Gear Solid: Exsistence which was copyrighted by Konami a few months ago.
With the new picture of Big Boss up and running, many people believe its the next Metal Gear but not enough information were given, Raiden’s image also appeared as well with a “Pâ€, “Sâ€, “3″, “Eâ€, “eâ€. no ones know what it could mean but just hear me out. After playing every Metal Gear game since the Nes verison, i think i should give my 2 cents into these theories.
First and for most, That is not Raiden’s image on the leaked image of the magazine. Raiden has bright blue eyes that are very noticeable. Although this picture is not that clear, there are clearer versions online. Continuing with my thoughts, I’ve seen the image in high-res and i could tell you that it is not Raiden, this character has bright brown eyes like Olga (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty) but since she is dead, that would only leave her daughter to have her eyes, Sunny (Metal Gear Solid 4) Look at those eyes. but then again, its only a thought, it could even be Gray Fox but who knows for sure yet.
Second, Kojima revealed that the project is being made by the same team as Metal Gear Solid 4, which was built on a PS3 game engine, and would not be able to work on a Xbox 360. Kojima once said that he was thinking of having downloadable episodes a long way back, before MGS4 was released….(any thoughts going through anyone’s head?) so as of now Kojima reveals his team and show that clearly means it a exclusive….unless Kojima says otherwise. Kojima also stated that he wants the project to focus in Japan first, then global after that. And seeing how Xbox is not as big as Sony in Japan, i would believe that it’s a PS3 exclusive
Third. Look at this image of Big boss that was on the countdown site. Many people believe that it is NOT big boss, but actually Solid Snake himself judging by the hat and it’s symbol. My opinion is that it could be a possiblity that it is not Big Boss, and the symbols were a great observation but i am going to stick with Big Boss until more information is given.
May 27th, 2009
Peter Molyneux is the grand master of overblown expectations.
May 27th, 2009
@CAD,
Lots of good stuff, but SW is absolutely right – you should link large sections of information to the original location instead of pasting it into the comments.
The comments section is not for copying and pasting massive amount of text into.
Instead feel free to create a thread in our forums and link back to it from here. It helps smoothen up the flow of the comments section here.
Xbox 360 Forum:
http://blorge.net/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=ac0e4854e17f6f135ce6ba26ff73790c
Thanks.
May 27th, 2009
Cool Mike I’ll try that.
But another rumor is that the 360 may get twitter. I don’t know much about twitter besides hearing about it all the time. So hopefully this is a good thing.
May 27th, 2009
Unless it’s Ghostbusters.
May 27th, 2009
“because Sony are not going to just give their content away…especially to enhance a rival service.”
May 27th, 2009
“Features like the video marketplace?”
phranc, I think he meant features like achievements (trophies), free demos, etc.
May 27th, 2009
‘because Sony are not going to just give their content away’
I think in the past we’ve all seen how one army of sony doesn’t really seem to give a fudge about the other. The music arm of Sony will probably just see the extra $$$ and put its music up. Afterall, the service will go ahead without them as there are many other labels to source from, so they may as well put thier shite in there to make some dollar dollar euro pound notes.
May 28th, 2009
going to mark my two week return to this site with flame bait, what do microsoft need to win e3…hmmm A SYSTEM THAT WONT BREAK LLOOOWWWLLLL XBOXZZZ SUXORZZZZ
seriously, i think this year will be big for the entire gaming community (aside from nintendo who will just sit there smugly as they take your money) i think both sony n microsoft will jump into motion sencing and also some big names to fly around on the systems as well, im looking forward to E3 this year unlike last year!
May 28th, 2009
I think the better question is, does Microsoft really care about E3? My guess is they do not need a “win” at E3 as badly as Sony right now…
May 28th, 2009
Didn’t stop them from pimping E3 (and a megaton annoucement – which I find interesting, mgs maybe?) in thier latest ‘xbox superior’ press release
May 28th, 2009
This will be worth talking about after the show. Or not. The only thing I could see as really big (huge) is a Microsoft gaming handheld with achievements (and maybe the ability to play originals as well). And for the record that is not ZuneHD.
Beyond that, MGS4 and 5, free online multiplayer, subscription “pass” similar to zune pass except for downloadable games (maybe movies as well), 360 downloadable games, achievements for originals, a price drop, a slim redesign (with built in bluetooth, upgraded graphics processor, wi-fi, blu-ray compat, 180 GB HDD, Metal Gear 4 installed to the hard drive, and a lifetime warranty), and a boatload of previously unannounced exclusives.
There. I think I covered all of the “impossibilities”.
May 29th, 2009
LOL @ CarlB
if they pull that off, ill throw my PS3 out the window.
May 29th, 2009
I believe ms is going to package each 360 with a chilled sample of Bills spooge…
MGS would be a true ‘megaton’ tho, just for shock value (another exclusive snatched!).
May 31st, 2009
I forgot. World of Warcraft and a Valve exclusive as well.