E3 on Xbox Live, Microsoft's ambitious plans to test network's limits
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Apr 27th 2006 at 1:27PM }
Peter Moore recently detailed Microsoft's plan to use the Xbox Live Marketplace to provide timely E3 coverage to
Xbox 360 owners. According to Moore, Microsoft plans to upload "all the videos and the news as quickly as
possible" onto the Marketplace, where potential millions will be waiting to download the content. This ambitious
project will hurtle Microsoft's digital distribution service into uncharted waters. Will the Live network be able to
handle millions of simultaneous downloads on top of the free Gold week? Moore remains confident, stating,
"If we can get through Halo 2 ... then I think we can get through anything."Moore says the goal is to "give you the flavor of what's going on, on the show floor..." Does that include the flavor of the West Hall? It's hard to imagine Microsoft tossing the other guys some free PR. Our advice, stick to a less biased source (like this one) for your E3 coverage — we kid, we kid.
[Thanks David; via bit-tech.net]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jon again @ Apr 27th 2006 1:43PM
We're living in a post-Wii world now. All other news seems trivial.
Sense @ Apr 27th 2006 1:47PM
Biased or no, this is pretty cool for 360 owners.
Aaron Laine @ Apr 27th 2006 1:50PM
Its kind of ironic that they have the E3 entrance picture with a Huge Playstation Advertisment. "Welcome Chang3"
wes @ Apr 27th 2006 2:03PM
I smell a livecrash....
SuicideNinja @ Apr 27th 2006 2:07PM
That's awesome. I guess you can't really wait for the PS3 to do that this year. But we all know Sony will follow suit for next year.
I'm still in awe of the Revolution's new name...I'm trying to figure out how to go about rebadging it.
Since MS employees love Nintendo, I wonder if they'll cover some of Nintendo's E3 stuff. Not likely, but it would be neat. As far as the PS3, I'm more interested in "PS3 reality" vs "PS3 @ E3".
Regula Oblique @ Apr 27th 2006 2:07PM
Sounds like a cool idea but I want my wii and Ps3 info also which I bet microsoft wont be showing off. But playing the new game demos sounds cool, imagine getting to play gears of war, and other games in your home, just like the people at E3. I hope they try to do the streaming thing though and not just have a bunch of downloadable content which I think is whats going to happen, but I'll be watching live at gamespot.com anyway.
MCCLINTOCK @ Apr 27th 2006 2:09PM
Hopefully they will have the background DL functionality by then.
.ed @ Apr 27th 2006 2:20PM
neat idea, but then you still have to come here for all your news on Wii, Nintendo DS, ps3, pc, Gizmondo, and psp..
..or maybe like last year there will be no psp news .... aahhaahaa
Wii better have a sweet 3D logo... http://revolution.nintendo.com
Bloo @ Apr 27th 2006 2:28PM
"Its kind of ironic that they have the E3 entrance picture with a Huge Playstation Advertisment. "Welcome Chang3"
It's not theirs. It's just another one of JR-W's horrible Photoshop jobs (he'll probably give me another negative for that one).
In any event, wouldn't you expect bias from any company showing their own E3 coverage?
MNaylor @ Apr 27th 2006 2:33PM
I hope they will update the dashboard so that we can have streaming video. There's no way I'm going to wait for a download to finish when I can check out lots of other websites for my E3 updates a lot quicker.
jaemz @ Apr 27th 2006 2:34PM
With the slow download speeds I get on XBLM, I wish they would opt for streaming... oh wait, right, they won't use Quicktime... they would use windows mediaplayer type streaming. Hmmm, I hope the downloads are at least small.
Now that I think about it, I will likely be playing Oblivion on my X360 and doing E3 from my computers. Thanks for being here Joystiq (and your fanboy sites).
Darth Pixel @ Apr 27th 2006 2:43PM
My forecast:
1) They end up downscaling their plans enormously and it works OK.
2) They try to do what they said and Xbox Live slows down to a crawl.
I think I should bet on "1)".
Sabre @ Apr 27th 2006 3:01PM
Just a wild guess but I'm sure this will be entirely biased.
...just a guess :-P
D dogg @ Apr 27th 2006 3:36PM
Having MS broadcast other company's press events is like NBC airing commercials for Fox's American Idol (Hey, check out how great our competitor's shit is to!). C'mon people, it's not rocket science... it's common sense.
"I'm still stuck on Wii's name" - Really? It's friggin name. It's not going to affect gameplay at all. Bitch about the lack of HD support if anything, not a friggin name.
I for one will be downloading E3 content on my 360 for the simple facts:
1) It'll be in HD quality
2) Dunno bout other people but I like watching from the comfort of living room furniture... not some ergonomic chair on a 19" monitor
3) I don't have a pay account on gaming sites so I can't download large videos and watch them on my PC (see #2)
Ste @ Apr 27th 2006 4:03PM
DEMO DEMO DEMO! I want them to post the E3 Demos up there, now that would be impressive!!!
Sabre @ Apr 27th 2006 4:58PM
@ Ste:
NEVER going to happen...keep dreamin'.
Tom Cruise @ Apr 27th 2006 5:16PM
They better show the Nintendo Revolution!
jay @ Apr 27th 2006 5:18PM
I'll be impressed if they give equal coverage (well realistically, more) to Sony and Nintendo. Seeing they have the biggest announcements coming. But they probably wont. "so, mr. Xbox, will you be displaying E3 news for the competition?" "OMGZ! NOES! We've already got the bastard child of the Wavebird and the Dreamcast controller! There is nothing else! ROFFLELOLZERS!"
Sabre @ Apr 27th 2006 5:44PM
@ Tom Cruise:
Read #14's post...
Pip @ Apr 27th 2006 5:53PM
Has the 360 even sold "millions" yet?
There aren't enough 360 Live! players to even dent the service yet. Give it about 4 more years.
Tom Cruise @ Apr 27th 2006 9:04PM
@ #14
checkout gametrailers.com they have HD videos and they're free!
Jim @ Apr 27th 2006 11:47PM
@ #14
Very few (if any?) of gametrailers.com's "HD" videos are actually HD. Grabbing a 720x480 video via a component signal does not constitute high definition, it's what's known as "enhanced definition." If any of their videos are actually in HD, I'd assume they're straight from "insert company here"'s press kit.
The HD trailers on the XBOX Live Marketplace ARE in full 1280 x 720 HD video.
This "interview" on XBOX.com is nothing more than Microsoft's marketing people saying that they'll have free ads (in the form of demos or trailers) for people to see and download (even if they're not in LA attending the show). And you know what? Being able to play some new games like Lost Planet or possibly see a new glimpse of a game like Gears Of War is more than enough to put a smile on my face. Hopefully Sony and Nintendo will do the same via their handhelds (DS download stations at a store and downloads to a memory stick for PSP).
Sloopydrew @ Apr 28th 2006 7:43AM
It took me nearly 8 hours to download the Tomb Raider demo a couple hours after it was released to Marketplace. I have a very fast connection. There will be no point in downloading E3 content on your 360. By the time it gets there, the event will be over and we'll be talking about E3 2007.
don_sf @ Apr 28th 2006 1:16PM
that man has SERIOUS SERIOUS issues.
he stated that xbox 360 will sell 1 billion units. woow, i can proove that this statement is wrong with a couple of reasons. the demand for ps3 and nintendo re'wii'ution so high. in ps2's generation the selling point was graphics and rubbish online, the xbox 180 had 2x horsepower and a good online
ps2 5:1 xbox 180
think logically mr more, the biggest selling point for 360 is online, which he thinks people will prefer over wiiiii games, better ps3 graphics games and even the uniqe gaming of the i-toy 2 on ps3. someone tell me how that works? 1 billion? 10x more than ps2s sold? 4x more than ps1 and ps2 sold? 50x more than xbox 180 sold?
and now hes saying in 5 years time, having no internet connection for gaming will be like going back to medievel? this disgusts me really because gaming should be kept simple. you need a tv and a console, yes online is a big part of games now but why do you have to make things complicated?
online should be a extra option to most games, i cant imagine playing gta story mode with someone online. as for multiplayer, i enjoy it so much when me and my friends get together with pizza and play ps2. but online is great, just not as great as microsoft think it is - what do they wanna do? keep people in their houses with no socialism?
lol sloopy dru. i really dont respect microsoft gaming* (not software) for saying things like that. to go abouts this microsoft would need to charge more money for xbox live platinum where they could buy very very good servers and stream at high speeds. microsoft underestimate how much 'free' means to people, because its free then people will use it. and no i really doutb ps3 will have something like this for free, its simply impossible - unless its in low resolution.