Highlights from Microsoft's E3 2007 press conference
by Ross Miller 
{ Jul 11th 2007 at 1:26AM }
- Mass Effect coming to 360 in November
- Bomberman, Sonic, Marathon (!), many others confirmed for XBLA
- Viva Pinata: Party Animals brings minigames
- Scene It!: four hilarious controllers, one great price
- Disney movies available on Xbox 360 in HD
- Gears of War and Viva Pinata go to PC (video)
- Halo short film revealed, along with special 360 console
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare exclusive beta
- Demos of PGR4, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 4
- Trailers for Lost Odyssey, Halo 3, Resident Evil 5
- A price drop ... err ... nevermind, we didn't see that.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mamardilla69 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:34AM
first one.....about microsoft conference pretty weak.....lame.....dull nobody cheered in all the conference
NekoMode @ Jul 11th 2007 1:34AM
Yea the price drop was the best part. Waited all night for that announcement. You guys didn't see it 'cause G4 took a commercial when it was announced...
...or not
Che @ Jul 11th 2007 1:36AM
Slow down, Halo movie!?!!? Was i watching the same keynote? I swore Moore mentioned a project based in the Halo universe involving Peter Jackson, but not a movie specifically. Wishful thinking?
NekoMode @ Jul 11th 2007 1:38AM
The movie was previously announced it's just that it stalled 'cause the Hollywood studios were being a-holes.
The live action video short though... Was that supposed to be the pitch for the movie or something? Ne ways I await more news on it.
Randy @ Jul 11th 2007 9:41AM
You know it's not actually the movie studio's fault, right? They're being asked by Jackson and Microsoft to put up a huge amount of money for the movie. There are three good reasons for them to have not financed this movie:
1) Microsoft's demands were too high taking $5 million upfront and 10% of the take. This is out of the norm.
2) The production budget has already soared from $135 million to a rumored $200 million. Considering the history of videogame movies and how well they do, this is a red flag. The only videogame movie so far to make over $200 million worldwide so far has been Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001 with $251,600,000.
3) The studios were uncomfortable with the selection of Neil Blomkamp, a guy who has never worked on any movie in any capacity, as the director.
The truth is, Jackson and Microsoft were asking too much from Fox and Universal and they were smart enough to see warning signs and flashing lights that say, hey, this is a bad idea. Halo can be done as a movie, and Halo as a movie is not a bad idea. But Fox and Universal have to look at if it is a safe venture for them to pursue. They have to, by law, make the best choices for their shareholders. And they did.
Phranctoast @ Jul 11th 2007 11:58AM
nice explanation randy. MS has a shit load of money. Let them fund the production. It would be funny if one of the many studios not supporting hddvd made this movie and the HD version couldnt be viewed on MS's console.
James @ Jul 11th 2007 1:37AM
Pretty lame keynote. Nothing exciting was new and nothing new was exciting. Blah.
mamardilla69 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:38AM
the best part was the band playing or was it the worst?? call of dutys 4 gameplay THE HELL AMAZING it made halo 3 cinematic look like a last gen game
Tony @ Jul 11th 2007 1:39AM
You do realize the conference was outside and people were pretty damn far from the stage? How much crowd applause to you expect to hear in that situation...? This isn't the typical format where everyone is in an overcrowded room with acoustics bending every sound every which way.
In reading impressions, the only thing I've read about getting any real silence was the Halo 3 console... which makes a lot of sense. I can't imagine anyone caring there.
Personally, I have no real complaints. They have no need to show 2008 games because 2007 is barely halfway over. Considering the strong line-up they have this year it makes a lot of sense to focus on it. I'm disappointed nothing amazingly interesting and new was announced, but it sure as Hell won't affect me any time soon. It's not like I've gotten to play any of these games before.
I can think of a lot of conferences where I was amazed only to find out the stuff was a year and a half away or that it was more than we were going to get. At least these are all tangible products I can play this year. I appreciate that, at the least.
Diego @ Jul 11th 2007 1:43AM
halo movie??
that didnt happen.
it was just some short film thing they made to advertize halo 3.. and it pretty much sucked
Slvrgun @ Jul 11th 2007 1:40AM
Where was the price drop information, IPTV info, the real SE Halo Xbox 360 (I hope that wasn't it), will the 360 version of GoW get the new content, WTF IS GOING ON!!!
Diego @ Jul 11th 2007 1:43AM
the disney thing was prett cool though.
i cant wait to download hurcules
.. i love that movie
(=
will @ Jul 11th 2007 1:45AM
I only caught the stuff after the GoW footage for PC. I was pretty excited for the Resident Evil 5 trailer. When they showed the CoD4 trailer, I thought it looked terrible. Then they showed the gameplay and I was stunned. I don't like the Call of Duty games, but I thought it looked amazing and it has definately caught my eye. Assassin's Creed looks sweet. It is really high up on my list of games to get. I laughed when the body that he killed didn't have physics applied to it since it just floated there in the air. The fight scene looked weird because when he would attack one, you would think the others would attack you. But they just stood there watching you kill their buddy, waiting for their turn. Still looks great though. The Halo 3 console... meh... The movie trailer and game trailer look good though.
mamardilla69 @ Jul 11th 2007 1:45AM
will there be more e3 time for ms??
Squall @ Jul 11th 2007 1:54AM
didnt one of the microsoft guys say that the 360 is the most powerful console on the market?
errr, no it isnt
Martin @ Jul 11th 2007 3:34AM
Hahahahahahaha (that's me laughing AT you)
Squall @ Jul 11th 2007 3:37AM
wow, you're clever
mamardilla69 @ Jul 11th 2007 2:01AM
neither mgs 4 nor ff 13 obviously they arent selling a 27 dvd ff 13 or a pityful 9 gb mgs 4
Milkshake @ Jul 11th 2007 2:23AM
Lost Oddesy looked amazing, im not usually into turnbased RPG's but I gotta say im gonna pick that up it looks like the team have produced a master peice
Milkshake @ Jul 11th 2007 2:27AM
@ Mike
"You do realize the conference was outside and people were pretty damn far from the stage? How much crowd applause to you expect to hear in that situation...? This isn't the typical format where everyone is in an overcrowded room with acoustics bending every sound every which way."
Fanboys will no doubt forget this though and say the crowd were bored.
thecrimsonmoogle @ Jul 11th 2007 6:02AM
I'm really sick of Fanboys, nooones forcing you to buy anything, it's called choice people.
I feel like killing all the trolls.
jc @ Jul 11th 2007 4:55AM
Meh.. boring. As an 360 fan, there were no new announcements I cared too much about. They definitely have the best games this season, but I knew that already. They were just gloating.
I was hoping for something big like Metal Gear 4 announced for 360, or price drop, or ... well thats it.
They need to stop pretending anyone cares about the Games for Windows shit. No one is ever going to get excited to play an old xbox 360 game on the PC. Bring it out, great, but dont announce it like its a big deal.
Fred Miller @ Jul 11th 2007 5:38AM
Wow, I'm shocked at how lackluster and uneventful the press conference was. I guess Microsoft had blown their load from all of the great annoucements over the last couple months and didn't save anything special for E3. Ah well, no matter.
KenshinSlayer @ Jul 11th 2007 7:23AM
One things for sure, if MGS4 was not exclusive, they would've announced it here. Afterall, PS3 fanboy or not, I still like to hear what Xbox360 has to say.
Jeff @ Jul 11th 2007 7:40AM
So, basically nothing of significance announced at the MS press conference then?
I watched on G4 until about the 60 minute mark. Sheesh, talk about a shill-fest. Lots of hype, no substance. We all knew about games like Halo 3, PGR4, etc. already - yeah, I'm sure they'll sell well, but it's not like they're revolutionizing the game industry or anything, and it's not like MS were telling us anything new.
A Halo 3 Xbox, great. Nothing against themed systems, but this is not a major announcement. And anyway, jesus that thing is ugly.
Oh well.