(Image courtesy of Kotaku)

I’m going to do things a little different this year and just write about the key points, along with my comments on each announcement (as opposed to the overall comments I wrote last year). I have a lot to cover on this amazing press conference so lets get on with it!

Games

This year Microsoft had much pride in itself by announcing that ten “never seen before” games would be coming exclusively to Xbox Live.  Although that statement wasn’t technically true there were some surprise announcments and, for once, Microsoft really didn’t disappoint in the games department.

Beatles: Rockband - Kicking off the show was the opening cinematic from the game, quickly followed by Microsoft lackey’s coming out to demonstrate the game live on stage. Six people took part in singing, drumming and playing the guitar. The top of the screen showed three voices, showing that you can sing in harmonies.

After the demonstration Yoko Ono appeared on stage (thankfully she didn’t speak) quickly followed by the two surviving Beatles; Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

You can see some of the tracks that will be appearing in the game here, with more announced for downloadable content. ‘All You Need is Love’ will be an exclusive part of this dlc, with all proceeds going to charity.

Tony Hawk Ride - Tony Hawk took to the stage to show off the board we’ve been hearing all about recently. A video showing pro skaters enjoying the game was played, with them all looking extremely excited playing a game about something they’re actually pretty good at in real life. The board itself will be playable at E3, so look out for games journalists making a fool of themselves in public soon.

Modern Warfare 2 - At first they showed the trailer we have already seen, but this was followed by Infinity Ward finally showing us some live gameplay.

The demonstration opened in a snowy scene, with the demonstrater following a guy as you both climbed up an icy cliff. An obligotory cracking ice scene followed, with the controlled character nearly falling. After skipping ahead we got some walking around in a pretty intense blizzard, which makes it really hard to see very far in the distance. This should make for some tense moments, and I could see Infinity Ward making a multiplayer map out of this area of the game.

What followed was some intense shooting action around the snowy level, before jumping onto a snowmobile and racing down a mountain whilst shooting at enemies on other snowmobiles. It’s still pretty standard stuff, but if it’s exciting as the first game was then we have nothing to worry about.

To top it all off Xbox 360 will be getting two exclusive map packs for the game, so sorry to those with only a Playstation 3.

Final Fantasy XIII - All that was shown here was the game actually running on the Xbox 360 (it was a scene we’ve seen before). From what I could see it looks just as good as the PS3, but obviously I can’t really make that statement official until we run both versions side by side.

Square-Enix also announced a projected Spring 2010 release date.

Shadow Complex - So, no new Gear’s from Epic at the moment. Instead we get Shadow Complex, which is 2.5-D (basically part 2D part 3D) shoot-em-up that looks a bit like Bionic Commando: Rearmed. It will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Summer.

Joy Ride - A kart racer with dashboard avatars; which is free to download, apart from tracks you can purchase that can also be shared with friends. Enough said?

Crackdown 2 - Well, this was a surprise! Nothing but a pre-rendered video was shown, but the announcement itself made my head come off and fly around the room.

Left 4 Dead 2 - Another surprise, and it’s also a kind of odd move for Valve as Left 4 Dead itself didn’t have much content and many expected Valve to continue supporting it. The sequel may be a little too soon, but more zombies is still good in my book - especially as it’s set in New Oreleans!

Coming 17th November.

Splinter Cell: Convinction - Finally coming out of relative obscurity and giving us some gameplay. This includes smashing a guy’s head into a mirror, ‘marking’ a room of targets through a closed door, crawling around near the ceiling, shooting out the lights and generally shooting people in the face.

Forza 3 – We kind of suspected this was coming, but it was the first gameplay we’ve seen. There’s also more emphasis on customisation and community this time around; with more options for customising your car and a video editor to share your best moments with friends.

Halo 3: ODST – It could just be a re-skinned version of Halo 3, but from what was shown it does show at least a little improvement in the graphics department. There seems to be more emphasis on working as a squad, with your AI squad members defending while you detonate a bridge with a remote charge.

The game will be coming on 22nd September, but that wasn’t all. The previously rumoured Halo: Reach is also in development, which means we’ll hopefully be overloaded with Halo content come this time next year. You will also get an invite to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta when you buy ODST.

Alan Wake – The final game was one we’ve all been waiting quite some time to see more of. After a “previously on Alan Wake” we get to see some actual gameplay. It’s clear that there’s heavy emphasis on story, with Alan narrating as you move through the game world. He also has a slight flashlight fetish.

After supernatural enemies turn up, flinging items at Alan, he goes on a rampage with a shotgun before getting out a flare gun and going into some sort of bullet time mode. It seems to have something to do with light, meaning that Alan will probably have to use light to defend himself. The demo ended with Alan stuck in a house while a bulldozer pushed it towards a cliff.

But wait!

Metal Gear Solid: Rising – Yup, the Xbox 360 is getting a Metal Gear game. It’s too bad it features Raiden though…

Spring 2010 was given as a release date.

Other announcements:

Last.fm – Last.fm will be coming to Xbox Live meaning that you can listen to personalised radio stations based on what you listen to while you play games. I love Last.fm, and considering I only have one LAN wire running into my room it’s either the PC or Xbox 360 that is connected to the Internet, so this means I can now continue using Last.fm when I have to sacrifice my PC connection to go on Live.

It will be available for free for all Gold members later this year.

Netflix – Unfortunately this is something that doesn’t concern us U.K residents, but Americans will now have the ability to add movies to their Netflix queue through Live. Previously they could only do it through their PC.

Sky – More relevant to us U.K residents is Sky bringing content to Xbox Live. Apparently the service will be similar to Sky Player, but will also include live TV such as football games. This is something that I am pretty excited about, especially as my team Burnley has just been promoted to the Premiership.

Video Store – HD content will be getting upgraded to 1080p, while also doubling the amount of countries that have access to the video store. You will also be able to watch videos with friends (it’s a virtual living room with a massive TV, with your avatars sitting watching it), something that didn’t make the original dashboard upgrade.

Facebook – Xbox Live will also be getting Facebook integration; allowing you to post status updates, view those of your friends and their photos. You can also see who on your Facebook friends list is also a member of Xbox Live.

Facebook Connect also allows you to capture a screenshot in-game and send it to your Facebook profile.

Coming this autumn.

Twitter – View your Twitter stream from Xbox Live, while also being able to Tweet straight from your console. As someone who spends a lot of time on Twitter I’m looking forward to seeing this come autumn

Project Natal (motion controller) – It has been rumoured but now we get to see it for real. Microsoft says that you are the controller, meaning that all you have to do is make the motions to play a game. So, for example, playing a racing game would have you pretending to hold a wheel; while a football game will have you kicking a ball by the doing the motion you would while kicking a real ball or pretending to jump like a goalkeeper.

I can’t really stress how much more advanced this looks compared to the Wii, so you will really have to check out the videos for yourself. To give you a picture though the ‘controller’ also has voice and facial recognition, meaning that the Xbox 360 will recognize you and you can also shout out your answer in, say, a quiz game. Your avatar also mimics the movements you’re making in real life.

Also shown off were a kickball breakout style game and a painting mode; the latter of which had two people bent down trying to form an elephant while the Xbox 360 took a snapshot of the shape and added it to the painting. Microsoft really intends to take on Nintendo with this one.

Finally Peter Molyneux came out to show off something that, if it works like intended, could be pretty revolutionary. A video was shown about a boy named Milo, a virtual boy that was literally talking to a woman stood in front of the TV. He answers her questions and, at one point, threw goggles towards the screen which the woman pretended to catch and place them on her face when Milo asked her too. Next she bent down towards a pool of water, her reflection shown on the screen and any arm movements towards the screen making ripples in the water. Finally she drew a picture of a fish on a piece of paper, which she then handed towards the screen. The paper appeared on the screen in Milo’s hand, amazingly showing the picture she had drawn.

Apparently this works today and is not just a concept, and could be one of the most amazing things to come out of Lionhead so far. Lets not forget that Molyneux has a habit of making promises he later breaks, but I hope that isn’t the case here. It will be shown behind closed doors at E3, so we should get some press impressions up soon.

That’s it for the Microsoft E3 Press Conference coverage, but check back tomorrow for Nintendo’s and Sony’s. You can also continue checking ButtonSmasher for the latest news coming out of E3.

So, dear (fraction of) readers… you still got your lumbering beast of an Xbox under the telly, have no intention of buying another overpriced console, have already enjoyed the best Xbox game there is and are looking for something new, aren’t you? Well, look no further, for what I might have to suggest may not be particularly new, but still is an amazingly enjoyable -if flawed- game based on a classic movie: The Thing. A sequel of sorts to Mr. Carpenter’s frozen horror thriller in video game form, that picks up the story roughly from where the movie had left it.

As you would expect, the game takes places in a mostly abandoned scientific base and its snowy environs, where the alien entity widely known as the Thing, well, does it’s thing. You, assuming you choose to play this game, get to fight the Thing and its impressive variety of sibling in all its/their manifestations, uncover an X-Files inspired conspiracy and manage your squad of civilians and soldiers, while making sure (preferably by testing them) none of your supposed comrades is infected by the Thing’s thinginess that would transform him or her into a deadly monstrosity. Making sure they trust you would be a nice idea.

Where The Thing truly shines though is in the atmosphere, which has to be experienced to be believed and even makes sure you wont be frustrated by the millions of fuse boxes you’ll have to mend and the badly placed save-points. Oh, and it’s a third person fighter in case you were wondering. One with good graphics and controls too.

Ok, after hours of frustration I finally finished playing Psychonauts and all I can now do is bow in front of Tim Shafer’s superior intellect and then arrange for the man to meet Shigeru Miyamoto and be taught the way of 3D Mario. Psychonauts is brilliant, beautiful, absolutely original and at times downright sublime. It’s got great humor that actually uses the strength of the medium (err, that would be interactivity), excellent storytelling, interesting characters (shocking, I know) and a few moments that would make any great surrealist proud. Plus, the art direction is so masterful, uhm, a true master of art direction must have, err, directed it. Anyway. You get the idea. Psychonauts looks, sounds and feels fantastic.

On the other hand -and quite understandably as this is Mr. Shafer’s first attempt at platform gaming, let alone 3D platform gaming- the controls are simply terrible, sometimes even entering broken territory. Now, admittedly, this might have to to with the fact that I’ve played Psychonauts on the PC using the standard mouse/keyboard control method where obviously this is a game that would have greatly benefited from a dual analog controller, but apparently console reviewers aren’t to happy with it either. Then, there are more gameplay problems that would include a ton of things to collect, some truly infuriating boss battles, the lack of a proper save system and some god-awful combat bits. The question, however, is: do these flaws matter? Well, no, not at all.

For Psychonauts, dear readers, is hands-down the best action game I’ve played those last ten or so years and that even includes Super Mario Galaxy. It might have its fair share of problems and a distinct lack of polished gameplay mechanics, but it almost literally oozes class and originality. Besides, how many games let your in-game persona invade people’s subconscious and have arcadey fun around these mental constructs? How many games have you terrorize a city of sentient fish and collect emotional baggage while sticking bacon in your ear? How many games feature pie jokes? How many games sport ridiculously detailed levels based on wargames? None, that’s how many. Psychonauts is unique.

So, do yourselves a favour. Buy this game now. It is after all available for PC, PS2 and Xbox. Oh, and if you liked Psychonauts then you’ll definitely love Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango.

Football games, not unlike adventures and strategy games, don’t need fancy graphics, never truly age and are more than tricky to get right. They are, you see, one of them gameplay driven genres. That’s why Sensible Soccer still is a better game than the latest FIFA, that’s why thousands of people still enjoy Kick Off II and that’s why Football Manager -one of the most successful gaming franchises ever- is in essence a game without graphics. So, what are your options in digital football gaming, I pretend to hear you ask? Well, read on, read on.

Football Manager

Football Manager, the venerable series that began life as Championship Manager, has always been an immensely addictive time sink of a management game, an impressive ever-evolving database of the international world of of football and an incredibly fun game too. Nowadays, it can also be said that FM is a true football RPG, and one of those games we all take refuge in when our teams get disqualified/relegated/ridiculed. Traditionally FM 2008, the latest and best version of the game, is available for PC only, but you can also grab a stripped down version of the game for your PSP or go for FM 2006 for the Xbox 360. Oh, and a MMO should soon be released.

Pro Evolution Soccer

Pro Evolution Soccer is a rare yet happily popular attempt at realistically recreating football. There are no crazy scores here and precise crossing is a matter of technique. It really feels proper. Now, Pro Evo might lack FIFA’s official shine and impressive graphics, but -believe me- it still is the better game. By far. Makes for quite a brilliant party game too. Pro Evo 2008 can be played on the PS3, PS2, PSP and -provided you don’t mind less impressive ports- on the DS. The highly innovative Wii version of the game, a footie RTS of sorts, will soon be reviewed.

Sensible Soccer

This is the best football game ever. Want to know why? One word: pace. Care for more words? Well, how about after-touch, one button gameplay and lovely pixel-art graphics? To properly enjoy Sensible Soccer you should really play it on an Amiga, but lacking one, I guess you could try the equally retro PC or Atari ST versions of the game. Alternatively the best way to get some faithful yet up-to-date Sensi action would be via the Xbox Live Arcade. Sensible Soccer 2006 (PC, Xbox, PS2) is decent, as is the Mega Drive/Genesis version available via a certain TV plug-’n'-play thingy.

FIFA

Not much of a fan of the franchise really, but I must admit it’s quite enjoyable. And looks rather good too. FIFA 2008, quite obviously the latest offering in the long running series, can be played on virtually any console, meaning versions for the Wii, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, DS and PSP have already been released.