E3 (2008) Coverage - XBOX 360
Atone here, everybody. And today I bring you the highlights from E3, 2008.
For those of you who have been hiding under rocks and in underground caverns for the last decade, E3 is one of gamings biggest events of the year. It stands for ‘Electronic Entertainment Expo’, or more commonly - E3. Gamers around the world have looked to E3 to inform them on new, upcoming, and otherwise innovative games and hardware either in development or in production since all the way back in 1995. I don’t know about you, but back in ‘95, I was still playing Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis.
This year, E3 took place between July 14th - July 17th and held a lot of huge surprises for everyone, but veteran gamers especially. While I can’t rightly write an entire article on every single aspect of the event, this is the first of many articles to hit back to back that will each cover a different console.
First up on our look at E3 2008 is the XBOX 360. Some of the big hits and some big changes have been announced for this and the following year. But first, lets take a look at some of the games in the works.
- Borderlands
- Fallout 3
- Resident Evil 5
- Tomb Raider Underworld
- Just Cause 2
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
- The Lord of the Rings: Conquest
- Dungeon Hero
- Legendary
- Too Human
- Mortal Combat VS. DC Universe
- Unreal Tournament 3
- Soul Caliber IV
- Edge of Twilight
- Two Worlds: The Temptation
- Infinite Undiscovery
- Saints Row 2
- Left 4 Dead
- LEGO Batman
Now, I’m sure you’re all hoping that I left a few off of the list. I did. The most anticipated and likely explosive hits for the XBOX 360 are coming up right now.
Fable 2
Halo Wars
Gears of War 2
But, for most gamers, the most unexpected surprise of the day came in the form of a teaser trailer released by Square-Enix. Final Fantasy XIII does not have a release date as of yet. But, what we do know is that it will be released simultaneously on the XBOX 360 and the PS3. The news of the series jumping to the 360 rocked some gamers while making others very excited.
In more big news, Microsoft announced ‘A New XBOX 360 Experience’. What does that mean? I’m going to tell you. It means that Microsoft is releasing a completely new design and interface for the 360. On top of totally revamping the entire dashboard of the system, they are also integrating some new features; such as allowing players to use their own NetFlix account to download and watch movies on their 360.
In response to Playstation Home and Wii Mii, they also plan to launch a new total-integration avatar system where every user has their own unique character that can be seen by other users as well as used in games. More innovations along these lines include a new Community Channel as well as a Live-Party System. They even are planning on a new Primetime Channel which allows users to star in their own game show.
Lastly at our look at the 360 is the news that the 20GB hard drive units will be dropped in price to $299, while a new unit with a 60GB hard drive will slowly replace it with a cost of $349.
All-in-all, we’re looking at big year for the XBOX 360 and some big games to go along with it. Not sure what this means yet for other consoles, but I’m sure that Sony and Nintendo both have something up their sleeve.
Be sure to look for future follow-up articles and in depth reviews, right here at Gamer Vantage.
