Microsoft at E3 – What to Expect

By Emmet Purcell

When’s It Happening?

June 13^th: World Premiere “Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience,” Galen Centre

June 14^th: Xbox 360 Media Briefing, Wiltern Theatre

Why Should I Care?

Microsoft typically withholds all their biggest gaming announcements until their big show at E3. They’ve previously trumpeted world exclusive reveals such as the original Halo:Combat Evolved in 2000 and stole the show last year with the world’s first glimpse of their Project Natal motion sensor platform.

Microsoft don’t just announce peripherals or new games either – in 2008 and 2009 they announced they had acquired the rights to same-day releases for ex-Sony exclusives Grand Theft Auto IV and Final Fantasy XIII respectively. If the US Corporation have anything up their sleeves to weaken main rivals Sony’s standing, rest assured it’ll always be revealed to the world’s press at E3.

This year both conferences will go into Project Natal-overdrive, with bundles, launch titles and official dates and pricing for Winter’s potential Wii-killer. We can also expect our first glimpses of single-player footage of forthcoming AAA releases Halo Reach, Gears of War 3 and Fable 3.

What Should I Look Out For?

Halo Reach – Otherwise known as Microsoft’s great hope of 2010. Released months before the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare juggernaut hit, the final instalment of developer Bungie’s trilogy faded slightly from public consciousness after a huge launch. With recent franchise spin-offs a (Halo Wars, Halo ODST) pulling solid but not spectacular numbers, Reach is a full-on reboot hoping to reclaim Halo’s crown as the king of first-person shooters.

Set before the events of the first Halo title, game play takes place on the Earth-like colony of Reach. Without super-soldier hero Master Chief, players will command Noble 6, an elite squad team member but naturally devoid of some of the chief’s natural abilities, such as dual-wielding. Outside of a recent open multiplayer beta, little is known of the plot points or enhanced features Reach hopes to bring. With nothing to go on but trailers as yet, expect Halo Reach to blown wide open next week with player impressions, screenshots and live video feeds of Winter’s big release.

Gears of War 3 – Deliberately moved to April 2011 to avoid Halo Reach, Gears 3 looks set to be the most intriguing of industry wunderkind Cliff Bleszinkski’s revolutionary cover-based shooter series. A classic in its first outing, there was a general feeling that Gears of War 2 was somewhat derivative, with the shifted focus on underground battles less satisfying than the previous instalment’s ruined cityscapes. With just a brief teaser trailer and brief magazine scans in the wild, there is much to suggest “Cliffy B” has already outdone himself.

First of all, look forward to 4-player co-op campaigns, a fully-controllable “Mech” suit and new weapons including the splendid Digger Launcher, which fires piranha creatures that dig through the ground before attacking enemies. Following the catastrophic events of Gears 2, you can expect sunken locations throughout, with early promotional showing a gigantic Waterworld-like aircraft carrier hideout. Typically a Christmas title, we’ll forgive the extra wait if the developers Epic Games can live up to their name for the trilogy-concluding Gears instalment. Expect the first playable footage at E3.

What Not to Expect?

British developer Rareware’s countdown on their website that looks set to coincide with E3’s festivities and has fanboys frothing at the mouth, wondering if Rare is planning to root through their rich back catalogue (Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Blast Corps) and pull off a surprising franchise revival. Rare have been very off the pace with their recent releases and been only making Xbox Live Avatars lately so don’t hold your breath for the return of any old favourites.

Any Crazy Rumours?

Plenty and some mightn’t be so crazy. Project Natal is believed to retail for €149 and be bundled with a cheaper “Xbox 360 Slim”, in a full casual gamer-friendly rebrand. Lots of reports are also stating that Natal has already been renamed “Wave”, which sounds pretty good to us.

Finally Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is thought to be unveiling his secret Natal project, which hopefully involves players getting up off their chairs and continuously “hiding” in cardboard boxes.

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