It’s that time of year where publishers, journalists, gamers, and fanboys gear up for the mother of all video game trade shows, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. While many sites are offering retrospectives regarding the press conferences from last year’s E3, I decided to take a look over Microsoft’s conference myself to see what promises actually came to fruition, and to explore what Microsoft could possibly have up its sleeve for this year’s big show.
Big Title Talk:
Last year, a large part of Microsoft’s pitch was something to the effect of “we’ve got tons of games, so you should like us.” Having a yearlong head start in front of its competitors has surely been the reason for this advantage, and it showed last year with announcements regarding huge console exclusives Gears of War 2 and Fable II. Additionally, Microsoft spent a little time demoing non-exclusives like Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3 and announcing that Final Fantasy XIII, a game previously thought to be a Sony exclusive, would be coming to the Xbox 360 as well. Microsoft claimed that—upon release—these titles would make astonishing amounts of money, and they were completely right. Gears of War 2 alone sold two million copies in its first week.
Accuracy: 100%
What’s coming this year?: Expect more of the same \about how successful all the big-name games were, and will continue to be, this year, while also having at least one more mention that Final Fantasy XIII is coming eventually. Other titles touched on will most likely be Halo 3: ODST, Bioshock 2, and the new downloadable chapter announced for Grand Theft Auto IV entitled The Ballad of Gay Tony. Non-exclusives mentioned or demoed will most likely be composed of Alpha Protocol, Dragon Age: Origins, Dante’s Inferno, and, of course, the next installment in the extremely popular Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 2.
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