E3 2008 - TONIGHT 6:30PM MS CONFERENCE

This year's E3 is upon us, and it will hopefully be awesome.

The shedule is as follows:

Monday July 14th
6:30pm – Microsoft Press Conference
8:30pm - Square Enix Press Conference
11pm – EA Press Conference

Tuesday July 15th
5pm – Nintendo Press Conference
7:30pm - Sony Press Conference
10:30pm – Ubisoft Press Conference

Wednesday July 16th
12:30am – Capcom Press Conference
4:30am – Activision Press Conference
6:45pm - Take-Two Press Conference
10:30pm - Konami Press Conference

Every conference listed above except for Square Enix and Take-Two will be streamed live over at G4tv.com (the main three will be commercial free). (Schedule shamelessly stolen from the Gamesradar forums)

http://e3.g4tv.com/e32008/pressconferences/index.html

MICROSOFT

Microsoft haven't fully unvieled their 2nd half 08 linup, or any of their 09 lineup, so hopefully we'll see some surprises, or just more depth about games we know are coming. The big ones are Gears of War 2, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Viva Pinata, Halo Wars, Too Human, and Fable 2. Resident Evil 5 should get a showing too, although it's not been confirmed for 08, and there's not been huge amounts of detail about the game released. There's Prince of Persia too, which is looking great. Again, a lot of these games we know about, but haven;t been given full details or release dates, so we should see some of that.

Surprise game anouncements or details may include 2 new Halo games (Peter jackson's 'Halo Chronicles', and a teased Bungie game), Bioshock 2, maybe Mass Effect sequels, an update on Alan Wake, and something from Rare (possible more Perfect Dark).

What's equally as interesting are other Hardware related announcements. MS unveiled the new 60Gb XBOX 360 Premium is replacing the 20Gb model, which will cease production and get a price reduction while stocks last (at least, in the US). There's also been rumours abound all over the internet about the MS Motion Controller, codenamed by some as the 'Newton'. This is reported to be similar in use to the Wiimote, but using more advanced technology. Undoubtedly, this could be the biggest announcement of the entire show, as it demonstrates an attempt (which some may label desperate) to capture some of the Wii's casual audience, as the 360 sales slow while Wii's continue to skyrocket. It would be unusual for a company to unleash such technology without the software to show it off, so expect some games we know of to include it (rumours suggest Banjo Kazooie, and possible one of the new Halo games), or even some utterly new games designed around it (360ii Sports anyone?)

It also paves the way for the much rumoured Dashboard updates to the 360. There has been talk of a Minority Report style 3D Dashboard which would use this technology, which frankly, sounds awesome. Some screens have also leaked of a Mii style interface for 360, codenamed 'Avatars', reputed to replace the current Gamerpic on your gamercard, and undoubtedly for use in some kind of 3D dashboard environment, similar to Sony's long awaited 'Home' software (which may or may not launch this year). Although, it has been reported that MS were hard at work on such a thing several years ago and cancelled it, so I guess they got their first. Will Microsoft steal Wii's motion control, and then launch a Home style interface before Sony can?

Either way, exciting times ahead for the rest of the week.