You’ve seen my lineups for Games and Accessories already. Hopefully they helped you sort through all the hottest titles and accessories to make your holiday shopping easier. Now it’s time for another round of my Starting Lineup and this time it’s about the hottest stories that got the community in a frenzy this year.
What were we all talking about? What made the biggest splash in the headlines this year? Are you ready for my Starting Lineup?
X06 - What didn’t come out of this show that wasn’t worth headlines? You can start with the Peter Jackson partnership to the announcement of Halo Wars. There was so much heading out of this event that it was hard to count. The next installment in the Splinter Cell series is exclusive to Xbox 360. X06 brought the noise!
TGS (Tokyo Game Show) - There was more good news prior to X06 at TGS. 1080p! Many will argue about how it can be done and that’s exactly why it was another of the top stories this year. HD enthusiasts were divided on whether or not it was possible but the fact remains, the Xbox 360 was about to be 1080p enabled!
Xbox 360 System Update (Spring) - When the Xbox 360 launched, there were some noticeable improvements that could be made. The biggest of which was addressed in the Spring system update…Active Downloading!
Gears of War Emergence Day - I can’t recall in the brief history of both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 if there was ever a release date that created more buzz than the announcement of the Gears of War release date and subsequent plans for Emergence Day. It hit like a meteor across the community and is still being talked about due to how hard core the game turned out to be.
E3 2006 Halo 3 - This year’s E3 brought one thing that I’m sure no one will soon forget…the unveiling of Halo 3. What’s so fascinating about the trailer that debuted at E3 was the fact that it was IN GAME. It wasn’t some computer generated cinematic. The visuals you saw in the Halo 3 trailer were the same you’ll see in the game. When the trailer hit the internet and the Xbox Live Marketplace, there were massive downloads!
There you have it. The top stories of 2006 that made it into my starting lineup. And as always, every starting 5 needs a solid bench to make the rotation strong. Getting some quality minutes off the bench are the stories on the Xbox Live Vision Camera, E3 2006 Grand Theft Auto IV announcement, Bringing It Home E3 2006, and Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays.
X06 is over. The free Xbox Live Gold week long event for European players is ending today. So what have we learned and what were our impressions upon learning it? Let me attempt to run down a few things I thought were the ‘Best of the Show’. For those yet unaware, I’ve renamed X06 to X0Sizzle.
Halo Expanded - New games based on the Halo series are forthcoming and the LOTR man himself Peter Jackson is on board for one of them. Halo Wars is being developed in Dallas!
Bioshock - Easily, at least in my opinion, stole the show! I saw the walkthrough a few days before the show and was amazed. The new trailer just reconfirmed that this title is a must-own for me! It’s exclusive to Xbox 360 and PC.
Assassin’s Creed - I don’t know why I wasn’t blown away by this one but many of you were. It looked incredible don’t get me wrong but I just didn’t get the anxiety feeling in my stomach after seeing it like I did with other news like the Halo and Bioshock news. Still, the first ever gameplay footage left many with soiled pants I hear.
HD-DVD player - It’ll be here soon and for $199.99. Included with the player are a Universal Media Remote and the King Kong HD-DVD. I’ve always been a standalone guy with no interest in playing movies from my console but for this price, I may just budge.
Viva Piñata™ - I may be the only adult waiting for this game but I’ll wear that tag proudly. This game is just screaming family time.
Xbox Live Marketplace - I’m listing this because of all the content, demos and trailers released on the Marketplace during this event. Wow! I got some unexpected demos and some pretty good Picture Packs.
Alan Wake - I’m really waiting on this title! Everything about it seems like my kind of thriller.
Guitar Hero II - I’ll admit that I simply ignored this at first. But after seeing someone rock to it, I said to myself…this game is going to be a kid’s dream and not to mention some busted rocker’s dream.
Well these are just a few of the things that X0Sizzle unleashed that I thought were the best of the show. What are your impressions of the show? It brought as much excitement as I can recall recently from any show.
In keeping with the ‘Bringing It Home’ promotion, Microsoft has released a load of content from its X06 event! And here I was thinking that the announcements were the best part…shame on me. Call this Day 8-9 of the promotion.
Trailers:
COD3
Banjo Kazooie
Marvel Ultimate Online
Viva Pinata
Assassin’s Creed
Splinter Cell: Double Agent|
Blue Dragon
Lost Odyssey
Bioshock
FIFA 07
Rainbow Six Vegas
Halo Wars
Tony Hawk’s Project 8
Wheelman
Frontlines Fuel of War
X06 Game Montage
Crossfire
Project Gotham Racing 4 - thx for the info Paul
Demos:
Picture Packs and Themes:
Halo Wars Picture Pack - 80 Microsoft Points
Halo Wars Theme - 150 Microsoft Points
Fable 2 Theme - 150 Microsoft Points
X06 Theme
(there’s also a Sonic the Hedgehog demo and DOOM was released for Xbox Live Arcade)
Microsoft just released the press statement that summarizes all the announcements made today. It is an especially good day to be an Xbox 360 fan and really just a good day to be a gamer.
“Xbox 360 is changing the way developers are telling stories today—from the industry’s most beloved franchises to exciting new properties,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. “We are inspiring the imaginations of the entertainment industry’s best and most creative talent to take their franchises in exciting directions, while also spinning new tales for everyone.”
Read the official press release and everything on why Xbox 360 owners worldwide are smiling.
Here are some points from the press release:
- Rockstar and Take-Two will provide Xbox 360 gamers with exclusive access to two epic downloadable episodes of Grand Theft Auto IV via Xbox Live, each with hours of new gameplay content, and available only on Xbox 360 just months after the release of the title.
- 2K Games confirmed that BioShock , a first person shooter that will revolutionize the genre and forever change the expectations of gamers, will be released exclusively on Xbox 360 and Microsoft®Windows® next spring.
- Arriving at retailers in North America, the U.K., France, and Germany in mid-November 2006, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player will retail for $199.99 in North America (ESRP) and €199.99/£129.99 (ESRP) in the U.K., France, and Germany. The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player comes with both the Universal Pictures blockbuster Peter Jackson’s King Kong on HD DVD (for a limited time) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote.
There has been an explosion of information coming out of X06 about the Xbox 360. None more shocking than the one about Halo Wars from Ensemble Studios. It’s an RTS based in the Halo universe that has the entire community buzzing. It was shown at the end of the X06 press conference. The press brief ended with a bang I’d say.
Ensemble Studios is ofcourse based in my hometown, Dallas…so they better expect ol’ Deacon to show up banging on the door for information!
When Microsoft hinted that you ain’t seen nothing yet…I think you can take them to the bank on it.
Hurry and get to this Live feed of X06 as it happens.
http://dl.groovygecko.net/anon.groovy/clients/xbox/live/hb_1.asx
News just came down for exclusivity with the next chapter in the Splinter Cell series, not Double Agent. You’ll only be able to play it on Xbox 360 and Games for Windows. Now did he mean Double Agent or the next chapter after Double Agent? The announcement came immediately after the Double Agent trailer so…
There is an abundance of news filtering out…way too much to handle. I’ll wrap it up for ya though soon.
Also, Major Nelson is doing a bit of ‘live blogging’ on the event so be sure to keep your eyes peeled.
Remember when I alluded to the free content that gamers could expect during TGS? Well, Microsoft released some press on just what to expect. Take a peek at the events beginning with the Tokyo Game Show and ending with X06.
Enjoy Tokyo Game Show and X06 direct from your living room with an all-access pass to the biggest video game events of the Fall
Xbox Live is “Bringing It Home” and invites Xbox 360 owners to check out games, demos, trailers and news from the show floors.
LOL