There has been a ton of exciting stuff announced at the current E3 expo. “The Horde” game type for GOW2 and the new dashboard and 8 person party sound have me excited. The following is a list of some of the highlights of the show:
* Fallout 3: will feature exclusive DLC on Xbox 360, Games for Windows.
* Resident Evil 5: they showed the world’s first playable demo; online co-op mode
was confirmed; the release date for North America and Europe will be March 13th 2009.
* Fable II is finished and will be out in October.
* Gears of War 2: A new mode was announced called “Horde,” a five-player co-op mode taking on waves and waves of locust. GOW2 release date will be November 7, 2008.
* NBC/Universal will be providing content on Xbox Live Marketplace starting today.
* Xbox LIVE gets a Mii-like avatar system and a new dashboard design that adds a community channel allowing you to send messages to friends, share your photos, and invite them to a “live party” or private groups of up to 8 people.
* UNO Rush and Geometry Wars 2 announced.
* The original N64 classic, Banjo Kazooie, will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Holiday season.
* Portal gets a sequel in Portal: Still Alive which will continue the single player story found in the original Orange Box collection, and will add new challenges.
* Xbox 360 will be getting Netflix’s on-demand programming later this year. Xbox Live subscribers that already have Netflix memberships can enjoy Netflix on their TV at no additional cost.
* You’re in the Movies was announced; will come with an Xbox Live Vision camera, and will place animations and backgrounds around actual video recorded from the camera.
* Microsoft’s Lips karaoke game was announced as featuring motion-sensitive wireless microphones. Expected to hit Xbox 360 this holiday season, “Lips breaks new ground by being the first game to let you sing from your own music collection,” says Keiichi Yano.
* Rock Band 2 track list announced; you’ll be able to upgrade your Rock Band tracks to use with RB2 for a “nominal” fee.
* Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to the Xbox 360… but not in Japan.
* System improvements: you’ll be able to install your Xbox 360 games to the hard drive, access XBLM on the web, and a new Xbox LIVE Primetime “whole new category of games” that offer real prizes and are broadcast simultaneously, some with live host.
