The Sentient AI exists, and he's British
I have to say, and this is as with as much objectivism I can muster for my own company, but somehow, despite our inability to do anything right with consumers in other spheres, someone, somewhere figured out the right formula for Xbox, and good gravy does it work. Microsoft's conference is going to be a tough one to beat as they led off with powerhouse titles like The Beatles: Rock Band, with a live appearance by the two remaining Beatles, Modern Warfare 2, Forza Motorsport 3, Splinter Cell Conviction, Halo ODST, and many more, most with a live demo to go along with it. Additionally, we also got announcements of another Halo game, Halo: Reach, Left 4 Dead 2, and a new Metal Gear Solid game for the Xbox. To top it off, great news about new media support and social network integration for Xbox Live and a stunning demo of the secret "Project Natal."
Oh yeah, and Peter Molyneux has invented a sentient artificial intelligence named Milo that will take over the world and enslave us as soon as we stop showing it drawings of fish from its virtual pond. He finally got his wish, we'll either be forced to flood it with undying affection or it will kill us all. So that's that.
Hit the jump for a video of the full press conference (courtesy of our friends at Gamespot.com) as well as the pithy comments from my liveblog twitter feed.
LiveBlog Twitter Feed
[MS Presscon 10:41] Wow, never put actual Beatles on the stage to promote a Beatles game. Yikes.
[MS Presscon 10:44] More celebs, Tony Hawk showing off a skateboard controller for Tony Hawk
[MS Presscon 10:50] Modern Warfare 2 getting some live demo luv? Sweet!
[MS Presscon 10:51] Demo clearly showing work on weather effects and environment, climbing up an ice cliff in the snow, no guns yet.
[MS Presscon 10:52] MW2 showing off gun with motion sensor built in, ala "Alien." Fighting Russians through a white-out blizzard. Looks GR8
[MS Presscon 10:54] Wow, freaking impressive explosions from MW2. Haha, start snowmobile chase.
[MS Presscon 10:59] Final Fantasy XIII now on the stage, showing demo running on 360.
[Ms Presscon 11:04] An Epic XBLA game, looks a bit like Bionic Command rearmed, side scrolling 2D shooter.
[MS Presscon 11:04] Giant Enemy mech crab!
[MS Presscon 11:06] New game for Xbox Avatars, a cartoon, Wiley Coyote-esque racer called Joy Ride.
[MS Presscon 11:10] Teaser for Hobo Hero (aka Splinter Cell Conviction). Sam Fischer shooting people at locales in DC.
[MS Presscon 11:14] - Live demo of SC:C, far more action oriented than previous SC's. Looks like wait has yielded amazing lighting engine.
[MS Presscon 11:18] Wow, my buddies at Turn 10 having been working hard. Forza 3 looks amazing!
[MS Presscon 11:25] No surprise, Halo: ODST demo. Shows you dropping into New Mombassa right before Cov. ship hyper jumps.
[MS Presscon 11:30] Surprise, Halo:Reach!?!
[MS Presscon 11:34] Alan Wake, in the flesh? Only took 4 years :)
[MS Presscon 11:37] Alan Wake == Resident Evil 5 w/photophobic lumberjack zombies (Zomberjacks)? I'm sold.
[MS Presscon 11:40] New Music service for Xbox Dashboard: Last FM. Finally, can search for films in Netflix app. Sky TV app as well.
[MS Presscon 11:43] Zune app, promises instantly playable 1080p HD movies and TV.
[MS Presscon 11:44] Can watch movies & TV with other friends' Avatars on "virtual couch." Also adding Facebook app, groan...
[MS Presscon 11:48] Twitter app for Xbox. Xbox goes social, all the way :)
[MS Presscon 11:50] Hideo Kojima on stage!!! A Metal Gear Solid game on Xbox 360!?
[MS Presscon 11:54] Here goes, Motion sensing camera totally equals Minority Report.
[MS Presscon 12:00] Mr. Spiel on stage, talking about how people are intimidated by Video Games
[MS Presscon 12:01] Spielburg "Not about reinventing the wheel, but no wheel at all"
[MS Presscon 12:02] No annoucement of LMNS game project? Just butt kissing from Spielberg? Uh...thanks?
[MS Presscon 12:04] Clearly some demo bugs, Avatar on screen contorting like the Exorcist. Demo game looks nice and smooth though.
[MS Presscon 12:06] Burn. "No preset waggle motions from the couch"
[MS Presscon 12:07] Showing painting demo with motion cap device. Jackson Pollack Hero?
[MS Presscon 12:10] Haha, gimmicky, but nice elephant silhouette.
[MS Presscon 12:11] Peter Molyneux on stage. Says the controller is biggest barrier to interaction. Buzzword "Will change the lanscape."
[MS Presscon 12:13] Holy hell's bells, they've birthed sentient AI, and it's Harry Potter!!
[MS Presscon 12:16] Seriously, I'm damn freaked out by Molyneux's Frankenstein-ian creation.
[MS Presscon 12:19] "...using the best controller ever invented, You." Nice catch phrase.
[MS Presscon 12:20] That sums it up for the MS Press conference, looks like they've set the bar high this year.