Monday, 05.10.04:
Aight, check it, we spent a few hours at a mighty impressive press conference from Microsoft. Below are pics, articles, and video content that you’ll only find here at BreakmanX.com.
If you have any questions, drop Break an e-mail at breakmanx@breakmanx.com
Microsoft Press Conference, by Jack Burton
Well, we made it. After all of the preparations, flights, shuttle rides, and everything else in between, we finally made it to Los Angeles for the yearly pilgrimage to the Mecca of gamers like us, E3. The BreakmanX crew has been extremely busy today, as you might have noticed on the page or the webcam or any other source that you could have gotten some information out of us. We’ve been running in ten different directions all day trying to find hotels, taxis, food, Shadow, and even the Shrine Auditorium, which just happened to be the site for the Microsoft Pre-E3 Press Conference.
If this is only the beginning, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my time here. My head might quite literally explode from over-exposure to that which I yearn for so much. In case you’ve never been to any press conference by Microsoft before, let me kind of set the stage for you. Picture a huge lobby full of computers and Microsoft reps all registering and confirming identities of all the press attending the show, while big Microsoft gaming execs are mingling with some of the other journalists and their peers. For instance, seeing Ken Lobb chat it up with Ed Boon was pretty fun, although seeing Ian Kessler (of EBGames infamy) was quite an aggrivating experence. We even ran into our old friends Kevin Browne, from XSN Sports, and Pete Parsons, the studio manager of Bungie, and now my personal hero (sorry, Greg). I’ll get to that in a minute though.
Before the press conference, Microsoft basically had open bars all over the lobby, and caterers were walking around with fancy hors d’ourves. Microsoft was more than happy to put up the money to get us drunk for free, and we were pretty happy to make sure that their effort was not in vain. Afro, myself, and Break all had fun with Microsoft’s generosity, which led to Afro and myself getting pictures with some of the Microsoft babes working at the show. Afro also got the chance to snap a few pictures of Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy Playmate, who was just around doing interviews for an undisclosed network, but she did interview Richie after the show, and he managed to sputter out the words “BreakmanX.com”.
After that, the press conference began, and we all began shooting video and pictures like crazed paparazzi when J-Lo goes out for a walk. We saw all kinds of cool stuff, like a hilarious trailer for Conker: Live and Reloaded, as well as trailers for Full Spectrum Warrior, Jade Empire, Doom 3, Forza Racing, and Star Wars: Republic Commando.
And oh yeah, they showed off the multiplayer portion of Halo 2. Man oh man, does the game look sweet! You really need to check out the videos we got of Joe Staten and his buddy playing the game. Some of the new features are going to blow you away. Let’s get a checklist going here really quick:
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Play as Elites in Multiplayer
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Plasma swords usable
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Destructible environments
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Actual assault maps, with incredibly cool level design
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Ability to customize decals on your armor
Oh, I figure you might want to know what might be the most important Halo 2 related announcement: the release date. They’re not kidding on this one, it’s cast in stone, and also flesh and blood.
November 9, 2004
I think that’s everything, but you might want to just watch the videos or see the pictures yourself just to make sure. 😉
Tomorrow we’re going to the Nintendo Press Briefing, and hopefully we’ll be able to crash Sony’s as well. Things are going well, and tomorrow should be a fun-filled day as well.
-Jack
