Live Blogging The Microsoft Keynote – GDC 08

  Good morning all, we are live at the Microsoft Keynote for GDC 08. We will be live blogging the entire event, which should lead to the unveiling of the mysterious curtain in the lobby of the Moscone Center. So stay tuned, we are just setting up…

Newest Updates will appear at the top:

11:40 – Its over

11:38 – Gears of War 2, exclusive on Xbox 360, November 2008.

11:37 – Gears of War 2 sounds and red lights, we see a trailer, and Cliffy B just chainsawwed through a wall.

11:33 – We see some combat, switching between swords, to guns, we then see a little farmhouse where his family is located, married for 5 years, has a baby, haven’t been back in about 6 months. His son runs in [in game]. Pissed off dad appears, Josh then kills the husband. Josh then laughs in the game.

11:30 – He has been pregnant in the game,  sorry, no XBLA game coming for it. Someone else named Josh also takes the stage, also has a controller. He wants dynamic co-op, anytime you want, you can have a friend jump in the game.

11:26 – John retakes the stage, invited Peter Molynuex to the stage to show us Fable 2. Gambling is in Fable 2 – looking at a game called Keystone. We see him betting a lot of his money on a craps like game. Its an XBLA game and will be out a few weeks before Fable 2, and can raise money before the game even comes out. He says he is a woman [no, not in real life, crowd laughs]

11:25 – Ninja Garden II appears, June 2008. Early June around the world, June 3 it will ship in the US

11:22 – His battery died on the controller [2nd time]. Demonstration continues

11:22 – Best players can record parts of the game and upload for other users to see how they play.

11:15 – Invites Team Ninja creator Tomonobu Itagaki to show us Ninja Garden 2. Speaks Japanese. Translator stands next to him. Latest build of Ninja Garden 2 is shown on video. Live demo that is.

11:14 – April 29th, GTA IV will be released, along with DLC on Day 1 – Fall 08. We will also see Too Human, Splinter Cell Conviction and Too Human.

11:13 – Next month we will see PES 2000, Rainbow Six 2, MLB 2K8, and Army of Two

11:11 – John retakes the stage – By the end of 2008, they expect over 1000 games on Xbox 360. Not including the community games

11:08 – Tim Sweeney takes the stage, talks about Unreal Engine, Ambient engine, new shadow effects and in-depth, new advanced lighting, more contrast and lighting. high density crowds. we see 100 locusts running… New water upgrades, more liquid-idity feel. Matinee upgrades – which is cinematics, easier control over cuts and cameras, and real time previews. Soft body, we see a cube of meat and a bubble. [Looks amazing]. Destructible enviroments- we see a torque bow shot to wood and walls explode and break apart.

11:07 – A year and a half since Gears of War, they have been busy since… what if Gears of War looks like if they brought it out today?

11:06 – Talks about Unreal Engine, we see Bioshock video, Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, and Gears of War.

11:05 – Michael Capps from Epic takes the stage

11:04 – This year, Microsoft completes the XNA revolution – democratizing [why do they keep saying that word?]

11:02 – Games menu shows on Zune video. We see Hexic listed, plays music on the Zune at the same time… games and music on the Zune. You can play multiplayer wireless games also.

11:02 – Shows a game on the video, just a shooter, what if we could play games on the Zune? You can play XNA games for Zune and more!

11:00 – As of right now, you can download free trial of 7 XNA games including The Dishwasher

10:59 – Video shows a lot of XNA games, dodgeball type game, Dishwasher, Little Gamers, and about 5 others.

10:58 – Little Gamers video is shown – shows a guy chainsawing zombies drinking beer, and then shotgunning zombies. Then is rocket launching them.

10:57 – Jellycar video is shown

10:56 – Explains the submit and review features, what will the game contain, and peer reviewer, too much blood or injuries, etc.

10:55 – Create, Submit, Peer Review, and Play [shows on screen]

10:54 – John announces – Community Games on Xbox Live

10:53 – Wisdom from James – start small, accomplish it, and then move on

10:52 – James Silva takes the stage, we watch The Dishwasher on the video. Best game he ever told himself – "Dishwasher goes crazy and kills everyone."

10:48 – James Silva video is on video, with Major Nelson telling him he won. Shows Microsoft talking fast saying what they need, James seems confused. Chronology of James is shown, 2nd grade teacher asks is Peter Moleyneux, ex girlfriend then appears, mother says he could have done so many things. A restaraunt owner says he washed dishes, "did he kill someone?
" Shows a highlight of him being the "team." Mother says he can still work at Macy’s.

10:47 – They needed to get people motivated, so last year they did DreamBuildPlay, and had over 200 games in 4 months. Top 50 games were awesome, but they had to pick 1 game. They offered 4 Xbox Live Arcade publishing agreements.

10:46 – 800,000 downloads of XNA Game Studio, and adopted by 400 universities worldwide

10:45 – Brings Chris Satchel to the stage to explain XNA

10:44 – John retakes the stage. Starts talking about XBLA and XNA. Talks about the 3 guys at Void Star Creations who brought Poker Smash to the XBLA.

10:43 – Over 3 million songs downloaded for Rock Band [revealed by Eran in video]

10:40 – Video shows developers talking about the 360 dev kits. Ken Levine of 2K is first, then Todd Howard of Bethesda, then Dan Greenwalt of Turn 10, then Jason West of Infinity Ward, then Dany Lepage of Ubisoft Montreal, then Chris Butcher of Bungie, then Eran Egozy of Harmonix. They explain the reasnons they enjoy the Xbox 360 development tools.

10:39 – Talks about Halo 3 saved films – over 100,000 pieces of content a day. 30% more then youtube a day.

10:39 – Over 250 million spent online, not including Xbox Live subscriptions.

10:38 – As of today, 1,000,000,000 achievements have been unlocked on the Xbox 360.

10:37 – 7 of the highest rated games appear on the 360 this year. Why, because developers are making games on the 360 first because of the development tools. Talks about achievements…

10:36 – Bioshock, Halo 3, Madden 08, Guitar Hero 3, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty 4 helped lead this – and they all sold at least 1 million units on the Xbox 360. "Games sell better, because they play better on the 360."

10:35 – Industry had the biggest year ever, 18 Billon [US Alone]. Passed Box Office years ago, and is now bigger then music on a global basis. 2007 = blowout year. "More Xbox 360′s are on the way."

10:34 – His favorite poster comes up, an old EA Ad that says "We See Farther," yet, he says "We See Further," audience laughs, and John has no idea he mispronounced it.

10:33 – As they moved to the optical disk, sales went from $10,000 to $10,000,000.

10:32 – His first game was Madden 94, and was left with the burden of making a few more Maddens [at Tiburon, where is still made today]

10:31 – We see Desert Strike in the background, along with John Madden Football 92, we learn about the ambulance feature.

10:30 – John takes the stage, makes a joke about giving away HD TV’s and stuff, audience awws in the background. He then goes on that he can give away the best development tools instead.

10:28 – We get some background about Microsoft’s speaker John Scheppert, where he founded Tiburon in Florida, which then became EA, and then eventually made it to Microsoft.

10:27 – Director of GDC comes on stage, starts talking about game development and technology

10:27 – Music gets louder… much louder

10:26 – They are about to start, asking the audience to get quiet

10:25 – James Bond music starts playing in the background, am I the only person who starts speculating?

10:16 – Sitting in the 2nd row from the Microsoft Keynote, sitting next to Brian Crescente from Kotaku and in back of the Joystiq bloggers.