Read our pre-E3 Microsoft predictions and you'll find little there that we didn't get absolutely right during our Mystic Meg crystal ball-gazing. Not including FFXIII (did anyone see that coming?).
Alright, it's a bit unfair to gloat seeming as the vast majority of its announcements leaked all over the internet last month. And indeed there was more than one no-show during the Xbox pre-E3 festivities - some which we considered a near-cert to prop up Microsoft's show.
We'd like to know what happened to this lot...
The Motion Controller
The most hotly tipped product to be unveiled at E3 and also the most obvious no-show on our list is the 'Newton' Xbox 360 motion controller, tipped by many sources as "definitely" appearing at E3.
We reckon too many outlets have thrown their keys into the hat to pass this one off as a fake rumour for now. Perhaps Microsoft's decided to hold the peripheral's unveiling back until later in the year, or maybe its transformed into something else entirely...
Halo 4 / Bungie's new project
Another Microsoft secret tipped by multiple press sources is the mysterious fourth Halo game, said to be a squad shooter sans series protagonist Master Chief.
To be fair, there's a countdown clock on Bungie's website - could the unveiling of its new project happen after all?
Forza 3
The third in Turn 10's racing series was seemingly revealed in the massive Microsoft leak last month, but surprisingly hasn't been mentioned once during E3.
Leaked documentation described the latest instalment as being so big that it needed to ship on two DVDs to house its 100-plus race courses. We still expect official word on this soon.
Banjo XBLA
We saw it with our own eyes, being played right in front of us last week, but the only reason anyone outside of the press knows Banjo-Kazooie XBLA exists is because Shane Kim made a passing mention of it during his press conference chatter.
No footage, no screenshots - not even any details. But as we mentioned before, the XBLA version sports Achievements, Leaderboards and even a slight graphical touch up. Xbox.com's even gone and confirmed that the vetoed Stop 'n Swap feature's back in. We can't wait.
Alan Wake
We're so tired of noting Alan Wake's absence from major Xbox press events that it's not even funny. The last time we saw the 360 and PC psycho thriller was back at X06 almost two years ago.
The absence has led to plenty of speculation that the game has been canned, though developer Remedy promises it's still in development, even going far as stating that the "the media blackout won't continue for too much longer." Though that was back in April when it said that...
Halo Chronicles
Peter Jackson's much talked-up Halo project has officially moved into 'worryingly absent' territory. We've not heard as much as a whimper since the project was announced - again, at X06 almost two years ago - leaving us with the really bad feeling that it's not progressed very far. If at all.
The game-movie-interactive... thing, is being developed by Jackson's own dev house Wingnut, and we still haven't the foggiest idea what it's all about. We're sure Halo Chronicles' fate will become clear soon.
Of course there's still a few days of E3 to go. Fingers crossed we can scrub a few of these titles of the list before Friday.
If I could get Remedy in a room, and had a nice big bat, I'd get some Alan Wake info out of them. It's bloody ridiculous. That game better be damn near finished by the time we get some decent info on it or there will be murder.
As you can tell from the avatar, Im a bit of an Alan Wake fan.
This is without doubt my most anticipated game on the 360 (even more than Gears). Remedy have stated that all will be revealed "when its done" and I have a feeling that we could be seeing Alan make an appearnace at Leipzig, its a Euro fest and right next door to Remedy so if there not there...where the f**k are they?
Come on MS & Remedy, im getting tired of myself saying this ... Show me the bloody game!!!
As you can tell from the avatar, Im a bit of an Alan Wake fan.
But how can you be a fan of a game we know sod all about? It looks interesting, no doubt about it, but there is so little information out there on the this game it's crazy.
As you can tell from the avatar, Im a bit of an Alan Wake fan.
But how can you be a fan of a game we know sod all about? It looks interesting, no doubt about it, but there is so little information out there on the this game it's crazy.
I know I know, I dont usually buy into all the hype surrounding games but I think this is a little bit different.
It seems that MS and Remedy are trying something different with Alan Wake and going by the buzz from people in the know http://www.alanwake.com/ I think my anticipation is quite well founded.
Horses for courses though and I know that this wont appeal to everyone but the premise of it makes it one of the most exciting games ive heard of for a long long time.
Could turn out like Haze though (I doubt it though, I seriously doubt it).
Just a wee bit of info is needed though and maybe others will put this in their most wanted list.
Doesn't look like we'll be finding out what Bungie have in store for us this E3 thanks to Microsoft. (Go to Bungie.net if you don't know what I'm talking about).
I was really hoping for some news on Alan Wake at E3 but I'm not surprised there was nothing there. I want this game more than anything else - even more so than Silent Hill Homecoming - and Silent Hill is my favourite series of all time. If it had been canned, surely news of that would be out by now. I'm getting tired of waiting for information - Screenshots and Buzz coments from websites and magazines just isn't enough.
In relation to the halo game, head of ms don mattrick has said that bungie are indeed making a new halo game but that due to a "packed" conference they decided not to show it. Though he never mentioned whether it will star the chief or not, personnaly i think its too soon for a halo 4 so my bet is that it wont
I'm really hoping forza 3 is mentioned in E3. I'm still playing through forza 2 and i love it. All Forza 3 needs, in my opinion to make it the best racer, is better graphics and some nicer environments for the tracks. I'm also hoping to here something on Alan Wake.
If they had of revealed a Motion Controller and the Mii, sorry i mean Avatars then it really would be worth renaming it to the Wii60!
If i remember a while back alot of people including MS said that Avatar's were pointless. But now they have them coming!
Not sure about that as the 360 has had avatars from day one i,e gamer pics cant see microsoft slamming something they already have. As for the motion controller i'm glad there was no news who wants one really?? the dusty wii that sits in the corner is enough for me.
Hopefully the Peter Jackson stuff will be tied directly into this new Halo game....mini prequel episodes to flesh out the games plot, maybe. I'm guessing their gonna dedicate a lot of Leipzig time to this
Microsoft always stick to only announcing titles for the coming year at E3. They rarely even mention titles that are coming the following year. They use E3 to market the coming 'Holiday' period.
To be honest this happened last year. People criticized them for not mentioning 2008 and said that the outlook was poor for 2008. Of course, they have since been proven wrong.
Yep, Alan Wake, Halo 4, Forza 3 and anything Peter Jackson-wise, are all on my radar. If Forza 3 has an in-car view, I will be a very happy man as that was the only glaring ommission from the last game. I am a bit worried about Alan Wake, only because we have seen so little of it recently. Especially as it is probably one of my most anticipated 360 games.
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very nice!
