E3 2008 :: Blog :: E3 Pictures - Microsoft

This year it's difficult to get on the show floor of E3.  After all, you have to be invited, register, and then show up.  But it's even tougher to get into the behind-closed-doors rooms.  One of those rooms we managed to get into was the Microsoft room.  How exciting is it?  Well, it's not all that exciting, but I do have exclusive pictures of this event.  These are the types of pictures you won't see anywhere else!

 This is where we start our adventure.  We walk up to the Microsoft PR woman, tell them we have a bunch of cameras, and then we walk in.  or something like that.  Actually, we had to wait until the final day to check out Microsoft, but at least we're bringing you pictures.  Sorry, I don't have any video for you.

 This is what you see when you first enter the Microsoft room.  You'll probably notice that it's green ... very, very green.  And I don't mean it's energy friendly, in fact I suspect that Al Gore would frown at E3.  Either way, this room is full of all of Microsoft's upcoming games, including Halo Wars, Fable II, Lips, Banjo Kazooie and more.  It's not a bad set-up, but if you were expecting some huge room with obscure games (Alan Wake?) then this is pretty disappointing.  Thankfully the couches were comfy and the room smelled good.  It's amazing how bad some of E3 smelled.  Thankfully this isn't smell-o-vision.

 Our first stop at the Microsoft booth/room was to check out Halo Wars, the much-anticipated Halo-themed real-time strategy game.  Before we could jump in and try out the game for ourselves we had to listen to this guy explain the basic details.  Microsoft didn't want us filming or taking pictures, but they didn't mind me taking a few snapshots of this guy talking.  Halo Wars is shaping up to be an extremely accessible action/RTS, which is exactly what it needs to be.  The home console user isn't used to playing this type of game on the Xbox 360, so it is going to need to be simpler and easier to play than other recent attempts (Command & Conquer 3, Lord of the Rings, etc.).  The good news is that it feels like Halo Wars is really coming together, so I expect big things when it is released sometime next spring.

 This is "Bear" ... a gigantic guy who used to play football.  Actually his real name is Justin Rouse and he was there to show us how to play Halo Wars.  But the truth is, I barely needed him.  The controls came natural and the tactics feel like they're pulled right out of a more established RTS series (WarCraft, Supreme Commander, etc.).  As you can tell Justin "Bear" Rouse had no problem posing for a picture.  And I don't blame him, he's definitely photogenic.  Just keep one thing in mind, when he showed us his driver's license (don't ask) he was a good 150 pounds heavier.  He's definitely one developer I would not want to get in a fight with.  Not that I'm looking to get in fights with developers.  Actually, let's just move on.

 Eventually we made it over to the Fable II section.  This is Peter Molyneux eating.  I know this probably isn't the most flattering picture of Peter, but they had him giving us a walk-through while he was chowing down on this delicious looking sandwich.  Thankfully he wasn't spitting out little pieces of sandwich while explaining how mind blowing Fable II will be.  Between bites he did manage to tell us why he hates chickens.  Apparently when he was a kid he spent a little too much time around the family farm, because he actually ended up clucking long before actually talking.  Is that embarrassing?  I suspect that when you have a game as good as Fable II coming out it doesn't matter how embarrassing your childhood is.  Sorry we couldn't get a better picture of you Peter.

 Here is a picture of people having a good time playing Halo Wars.  If it feels like I'm spending a lot of time looking at Halo Wars it's because I am, there were quite a few stations to play Ensemble's upcoming game.  Not that it's a bad thing, the game itself was a whole lot of fun.  And look at these people, don't they look like they are having fun?  I mean, the guy is pointing at the screen, if that's not a sign somebody is having fun then I don't know what is.

   The nice thing about this year's E3 is that there weren't that many people.  I know a lot of people prefer the circus-like atmosphere of the E3 of old, but when I'm trying to get work done I just want to walk up to the game and play it.  Microsoft understood that, they only allowed certain people in, and even then it was by appointment.  This allowed us to get one on one time with developers and the PR folk.  If you look closely at this picture you will so both developers and PR folk (but I'm not telling you who's who). 

 Microsoft was concerned about what we thought about Halo Wars, so they send one of their undercover agents to ask us questions about our play session.  I'm not sure how helpful I was, I just stared at her like a deer in headlights, hoping that if I didn't say anything she would leave me alone.  She didn't, which is why she followed us to the Konami event asking us what we thought of Halo Wars.

 Maybe this is where they are keeping Alan Wake and Too Human.  Oh wait, nobody at this E3 wants to play Too Human ... sorry Dennis Dyack.