If the full spectacle of E3 is gone, Microsoft didn’t get the memo. The opening live performance of the Halo 3 theme was a spectacular intro, and then sadly, one of the few highlights. The company made it clear that this year's keynote was about the now, not the future. The hardcore audience, whether watching live on the Internet or on cable channel G4, knew much of what was being said.
Every game shown, with the sole exception of Resident Evil 5, will be playable this year. While a superb way to build up on holiday hype, it leads to no surprises and more disappointment than memories. Peter Moore would introduce and play Rock Band with the developer, which was more notable for his multiple accidental pauses than the game play.
A potential shocker in a Viva Pinata sequel turned out to be nothing more than yet another generic party title. A new Naruto title is a great exclusive to draw in the younger audience, but hardly carries the forceful impact of years past.
Arguably the biggest game announcement was for Scene-It, based on the popular board game. The reveal wasn’t special for the game, but for the simple controllers it comes packed with. It’s a blatant attempt to capture some of the Wii market, with bold buttons that serve as nothing more than buzzers.
A brief montage of Xbox Live Arcade titles completely ignored some big titles such as Marathon and Hexic 2, which were squeezed for an unneeded trailer for Call of Duty 4 as the latter would be played on stage giving gamers a far better look at the changes. The bizarre and seemingly pointless Halo live action clip was both cheaply produced, and never spoke of again.
Gears of War PC was obviously meant to be a sticking point, though the reveal was spoiled by a leaked video earlier in the week. The new features, including new multi-player modes and extra single player levels will make this addition to Windows Live significant. This does lead to another significant point, though it was only glossed over. The Unreal 3 engine now has Windows Live support built in, a heavy boost for the new service. Sadly, Windows Live Anywhere was missing from the show entirely.
Xbox Live Marketplace was given some attention, with an announcement that movies and TV shows will finally go live around the world soon. The Elite model of the 360 will also receive a European release, though no price point was mentioned. At the very least, they can buy that and not the disastrous, ugly, and flat out putrid Halo limited edition 360 which was shown by Peter Moore without any specifications as to price or features, other than the look.
![Xbox 360 Elite 120GB [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Df91F9%2BXL._SL120_.jpg)
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