arne360

Something pretty cool happened as part of the work I do with Microsoft on Xbox 360 (and of course, Microsoft Games Studios). One of the pieces of what I do, but really run by someone else at my job, involves maintaining relationships with bloggers large and not so large. As my introduction on Xbox.com and in posts on some of the message boards I work on, I get to know a lot of regular gamers and, especially in the case of NeoGAF, a few developers and journalists. Obviously we invite them to things like the San Francisco event we had in March and we’re doing a few things at E3 this year as well. One of the things we recognized at these events is that it has always been logistically difficult to provide Internet access to everyone that needs it to complete some sort of online communication, from journalists to bloggers to people on the message boards. This was especially true back in October 2005 when I attended an event in New York where all sorts of journalists came to preview the launch window game titles for the first time and, at night, we had PMS Clan members and message board members coming by to play and hang out. It would have been nice to give all of them some ability to go online.

Going into our planning for E3, we recognized the need for these very same contacts and friends of ours to have ready access to the Internet. As John Porcaro over on the Microsoft side of things explains on the Gamerscore Blog, determining and getting approval on where we could put aside some physical space to let people hook up to the Internet. We couldn’t put it anywhere in or near the Microsoft booth, there just wasn’t room left, nor did we want to take some place that was out of the way — even if it was available. After much talking amongst ourselves and with the E3 staff, we got ourselves a nice big parking spot right out front of the Los Angeles Convention Center (Windows Live Local version and Google Maps version). Not only that, but the bus is this huge coach which will be conveniently wrapped in Xbox 360 branding. Of course, if you’ve been playing attention to the maps linked earlier, the bus just happens to be right in the route many people will take to head to the West Hall when going to check out Sony’s and Nintendo’s respective booths. Hopefully the bus will serve to distract them a just little.

My schedule has not been finalized yet, but I will be spending some time in and near the bus over the full three days of E3. Ask for me if you happen to drop by, I would be more than happy to meet you.

More details on who will be there, who is invited and how to find out if you can get invited to the bus at the aforementioned Gamerscore Blog.

Last week I posted that I had scheduled an online, multi-player game of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter with Staci of Killer Betties. To make sure it wasn’t just a two-player or, if was lucky, three-player, session, I also posted a couple threads on NeoGAF asking if anybody wanted to join in. Thankfully the response was, well, pretty overwhelming. Enough so that I was very glad Vark offered up his FiOS connection to host what could be a session with the maximum number of players.

On Saturday we didn’t quite get started on time as Vark was having some home networking difficulties and I was already hosting a few four to six player games, quite well thankfully (I think). Once Vark got back online, it was on in a big way. I can’t even remember everyone who was on off the top of my head. I think we hit about twelve people as our maximum over the four hour session. I probably had one of the best times I’ve had on Xbox Live since a few Halo 2 games back in the Spring of 2005. We played nearly every imaginable game type, got all of the campaign co-op achievements for everyone (including the “Perfect Chapter 1″ achievement) and played some super-long territory maps, where the kill count went over 400-500 enemy kills easy. Somehow I’m actually amazed someone didn’t get the “Heavyweight” achievement by the end of the night. No matter how or when you look at it, it was memorable.

A couple of days later Staci posted an entry about her multi-player experience on Killer Betties and I’m glad she really liked it. I didn’t realize it was her first time on Xbox Live over a headset even. It’s really interesting that she picked marksman a lot, because I think in a lot of cases, the multiplayer games we played didn’t necessarily lend itself to the slow strategic sniping that class is best at, at least in games where everyone is on the same side. I can see that being spectacular in versus games on most maps however. I wouldn’t mind seeing more co-op campaigns that reward the type of gameplay that Ghost Recon became known for — slow, stealthy, quick deliberate kills — but that’s not to say that GRAW plays any differently or worse, you can definitely adapt the game to the class you picked in most or all cases. GRAW comes nowhere close to a fast paced FPS. What I would really like to set up somehow is a slow, intense one versus one or two versus two sniper game on the right map. A good ten minutes of cat and mouse would be incredible. At least in my head it is.

The current iteration of Xbox Live has really spoiled me in a couple of ways. On the original Xbox and Xbox Live, it was nice and important to know who on your friends list was online and what game they are playing. So of course with the Xbox 360 release, Xbox Live tells you that information and then lets you know what they are doing in the game: what level or map they are on, often what particular activity they are doing, status about their character/persona, the score of the (sports) game they are playing, or, like with Oblivion, their level and current health.

Which brings me to wish that Final Fantasy XI was able to pass along similar information. I’m guessing that, along with the fact that you couldn’t really award retroactive achievements, there might be some technical reason that stands in the way of reporting that type of information back to the dashboard or Xbox.com friends lists. The thing is with PlayOnline was that I knew whomever was online on their friends list was playing FFXI. Now when I see them on “PlayOnline Viewer” I want to know details! FFXI or, unlikely, TetraMaster? Why isn’t it the mysterious Final Fantasy XI entry/icon which only shows me as playing it the day I installed it. I also want to see what their character name is, what server they are on and what jobs and levels they have active at that moment. It just seems… to fit… and satiate my curiousity about people I didn’t know were playing MMOs/FFXI.

Not like anybody reads this anyway, but I’m going to be playing GRAW on Xbox Live on Saturday, 4/22, at 6pm PT/8pm CT/9pm ET or GMT 4/23 1am. I’ll have Staci from Killer Betties with me playing multi-player. Add my gamertag to your friends list (if you already aren’t) and shoot me a note in game on Saturday. Hopefully there’ll be a decent turnout!

I am now officially registered, booked and reserved for my first E³ ever, to start in just under a month. I will arrive in LA early on Monday morning, probably too early considering what the rest of the week is going to entail. I don’t know yet what I’m doing on Monday, I’m sure it involves set-up, planning and rehearsal. As many people know, Sony’s press briefing has been scheduled for Monday afternoon. I’m sure many of us will expectantly wait to see what announcements should must be made: price, further timing on the worldwide launch, HDD-inclusion, controller design, online features, etc. It is definitely going to be one heck of an evening afterwards.

Tuesday morning is Nintendo’s briefing, to be held at the famed Kodak Theater, where we can expect a lot more news about the Virtual Console, their big franchises and whatever creatively disruptive things they have cooking up Iwata-san and Miyamoto-san’s sleeves. As soon as the Nintendo briefing is over, most everyone will be headed over to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which is just a stone’s throw away, for the Microsoft briefing. It took me a while to realize that this was THE Chinese Theater we see and hear about when some movies premiere in Los Angeles. Wow. I’m really not as free to speculate about what the Microsoft announcements will be (since I already pretty much know them) as I can about Sony and Nintendo, but I’m sure it will be all that everyone seems to expect and more.

Wednesday the show starts and so will the absolutely chaotic mayhem, judging from some show floor pictures of E³ 2005 and being told that the floor is pretty much constantly like that throughout the show. Commit me if you have to, but I think this is going to be a great time for a guy like me. I don’t remember what my schedule and responsibilities are for each day, obviously I will be busier than I will probably ever be in my life. There will be a couple of “parties” that I will attend (or at least try to) from the looks of it. I say “parties” because they aren’t really the type of party where you just go to have fun and let off steam. In one way or another they will be related to networking, getting to know other folks in various parts of the industry, getting to meet people I talk to often face to face and generally networking. I mean, it will be fun, but again, not entirely super party time.

I also hope that I can find enough time to walk the floor and adequately check everything out. Partly out of curiosity of course, but I’m really interested in being able to see what’s coming down the pipe for publishers across all platforms, including PC. It will be like being a kid in a candy store. Depending on the level of announcements, it will be interesting to see how far Sony and Nintendo are coming along on their first party titles — in the case of the latter company, there hasn’t been much being said or shown. I can’t even begin to think about what from multi-platform and 360 exclusive publishers I want to see. A lot of it is stuff Microsoft Game Studios is publishing anyway — the Japanese titles. The one thing I do know for certain, is that whatever I see, I know I’ll see enough that it’s going to mortally injure my pocketbook this year. And I can’t wait!

E³ 2005 show photos courtesy of the E3Expo.com Media Archive.

Barbie’s Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue has been a running joke for many (male) gamers, the type who tend to pick up new gaming consoles right at launch and pay attention to the Xbox game backwards compatibility list for the Xbox 360. I haven’t played it, but the game was probably well-suited for it’s real target market — generally female, pre-teens and teens. Joke all you want, but don’t give up any copies you have, especially if they are still sealed. After a post on NeoGAF by colinp extolling the wild horse adventures to be had, a follow-up post by sonarrat uncovered the hot collectors market for Barbie’s Horse Adventures. It appears that on Amazon.com, at the time of this writing, the game is fetching $74.99 to $129.99 on the used market.

You’ll never look at the used Xbox games section of your local EB Games quite the same way again.

I downloaded the demo of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 off of Xbox Live Marketplace last night just to try it out. I haven’t played a “realistic” golf game since Links 386 in the mid 1990s. I’ve had a lot of fun playing Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee on the PSP, but the obvious appeal is the arcade feel and format.

I thought the game was pretty good, I mean, some ten years later, you would hope the golf games would improve! The water looks absolutely amazing and I should know, as on the TPC at Sawgrass hole, I exceeded my shot limit with every single ball going straight into the drink.

Next I tried the Pebble Beach Golf Links hole. It took a round to get used to how to aim, swing and most importantly, putt, as my double bogey would tell you. On the next round my drive took me to about 190 yards from the pin. I remember the guy saying the ball will roll towards the water on the green, so I aimed a little more right and took my swing… and I totally felt like I messed it up because I starting swinging forward before the backswing hit it’s apex. Then I watched the ball soar, hit the ground before the green, roll onto the green, curve towards the hole… DOUBLE EAGLE. (!!!)

Here I am, not into golf games and I’ve got my arms raised in the air in excitement over this one round in a demo. I couldn’t top that last night, so that was the last thing I did.