Pinoy Gaming World

Following a similar game plan to last year's E3 event, Microsoft spent much of its Xbox 360 media briefing this morning promoting upcoming blockbuster titles for its console, including Gears of War 2, Resident Evil 5, and yes, Final Fantasy XIII.

Don Mattrick, senior vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business which includes the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows divisions), kicked off the presentation by listing some of the top titles slated to appear on the 360 within the next six to 10 months. Then he invited several of the developers behind those to titles to the stage to show off the games.

First up were Bethesda Softworks and Fallout 3. Todd Howard, executive producer of Fallout 3, introduced the audience to the game after a nifty retro-futuristic live-action video poking fun at nuclear fallout shelters. Howard demonstrated the game, showing the first-person and third-person views and the extensive environments of a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C. He also showed off the V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) interface that replaces the old Fallout turn-based action. It was a brief demo, but Tom's Games will have more on Fallout 3 later in the week (in the meantime, check out the Fallout 3 preview from last year's E3 ). Before leaving the stage, Howard announced that Bethesda will be bringing exclusive downloadable content to the Xbox 360 and PC.

Next up was Resident Evil 5 and lead producer Jun Takeuchi. The big news here was the game's two-player cooperative mode. Takeuchi demonstrated the game with another Capcom team member, and the duo played as Chris Redfield and Sheva, a new female character in the series. The co-op mode looked excellent, and the gameplay and visual design was very much in the spirit of Resident Evil 4, which is a very good thing. At the conclusion of the demo, a cut scene began that showed a new chainsaw-wielding villain charge toward Redfield and Sheva. And then it abruptly ended. Before concluding his session, Takeuchi told the audience that Resident Evil 5 would launch on Friday the 13th in March, 2009.

Then Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios came out and showed some new footage of Fable 2, including a co-op mode that allows players to seamlessly drop in and out of the game. The footage was apparently pre-recorded rather than a live demo, which was odd because Molyneux announced that "Fable 2 is finished" and told the audience that the game is coming out in October. At Microsoft's Xbox 360 Spring Showcase event in May, Molyneux also previewed Fable 2 and the game looked like it was a long way away from being finished. The footage shown Monday morning looked more polished, so perhaps the game will be ready for its fall release date.

After Fable 2, Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski came on stage to demonstrate Gears of War 2, which began with another enticing teaser video for the game (Epic is getting really good at these Gears of War commercials). Bleszinski demonstrated the game's two-player co-op, which put Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago in a sprawling, fiery urban wasteland that was a stark contrast to the environments seen in the first Gears of War. During the demo, Bleszinski showed off the new "meat shield" technique that allows players to grab wounded Locusts and use them as shields while firing their weapons. Toward the end, an enormous Brumak emerged and began wreaking havoc; the thrilling demo ended with Marcus and Dom preparing to jump on the beast's back and ride it.

The demo earned some of the loudest applause during the media briefing (Microsoft's final announcement also drew wild cheers). So as if that wasn't enough, Bleszinski announced that Gears of War 2 will have a new co-op feature called "Horde" mode that will allow five players to join a single co-op game online. Gears of Wars 2's release date is Nov. 7 (for more on Gear of War 2, check out the Tom's Games report from the Xbox 360 Spring Showcase event).

Microsoft saved a couple of surprises for later in the presentation. During a segment devoted to Xbox Live. Arcade titles, which included forthcoming titles like Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved, the lights went dim and the voice of GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) from Portal came on. A mysterious title called Portal: Still Alive was announced as an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive coming this fall. No footage was shown at the media briefing, sadly. Is this new Portal title a true sequel, an expansion or just the original game with some extra bonus content? Stay tuned for more.

During the media briefing, Microsoft spent quite a bit of time talking about other titles like Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 (which we will get into in another article), the new Xbox Live updates and more entertainment options for the Xbox Live community. But the software giant saved arguably its biggest announcement for the finale (and no, it wasn't the rumored Wii Remote-style motion controller for the Xbox 360).

Microsoft brought out Square Enix chief Yoichi Wada to introduce some new games. Obviously, virtually every audience member was expecting a big Final Fantasy reveal for the Xbox 360. Instead, Wada talked about three new titles: Infinite Undiscovery, an Xbox 360 exclusive role-playing game slated for Sept. 2; Star Ocean: The Last Hope, which is scheduled for spring of 2009; and The Last Remnant, another RPG coming to the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 on Nov. 20. Then Wada left the stage and turned it back over to Microsoft's Mattrick.

But just as Mattrick was about to conclude the briefing, Wada returned to the stage for an "I almost forgot..." moment to announce that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360. No release date was given, but Microsoft showed a lengthy video comprised of mostly pre-rendered animation - but sprinkled with some scintillating gameplay moments - that looked amazing. It was enough to make even the non-Final Fantasy fan boys cheer.

The loss of yet another former exclusive series will certainly be a blow for Sony and the PS3. The announcement also served as a fitting punctuation to Mattrick's comments earlier in the media briefing, where the Microsoft executive declared that the Xbox 360 would outsell the PS3 this generation.

Stay tuned for more on Final Fantasy XIII, Gears of War 2 and other titles at E3 this week on Tom's Games.