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10:15am

The room is starting to really fill up with a mixture of excited press and inspired developers.

10:25am

The presentation is about to begin, and we are being told to take out seats.

10:30am

GDC’s executive director Jamil Moledina has taken the stage.

“We are in an exciting time where games are becoming the number one source of entertainment” He introduces John Schappert Corporate Vice President of Xbox LIVE.

John Schappert has taken the stage, he says “being the new guy, I need to come out with either a tattoo, or a truck load of HDTV’s.” The crowd cheers. He responds, “Sadly, I have neither.”

He is going over his professional history in the gaming industry. Some benchmarks; Desert Strike on the SNES, and Madden Football 94.

“My first game was Madden 94, and thankfully I got the chance to relive the excitement of releasing a Madden game many times over”. The crowds laughs.

10:34am

Mr. Schappert is talking about the many successes of the original Xbox, primarily being the first console with a built in HD, and ushering in the new era of online play.

Gaming is creating more revenue worldwide than the music industry.

He is running down a few of the hits from last year; like Halo 3, Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect.

Schappert says, “Games sell better on the 360, because the play better on the 360.”

“Games rated 9 or higher sell better on the 360”

“You, the developer, can do more on our system”.

10:38am

Schappert is happy to announce that the 1 billionth achievement has been unlocked. This, he says, is a key to the 360’s success.

The saved films feature in Halo 3 is another success. Halo 3 boasts 30% more daily video uploads than YouTube.

10:45am

A video with some of the industries biggest developers talking about how much they heart the 360.

He is very excited about the relationship between Xbox Live Arcade, and XNA.

The “democratization” of game distribution.

Chris Satchell, chief XNA Architect, has taken the stage.

The goal of XNA is to use the consoles you play your games on, to make games on.

10:48am

“DREAMBUILDPLAY” A contest to build a game in 4 months.

The James Silva Story: A video about an indie developer.

James Silva has come on stage to demo his own XNA produced game. Dishwasher. “The Dishwasher Story”.

“It’s a shame that you won’t be able to play all the great indie games out there.”

Community games will now be able to be distributed through Xbox Live.

There are four Stages to submission; create, submit, peer review, and play.

The community itself will review the games. Is the content objectionable? If the game passes the review, it will go live on Xbox Live.

Jellycar and LittleGamers are two of the first indie developed community games up on XBOX Live

11:00am

We are now watching a montage of all the community games that will be available.Some are incredibly complex, with others much simpler, but all focusing on fun gameplay. (I can’t wait to check out Jellycar).

The demos will be available today, as soon as the keynote is over.

Since the games are developed on 360, you don’t need to rewrite the code. But what if you want to take it mobile? XNA will now be able to create games that will be playable on your Zune.

He is demoing the gameplay on the Zune. Customizable playlists are a nice feature.

Since the Zune is wireless, multiplayer wireless games will also be able to be developed.

The goal, connecting the game developers with the gaming community on Xbox Live.

11:05am

He is about to wrap up.

Dr. Michael Capps, President of Epic Games has come out to talk about the new Unreal Engine and the Xbox 360.

“I think you might have heard about a game we made, Gears of War?”

A video of all the games that are powered with the Unreal Engine. “Sweet”

Tim Sweeny of Epic Games is out to demonstrate how Gears might look if it were created today.

Better environments, more contrast on character lighting, more AI on screen, better cinematics, soft body physics (Marcus Phoenix is “interacting” with a giant cube of meat. It really is incredible.

Much better destructible environments!

11:12am

John Schappert has taken the stage again.

He is projecting what will happen in 2008 with the announcement of the community games. Big advancements.

Did he just call “Army of Two” a future hit? Hmm.

Exclusives like Too Human, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Halo Wars.

There will be over a 1,000 titles by the end of 2008.

Team Ninja’s Tomonobu Itagaki has taken the stage to talk about Ninja Gaiden II

He is going to show a special GDC build of Ninja Gaiden II. The demo will be be running on real hardware.

Oops, he lost the controller.

The game looks fantastic. The new graphics seem to be on par, if not better than the upgraded PS3 version of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

As you play the game, it will record 30 second clips between save points. Clips will be able to be uploaded to a Ninja Gaiden community, much like Halo 3.

Whoops, the controller disconnected again. Low batteries.

The cut-scenes are very impressive.

Ninja Gaiden II, June 3rd, 2008.

11:26am

Schappert is back on the stage. He is very excited about save points with clips.

He is introducing Peter Molyneux, who is going to talk about Fable 2. Live Demo!

There is a new way to make money in the world of Fable 2. Gambling will be an Xbox Live Arcade Game, that lives outside the Fable game. You can then take the money won, and move it into Fable 2. The roulette-type game will be released a few weeks before Fable 2, so you can start the game with a pocket full of money.

He has just admitted that he is a woman in Fable 2, and he has been pregnant.

Josh Atkins has walked out to help with combat in Fable 2. They are demoing dynamic co-op in Fable 2. A friend can now jump in at any point and play.

Any skills and money earned during co-op can be taken back to your Fable world after the game.

He is talking about how amazing the combat will be in the game, having the ability to switch between guns and swords. The demo is really sluggish.

We are off to meet Mr. Molyneux’s family. They have been married for 5 years, with a baby, and this is his (her?) first time back in six months.

Josh just shot Molyneux’s husband. IN the world of Fable, his husband is now dead. The lesson, “be careful who you invite into your world”.

11:37am

Schappert returns to talk about how exciting 2008 will be. “Games by the people, for the people”.

“You are all the future”.

11:41am

Woah...Gears of War 2 teaser trailer.

The trailers just ended, and Cliffy B. just came out with a Lancer. Big announcement? Gears of War 2 will be available this November, 2008! Yeah, kinda big.

That’s it, the keynote is over.

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