Xbox Live's Major Nelson : E3

At E3? Come by and get the first Xbox Avatar prop

Major Nelson — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:23:00 GMT

In his letter to the community yesterday, Xbox LIVE's Marc Whitten (Notwen) outlined some of the new things we're bringing to the Xbox LIVE service later this year. One of the new features we have is called props which will allow you to add cool new items for your avatar to interact with. If you are attending E3 this year, you have a very special opportunity to get the very first prop: An 2009 E3 Trophy cup that will commemorate your attendance to this years show.

All you need to do is drop by the Xbox 360 booth and sign up. Later this year, we'll email you a code for your prop that you can download from the upcoming Avatar Marketplace.
Look for the special sign up computer we've set up in the Xbox LIVE section of the booth. (South Hall, Booth 1523) If you’re having trouble finding the right section, it’s on the side facing Ubisoft’s booth.

Tell them Major sent you.

2009 E3 Xbox 360 Media Briefing

Major Nelson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:40:00 GMT

The show audio from the 2009 E3 Xbox 360 Media Briefing

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Format:
1:52:59, 51.7 MB, (MP3)

Metal Gear Solid franchise coming to Xbox 360

Major Nelson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:54:14 GMT

Kojima just confirmed that the next major release will be called Metal Gear Solid Rising, and that development is currently underway for Xbox 360.

Beatles Rock Band coming Sept. 9th

Major Nelson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:42:20 GMT

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were on stage at the Xbox 360 Media Briefing when it was announced that Rock Band Beatles will be releasing on September 9, 2009. With all proceeds from All You Need Is Love to go to Doctors without Borders.

Live blog of the E3 2009 Xbox 360 Media Briefing

Major Nelson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:44:00 GMT

We are just a few hours away from the annual Xbox 360 E3 Media Briefing. This invite only event will broadcast on G4 (check local listings) but if you’re not near your TV, I’ve got you covered with the live blog I’ll be hosting direct from backstage. We’ve also got the IRC chat which is open 24/7 for you game chatting needs. If you’re lucky enough to be in the audience, and you are Twittering, be sure you use the #xboxe3 tag so everyone can keep track of the news.

How you can prepare for E3

Major Nelson — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:53:00 GMT

It’s almost E3 ! Despite the turbulent past this event has had it is now slated to be back in full force. To prepare for the flurry of gaming news that will be flying around next week, we’ve beefed up our chat server (http://majornelson.com/chat.aspx) to ensure that console gamers from all platforms have a place to hang out and chat about the latest headlines in real time.

Whether you’re all about Xbox, the Playstation, Nintendo, or any other gaming platform; whether you’ve only got a few minutes to get filled in on the latest and greatest, or you want to be filled in on everything going on during every second of E3 we’ve got you covered. Before you hit the chat, check out the Chat FAQ for everything you need to know before you go or if you're confident you've got it all down feel free to dive right in.

Of course, I’ll be live blogging the Xbox 360 Media Briefing Monday morning at 1:30p ET/10:30am PT/17:30 GMT so open up two browser windows: one for the live blog and the other for the chat.

Win tickets to the Xbox E3 Media Briefing

Major Nelson — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:21:00 GMT

If you’re in the LA area and you want to attend the Xbox E3 Media Briefing on Monday, June 1st at The Galen Center on the campus of USC let me know.

I’ve got 100 tickets for winners (and guests) to giveaway. How do you win? Read on.

Who:	You and a guest
What:	The Xbox 360 Media briefing
Why:	To see the cool stuff we are announcing this year
Where:	The Galen Center on the campus of USC (directions)
When:	Monday, June 1st 2009. Briefing begins at 10:30am, but you’ll need to check in by 8:30am.
How:	Send me an email with the subject line ‘Ticket to the Xbox 360 E3 briefing’ Please include your first name, last name and your gamertag*

A couple of details:
Limit of two tickets per person (each winner will get two tickets, one for them and one for a guest)

Must be able to be in Los Angeles on the morning of June 1st by 8:30am.

If you win, you will get two tickets to the invite only Xbox Press briefing.
This does NOT include tickets to E3 show floor or any other related events.

Winner and guest must be over 18 since we’ll be showing M rated titles

I’ll choose 100 random winners from the emails I receive before this Thursday, May 28 at 12n PT. You’ll win two tickets..one for you and one for a friend. Everything else is up to you. If you get picked, I’ll send you an email with additional details and how to pick up your tickets by Friday at 12n PT.

Good luck and I’ll see you Monday.

*This information will only be used to contact you if you are chosen to win tickets. It will not be used for any other purpose.

How you can win a trip to E3 2009 (and a car)

Major Nelson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:55:00 GMT

If you’re in the U.S., you’ll want to head over to Xbox.com where you can enter to win the chance to win a pretty amazing grand prize package:

A trip for two to LA to attend the Microsoft E3 Press briefing
$3000 cash (1k for travel and 2k for car taxes)
A home theater system that includes a Flat-Panel HDTV, Bose Home Theatre System, Xbox Elite Console, 120gb Zune, plus one year of Xbox LIVE Gold and Zune Pass. (valued at $4,800)
A 2010 Kia Soul Sport (valued at $18,000)

Before you enter, be sure your Xbox LIVE account information is correct since that is how we’ll contact you if you win! Good luck and maybe I’ll see you this year at E3.

Check your account information and enter the contest

Click here to add the Gamer Picture pack to your download queue.

Edit: ~~The gamer picture you need to download to enter will go live on Saturday the 18th.~~ The picture is now available for download.

Detente at E3 2008

Major Nelson — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:21:04 GMT

E3 2008 is over, and I am headed back to Seattle. I hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage on Inside Xbox and Xbox.com. All of the videos on Inside Xbox are now on (the U.S. versions) Xbox.com if you are not near your console (or outside the U.S.) Today was a pretty exciting day as both Reggie and Shigeru Miyamoto came by to check out the Xbox 360 booth..and spent time with the new Xbox experience. I also caught up with Jeff Rubenstein who runs the Playstation Blog. He gave me a tour of the Sony booth (where I got a Resistance 2 demo from James Stevenson from Insomniac Games.) In turn, I brought him into our booth to get a closer look at what we announced. I also caught up with Sean Baptiste from Harmonix at the (now) legendary Rock Band party last night (special guests: The Who…who kicked much ass in their 90–minute set.) It was great to see old friends again, and actually meet, in person, some of the many people that I’ve been emailing/twittering/IMing with over the past year. I met many many more from the industry and community but now, it’s back to the office to check in on the team back in Redmond who have been working very hard on many of the things we announced this week.

Later LA.

Posted from gate 76 at LAX via my blazingly fast Treo 800w

Marketplace Roundup for July 14, 2008: E3 Edition

Major Nelson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:33:21 GMT

Theme

Title: Gears of War® 2

Content: Hope Runs Deep Theme
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Germany
Dash Text: Marcus Fenix leads the COG into battle in this breathtaking dashboard theme.

Trailer

Title: Fallout 3

Content: Fallout 3 Trailer (HD)
Price: Free
Availability: Noat available in Germany or Japan
Dash Text: [ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)] Official Trailer for Fallout 3.

Title: Resident Evil 5

Content: 「バイオハザード５」 E3 2008版予告編ムービー
Price: Free
Availability: Only in Japan
Size: 104.98 MB
Dash Text: クリスと新しいパートナーのシェバ。二人が人類発祥の地で直面する恐怖の一端が明らかに！？新たに公開された登場人物、敵、そしてシーンが満載されたバイオハザード５「Ｅ３　２００８」版予告編ムービー、ついに登場！

Title: Too Human

Content: Too Human Battle Cries Video
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, United States
Size: 54.95 MB
Dash Text: Learn how the powerful Battle Cries can turn the tide of battle against the enemies of Too Human.

Content: Too Human Champion Class Interview Video
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, United States
Size: 265.57 MB
Dash Text: Learn about the strengths and playstyle of the workhorse of Too Human: The Champion warrior class.

Content: Too Human Skills Interview
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, United States
Size: 239.29 MB
Dash Text: Get a creator’s peek into the specialized Human skills tree of Too Human.

Content: Too Human Skills Interview Video
Price: Free
Availability: Only in Canada, United States
Size: 239.42 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) BLOOD,LANGUAGE,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES,VIOLENCE] Get a creator's peek into the specialized Human skills tree of Too Human.

Content: Too Human Champion Class Interview Video
Price: Free
Availability: Only in Canada, United States
Size: 265.67 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) BLOOD,LANGUAGE,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES,VIOLENCE] Learn about the strengths and playstyle of the workhorse of Too Human: The Champion warrior class.

Title: Fable 2

Content: Fable 2 - E3 2008 Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: Check out the E3 2008 trailer! (Not Rated)

Title: Halo Wars

Content: 『Halo Wars』 E3 2008 - 予告編
Price: Free
Availability: Only in Japan
Size: 68.09 MB
Dash Text: E3 2008 で公開された『Halo Wars』最新トレーラー。時代は初代『Halo』から 20 年前。人類とコヴナント軍との死闘を体験する

Title: Gears of War® 2

Content: E3 2008 Trailer, “Rendezvous”
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Germany
Dash Text: A lone figure emerges from the darkness to turn the tide of battle. (Not Rated)

Title: STAR OCEAN 4

Content: STAR OCEAN 4 E3 Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: Marvel at the first actual gameplay footage of this upcoming epic RPG, fresh from E3 2008. (Not Rated)

Title: E3 2008

Content: Resident Evil 5 Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Germany
Size: 106.37 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)] Watch the coolest new game trailers from E3 2008.

Content: New Xbox Experience Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Germany
Dash Text: [ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)] Watch the coolest new game trailers from E3 2008.

Content: LEGO Batman Trailer
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions except Germany
Dash Text: [ESRB: RP (Rating Pending)] Watch the coolest new game trailers from E3 2008.

Gamer Picture

Title: Too Human

Content: Characters of Too Human Picture Pack
Price: 80 Microsoft Points
Availability: All regions except India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan
Dash Text: Download this picture pack. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.

Title: Gears of War® 2

Content: “COGs of War” Picture Pack
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Germany
Dash Text: This set includes the key Gears; Marcus Fenix, Dom Santiago, Damon Baird, Augustus Cole, and new faces from Gears of War 2.

Video

Title: Supreme Commander

Content: Supreme Surrender - You Mean Us No Harm, Episode 3
Price: Free
Availability: Only in United States
Size: 73.53 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10+) COMIC MISCHIEF,FANTASY VIOLENCE,MILD LANGUAGE] He who runs away lives to surrender another day. The conclusion to the newest machinima series from Rooster Teeth using Supreme Commander on the Xbox 360.

Title: Halo Wars

Content: Halo Wars 5 Long Years E3 Video HD
Price: Free
Availability: All regions except Canada, Japan, United States
Size: 66.96 MB
Dash Text: Halo Wars Trailer: 5 Long Years Set 20 years before the first Halo, experience the early battles between Humanity and the alien Covenant.

Content: Halo Wars 5 Long Years E3 Video HD
Price: Free
Availability: Only in Canada, United States
Size: 70.25 MB
Dash Text: [ESRB: RP (Rating Pending) GAME EXPERIENCE MAY CHANGE DURING ONLINE PLAY] Halo Wars Trailer: 5 Long Years Set 20 years before the first Halo, experience the early battles between Humanity and the alien Covenant.

2008 Xbox E3 Press Briefing

Major Nelson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:04:55 GMT

Here it is…the whole show, directly off of the sound board.

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Format:
01:34:16, 43.1, MP3

Some of the features in the new Xbox experience (8 person chat, VGA support and more)

Major Nelson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:30:00 GMT

Xbox LIVE GM Marc Whitten (Notwen) has sent me the following letter to share with the Xbox LIVE Community. I goes into a little more detail about some of the new features that are coming as part of the new Xbox Experience this Fall. I'll work on getting Marc on a future show to discuss further.

Dear Xbox LIVE Member,

When we launched Xbox 360 in November 2005, Xbox LIVE was integrated directly into the console. Back then, Xbox 360 was the first system to deliver access to experiences beyond just the disc in the tray. With the Xbox guide and dashboard you had access to everything on your console as well as your community.

We also imagined that Xbox experience would continuously improve over time, through the power of software.

Since launch, you’ve always pushed us to continuously innovate. It is because you spoke with one loud voice that we added new features like background downloading, 1080p support, movies and TV shows, video chat, a Marketplace blade and instant messaging.

Over time, as we’ve delivered more and more content into the Xbox LIVE Marketplace, we’ve heard from many of you that it has become increasingly difficult to find the games and content you want.

And that brings us to today.

Because of your feedback, we started rethinking the entire Xbox experience. What we discovered was that we could not only provide a better experience for you, but also something that reaches out to new audiences.

What John Schappert unveiled for the world on stage at E3 was just a sneak preview, so I wanted to share some deeper details on some of the new features in the new Xbox experience.

Here is a look at some additional features you will find interesting:

· Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.

· Access Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the Web. Browse and purchase Marketplace content whenever you want from Xbox.com and it downloads automatically to your console. Purchase that new map, television episode, the latest Xbox LIVE Arcade game or set up a movie to watch when you get home from work.

· Dashboard built into the new Xbox Guide. For everyone who loves the blades interface, it’s not going away; they are now built directly in to the new Xbox guide. Every feature and option is available right from the guide. You can even access your full games library at all times. No matter where you are (in dash or in game), immediately call up your games played list and directly launch a game.

· LIVE Party system. Create a party of up to eight friends, and stay with them from one game to another, or watch a Netflix movie together, or share a slideshow of your personal photos. It works with all Xbox 360 titles, not just upcoming games. LIVE Party allows up to eight people to chat in the dashboard, so you can meet up before playing.

· Xbox LIVE Primetime. This whole new category of games is going to give you more reasons to get online with your friends. Games will support everything you’d expect, like Achievements and leader boards, but many of these games will include real prizes. You can invite your friends, and even set a reminder for an upcoming show. Each game is broadcast simultaneously, so everyone is answering the same questions. Many events will have a live host, calling the shots as they happen.

· Avatars. Your online identity started as a Gamertag - it then grew into a personalized Gamercard. Now, it has evolved even further into avatars. You can express your style, check out new outfits and share this with the community. Avatars will also be integrated into Xbox LIVE Arcade games, LIVE Party, as well as retail games.

· New display support. Because you asked for it, we are adding 16X10 over VGA or HDMI, and support for 1440x900 or 1680x1050.

This is only the beginning. Over the next few months, we will share more details on the upcoming changes.

See you online,

Marc Whitten

Gamertag- Notwen

# # #

Keep track of all the E3 news and information from Xbox.com

Just announced: Xbox 360 Fall update to include 8 person party chat and Netflix

Major Nelson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:30:00 GMT

I’ll post more details later today, but it was just announced at E3 that the next Xbox 360 system update (coming this fall) will have 8 party chat, Netflix and more.

Headed to E3 2008

Major Nelson — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:47:00 GMT

I am packing up and getting ready to head to Los Angeles for E3. I have a couple of days of pre-show work to do before the fun starts bright and early Monday morning with the Microsoft Press Briefing. While I can’t say too much, I will say I am pretty damn excited about what we’ve got lined up for the briefing. Since I’ll be down in LA for about a week, I thought I’d give you a round up of what I’ll be up to, and how you can stay connected to all the action.

Live Blogging of the Press Briefing
I’ll be live blogging the event on my Twitter, unless the FailWhale makes an appearance at which point I’ll switch over to my brightkite. Confused yet? Yea, it can get a little crazy during this show. Your best best is to just watch my Friendfeed (see below or subscribe to it via RSS) which will do all the hard work of following me around to the various social networking sites. That way you can focus on the news, rather than the method of delivery.

Audio from the Press Briefing
As usual, I’ll have the audio of the entire briefing posted as soon as technologically possible after the show. If you add my audio RSS feed right now, you’ll get it the moment it’s available in the Zune Marketplace or the iTunes store.

Daily coverage on Xbox.com and Inside Xbox
Xbox.com/e3 is where you can get all the latest official news, trailers and video games. We’ve got a full crew going down to cover the event to bring you the coverage. Keep an eye on your console, specifically Inside Xbox as well since we’ll also be serving up the latest there as well.

E3 2008 Bringing It Home
As in events past, the Xbox LIVE Marketplace will be overflowing with content as part of our Bringing It Home campaign. This will deliver many of the trailers and videos released at E3 directly to your Xbox 360…most of them in HD. In addition, we’ll also have gamer pictures, themes and more available throughout the week.

In LA? Want to meet the community team to discuss what we announced?
If you are in the Southern California area, and want to meet the Xbox Community teams and discuss what we announced at the briefing earlier in the day, come on down to the Starbucks near the LA Convention Center (1111 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90015) between 3pm and 4pm on Monday July 14th. Thanks to the Gamerscoreblog folks for putting this together and letting us get our caffeine on!

As usual, I’ll do the best I can to update you on the marketplace content, but realistically you should look for an end of day recap since I’ll be quite busy each day. Since I'll be all over the LA area, I'll update brightkite with my whereabouts.

That’s about all I’ve got right now. As you can imagine, I’ll have a lot more to chat about next week.

How you can catch the E3 briefings LIVE

Major Nelson — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:01:30 GMT

I just got off the phone with Adam Sessler over at G4 (check here to see if G4 is available in your area.) who filled me in on G4’s plans for E3 next week. If you’re not headed to LA but you still want to get in on all the gaming action, don’t worry…it sounds like they have you covered. They’ve posted a schedule of coverage on their site, and the great news is that they’ll be carrying the complete Microsoft Press Briefing on Monday (They’ll also be carrying the Sony and Nintendo events as well) without commercial interruptions. I guess the learned their lesson from last year. According to that schedule, it looks like they’ll have a stream available on G4tv.com as well. So set your DVR’s and get ready for some gaming news.

P.S. I’ll also be recording our show and live blogging it from backstage, but more on that later this week.

E3 Games for Windows music (A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular)

Major Nelson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:17:00 GMT

A lot of people (ok, well more than 20) asked me for the name of the music used in the Games for Windows video montage from E3. You can see (and hear) the montage here (WMV) beginning at 6:25 minutes. I used a small clip of this in my show yesterday for the show open and it kicked off the inquiries again.

The name of the band is Pizzicato Five and the specific cut it used in the montage is "Good." I only have one of their albums, but it happened to have that cut on it.

Unfortunately, they broke up in 2001.