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Microsoft's Conference AfterParty and Call of Duty 4

Posted by Zonk on from the booze-and-shmooze dept.

In the wake of yesterday's Microsoft conference, there are further details and updates on what was discussed. Moore dropped the statistic that there are 7 million users on Xbox Live, and mentioned an August 24th release date for the Elite SKU in Canada and Europe. Call of Duty 4 seemed to be the most popular game of the event, with the single-player demo going over very well and news of a multiplayer Beta coming soon raising the eyebrows of FPS gamers. There was, of course, a party afterwards; Dean Takahashi gives us a sense of the event, while Kotaku has some beer-fueled comments from Peter Moore and Shane Kim. N'Gai Croal has the final word, with a point-by-point breakdown of the event.

38 comments

  1. Nintendo conference happening *right now* by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Live text feed:

    http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=79 482

    Major news:
    Smash Bros Dec 3rd in US
    Mario Kart Wii confirmed
    Zapper lightgun-style addon

  2. Elite Xbox in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The elite was released a few months ago, but I think was released as a limited edition.
    Is this suppose to be more of a permanent SKU?
    With some of the line up comming up this year / early next year... I think I might just need to purchase an Xbox

    1. Re:Elite Xbox in Canada by Reapman · · Score: 1

      Ya wtf, it's been available for awhile up here. And not just "import" stores, i'm talking big box stores like Best Buy and Futureshop.

    2. Re:Elite Xbox in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      s/SKU/Model/

      Unless you really are a minimum wage EB retail worker posting on slashdot when he should be serving customers.....

  3. Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All anyone is talking about is the 360's hardware defects, the billion dollars Microsoft is having to spend repairing 360's, and the new disc scratching lawsuit.

    1. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by xhrit · · Score: 1

      >All anyone is talking about is the 360's hardware defects, the billion dollars Microsoft is having to spend repairing 360's, and the new disc scratching lawsuit. No, that is just what the people on slashdot are talking about. Everyone else is a rabid M$ fanboi talking about how halo is still teh best gaem evr.

      --
      Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
    2. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by xhrit · · Score: 1

      Remind me to use the preview button next time.

      --
      Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
    3. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Actually every Halo fan seems to be in Killzone threads crying and wetting their panties...

      Halo 3 has really turned out to be complete dud. Someone really needs to tell Bungie that even hardcore Halo fans are getting bored with shiny metal.

    4. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by fistfullast33l · · Score: 0, Troll

      Halo 3 has really turned out to be complete dud.

      Halo 2 was a complete dud as well. The only reason Halo gained any promenence in the gaming community was because it was the only title that made the Xbox relevant. If Halo was a PC only game, it would have probably died a slow death. Compared to Half Life, Halo was a rip off.

    5. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 1

      In what way is Halo 2 a rip-off of Half-Life?

      If anything, it's a rip-off of Bungie's second FPS, Marathon-- which had the compelling story, multiplayer and modding features of Half-Life before Half-Life 1 even existed. I wouldn't say Valve "ripped-off" Bungie when making Half-Life, but there's obviously influence there and there's no doubt that Marathon is a vastly under-rated title.

      --
      Comment of the year
    6. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by Eponymous+Crowbar · · Score: 1

      Halo 2 is derivative of many other FPS titles and lags behind PC gameplay in many ways. It also sets the standard for console-based FPS games. That's really all there is to say....

    7. Re:Why Did Microsoft Even Show Up? by ShaggyIan · · Score: 1

      Must. . . resist. . . crap:

      Hey, use the preview button next time.

      --

      This sig was generated randomly by one million monkeys with Speak 'n Spells. . .
  4. great by nomadic · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Call of Duty 4 seemed to be the most popular game of the event, with the single-player demo going over very well and news of a multiplayer Beta coming soon raising the eyebrows of FPS gamers.

    What is wrong with these people? Aren't they bored with the WW2 FPS setting yet? How stoned do you have to be to be like "WHOA ANOTHER ONE, AWESOME!".

    1. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wow, I didn't know people fought with M16s and AK47s in WWII
      All those History Channel specials must be Nazi propaganda!

    2. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CoD4 seems to be hyped by people after the Halo beta disaster. The damage the massively bad reaction people had to the beta has to be tremendous if so many people are talking about a tired old WW2 franchise.

    3. Re:great by Osty · · Score: 1

      What is wrong with these people? Aren't they bored with the WW2 FPS setting yet? How stoned do you have to be to be like "WHOA ANOTHER ONE, AWESOME!".

      Yes, yes they are. That's why CoD4 will now be set in modern times (thus the "Modern Warfare" subtitle). Your reading comprehension rocks!

    4. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is why they show these games at parties. If you are drunk you can come up with ways to "wow" the public into wanting yet another WW2 game.

    5. Re:great by jonnythan · · Score: 1

      COD2 has a massive online following and remains the only FPS I've played consistently.

      The COD games are really, really excellent. They may not be your thing, but a lot of people really love them.

      There was a quote in the article about making COD4 deeper and more sophisticated, which really excites me.

    6. Re:great by the_crowing · · Score: 2, Informative

      Aren't they bored with the WW2 FPS setting yet?

      Call of Duty 4 is not a WW2 shooter. It going to be game based on modern combat.

      check it out:http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/902/902590.html

    7. Re:great by Is0m0rph · · Score: 1

      Did you happen to notice COD4: MODERN WARFARE is not set in WW2 but in MODERN times. I guess not before you decided to flame eh?

    8. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PC Multiplayer CoD had a great following... until Infinity Ward pissed all over their core fans with the abomination that was CoD2. After the fiasco with badly-ported code, lack of anticheat (which became broken anti-cheat when they finally caved and implemented it), and dumbed-down "console" gaming the multiplayer offered the majority of hardcore CoD/CoD:UO players moved on to other games. The last time I checked, there were 1000s more UO servers than CoD2 servers up and running - I dumped my CoD2 server after the last "patch" and reverted that box to a UT2K4 setup, my clan and 20 other clans we were friendly with dumped CoD2 like a hot potato.

      It didn't help that Grant Collier lied through his teeth repeatedly, caused the world's first gaming server "lock-out", and told the community that there would be no SDK because "modders just aren't there..." (when there were lots of great modding teams doing great things). Simply put, the man is a Grade-A Douchebag. I know money talks, but I guess Activision and/or Microsoft had him bent over pretty good - hope EA never gets their hands on the source code for CoD2 because they'll probably find a lot of MoH code in there...

      Infinity Ward will not see any of my dollars, nor the dollars of a rather sizeable PC gaming community - sure, they'll make mad-crazy money from the Xbox crowd, but they lost a lot of customers on the PC side with their abominable community relations.

      Splash Damage and/or Epic Games FTW!

    9. Re:great by CRiMSON · · Score: 1

      Nice reply... Too bad you didn't ready the FA, or even check a game site. CoD4 is modern combat.

      --
      oogly boogly!
    10. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It going to be game based on modern combat

      I can see it now:

      Call of Duty 4: Exit Strategy

      One level, an infinite number of enemies, no fun minigames, cutscenes with bickering politicians and "news" reporters -- and no exit.

      Price: Billions.

    11. Re:great by Niomosy · · Score: 1

      What the alternative? EA screwed up with BF 2142 and they're royally pissing off the BF2 community with their stats server outage that, after a month, still isn't fully functioning and is missing gobs of data for players.

      This from the same group that released a patch that screwed up all Special Forces nighttime maps (fire the TOW on the Humvee, crash).

    12. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, you're right! Sorry, I have a bad of habit of speaking/posting without thinking.

      Wow this is embarrassing.

    13. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for the link, not sure how I missed that. Maybe because I didn't get much sleep last night then my mom woke me up at 6:00 this morning.

      Apologies to the entire Slashdot community. This is embarrassing beyond belief.

    14. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG, someone please shoot me. How on earth could I have made such a bone-headed mistake like that.

      Sorry to everyone, mom's been on my case lately and I just can't seem to get it together. She just doesn't understand me and we get into these fights all the time. To top it all off, I can't seem to get girls to talk to me, let alone get a simple kiss.

      There needs to be a "Are you sure?" button after hitting submit. Life just isn't fair. Why do I always get the short end of the stick?

      Sorry again for the stupid post.

    15. Re:great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry!!! You're right. I've been doing stupid things like this for what seems like my entire life!

      Why didn't I just think for half a second before hitting submit??? It's really not that hard.

      Maybe mom's right, I'm just not worthy of being her son.

      Sorry again.

    16. Re:great by ShaggyIan · · Score: 1

      Just wanted to say that I'm glad I was toiling through the AC's on this one.

      Your responses have been quite amusing. I hope that is some genuine irony/sarcasm I read in this one.

      Amazing how they all think they're the first one to point it out, isn't it?

      --

      This sig was generated randomly by one million monkeys with Speak 'n Spells. . .
    17. Re:great by nomadic · · Score: 1

      Yeah, yeah, yeah. So instead of the 50th WW2 FPS, it's the 50th modern warfare FPS. Big deal. I remember when FPSes used to be a varied group; what are the chances of us getting another Thief, or Deus Ex, or Heretic?

  5. Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Two years into a console's life is when the giant second generation games should be showing up that really show the system off. Where are those titles for the 360? Where is Microsoft's answer to:
    Killzone
    Uncharted
    Lair
    Ratchet and Clank

    Halo 3 looks, to be generous, ok. Obvsiouly the biggest dissapointment for what should be the 360's flagship title.
    Mass Effect, is now being called Mass Downgrade. Honestly did they really think anyone would be fooled with the tired old trying to pass off cut scenes as real game play bullshit?
    Call of Duty 4 looks decent, but that is a cross platform title.

    I can't remember an E3 where there was this GIGANTIC leap in graphics from one console to another. With Nintendo and the Wii it feels like we have three different generations of consoles this time.

    1. Re:Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by antime · · Score: 1

      Where is Microsoft's answer to:
      Killzone
      ...
      Honestly did they really think anyone would be fooled with the tired old trying to pass off cut scenes as real game play bullshit?
      Hoho!
    2. Re:Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by Zer0Her0 · · Score: 0

      Man, I've missed a bunch of releases! *runs to the store to pick up some PS3 games* Wait a second, are any of those even getting a release date before 2008?

      --
      --zer0her0 home: http://zer0her0.info work: http://lgmp.info
    3. Re:Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uncharted is 2007
      Lair is 2007
      Ratchet and Clank is 2007
      Heavenly Sword is 2007

      Both Lair and Heavenly Sword have demos that a about to be released this month or early next month.

      In the meantime:

      Resistance has new map packs
      Motorstorm
      Tekken
      Superstardust HD - fucking amazing game in 1080p
      Ninja Gaiden
      Oblivion
      The Darkness

      Also Warhawk which has turned out to be the king of console online games after the amazing beta is due out in 2007.

      Sucks if you are too poor to buy a PS3.

    4. Re:Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by ShaggyIan · · Score: 1

      Sucks if you don't care enough to spend that kind of money on a PS3.

      There. Fixed that for you. I'll even subtitle it with: and replacing a perfectly good HD set that lacks the right ports. All for some games that make you go, "Eh".

      Some day I'll understand why people assume those without PS3's are poor.

      --

      This sig was generated randomly by one million monkeys with Speak 'n Spells. . .
    5. Re:Microsoft Essential Shot Nothing But Airballs by LKM · · Score: 1

      Yes, where is Microsoft's answer to Sony's answer to Halo!

  6. Xbox Live "subscribers"... by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

    If that includes people with silver accounts, let's not kid ourselves...

    I, for one, only have a silver account so I can play Final Fantasy XI. It requires an Xbox Live account for some reason even though Square has their own servers for FF XI. There's no such external account required for the Windows and Playstation 2 versions.

    1. Re:Xbox Live "subscribers"... by Cerberus911 · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the three people who played FFXI have a huge effect on that number.