So the presser is now over, and I’m a little stunned and in no position to make any thoughtful comments yet. Instead, let’s go over those wild predictions I made and see how we fared…

• “The next dashboard update will be revealed and will include expanded avatar customization options”

Well, we there is a dashboard update coming and it’s going to include some crazy stuff.  And, as if on cue, a bunch of stuff that won’t be coming to Canada.  There were no more announced avatar customization changes, but we did get Twitter and Facebook so I guess it’s an even exchange. (1/1)

• “The motion controller will be shown”

Well… “motion control” was shown, sans actual controller, but I’m going to take this as a win regardless. You know, we all knew that the motion camera thing was coming, what surprised me is that no one really guessed how much it would change everything. (2/2)

• “You’ll be able to use a Zune HD as a controller for your Xbox 360 for specially made games (Maranda wants the world to know that this is her prediction, not mine, and if it comes true then she was right)”
  

Sorry Maranda, but not only did they not bring motion controlling zunes.. but they didn’t even MENTION the damn thing. Better luck next time! (2/3)

• Primetime Channel release date announce along with additional games.

Okay, Primetime was completely absent which, I have to be honest here, completely surprised me. I thought this was a shoe in! Not only did they not mention Primetime, but they also didn’t mention that 1vs100 is going live in the States TONIGHT in beta. (2/4)

• Game announcements, appearances:
  • Crackdown 2
  • Lord of the Rings Online
  • PGR5 or Forza 2 or Both, with a new high-end racing wheel incl. six speed shifter
  • Bungie’s new IP will NOT be shown
  • This is obvious, since it’s shipping in six months, but we’re finally going to see ODST gameplay
  • Mass Effect 2 will be shown and will time timed exclusive for Xbox 360

Okay, let’s make another list to cover this one…

• Crackdown 2 win!
• LotR Online fail!
• Forza 2 or PGR5 win!
• New racing wheel fail! (I *know* there is one coming)
• New Bungie Game NOT appearing fail!
• Halo ODST win!
• Mass Effect 2 fail! (where the hell was it??!)

Which brings us to… 5 of 11 predictions true or, essentially, a fail. Damn, I’m not very good at this!

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, then you’re already well aware that I hold in my hand an invite to both the Microsoft media brief presentation and to E3 itself… both of which I had to turn down.  I’m well aware the extents that many people would go through in order to obtain that which I have tossed aside but believe me, the decision was not easy.

About a month ago I began to loosely form a set of theories, or predictions, about what Microsoft would unveil at this year’s media brief.  One of them, a new piece of hardware to compete with Apple’s iPhone as a grass-roots gaming platform, has mostly come true. We’ve seen the hardware, but we’ve yet to see the software and I do believe, from the rumblings I’ve heard, that it will have a significant gaming component to it and that it will be shown at the media brief.

Okay, that one is obvious, let’s keep it going.

• The next dashboard update will be revealed and will include expanded avatar customization options
• The motion controller will be shown
• You’ll be able to use a Zune HD as a controller for your Xbox 360 for specially made games (Maranda wants the world to know that this is her prediction, not mine, and if it comes true then she was right)
• Primetime Channel release date announce along with additional games.
• Game announcements, appearances:
  • Crackdown 2
  • Lord of the Rings Online
  • PGR5 or Forza 2 or Both, with a new high-end racing wheel incl. six speed shifter
  • Bungie’s new IP will NOT be shown
  • This is obvious, since it’s shipping in six months, but we’re finally going to see ODST gameplay
  • Mass Effect 2 will be shown and will time timed exclusive for Xbox 360

So those are mine, but what are yours? Do you think I’m crazy? Let me know in the comments.

~ Jeff

Disclaimer
While I have regular interaction with the community and product teams, I don’t know any more (most likely less) than everyone else. They’re all very careful never to let us know anything that we’re not supposed to know and only ever tell us anything after it’s been announced (we typically just get additional information on it).

We don’t talk a lot about PC games around here, but if you follow me closely enough you’ll know that in addition to loving my Xbox 360, I’m also a big PC gamer.  And, if you don’t play WoW (which I don’t) then when you’re playing a game on PC there’s a pretty good chance it’s an RTS.  And boy, do I play a lot of RTS games.  For a long time I’ve been hoping that someone would master RTS development on consoles and, while EA has made some truly valiant attempts, no one has really nailed it.  Ensemble, creators of the Age of Empires series, have delivered Halo Wars to us and are seeking to break the trend of ‘just okay’ RTS games on the Xbox 360 platform.  How did they fair? Let’s analyze their demo and find out…