Microsoft - 'BIG' Exclusive Announcements, RRoD, Console Life Span Update and GTAIV Update on EGM Live 03/31/08

Greg Ford, Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer talk about GTA4, including Crispin's rare visit to Rockstar's Edinburgh studios. Then Garnett Lee asks Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg about the state of the Xbox 360 and the Live service. And we begin the month of April with a new segment...

The interview with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg is in the later part of the iterview after GTAIV update from EGM/1UP editors.

[decapitator]

Great interview. Am happy to hear that Rockstar will be rewarding the first ten gamers with something 'BIG'. I wonder what that will be. Am hyped.

EDIT: I wonder what Microsoft has planned. The dude was deinitely hitting at something "BIG".

[sonarus]

Big? Hmmm maybe its Pacman 2 lol.

Just playing be merciful i couldn't help myself

[wageslave]

@1.1

PacMan Championship Edition is a _TERRIFIC_ game. I your going to throw stones, I suggest you dont do it from your PSN's glass house.

[sonarus]

lol ok wageslave i hear you. That is at least one person that wouldn't mind if the announcement is pacman 2 lol.

Seriously you guys need to lighten up. Its so easy to get under your skin sometimes it really is hard not to try to make some "wise cracks"

[Timesplitter14]

Don't you guys think those ''BIG exclusive'' announcements are getting old? I'm sick of them. They always turn out to be something lame.

[yanikins111]

Yeah the last super big exclusive was goldeneye wasnt it? And we all know how that turned out

[Montrealien]

Rare has stated in the past that if they can't do a Goldeneye port, they will do "something" with the engine for Live. I'm betting on that.

[Amanosenpai]

HYPE

[godofthunder10]

i'm tired of hearing the big news from sony and microsoft because it's not big news at all.for one thing they don't hardly have any good exclusive from both sides.i'll admit that sometimes that both sides will come out with an exclusive but it's just part 2 or 3 of an old games.it's about time that they both come out with something that's original and not just part 2 or 3 of an old game.
i know that fans from both sides are excited about gta but it's nothing new,it's the same old game it just have better graphics and it's a little longer and that's a fact and i'n not excited about it at all.i'm 37 years old and i've been playing games since i was a kid,not as much but i still play and it's the same thing over and over.look at madden and all the other sports games,gta,and all other games with part 2 and more,they all about the same damn thing with the same old style of playing the game.they might have something that's difference but not that much,all you have to do is look at madden.

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 4]

Pac-Man 2??? ;-D

[Massacre]

Great interview. Man, this year's E3 will be so awesome. Big things planned from all three camps I see.

[decapitator]

Agreed. When is E3 again ?

[TriggerHappy]

Los Angeles Convention Center:July 15 - 17, 2008

[Harry190]

and how do we get tickets?

[killer_trap]

you hide under a cardboard box, wait for a ticket holder to come sneak behind him and hit him with your tranquilizer gun. that is your mission snake.

ohh, don't forget my ticket or i'll tell everyone the real relationship between you and Otacon.

[Harry190]

i will use killer traps to
acquire those cherished piece of paper.
my frequency is 134.50.contact me asap.

[Shaka2K6]

LMAO that made me lol so hard.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I would just run and gun the booth Quake style with a rocket launcher.

[pwnmaster3000]

i hope this "BIG EXCLUSIVE" announcement is really BIG cus micro says lots of those but they are really a let down. like the super mega exclusive which was that james bond game, or the pacman. wait is this the aprilfools joke come on people lets just argue over this or argue over something. ohh wait but school im a senior. be back to argue

[sonarus]

lol haha yea i remember the pacman. fvkin hillarious

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 2]

......Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zz
Sorry fell asleep!!! ;-D

[Hentai]

I also felled asleep Emperior Kutaragi.

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 2]

Watching Paint Dry is more interesting than Micro$oft talk Hentai ;-D

[xboxftw]

I remember sleeping thru ur presentation ken. What did u launch btw? Blu-ray player or something right?

[Hentai]

Emperior Kutaragi launched the true game console

[Montrealien]

Even Ken would be the first to say that it was not a gaming console, but a computer entertainment enjoyment station for the true media experience .

[PopEmUp]

The xbox turn RROD

[GiantEnemyCrab]

While I was sleeping I was having sex with your mom.

[PopEmUp]

this turn out not to be a joke in fact I can say that I have sex with your sister couple of times and posted on the net see is that funny

[zonetrooper5]

E3 is just before my B-Day, theres also Sony Gamers Day in May then you got TGS, XO8 etc in the following months after E3.

[Hentai]

Red ring of death gonna get a little sister? Could that be microsoft big exclusive? :D

[shine1396]

that's actually funny....

[Hentai]

You think thats funny, read my comment from yesterday. :D
http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

[Mr Playboy]

Dead Rising 2 I'm sure , trust me

[predator]

how long do we have to wait for that dam game bro!!!

[ceedubya9]

needs to be announced. Hurry up Capcom!

[Alcohog]

I heard rumors it would be going multiplat, but we shall see.

[NIN64]

I thought Dead Rising 2 was already announced as multiplatform?

[foodbox]

Dead Rising 2 would be awesome.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Dead Rising 2 going multiplat? thats what happens when you read rumors writen from the dreams of Sony fans. Tends to happen alot, IMO I think they get those somewhat realistic dreams and cant tell the difference.

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

They better have something big because..Sony will have something bigger..Sony has owned e3 the last 2 years

[JHFKDFNFGJKFHDKF]

were you asleep in 2006?

Halo 3 announcement, GTA4 going multiplatform, fable 2 announcement? Microsoft OWNED E306

[NO_PUDding]

E306 wasn't shabby for eitehr camp.

E307 belogned to Sony

And let's see this year... I can imagine it belonging to Sony, but theres quiet at Microsoft so maybe they are going to whip out somethign big.

[DrPirate]

Yeah, I honestly have to say Sony dropped the ball E305 and E306...

[The Wood]

e3 06 to MS

e3 07 to Sony

e3 08 hmmmmmmmmm, the plot thickens

[sonarus]

yup. E307 was actually pretty close between the 3 camps but i with strong killzone 2 showing i have to say sony took that. E306 was for msoft though and which E3 was it that had the riiiidge raaacer fiasco lol i can't remember if it was e305 or e306.

The problem with E3 now is companies spend too much time talking about their success. I say cut all that crap and just show games. Msoft also shouldn't try to make E3 like a rock concert this time and enough gears of war chain saw shenanigans just show games.

[The Wood]

its like they all wanna make keynote speeches. Ill say that I feel MS were more into investor type speeches than the others especially since they always seem to mention their competitors and what they feel they are beating their competitors in.

[The Lazy One]

First, Nintendo was way worse on invester speeches last year.

Second, they were keynote speeches. That's a big part of what they're for. Remember, it's a general entertainment expo, not just a consumer expo. It's just as much for the companies and investers as it is for the consumers. It usually boils down to 30% or so invester/business updates 70% new content/features.

Also, 05-06 went to Nint/M$ respectively, 07 was really really close on all fronts. It really boiled down to what games you preferred. Personally, I didn't think sony's showing was super great (definately better than the previous clusterf#cks, just not for me), but I'm not super hyped for killzone 2 or MGS4.

MGS4/Killzone 2 are just personal preference. Don't disagree with me because I know they will be fine games, and lots of people will enjoy them.

[Isaya85]

All Sony have to do is announce FFVII remake and they'll take the cake

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Sony owned E3 but MS owned the entire years of 06 and 07. Looks like they will be taking 08 aswell :)

[jkhan]

Sony had a great E3 at 2007, 2006 was bad. Infact I think the whole problem they had in 2006 and early 2007 with there console market was because of weak E3 showing at 2006. I mean come on they lost there major franchise (GTA) to Microsoft, Sony showed games that were no where near release, infact most of the games Sony showed in 2006 haven't been released yet. But 2007 E3 was where Sony had better press conference then Microsoft. E3 2008 should be great for Sony unless they screwup big time.

[llamaman13]

how about an alan wake release date m$ yaeah, that would be "big"

[foodbox]

Take it to the open zone. Reported as spam for writing "M$".

[blade206]

the big news isssss MS PACMAN LOLOLO

[GiantEnemyCrab]

The PacMan Championship game was the first new PacMan done by the original creator. That was a rather big announcement since PacMan was the definitive arcade game that started the gaming we enjoy now.

The game is excellent btw, but you are a $ony fishead so of course you've never played it. Please don't ever call yourself a gamer.

[Percy]

put down the kool aid.

[Merkaba]

Duke Nukem Forever

[ScottEFresh]

Xbox sucks.

[Gam71]

Good thing no-one ever expects anything intelligent from your comments scott. That way you can't disappoint.

[Angelitos]

The exclusive announcement could be something else, not a game. Also, if it is a exclusive game, they probably bribed them.

[fanboi hater]

there isn't a big exculsive guys we got you lol :)

Can't believe nobody said that yet

if its true my moneys on a new ip

[zethos56]

I don't think companies would lie about big exclusives.

[fanboi hater]

its great you should use it some time
just saying

[ThaToNeKiiDKaBaW]

sonarus - Yo, what is yo problem!? Pacman is a GReaT game!! It will be remembered FOREVER!!!!!!!! hehe But, seriously PacMan ownsss.

Can someone tell me the basics of what was said in the interview? My cpu won't start it...=[

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I wish they would have just come out and said "we pwned the PS3 this gen, and we jacked GTA4 right when their dumb asses where pushing Blu"

PS3 #1 in movies, last in games.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

the truth.

The CRAPSTATION (tm) is a sorry game machine.

I've come to expect this from the $ony fanboy Decapitator. The 3 red light picture was a nice touch, even though if you listen to podcast it was barely mentioned.

[Obama]

How could 360 proclaim victory when it got outsold in 2007 by the ps3? It has slightly more total sales right now because it has a 1 year pre-emptive over a ps3. MS's victory is like Bush's mission accomplish speech.

[TurdStationPee]

LMFAO. SO TRUE.

stupid, arrogant, sony f*cks actually thought THEY were responsible for PS2's success and not Rockstar LMAO. Maybe this will teach them, when GTA4 sells more 360s. stupid sony idiots. "you must work more hours to buy one, and you will also have less games this time" lmao.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

LOL @ Baboon Obama

"has slightly more total sales right now"

Slightly??

Slightly??

I think it's something like 9 million consoles. I knew you were full of hot poop on the campaign trail but I didn't realize you also take your rhetoric to the message boards as well.

Go back to the campaign trail commie. I see the TurdStationPee(props to the genius message board commenter who came up with that +bub) in last place this gen unless the 360 just stops selling completely. This was MS's plan and the reason they took the risk and launched a year earlier.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I know PS3 fans are still sore about loing the GTA franchise, but blame it on Sony, they were sleeping on the job. When it came time to pony up some cash, where was the Sony's check? Last time I checked they are a multi billion buisness aswell, they had billions to push a movie format as the "primary PS3 selling point" to gamers, but they didn't have more than 50 million to keep one of their best exclusives? Please... Microsoft did nothing but see a opertunity and take it, now they have the GTA franchise and it will outsell the PS3 3 to 1 like always.

[JBaby343]

If Sony had been charging for online service all this time they would have bought some extra content too. As it is GTA IV will be just fine on the PS3 without it.

BTW, don't you guys have to pay for the extra content after it comes out meaning you bought it twice? Nice job for a second I thought the PS3 people were getting screwed.

Remember to shut your 360s off every hour or so to avoid missing GTA for several weeks. Wouldn't want your console to blow up. Just trying to help.

@crapboy - Yes 360 has more total but facts are PS3 outsold 360 in 2007 and so far is outselling it in 2008. Stay away from the crabs man your mom taught us all that lesson.

@jason360 - In addition to playing great games my continually expanding library of blurays look amazing when playing on my PS3. How's your HDDVD library coming?

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Don't know didn't support HD DVD, don't support the disc format at all, so.... that realy has no sting with me.

"If Sony had been charging for online service all this time they would have bought some extra content too." maybe they should, then they might have had a superior online gameing system like "everything" Live instead of taking the back seat "again".

How is that cross game chat, music in the background, rumble, #1 downloading service, #1 game sales, huge game library, 5gb 22min manual installs, poor multiplatform ports with bad framerate, washed out colors, jaggies, and piss poor graphic preformance?

"As it is GTA IV will be just fine on the PS3 without it" I can actualy smell the jealousy in your comment. Are we boo hooing over the gimped version of GTA4? go here http://kleenex.com

[TurdStationPee]

You stupid, pathetic, scum-sucking droids WISH you had the opportunity to BUY GTA expansions. Get pwned.

[power of Green]

I noticed the sour grapes pic used with the story too. I think it was to spite the 360 more than it was to garner traffic.

I tend to ignor news posted by this contributor but then again its good sounding news, probably the point.

Some PS3 fanboys will post the good 360 news knowing non PS3 fanboys will ignor it based on who's posting it and at the same time their user names are a calling cards for anti MSFT PS3 fanatics when they sense its bad 360 news.

[Snukadaman]

No one knows since microsoft has not mentioned if this content will be free as we speak....The only thing we know is that it will be exclusive too the xbox360...it seems that you are just blindly lashing out without not even know the facts.

[Percy]

Have we all forgotten this already.
http://www.n4g.com/ps3/News...

It was just in psm last month too the ps3 will have content that the 360 does not but the 360 will have the most who cares. DLC sucks i hate it i dont care if it is sony or ms. When i pay for a game i want every thing the are making for it. If i buy a cd do i get the first 3 songs then pay to get the rest no. If you can not fit everything in the game pick the best put it in. Again though its only a opinion maybe the 360 content will be free that would be awesome that would make people want it more for the 360 more game same money. If it more game for more money screw it id rather get anouther game.

GTA 4 already sounds huge im pretty sure i will get my fill of it as will many by the time im done with it. There are too many games coming out to need 300 hours of gta4.

[Gam71]

If you have a gold account then you pay for xbox live.
Silver its free so the will only be paying for it once.
In fact so will gold members. Everyone pays for it once.
What you meant was don't you have to pay for xbox live gold then for the extra content.

Of course thats if all the content has a price. some might be free. Alsodo you really think it will be free on the ps3? And it will be released AFTER the 360 content is released and it'll probably be one price in us then double, triple everywhere else. Looks like M$ aren't the only ones who want to screw their fans.

Also according to someone on the xbox helpline with a silve account you can still play some games online for free.

Hows your selection in psn or hows home?

[shortax]

Ya'll crack me up.. this shiite is funny.... it is actually kind of pathetic but ..... ne way back on topic I am hoping for some Perfect Dark

[Montrealien]

On Goldeneye engine, wait and see, wait and see.

[Iron Man 2]

LMFAO!XD

A new Pacman game for the Xzombies?

You know Microsoft when it comes to "BIG" announcements,they always dissapoint and are a negative more than a positive,SONY and Playstation 3 FTW!;)

[Snukadaman]

with crappy multi platform games...problems with their free online....face it..I might have too have the issue of rrod but some of you idiots think for some reason sony is the tops of both consoles...its not....if it wasnt for RROD I wonder what sort of ammunition you people would have...complain that you have too pay for a better online experience...wahhh waahh wahhh.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

You don't have enough bubbles for a good comment like that ) here let me help you with that (((click)))

[JBaby343]

You have too many bubbles for a bad comment like that. Here let me help you out with that. (((click)))

[Snukadaman]

Tell me where I am lying? tell me where i am spreading propaganda....tell me where I say the ps3 is dead in North America...Just because your view is different from mines doesnt mean you have too take bubbles...there are plenty of people with opinions I dont agree with...I just hit the disagree button..not take their bubbles away if what they are saying is facts...I think some of your bubbles should be taken for being so petty and small minded.

[TurdStationPee]

GTA is definitely going to rape on 360.

And that M$ PR idiot definitely was full of sh1t, spinning the ways M$ is ripping ppl off with that stupid M$ points system. He actually tried claiming the point system was there to HELP us save money instead of trick us into thinking 100 points is a dollar instead of $1.25 lmao. funny sh1t all around. PR bullsh1t FTL.

[DevastationEve]

hope the mic doesn't go silent:P

[r-nice]

I listened to the podcast yesterday and I don't remember him saying anything about any 'BIG' Exclusive announcements.

He did say they had some stuff he couldn't talk about in store for XBL though and to stay tuned.