Xiled Gaming - Story: GDC 08: Microsoft GDC Keynote Report

Microsoftï¿½s keynote address at the 2008 Game Developers Conference started with John Schappert delivering the requisite charts and statistics: one billion unlocked Xbox 360 Achievements to date, $250 million spent on Xbox Live Arcade games, and that 30% more people upload Halo 3 videos via Bungieï¿½s community than upload videos to YouTube on a daily basis.

XNA architect Chris Satchel then took the stage, mentioning that 800,000 downloads of the XNA Studio software has been downloaded to date, and that Microsoft is working with more than 400 universities worldwide to get the software to students. He then announced the Xbox Live Community Games program, which appears to be the final version of the Community Arcade revealed to us in December.

Community Games developers will have a "creator identity," much like your own Xbox Live profile, which will gain reputation and the like as you go. Once you have a game ready for submission, youï¿½ll write up a profile to spread the word to users and submit the project to the Community Games service, at which point it will be peer reviewed to filter out copyright protected content and other issues. Once approved, the games will be available via the Community Games section of Xbox Live.

Satchel showed off a game called Jelly Car, which looked similar to indie game Crayon Physics, as well as a European title (that looked like a Flash game) in which you could brutally kill a bunch of enemies on the screen. A video montage displayed further titles in the works, such as Rocketball, Little Gamers, and Culture, a title where you plant flowers on various worlds.

Finally, Satchel started showing an overhead shooter that was built on PC -- and then showed it on the Xbox 360 -- and then on Microsoftï¿½s Zune portable media player. Is this the first step towards a legitimate gaming push for the Zune? Satchel said theyï¿½re completing the vision of democratizing game distribution this year.

Dr. Michael Capps from Epic Games then took the stage to talk about the latest version of the Unreal Engine 3. Several technical demos were shown, with advanced character lighting, a massive locust hoard (from Gears of War), and improved water effects in the mix. He also showed a very organic-looking cube of meat rolling around to demonstrate "Soft Body Physics," and then moved on to a demo in which nearly anything in the environment could be destroyed (ala Red Faction).

Tomonobu Itagaki from Tecmo then came out to demo a new Ninja Gaiden 2 level for the GDC audience entitled "The Temple of Sacrifice." Limbs flew, a chainsaw arm was seen, and blood undoubtedly filled the frame (check back later for the trailer!). He mentioned that the save point in the level also is a record mark for the Ninja Cinema feature, which records a clip of the action for you to share via Xbox Live. Before leaving, Itagaki announced that the Xbox 360 exclusive will launch in North America on June 3rd.

The focus then shifted to Fable 2, with Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios on hand to demo the game. Before launching into the title, he showed an Xbox Live Arcade spinoff table game -- essentially a cross between roulette and craps -- that will launch a few weeks before Fable 2, allowing players to accumulate in-game money to use in Fable 2.

The Fable 2 demonstration covered co-op play, with Molyneux stating, "Iï¿½ve played role playing games all my life and I love them - I absolutely love them - but Iï¿½ve been lonely." All statistics and money earned during co-op play in someone elseï¿½s game will be transferred to your own profile, as well. Hit up our just-posted preview for a detailed look at the co-op play.

Molyneux then moved on to the combat system, which he notes has been designed for pick-up-and-play enjoyment, but will also pack a lot of depth. He finishes the demo by coming back to his in-game home after being away for six months; his female character is hassled by the sad child and angry husband, so the woman takes out a gun and shoots the husband. Choice quote from the liveblog: "He shot the husband! PETER HAS NO SOUL!"

The moment we were all waiting for -- the Gears of War 2 presentation -- was actually fairly anticlimactic, with Cliff Bleszinski coming onstage with a chainsaw gun and the above teaser trailer. Still, the game is confirmed for a November release on the Xbox 360 from Epic Games, and Bleszinski promises the game will be "bigger, better, and far more badass in every way."