At a morning press briefing Microsoft started the day with an appearance by Dhani Harrison (son of George) then quickly rolled out his mother Olivia accompanied by Yoko Ono.  All were introduced as early supporters of the Beatles Rock Band title.  Shortly thereafter, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney graced the stage for a quick hello.  Unfortunately they were all just there to show their faces and didn’t regale us with any exclusive performances.  Hey, Microsoft has money… but c’mon.

While the rumors of a Macca and Ringo appearance later in the evening at a Microsoft party at the Downtown Standard were unfounded,  we were treated to a performance by McLovin on vocals with an all-star band of Harmonix staffers on the rooftop patio while the waitstaff served champagne and tasty vittles.

It’s a foregone conclusion that Beatles Rock Band will sell a quadrillion copies.  So let’s get to the other titles being pimped by Bill Gates & Co.

Modern Warfare 2 looked absolutely amazing in the demo.  If the gameplay is as tight as what we saw, FPS players will be very pleased.

Tony Hawk was on hand to show off the final design of the Ride controller.  A video of numerous old and new school skate heroes trying out the hardware was somewhat convincing.  While the idea of using a deck as a controller is intriguing, I’ll reserve my judgement until after my feet touch it.

Final Fantasy XIII displayed a short demo, but even with all the power of the Xbox 360 the game appeared as simply a prettier version of the previous titles.  Turn based RPG nerds can flame me below.

I got my hands on Shadow Complex which was a lot more fun in practice than the demo suggested.  While the producers pushed it’s kinship with old school titles like Metroid, I felt it more closely resembled the OddWorld series.  Either way, it’s a fun platformer with tons of secrets and puzzles.  To boot, it’s a very good looking game.

Left for Dead 2, what can I say?  Zombies that don’t stumble around and move like they’re in Night of the Living Dead are the future.  The multiplayer is a frenetic adventure filled with fun melee weapons (frying pan) and tons of limbs being removed by machine gun fire.  The graphics and gameplay are both solid.

Damn, so far it just sounds like I’m on the Microsoft payroll.  In all seriousness, today really got me excited for what’s to come in the realm of video games.  The demos also made me seriously worried for the other consoles on the market.  More than one presenter at the morning press briefing tossed out less-than-veiled insults toward their competition with appropriate “ooohs” from the crowd.

Ok, let’s move on to Splinter Cell: Conviction.  I must admit I’ve been less than a huge fan of the stealth genre as so many of the titles are bogged down by repetetive scenes where I get tired of hiding.  The new title gives the player more options with attack plans including something akin to a run-and-gun approach to eliminating the enemy.  This coupled with a very cool way of projecting mission goals and cut scenes on walls and floors really adds to the visual aesthetic.

Forza Motorsports 3 touts itself as the “definitive” racing game for this generation of consoles.  After strapping myself into a hydraulic racing seat in front of 3 flat screen monitors I was fairly convinced the team at Turn 10 aren’t stretching the truth.  Over 400 cars from 50 manufacturers and the ability to perform a virtual automotive ballet really sets the bar extremely high.

Man, I haven’t even mentioned Halo 3 ODST.  That’s “Orbital Drop Shock Trooper” for the uninitiated.  A multiplayer game they’ve dubbed “Firefight” was on display and provided a very fulfilling cooperative battle against waves of Covenant forces.  Multiple kills and other exhibitions of ass-kickery earn you points as you share a set number of lives with your compatriots while the enemy drops alien marauders in a small arena reminicent of the original Halo.  The HUD has been updated along with the addition of new weapons while the trusty pistol has regained its OG power.

The Bungie team also tossed out a brief teaser about Halo: Reach.  Honestly, I don’t really know what they’re up to… but it looked epic as all hell.

A survival horror title by the name of Alan Wake looked freaking creepy.  It’s a story about a best selling writer who goes on vacation with his lady and the scary book he’s working on starts coming to life.  A dark force invades the land and damn near everything gets posessed and attacks your humble protagonist.

Ok, shall we get to the Xbox Live announcements?  Microsoft is taking bold steps to make their console the media center a hacked Xbox could have been, except you’ll get to pay for all the content.  Actually, Last fm will be free to Xbox Live Gold Members… so at least something will be kinda free-ish.  To combat PS3’s Blu-Ray capabilities Microsoft announced a new streaming HD service in 1080p.

European Xbox owners will be the first to experience live TV on the console with service provided by Sky.  A short demo with avatars watching football (soccer) seemed to suggest we’d be interested in seeing games in a reduced format while said avatars jumped around and cheered in front of  a virtual screen.  Mostly it reminded me of MST3K without the witty robots.

Microsoft also announced partnerships with Facebook and Twitter for Xbox Live.  While we all know they’re trying desperately to consolidate the console and PC into one unit, without a keyboard it’s not going to happen.  Browsing your Facebizzle photo galleries on the TV should provide some enterainment, but it will be yet another console generation before you need only one device for your online addiction.

Is anyone still reading?  We haven’t even gotten to Natal!!!  Steven Spielberg was on hand to pimp Microsoft’s Natal “controller free” gaming device.  While harcore gamers cringe at the idea of jumping around the room to control their onscreen selves, Señor Spielberg was quick to point out that only 40% of US homes have a gaming console.  If the market is to gain true saturation, they need to court the casual gaming communtiy as well as the non-gamers.  Honestly, the demonstation was impressive and even a little freaky at times.  I suggest you check it out for yourselves before deciding whether it’s the future of gaming.

That’s way more than enough for now.  E3 starts in just a few hours and I’ll be back to fill you in on everything else tomorrow.  Until then…