The Console Breakdown: Hitmaking or Hot Air?
Feature By Erin Bell, Brad Gallaway, Scott Jones, Kyle Orland, Mike Bracken and Matt Wiese

Prior to the display floor opening, each of the industry's major players gave press conferences to announce their plans for the coming year. Here are brief summations of their battle plans in chronological order, along with our impressions and comments.

Microsoft

The first of the major conferences, Microsoft's J. Allard put the spotlight on games, rather than new hardware as some had suspected. The biggest name on display was Halo 2, showcasing its multiplayer aspects. The expected street date for Halo 2 is November 9, 2004, revealed by Microsoft exec Peter Moore via a large black tattoo on his upper arm. Other notable titles included Full Spectrum Warrior, Conker: Live and Reloaded and the exclusive Doom III, complete with co-op play.

Halo 2 (Xbox) (top), Conker: Live and Reloaded (Xbox) (bottom)

Famous athletes Muhammad Ali, Marshall Faulk and others were brought onstage to reveal that Electronic Arts will bring its popular sports titles to the Xbox.

Additionally, new features for Microsoft's online Live service were detailed, including a new camera peripheral, voicemail, old-school arcade games like Dig Dug (along with newer things like Bejewelled) and video mail. Finally, Microsoft spoke on its new XNA software push, meant to help smooth development for smaller publishers looking to get into the console world. Near the end of the presentation, chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach again emphasized software, saying "it takes much more than hardware to make great games."

Erin: I found it interesting that the video messaging was the only application Microsoft was pushing for its camera peripheral. I would have liked some indication of how they intended to implement it into games—assuming that's their intention in the first place. Given the proliferation of Eye Toy games on the show floor, it would be puzzling if they didn't.

Brad: Well, out of all the potential things Microsoft could have said, they picked the one that made me the happiest. I haven't exactly been the most satisfied Xbox owner prior to now, but their announcement reinforcing a focus on games (backed up by what I saw on the floor) went a long way towards changing that. I still wonder what happened with Tim Schafer's Psychonauts, though.

Scott: Microsoft seems to be right where they want to be—not necessarily dominating, but clearly gaining some ground on Sony. They've obviously got a bona fide mega-hit in Halo 2, and instead of making gamers line up to glimpse a few seconds of footage, they boldly let the spotlight shine on Jade Empire and Fable, and downplayed Halo 2 completely (it was nowhere to be found on the floor). Personally, I've been using the big, black box on a regular basis lately, and the show only confirmed that there will be more reasons to use it later this year.

Fable (Xbox)

Matt: You know, I have to say, I've never been a huge fan of the Xbox. As a PC owner, I don't see much of a point since all the titles I've ever been interested in on the system were released on PC as well. However, you do have to credit them for pushing some risky game concepts to the front of their 2004 line-up. I'd like to echo Scott's sentiments about Fable and Jade Empire, and also add Thief: Deadly Shadows to the exclusives Xbox owners should be proud to have.

Even so, I just can't work up much enthusiasm over the 'Box. I've seen nothing yet that makes me feel I need to own one in addition to a PC. They also didn't show much interest trying quirky or simple titles that might be able to reach a broader audience than their FPS/non-linear RPG/Sports crowd. Massive virtual worlds push the envelope, sure, but would a little Dance Dance Revolution/EyeToy-style innovation hurt?