Pre-E3 2009 Microsoft - Expectations vs. Reality

Welcome to another edition of my E3 preview, the second of four.  Today's features Microsoft and the Xbox 360, potential announcements, rumors and what we can expect from MS at the E3 conference the first week of June.  I covered Nintendo last week and Sony and the PC are upcoming. 

I gave Microsoft the announcement of the year at last year's show via stealing away Final Fantasy 13 exclusivity from Sony and making the game multiplatform.  At this point I think Microsoft needs another killer announcement like that.  Their game release schedule for the year is honestly slacking a bit especially on the first party from and in the form of exclusives. 

You can expect Halo: ODST to capture a significant part of the show.  The only Halo title set for this year is an expansion to Halo 3.  While Halo has never been more than average to me I am sure the fanboys will eat this up even though its based on a fairly old game at this point. 

What would qualify as a big announcement?  How about some official news on Halo 4.  Things have been pretty quiet on this front and it is time to let some info slip.  A teaser trailer would go a long way towards keeping the fans interested.  ODST is merely a prequel to the Halo 3 story which leaves many wondering, "what is next"?

Microsoft exec Don Mattrick has promised their E3 show "will completely transform how people think about home entertainment".  Pretty bold statement from the company that debuted Netflix year.  I am still waiting for that revolution. 

There are a few rumors that we should consider which may be a part of these significant announcements.  First up is the rumored motion controller/camera.  The latest details expect this to be a mix of Eye Toy and Wii Remote functionality, possibly allowing for user tracking, hand-free inputs and more.  I don't know that this is some massive revolution but it could be sweet to see in action.

Other potential news involves a rumored portable Zune gaming device.  The Escapist featured a "ZuneX" image of a possible hand-held gaming device similar to a PSP though it looks pretty cheap and like a fake to me.  I find it much more likely that we may see a Zune HD which I have talked about repeatedly in the Epic Drop.   I could see such a device playing iPhone'esque games, maybe even XBLA games and possibly playing HD content to TVs as rumored. 

Back on the game front I expect we will hear something from BigPark.  They were recently acquired by Microsoft and are working on an Xbox 360 exclusive title that we know nothing about at this point.  Word it is will make its debut at E3. 

In other game news I hope we finally hear some more details on Alan Wake.  The often discussed, rarely seen Xbox 360 and PC exclusive title.  The psychological thriller from the team at Remedy that brought us Max Payne.  This game was first discussed in the fall of 2006 and is giving FF13 a run for the most delayed title this generation.