Last, but certainly not least from Microsoft, was the announcement that a redesigned, 250GB Xbox 360 was shipping to retail this week. The smaller, quieter hardware is very angular in appearance, but it is supposed to be "ready for the future."
This isn't a new platform from Microsoft, but this certainly is a perfected model. This hardware includes such features as a 250 GB hard drive, built-in N Wi-Fi, five USB ports, 45 nanometer and integrated CPU and GPU, and touch-sensitive buttons. This will all cost just $299.99 - older Xbox 360 models have had a price reduction of $50. For a complete list of the stand-out specs of this redesigned Xbox 360, check out the news piece HERE.
As previously mentioned, EA and Activision had solid presentations of their own, detailing a number of quality software titles that will release later this year and into 2011. Titles of note included Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dead Space 2, Bulletstorm, and Crysis 2 for EA, as well as DJ Hero 2, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, and the much-wished for remake of GoldenEye 007 from Activision.
Ubisoft took a lot of chances this year, and we'll have to see if those pay off. The combat in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood looks much improved, but we're a little worried that the setting will be too similar to AC2 - perhaps Ubi's strategy of churning out their top titles year after year is actually detrimental. Other than AC: Brotherhood, Ubisoft's next most interesting title is probably Rez and Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi's newest - Child of Eden.
Smaller publishing houses were also nicely represented. We were especially excited by Bethesda Softworks, which will launch RAGE, Fallout: New Vegas, and Brink, all of which should capture gamers' imaginations everywhere. 2K Games, THQ, Atlus, Square Enix, SEGA, Konami, Capcom, and many more also had line-ups chocked full of winners; 2010 and 2011 will be filled with quality gaming.
