ORIGINAL: IGN

August 23, 2006 - Directly following Nintendo' s press conference this morning in Germany, Microsoft followed up with a press conference of its own. The press conference was held in a round elevated theater in the middle of the booth, which is basically the same as last year: an outdoor theme with Astroturf, sand, and lots of fake trees.

Although he was pre-taped, Speech from Arrested Development opened up the press briefing. Speech was followed by Stephan Brechtmann, Director of the Home and Entertainment Division for Microsoft Germany.

Brechtmann also said that Speech from Arrested Development would perform live onstage later, and soon after introduced Chris Lewis, the Regional Vice President of Entertainment Devices in Europe.

Lewis opened up by giving a few stats, stating that Microsoft has shipped 1.3 million consoles in Europe, and claiming that this is the fastest console launch in history. However, they didn' t comment on hard sales numbers in Europe. Chris Lewis did say Microsoft expects to have 10 million units shipped worldwide by this Christmas, along with a catalogue of 160 high-def games.

Lewis then went on to talk a bit about the Xbox 360 expanding into Eastern Europe. Gamers in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia can expect the Xbox 360 to launch there on November 3, 2006.

Hughes Ricour from Electronic Arts then took the stage and showed off the new FIFA ' 07 engine, and stressed that realistic physics and movement would be key.

Next it was time for more stats as well as some partnership announcements. MS reported that more than half of all Xbox 360 users in Germany were on Xbox Live, and that online gaming key to the European market. Microsoft then announced that they were forming a partnership with BMW and Mini, and unveiled an Xbox 360-branded Mini Cooper. However, they didn' t explain much about the partnership or how it would affect gamers, if at all.

The focus of the presentation then changed from the Xbox 360 to Windows gaming as Rick Wickham from the Windows Gaming Business Entertainment and Devices Division took the stage. Several high-profile developers talked a bit about Windows gaming and how Vista is going to be an even more powerful and tailored platform for gaming. Bill Roper showed up on video to show about 15 seconds of Hellgate: London, and also talked a bit about the smart save snapshots which will show you a screenshot of your current save game. Cevat Yeril from Crytek was up next and talked very briefly about Crysis, which is looking incredible. Funcom' s Conan was up next, which was also looking amazing. Expect hands-on reports from all of these games soon.

Wickham took the stage again and talked about Microsoft' s new brand name for Windows games, simply entitled " Games for Windows." This new label should start showing up on Microsoft games later this fall. After the brand announcement and a quick announcement of Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania, MS showed about five seconds of Halo 2 for Window' s Vista, which consisted of a multiplayer match. A few other games were shown, most notably about five seconds of Shadowrun. Unfortunately it was just CGI footage, so no gameplay was shown.

For hardware, Wickham announced that Microsoft would be bringing back the Intellimouse 3.0 and also announced a new mouse they were branding in conjunction with Razor. Wickham then announced that all Xbox 360 wireless accessories will work with Windows starting later this fall.

Scott Andersen, Business Development Manager showed of Flight Simulator X, and played the game using an Xbox 360 wireless controller. There was then a very brief demonstration of Crysis, showing off some of the dense jungle with fully destructible environments as well as a burning aircraft carrier.

Although it was pulled from the show last minute, Microsoft did show a bit of Forza 2 at the conference. Like Shadowrun, the footage was only CGI, so we didn' t get to see any actual gameplay at the conference. However, we should have a chance to see plenty on the game before it is released this winter.

Chris Kimell from Microsoft Game Studios showed off some of Viva Piñata, which was very choppy at this point. Kimell did say that the game would tie in with the television show, and you could even get tips on how to play from Fergie the Fudgehog.

Xbox Live and Arcade was the focus of the next portion of the presentation. In addition to talking generally about XBLA and reiterating that over halfAnd said popular board games such as Alhambra and Settlers of Catan would be available later this year for download.

Although no definite price or release date was announced at the conference, Microsoft did mention that the HD-DVD player would be released in Europe in Fall 2006. They showed some of the movie Serenity in HD, and showed that you can chat online, check your achievements, send messages, check on friends, and basically perform any Xbox 360 online functions while watching HD-DVDs. They also showed off a wireless headset and wireless wheel, and the wireless gaming receiver for Windows to interface with Xbox 360 devices. The Xbox Live Vision camera also made a brief appearance.

Chris Satchell, General Manager of the Game Developer Group, took the stage next and showed off how XBL will interface with wireless devices such as cell phones to allow you to communicate with your online friends and share achievement accomplishments.

Satchell then gave us a glimpse of XNA and the new suite if game building tools for wannabe developers. He built a very simple side-scrolling plane game in under two minutes. Of course if wasn' t the most detailed game out there, but it does show that the tools will be there for those of you who have dreams of creating your own games.

The video wall flashed with a sizzle reel showing a bunch of their games, including Lost Planet, Table Tennis, Brothers in Arms 3, Mass Effect, NHL 2K7, F.E.A.R., Too Human, Viva Piñata, MotoGP, LotR: BfME 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, Madden NFL, World Series of Poker, Saints Row, Smackdown, Stranglehold, Enchant Arms, Test Drive Unlimited, NCAA Football, and Pro Evo 6. The big announcement for Microsoft Europe was that Pro Evo 6 and FIFA ' 07 would be exclusive to the Xbox 360 for the next 12 months.

All in all there wasn' t much big news that came out of the Microsoft conference, which is rather disappointing since we were expecting at least something since Microsoft used the German Games Convention to announce the release date and price of the Xbox 360 last year.