In mere moments, the show was about to begin, and I was at the ready, live blogging the event.

Well, you all saw the press briefing – you know what happened. The announcement that no numbers or charts would be cited was met with applause, and it set the tone for the morning: the E3 of old was definitely BACK!

The sheer number of announcements from Microsoft was enough to live up to the hype: skyTV/last.fm/Facebook/Twitter integration, 1080p videos going to Marketplace, Project Natal, Crackdown 2, Forza 3, and of course, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, were all satisfying to hear. But aside from the announcements and trailers, Microsoft pulled out the ace(s) from their sleeve: Tony Hawk, Steven Spielberg, Yoko, Sir Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr.

I really doubt that I will experience the presence of these accomplished and internationally-loved stars under one roof again.

These guest appearances took Microsoft straight into the limelight. It wasn’t just Kotaku or IGN that reported these suprising cameos, nearly every major mainstream news reporting agency had a story about how these megastars made an appearance at Microsoft’s event. Taking Xbox to the mainstream was certainly the goal here, and Microsoft managed to do that in spectacular fashion.

After the Microsoft Press Briefing, we hit EA and Ubisoft’s Press Briefings, which were both held in two different classic Los Angeles theaters. While these subsequent briefings had a few great announcements and guest star appearances (EA brought out Pete Sampras and Pele, while Ubisoft brought out James Cameron and was hosted by Joel McHale), the pacing, and level of impact just didn’t match what we saw at the Galen Center earlier in the day.

The Ubisoft Press Conference concluded at 7 PM, at which point we took a drive out to the world-famous Philippes, for french dip and lemonade. After we filled our stomachs, we headed downtown to the Standard hotel for a Microsoft event where we had a chance to check out Forza 3 (in a huge sim rig), Halo 3: ODST, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Left 4 Dead 2, Beatles Rock Band, and the new features in the NXE. More importantly however, we got a chance to unwind, decompress, and hang out with other journalists, Microsoft Big Wigs, and yes, even Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

But seriously, we couldn’t ask for anything more than to start off E3 2009 in such an exciting fashion from Microsoft.

Thank you Brad Bretz for these amazing photos!

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written by Rick Kim \\ tags: EA, Ubisoft