In addition to the numerous Xbox 360 stations, attendees were invited to immerse themselves in an extreme scavenger hunt. The elaborate game, organized by corporate team-building experts, The Go Game, allowed guests to role-play as secret agents. Using their cell phones, players accessed various timed missions, which largely included locating and identifying various spies and agents (actors from The Go Game) who were planted throughout the entire Les Deux venue. Once these spies were located, players had to follow specific instructions (speak a particular phrase, or convince them with your charm) to extract the secret code which unlocked subsequent missions.

At the end of the real-life role-playing game, which culminated with meeting Sam Fisher (a character actor, not the voice actor, Michael Ironside) the first six players to make it to a restricted section in the club were given a chance to compete for a Splinter Cell Xbox 360 bundle. It was truly a memorable experience that added fun, depth, and dimension to the overall theme of the evening.

Splinter Cell Conviction will be released on April 13, 2010, and a single-player demo is currently available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.  Be sure to read hands-on impressions by clicking on this link.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

My colleague, Brad Bretz and I had an early start. We had a short drive to the Galen Center (the University of Southern California’s basketball arena), but the rush hour traffic turned that commute into a nightmare. Still, we did our best to make up for that by leaving the house at 8 AM.

When we pulled up to the main intersection where the Galen Center is located, we saw a pretty large crowd of journalists already lined up to enter the arena – and it was still an hour an a half before the doors would even open! When I turned the corner, there was a very impressive line of red-jacketed valet attendants waiting at the ready for the masses to arrive.

We dropped the car off with the valet and walked around to get our bearings straight. With such a massive event, we wanted to find the right line to stand in before they got outrageously long. Fortunately, we spotted a group of our fellow Microsoft Xbox MVPs and they allowed us to join them. It was a great way to start the morning and the week – with good friends from the Community.

It didn’t seem like long before the doors were opened, and we all poured into the arena. The anticipation was definitely quite heavy for this press briefing. The briefing itself had been so hyped by Microsoft, it was difficult to gauge whether this was going to be a let-down, or whether this would really be as memorable as Microsoft assured.

I mean, we had all heard the rumors: a 3D motion controller, and even the preposterous (at the time) notion of a Metal Gear Solid on the Xbox 360, but surely, there HAS to be something bigger to justify THAT amount of hype, right? I pondered this as I frentically unsuccessfully attempted to get my netbook hooked up to the wifi in the arena, and then to my cell’s tethering feature.

Inside, the arena was basically divided in half, with the upper and lower concourses available for seating. The stage was set up on the floor, with green stage lights (that would later change colors to fit various themes) and those familiar circles everywhere.

Continued on the next page…

Conference starts at 5:00pm PST… don’t miss it!

1: Bring on the motion. We all know that MS was working on some sort of  Wiimote like device to get casuals gaming, although that idea seems to have went by the wayside.  But we now have rumors that the new 360 motion camera may be a reality.  If  MS can make some compelling games and uses for the new device, count us in. Imagine gyrating to the rhythms of your favorite music or kickboxing your way to a higher gamerscore. If this new device comes out and can deliver a full on body rocking gaming groove that makes you move, E3 will be set ablaze.

2: Games on demand. OnLive is a company that introduced a fairly complicated but intriguing idea of streaming games at this years CES.  And while streaming games may be a little ways off as far as bandwidth and server load is concerned. We can certainly see the value in downloading full Xbox 360 feature titles to rent or buy via Xbox Live marketplace.   With a little love from MS, a few business deals and some careful planning, we think it would be a homerun for MS and the gaming community.

3: More avatar love. The idea behind the cutesy avatars was a noble one. Let gamers dress up a representation of themselves and put it out there for the Xbox Live world to see. We’d really like  to see more interesting options for our online persona’s. Including new fashion styles, customizable clothes and colors. We’d also like to see more games use the avatars instead of just standing around in the dashboard (yawn). We know 1 VS 100 is one of the future games to use the avatar and we’re definitely looking forward to it. But we really want to see some more games that showcase our mini-me personas in a t-shirt that says “We Love Geeks.”

4: The MASSIVE online experience. Oh where art thou WoW and Huxley?  Even though Huxley was announced some time ago and WoW wasn’t, we think a compellingly rich MMO experience would really be the ticket for many Xbox Live gamers. And we’re not talking about the PS2riffic games like Final Fantasy online, give us some next gen MMO love, please, thanks!  We know the limitations of the platform and some of the drawbacks, like monthly fees.  We can just imagine it now…how great  it would be playing online with our friends, wasting hours questing to our hearts content.  MASSIVELY fun!

5: The future franchises. Sure, we’re all waiting with anticipation for titles like Halo ODST, Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Splinter Cell Conviction & Forza 3.  And while those titles plus many more that were announced or hinted at certainly merit our attention, it’s always the new games, the new experiences that tend to  grab us at E3 time.  Games like Alan Wake, Bayonetta & DJ Hero were announced a while back. But there’s the unknown, the unannounced gems waiting to be unveiled that we can’t wait to see. Can publishers/developers such as Lionhead, Bethesda or industry stalwart EA come out with the next big game that we all need to play? We’re hopeful and excited to see what’s in store for the future.

6: Zune gaming. It’s apparent that the Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP are currently the heavyweight handhelds,  but the iPhone/iPod Touch platform is increasingly  regarded as the most flexible, approachable, and most casual-friendly gaming platform.    Microsoft promised games for the Zune, and while a couple of games have since been made available, experts are anticipating the next gen Zune to make gaming a huge part of the device.  Being able to play Microsoft’s vast library of casual internet flash-based games and XBLA games would make a Zune a real contender not only in the handheld market, but more importantly in the casual/social gamer market.

7. Casual cool.  We’ve seen the Nintendo Wii become a household phenomenon, a name that is synonymous with the casual gamer. Nintendo has a great track record for providing gaming experiences that are approachable, characters that are memorable as well as likable and they accomplished it during a time when most console gamers were coming of age. While Microsoft built it’s Xbox platform through PC gaming roots and attracted a hardcore gaming crowd to play shooters, sports  and racing games in an online arena  to great success. The key for Microsoft will be in making gaming experiences that hardcore, casual and even non gamers will absolutely be thrilled by. It’s going to take some thought, planning and deft execution. Will we see it at E3?, it would certainly be cool.

Contributing writer: Rick Kim

A new site just went live with three bullet holes in the shape of a familiar stealth device that Sam Fisher donned. That unmistakable voice of Michael Ironside signals that Sam is back, and this time he won’t let sleeping dogs lie.

Check it out here.  http://www.manofconviction.com/uk/

To chat more about the game, check out the official Splinter Cell website and forums here.  http://splintercell.us.ubi.com/conviction/index.php

Having been a huge fan of “The Soup” since when it used to be called “Talk Soup,” I have always appreciated the wit and humor of the hosts that have worked on the show.  Joel McHale, current face of the program, is amazingly funny with his delivery and comedic timing.

Announced this morning, McHale’s got a new gig: hosting Ubisoft’s E3 2009 Press Conference.  He’ll be hitting the stage for the June 1 conference, which will feature Ubisoft’s upcoming titles, which I hope include Ghost Recon 4, Splinter Cell, and of course, Assasin’s Creed 2, among other great Ubisoft games.

Personally, I would love it if the other writers from “The Soup” helped write the script for the press conference.  Cue hillarity.

I didn’t catch this on video, but the demonstration was compeltely played with an Xbox 360 controller for Windows.  So yeah, the controls seem like they’re pretty well designed for the console.  This game will be released for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i670MZTWY8