September 27, 2006 - At Microsoft's sixth annual European gamed show, running Wednesday and Thursday, September 27-28 in Barcelona, Spain, the Washington-based console manufacturer revealed substantial news for both Xbox 360 and PC.

Thus far, Microsoft showed off the first footage of Banjo Kazooie on Xbox 360. The CG video showed Banjo taking off Kazooie and using him as a key to unlock a door.

The news conference, held at the Theater National Catalunya in Barcelona, holds approximately 400-500 people, and is packing about 95% capacity. On the front screen the Xbox Live Gamer names appear in green handwriting and fade from the front screen after a few seconds. Microsoft's Ken Lobb is here, as is Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, who revealed to us earlier in the evening that he'll present Fable 2 tomorrow afternoon.

7:05 pm: Microsoft's Chris Lewis announced Eidos's Kane and Lynch downloadable demo to download right now.

Chris Lewis then announced Eidos's first-person shooter Crossfire exclusively for Xbox 360. He said Kane and Lynch
will also be exclusive for Xbox 360. IGN learned later that, while the details aren't fully clean, these two games are exclusive to Xbox 360 for at least six months, after which they will probably appear on PS3.

Lewis then announced the 1994 Amiga title, Sensisble Soccer 1994, for Xbox Live Arcade.

7:10 pm: Peter Moore appears on stage to show off Doom for Xbox Live. The first PC game showed off single-player gameplay and two-player split screen gameplay. He announced a slew of new XBLA games afterward. They include: Ultimate Mortal Kombat, Contra, Small Arms, Gyruss, Totem Ball, Mutant Storm Empire, Defender, Assault Heroes, Heavy Weapon, Alhambra, Sensible Soccer 07, and more.

7:15 pm: Peter Moore said that Xbox 360 will support native resolution of 1080p, emphasizing that the resolution is not upscaled. Xbox 360 will also have x6 million Xbox Live subscribers by next year.

7:20 pm: Epic Games' Cliffy B. shows off a clean, new single-player version of Gears of War that takes up where the E3 demo left off. The game will be playable at X06 in single-player, co-op and multiplayer. We'll have hands-on play of it soon. Check back later tonight for updates.

The Gears of War demo started with Marcus Phoenix using cover in a piazza to kill enemies, which climb up from "emergence holes." The framerate is much better than at E3. The game looks much more polished and smooth. You see heat blurs from the ends of guns and when the guns are overheated, they glow orange with heat. There is more dialog, where Marcus says things like dialog "sweet" and "nice" after smoking enemies. Body chunks splatter across the screen. Cliffy B. used the saw to kill his final enemy, though the chainsaw mechanic still eppears to be a little on the iffy side. Cliffy B. said he gladly would curb stomp and chain us at the following party for fun afterward.

Gears of War will ship in Europe on November 17, five days, not five months after launch, hinting wryly at PS3's launch titles and delayed system launch.

Moore then announced that Microsoft launched in New Delhi, India, the first time any console has ever launched there. The company has launched in 32 countries across the world this far.

A video montage then showed off previous shown footage of Forza 2, Lost Planet, LEGO Star Wars II, Gears of War,
FIFA 07, Crossfire, Blue Dragon, The Darkness, Viva Piņata, Alan Wake, Battlestations: Midway, Shadownrun, Fable 2, F.E.A.R., Fuzion Frenzy 2, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, NBA 2K7, Halo 3 (old footage from E3), Tony Hawk Project 8, Kane and Lynch, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007, Crackdown, Mass Effect, Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007, Call of Duty 3, Need for Speed Carbon, Stranglehold, Virtua Tennis 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Sonic The Hedgehog, Team Fortress 2, and Shrek 3.

7:45 pm: Brand new video of BioShock was shown, narrated by the voice of its creator. The footage starts off showing the surface of the ocean, and then submerging underwater. The camera descends through bubbles ad schools of fish down to the city of Rapture, where you are about to attack a Little Sister. You're then slammed across the head and mercilessly atttacked by a Big Daddy, who drills through your hand. You manage to push him away, inject yourself with Adam (the genetic substance used to enhance yourself), and watch your hand mutilate into dark, insect-like shapes. You cast a spell on him sending insects that knock him off balance, and he falls off a balcony and dies. Suddenly, a drill pierces through the back of your chest and punctures your rib cage, blood spurting everywhere. You look back and another Bid Daddy appears, and you fall to the ground dead. The game looked so good it must have been real-time footage, but it was too hard to tell. It could have been CG.

7:55 pm: Forza 2 appears in CG. Moore says that you'll get More than 300 cars on disc, hinting the unfortunate state of Sony's Gran Turimso. He said we'll be able to play it ourselves tomorrow.

8:00 pm: Moore announced HD-DVD for mid-November for the UK, France, Germany and North America. It will cost 199 euros, 120 pounds, and $199 for North America. For a limited time only it will come with a universal remote and a limited edition HD version of King Kong, the movie.

Moore announced that Rockstar will release two exclusive episodes of Grand Theft Auto 4 months after its initial release on October 16 in the US, and October 19 in the UK.

8:03 pm: Moore shows off CG footage of Project Gotham Racing 4. Nice to see more CG, but real gameplay would have been better.

8:05: Famed Director Peter Jackson shows up on stage. He talks about something called "Filmic," a new game experience that's not a film and not a game. "We're taking ideas that might not be films, but might not be games. We're on a new threshhold, and we're not sure how to do it, but the first title will allow us to devise a way to tell a story, and we're making a little title called Halo, and the Halo universe is the best place to start. It's not Halo 3 and not the film, but it's something else. We're working on a new Halo series, and a new intellectual property as well."

Jackson continued: "We're not talking about traditional videogames. We took 10 years to make Lord of the Rings and King Kong. This is unlike film, it's like film but you partner with the experience. Wingnut Interactive will make the games. Why today? Stories are the important things. Stories can be mini-series, novels, movies, plays, and games can now blend, and doing that will be the fun of it. These games are not for the serious hardcore game crowd. Fran Walsh will head up this team."

Peter Moore summarizes by saying that Microsoft is working with Peter Jackson beyond Halo 3, the movie, on a game/movie, and on a brand new IP.

8: 10 pm: Microsoft reveals Halo Wars, created by RTS developr Ensemble. The new Halo video is in CG. It's called Halo Wars, a real-time strategy game for Xbox 360. The video starts off with two marines in a Warthog. You can see their faces reacting in anguish the marine on the other end of the phone is stealth killed by a Covenent Elite Soldier. Afterward, when communications break down, a squadron of Covenent Elite Soldiers appear out of thin air. Then Spartan soldiers appear and they say, "If they want a war, we'll give them a war." And an aeriel assault starts with dropships and Banshees flying through the air. Ensemble Studios, traditionally working on strategy and RTS games, is now working on their first Halo game. No release date was given.

8: 15 pm: Microsoft announces Marvel Universe Online, an MMO for Xbox 360 and PC.