E3 Nightly Recap - 7/14/2008

As promised, here is a recap of some of the most important and newsworthy announcements made at E3 today.

Though only a brief glimpse at what is to come, Nintendo announced that a new Wii peripheral will be released in the future that allows for truly accurate (1:1) motion detection. More on that here.

A few companies announced what they would be showing at the main E3 show. Those announcements can be found over at the E3 site.

Though not part of Microsoft's conference, Too Human had a playable demo released to Xbox Live Gold subscribers this morning.

All other news comes from the Microsoft press conference, so full details on those items can be found here.

Of particular from the conference are the following things:

A Fallout 3 gameplay demonstration is given, detailing combat options and ways to play the open-ended post-apocalyptic game.

Resident Evil 5 is given a gameplay demonstration, revealing co-op play, some story details, and a release date of March 13th, 2009.

Fable 2 takes its turn with a gameplay demonstration, showing off new online co-op options and a gorgeous cinematic. The game is set to release in October.

Gears of War 2 made a showing with an action-packed gameplay demonstration. Five-player co-op is revealed. The game is given an October 7th release date.

Xbox Live Marketplace is set to receive lots of new support from the film industry. NBC Universal joins the ranks of publishers to support the Marketplace. Netflix is also set to partner with Microsoft in the near future.

Huge changes to Xbox Live and the Dashboard are set to take place in the fall. Among these changes are new Mii-like avatars that will be associated with Gamercards, the ability to form parties of friends that are online, and the ability to transition to a variety of activities (from playing games to sharing pictures and even to watching movies together with Netflix).

Other additions to Xbox Live include new gameshow channels that players can join up and enjoy, some significant sequels (including Geometry Wars and Galaga), and community-made games on their way to the Marketplace this fall.

Microsoft iterates their desire to reach casual gamers by means of a new Scene It? game and an entirely new property, You're In The Movies.

Music games are given a bit of the spotlight. Guitar Hero: World Tour is given a little bit of stage time. Of significance are a new eight-player battle of the bands mode and the ability to edit your own songs for playing in the game.

Rock Band 2's massive setlist is revealed in full. Spanning 84 songs on disc, you can read the list here.

A new karaoke style game is introduced. Lips, as it is called, allows for players to use their own music in the game and makes use of wireless, motion-sensitive microphones.

Square-Enix gave brief details on their Xbox 360 releases. Infinite Undiscovery is given a September release date. Star Ocean is given a spring 2009 release date. The Last Remnant is set to release this holiday season.

Square-Enix then closed the show with an absolute show-stopper: Final Fantasy XIII is set to release on the Xbox 360.

Needless to say, lots of big news for the Xbox 360 took place today.