Microsoft Keynote Part 2

Here's a cool announcement: Grand Theft Auto IV. This is a complete surprise, and it's going to feature regular downloadable additional gameplay, like episodes. That's awesome.

Then, on to some current Windows games. Lots of "here's games that will play." They show off some Vista games, and say that you'll be able to access these programs directly from the start menu (I'm assuming they mean without going through all the folders on the Start Menu).

And they boast Oblivion sales (an awesome game).

I wonder how long before they get to Halo 3. This would be one of the only ways to truely compete with the other consoles, seeing as by the time they're released the 360 will already be a year old. They released a trailer for the game today, I imagine they'll at least show that off. Right now it's only available on the 360 Marketplace.

Gates himself is now up there, fidling with something small and white in his hands, stalling for time, and building suspense. Could this be somethin big?

He's boasting the 360's "headstart" in the marketplace. This headstart makes me wonder if Microsoft had so little faith in their product that they feared this is the only way for them to compete. Sony and Nintendo both appear to be giving Microsoft a run for its money.

And the other shoe drops. Gates announces that Xbox live will soon become Live Anywhere, a service for Xbox, cellphone, and Vista gamers.

Grr, the more I search, the more it's confirmed that for some reason Microsoft isn't allowing live streaming of its keynote except to subscribing members of GameSpot. Way to piss me off, Gates (Macs RULE!!!).

Anyway, back to Live Anywhere. I'm getting word of a demo right now. Live Anywhere is going to work with MSN messenger, so you can see your buddy list when you sign in. It looks the same for cell, Xbox, and PC. You can do voice chat while you play cross-platform. This is really cool. You can invite anyone and a little transparent pop up window will inform the other of their invitation. Also, any content you buy on one system will be available on any other system automatically.