We're sitting in the crowd, waiting for the press conference to begin in earnest, and playing on the big screen is a commercial of sorts. An interviewer is asking people on the street for the definitions of common gamer slang such as "pwned," "newb," "melee" and "RPG." Of course, these are pretty familiar terms for those in attendance, but it's still funny to hear a random lady define RPG as "road performance system."

This video, dubbed "Xbox 360 Street Talk" continues on to tout the ubiquitous appeal of Rock Band, but this portion is over almost as soon as it begins.


10:21: Now we're treated to a selection of "gamer faces," which is basically just a video montage of people's faces. Mostly, they're just random kids, but one of them has an evil laugh that is intensely funny. We actually laughed out loud.

We're still roughly seven minutes from the scheduled beginning of the press conference proper, but it's clear that Microsoft is putting the focus on its burgeoning Xbox Live community. This is a canny way to get us in the mood for what will likely be a press conference all about its continued support of Xbox Live and online play... social gaming, in other words.

10:33: Lights are diming... it looks like we're starting!

Don Mattrick is coming out on stage now. He's touting the Xbox 360 as the home of the biggest-selling games over the last year, proving that the 360 provides the biggest and best hits.

The first clip is from Fallout 3, in a classic black-and-white old movie style. "Where will you be when the atomic bombs fall?" This is a commercial for Vault-Tech, hyping its state-of-the-art underground bomb shelters... of course, it's only a matter of time before the camera pans back from the TV to reveal a blasted hellscape.

Now, Todd Howard has announced that this is only the first half of a trailer that will be available soon. And now he is beginning a demo of Fallout 3. It's terribly atmospheric, with lots of broken pavement and shattered freeway overpasses. The Bloody Mess trait is certainly given a thorough demonstration, as is the VATS system.

Huh, lasers incinerate people... who knew?

Now we've come upon a robotic tank, but fortunately Todd has both a missile launcher and an EMP grenade, which make quick work of the bot.

All of this activity has garnered the attention of the Enclave. Though their firepower is generally considered superior, Todd whips out the Fat Man, which lobs nuclear bombs from a slingshot sort of contraption. Boom, hurhurhur.

Todd closes by mentioning that there will be exclusive downloadable content for Fallout 3 over Xbox Live and Games For Windows.