11:10: John Shapert takes the stage to tell us about new innovations designed to take advantage of the 360's unique community and social functionality.
So, what's new? The blades are gone... replaced by screenshot-looking squares that seem to march towards you. In addition to these cosmetic alterations, you'll now be able to add a custom 3D avatar to your gamertag, complete with clothing and customizable faces. The whole idea is to give you a way to further communicate your identity. Really, it's pretty obviously a Mii rip-off, but according to Shapert, this is just the beginning.
Instead of a friends list, you'll now have a collection of little avatars bopping around on the screen. You can create a Live Party in which you can share photos by streaming them to everyone in your party.
On to Xbox Live Primetime, where you and your Live Party can compete in TV gameshows that you create. 1 vs. 100 is a massive online gameshow where you can compete against other Xbox Live users... according to Shapert, it combines the best of games and the best of TV. You can even win real prizes!
There's a new games channel that enables you to begin games for everyone in your Live Party with the push of a button. The game Shapert's chosen is the new Uno Rush (which honestly looks an awful lot like plain old Uno). Also announced is a new version of Geometry Wars coming next month that will feature multiplayer as a central part of the gameplay. It will be called Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved.
Now a new sequel to Galaga has been announced called Galaga Legions... available next month exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade.
Oh man, now GLADoS is announcing Portal: Still Alive to be released later this Fall over Xbox Live Arcade! Also on its way is some kind of South Park game over XBLA.
11:23: Shapert announces the Netflix partnership, which enables XBL users to instantly download and view the Netflix library. You get easy access to your Instant Queue, but these will also be available to view through Live Party, so you can watch with your friends whether they're in the room or not.
Shane Kim is coming out now to welcome us to the party. He announces that the first downloadable episode for GTA4 is on its way for later this year. Now we're having a look at the newest game from Rare: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. They're apparently facing their greatest adventure yet as they build all kinds of crazy vehicles ala LEGO blocks.
Next up is Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise which sports over 100 new pinatas. You can apparently load new pinatas into your garden by showing cards to your Xbox Live Vision Cam. New environments will also be featured thanks to the discovery of a new polar region.
Scene It: Box Office Smash sucks people in at some retail venue as people start playing the demo version in the store... more and more people gather until there's a huge crowd. You can download new questions over Xbox Live.
You're in the Movies is currently under development and purports to enable you and your friends to make your own films (it will come with an Xbox Live Vision Cam). It's about making short, campy B-movies, which it does by filming you as you follow on-screen prompts. It's pretty ridiculous to watch Don Mattrick run in place while his legs are swapped out on-screen with those of a clown attached to a bungee cord. Now John Shapert swats wasps similar to in an EyeToy game. There's also a dancing game similar to Samba de Amigo that requires you to pose at intervals during a dance. Throughout all of these, the people playing can see themselves on the screen, but it's not until the console has compiled all of these scenes into an absurd and surreal movie... and not necessarily in the way you originally filmed them.
