It started with a drizzly, overcast morning in the City of Angels. A fine mist hangs in the hot and muggy air, casting an ominous gloom over the official start of E3 2009. Microsoft is holding its annual press conference at the Galen Center, and the line to get in wound around the block, as hundreds of industry types converge to see what the company has in store for the big show. Lots of rumors have been floating around about what Microsoft plans to unveil, specifically about a special guest brought in at the last minute. It's about to start, so here goes our live blog...



10:20 a.m.: We're waiting for the show to begin, treated to advertisements on the three big screens for games like Lips and 1 vs. 100. The stage setup this year is elaborate, flashy, and extremely green. The briefing will begin in five minutes. All around us, the audience is chattering, web browsing, and otherwise keeping themselves busy as we await the unavoidable sensory onslaught.

10:30 a.m.: We're treated to animated footage for Rock Band: Beatles Edition. It's a montage of familiar imagery in a beautiful, surreal, very trippy music video of favorite hits. It's hard to tear my eyes from the game's opening cinematic. It's an impressive opening for the show, after which Harmonix's CEO Alex Rigopulos and the Harmonix house band take the stage.

The Beatles: Rock Band looks remarkably like Rock Band, which is no surprise, but the band is playing Day Tripper. Three singers are crooning together with Alex on the drums and a pair of guitars.

The multiple singers are represented at the top of the screen by three pitch bars instead of one, a brilliantly simple way to handle a chorus.

10:40 a.m.: The Beatles Rock Band will include 45 in-game songs that span the Beatles' entire recording history. The first official trailer is shown, running through some of the song catalog.
  • I Saw Her Standing There
  • I Want to Hold Your Hand
  • I Feel Fine
  • Day Tripper
  • Taxman
  • I am the Walrus
  • Back in the U.S.S.R.
  • In an Octopus's Garden
  • Here Comes the Sun
  • Get Back
The first downloadable album will be Abbey Road in its entirety. All You Need is Love will be available exclusively through Xbox Live, and all proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders.

Danny Harrison, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison came out to mild applause. How nice! Here comes the big surprise guest... a pair of Beatles legends in the flesh. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr take the stage to a standing ovation.

The dynamic duo take the stage, apparently having a grand old time.

"The game is good, the graphics are very good, and we were great!" I couldn't have said I any better, Paul McCartney.

10:45 a.m.: We're going to be treated to 10 world premieres of games that have never before been seen, as well as new experiences for everyone. It starts as Tony Hawk takes the stage to show off Tony Hawk: Ride, the game he's always had in mind. Apparently skateboarding can only truly be enjoyed if you're on an actual board. The board has accelerometers, sensors, and other nifty gadgets. It can be leaned on and kicked up, just like a real board. Sounds dangerous!

Top skaters like Christian Hosoi and some other dude with a funny-looking hat have apparently had a great time playing the game, but I need to check it out myself before jumping on the kinesthetic skateboarding bandwagon. It just seems like a deathtrap to me, but hopefully I'll be proven wrong.