Microsoft Talks Initial Plans For E3 2009

Microsoft has become one of the first major publishers to hint at their plans for E3 2009, with claims that the company will "break the bank" with its plans to unveil new products for 2009 and beyond. "The last two E3s at least, if I use that as a proxy for what’s coming, we’ve talked a lot about what [is] coming in the next five to six months after E3," said Microsoft Game Studios Boss Phil Spencer on the latest podcast from Major Nelson (aka Xbox Live programming director Larry Hryb). "And we’ve had some pressure that maybe we want to think a little broader about what we want to say at E3, a little further out in the future." "I came out of an E3 planning meeting just about an hour ago, and we were looking at some of the plans for the future and things that we might want to tease, and it’s very exciting," added Spencer, as transcribed by consumer website videogaming247. "There’s a lot of stuff on the docket, and maybe we’ll break the bank a little bit and talk about things that are further out, which will hopefully get the community excited," added Spencer. In context, the comment concerning "breaking the bank" appears to refer more to the scope of titles being discussed rather than the amount of money being spent on promoting them at the expo. The three console manufacturers, particularly Microsoft and Nintendo, have previously been criticized for only discussing games due within the current year. Although the 2009 event in Los Angeles will see E3 return to something like the size and spectacle of previous years, compared to the cost-cutting of 2007 and 2008, it is still unclear to exactly what degree the show will resemble the pre-2007 expos.