E3 Hype Train: Relive Microsoft’s past E3 press conferences

E3 Hype Train: Relive Microsoft’s past E3 press conferences

We’re days (or moments?) away from E3 officially kicking off, and the Big Show Hype Train is barreling through the gates of hell on a fiery track. Though the terrific expo doesn’t officially start until Tuesday afternoon, let’s face it: the kick off press conferences are perhaps what we look forward to most. They’re essentially like the awesome previews before a movie, and usually leave you with just enough of a mouth-watering taste that you can’t wait to see more.

Instead of trying to tell you what to expect from the events — as every other website seems to want to do this time of year — we wanted to go backwards in time and take a look at history. With Microsoft kicking off the show on Monday morning, we’re building up the fever pitch with their pressers first. And boy, were they a doozy! Some were great, some were not, some had epic moments and dance performances, and some had… Kinect.

Join us as we watch several of them, in chronological order beginning with Microsoft’s first E3 press event above (2001) in which the Xbox was further detailed ahead of its September launch.

We hope you have 16 or 17 hours handy!

(All videos via YouTube)

2003, hosted by an impossibly cheesy schtick using a trio of speakers. At least Halo 2, KOTOR and Fable were revealed!

2004: XBLA is announced, Forza debuts, and Half-Life 2!

2005: The Xbox 360 is announced during the biggest E3 press production to date, and setting the standard for how press conferences would take place afterwards.

2006: After a successful launch, Xbox drops the mic with games like Bioshock, Mass Effect and a shaggy Cliffy B revealing Gears of War gameplay

2007: With the console generation fully under way, Microsoft showed us Modern Warfare, Fallout 3, and Halo 3. Though there was a full conference video available online, it was muted due to a copyright claim and so we’re left with th montage below. :(

2008: Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5, Final Fantasy XIII and Gears of War 2! And Don Mattrick!

2009: Alan Wake, Assassin’s Creed 2, Halo Reach, and Mass Effect 2? A blockbuster showing for the company, who also revealed Kinect. Part 1 is below, and here’s the link to the full playlist of the show.

2010: Kinect games, Black Ops, and yes, it can run Crysis 2! Microsoft also debuts the redesigned Xbox 360.

2011: Halo 4, Gears 3, Mass Effect 3… this year was a bit more conservative in tech, but huge in games

2012: The Xbox 360 was long in the tooth, and so it was time to say goodbye with a bunch of big games and big names

2013: The Xbox One debuted just a few short weeks prior to E3, and Microsoft used the press event to showcase what games will define the console’s present and future

2014: Last year’s press event, which brought a ton of game surprises including Tomb Raider