The above clip is said to be one of Microsoft’s E3 trailers, to help promote the future of Xbox Live by showing 360 Avatars out of the Xbox in real life situations and playing (in) games with their friends. However the video, created by the company “Roger,” was never shown at the LA convention due to “time restraints.”
There is a possibility (as Kotaku suggests) that Microsoft decided not to show it as it could be confusing for viewers, because it gives suggestion that Avatars might be playable in games such as Splinter Cell, Guitar Hero and Gears of War.
More likely is that Microsoft is using the Avatars as a way emphasise that gamers will be able to team up and play in all sorts of titles in the future, as well as watching movies together and just hanging out.
But the most interesting thing is when you see a retro controller in a bubble appear and float around one of the Avatars. The controller changes from an Atari 2600 joystick (with one red button), into (what looks like) an old Interstate paddle controller, then (get ready) into a Dreamcast controller. After that it changes into an Xbox Original controller.
Now my guess is that it is trying to show that gamers will be able to play on a wide range of retro titles, from the really old basic Pong-like games, through to 128-bit monsters on Xbox Originals. However it is interesting as to why Microsoft (or Roger) might have chosen such specific controllers to show in the video - they could have made up retro-looking controllers, but the ones they use are clearly replicating real controllers.
We won’t go as far as to expect a surge of Dreamcast titles appearing on Xbox Live… but boy imagine how cool that would be. Maybe we’ll hear more about this in the future, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for anything too exciting guys.
