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With news of a discontinued and suddenly cheaper console package, it’ll be interesting to see what else Microsoft has up its green sleeve to woo us in their press conference. Keep reading as we bring you live updates and commentary!

Here’s the wrap up. Check after the jump for the timeline commentary.

• New Xbox Live Interface: Avatars, Mii-like things, to replace gamerpics.
• More media providers joining the Xbox Live Marketplace: Universal, NBC, Netflix
• Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, and Resident Evil 5 demos played, not announced for release on Xbox Live Marketplace
• Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 bands announced, include Metallica and AC/DC.
• Last Remnant trailer shown, still no gameplay
• Final Fantasy XIII announced for Xbox 360

Microsoft looks like they’re getting ready to attack Nintendo’s death grip on the family gaming market. With new more accessible things like Avatars and a heavier focus on group gaming, the 360 seems poised to jump onto the people who are disenchanted with the Wii’s lack of HD or other media. There were no announcements about a motion controller yet aside from a Lips microphone, but E3 is far from over. Stay tuned for continuing coverage of the Big 3 press conferences!

The conference started off with some of the crappiest music I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. The conference was held in a rather small room. Gone are the days of the huge auditorium presentations. It’s hardly any wonder why companies are leaving E3 for greener pastures like LINK E For All and LINK Penny Arcade Expo.

10:30 - Welcoming Don Mattrick to more crappy music.

10:31 - Lots of marketing time-wasting that one would expect from a press conference. Xbox 360 delivers blockbuster hits, et cetera.

10:33 - Black and white 1950’s style with robots. Peace, freedom, breakfast. Fallout 3 trailer. No actual gamepaly yet.

10:35 - Todd Howard playing Fallout 3. Showing off the GUI and setting. Post-nuclear apocalypse, like usual Fallout settings. Mmm. Violence.

10:40 - 100+ hour FPS/RPG. Enclave appears. Let’s take out the “Fat Man,” a bomb launcher. Big explosion, enclave is now dead. Concludes the demo.

10:42 - Jun Takeuchi, RE5 producer, appears. Speaks japanese. First RE game on a Microsoft console. First playable demo. Takes place in Africa, playing as Chris Redfield investigating bio-terrorism. Chris is now in the BSAA. Now showcasing the online co-op mode. Co-op player is Sheva, also a BSAA member. Lots of zombies, violence, and explosions.

10:46 – Chainsaw Zombies return! Too bad they ran out of time for the demo and couldn’t fight the zombie. That was it for the demo. Friday the 13th, March 2009 release date.

10:50 - Fable 2. Showing a trailer, apparently already complete. Game’s graphics have shaped up well. Online co-op, something desperately needed from the first Fable. Purble orbs around, lets you invite your XBox Live friends playing their own single player games into your own for co-op. Co-op includes hacking and slashing, getting drunk in bars, attacking towns, getting married (co-op marriage?). Can now have kids with your spouse. Introduce your friends to your polygonal family. Game’s out in October.

10:54 - Gears of War 2 trailer. Voice talking about a rendez-vous with death, doesn’t sound like Marcus. Old trailer, anyway. Cliff Bleszinski takes the stage from Epic. Two player co-op demo, Locust armies are now starting to sink entire cities. Demo starts up. Graphics look about the same as Gears, though they looked great to begin with. Demo resets. USual Gears chatter between Dom and Marcus. Guns sound a lot more powerful. Marcus picks up a Locust and uses it as a meatshield. Locust seem to finally figured out how to throw grenades. A new spider-looking enemy, Reaver, appears. Locust is curbstomped, excellent. Locust with flamethrowers. Chainsaw effects better; no longer do you see the blood on the other person’s screen. Hammer of Dawn makes a comeback.

11:00 - Fighting a Broomak took down the building. Took the building down, and for some reason the elevator still works sideways. Marcus wants to pull a GTA and hijack the Broomak. Demo ends. 5-player co-op mode where 5 people take on waves of Locust. Holiday release.

11:02 - Mattrick’s back. More marketing junk. $48 billion industry. Hardware and Software sales figures. Microsoft basically saying “Eat it” to Nintendo and Wii, saying they’re the best this generation. TV shows and Movies account for 1/3 of the paid content downloads. Surprised me.

11:07 - NBC and Universal Studios join the Xbox Live Marketplace. Now I can watch The Office and Heroes in HD. MGM and Constantin join the Europe Xbox Live Marketplace.

11:10 - Head of Xbox Live Services on stage now. System update available! Here comes the new Xbox interface, I’m assuming. Looks like Avatars weren’t just a rumor. Looks much more minimalistic. No more blades, now panels. Rare behind Avatars?

11:15 - Community “Channel” (Wii?), shows friends and their avatars. New group private chat, finally. Up to 8 people. Xbox Live Primetime channel revealed. Game shows? Fear Factor 360? Really? 1 Vs. 100, MMO Game Show.

11:18 - Party leaders can now launch a game for everyone. No more waiting for so and so to put the game in. Uno rush. Real time Uno? Not sure if  I want. Geometry Wars 2, there goes 800 points from my account. Out next month. A small trailer for it. 4 Player multiplayer, looks more shmup-y than the original. A “True” Galaga sequel? Looks very shmup-y. Doesn’t look anything like Galaga.

11:21 - New Portal game called Still Alive. Likely just new test chambers, coming to XBLA. Not exactly a bad thing. South Park XBLA game.

11:22 - Talking about XNA games now. Good for Indie Developers. Word Soup, Colosseum. Netflix joining Xbox Live. No more waiting for DVDs in the mail, get them right from the internet. No additional cost as long as you’re a Netflix member. You can also group watch movies. Good for people with no friends or family, I guess.

11:25 - Shane Kim takes the stage. Banjo trailer. Shows the new style the game has taken. As cartoony as ever, now with some more bloom. Build a tank. Nifty.

11:27 - New Viva Pinata, Trouble in Paradise. More pinatas, more pinatas, more pinatas. Commercial about the Scene It controller, Box Office Smash. Movie trivia.

11:31 - “You’re in the Movies,” some game that lets you be in a movie? Calling some people onto the stage to try it out. Make B movies with friends and family. The potential for cheesiness intrigues me. Don’s running in a set of clown pants, and then yanked back. Now John’s going to swat wasps. John’s not very good at swatting wasps. Jen’s up next. she gets to dance. This announcer is getting on my nerves. She’s not a very good dancer, either.

11:35 - Compiled into a movie now. Hilariously bad motions and bad acting. This seems like it’d be fun while drunk. Director’s mode allows edits, lets you upload. In The Movies will include an Xbox Live Vision Camera.

11:38 - Guitar Hero: World Tour, Kai Huang takes the stage. Everyone loves to play it, apparently. Showing off the Drum Kit, and a touch-sensitive guitar. 8 player online Battle of the Bands mode. 85+ songs on the disk, more on DLC. Studio mode lets you make your own tracks. GH Tunes will be the online distribution platform. 3 new REM songs released early for Guitar Hero. Metallica joins Guitar Hero. Their new album will be released simultaneously as a CD and as a DLC pack.

11:42 - Wireless mics. Looks like a Singstar ad. Turns out it’s called Lips. Keiichi Yano, creator of Lips, EBA, and Gitaroo Man takes the stage. Lips looks like glorified karaoke, though apparently it lets you use your own music. Showing a music video with him hitting the mic. Live performance to the game. Not digging the song.

11:49 - Rock Band 2 news incoming. Exclusive release on 360 in September. Pres of Harmonix takes the stage, Alex Rigopulos. 84 songs on the disk. Tiny-ass text, can’t read it. Noting some tracks: Guns & Roses: Shackler’s revenge, Bob Dylan, AC/DC: Let There Be Rock, Metallica, Motorhead, Modest Mouse, Beck, others. Rock Band tracks can be played in Rock Band 2, both DLC and disk tracks. 500+ songs on Rock Band 2 by holidays.

11:53 - Yoichi Wada, Squenix head, takes the stage. Talks upt he 360. Names Star Ocean 4, Infinite Undiscovery, and Last Remnant. Infinite Undiscovery comes out 7/2 in Europe, 7/5 in Europe, and 7/11 in Japan. Star Ocean 4 comes out in Spring of 2009. Last Remnant get’s a timed exclusive on 360 in the holiday season. Showing footage from Last Remnant. Perhaps we’ll finally see some gameplay.

11:57 - People ruled by power of remnants. Johnny Yong Bosch playing a role. No gameplay footage. November 20th is the simultaneous worldwide release date. Also being released for PC.

12:00 - One more big announcement from Wada. Final Fantasy 13 coming to Xbox 360. Makes me wonder what Sony has left. Looks to be North America and Europe exclusive. And that wraps up the the conference. Cue crappy music.

As a whole it was a conference showing that Microsoft is gunning for Nintendo’s grip on the casual gamer market, and saved the Final Fantasy 13 announcement for the end in order to grab the less casual RPG fans.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our continuing E3 coverage with Nintendo and Sony’s press conferences!