The story in Halo: The Fall of Reach takes place before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game released in the Halo series, and depicts the origins of the Spartan II super soldiers. The story is narrated by Halo protagonist Master Chief.

No details are known about the gameplay in Halo: Reach, but a multiplayer component for the game has been confirmed. Halo: ODST, shipping to retail on September 22^nd, will include an invitation code for the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta.

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“The Metal Gear Solid series is one of the most highly acclaimed video game franchises of all time,” said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “With Metal Gear Solid: Rising, the Xbox 360 community will finally get a chance to enjoy the action and excitement that this popular franchise is known to offer.”

Very little is known about the game, which was first teased in a Flash animation on the Kojima Productions website. Will it be multi-platform? Hideo Kojima himself stated that the game was “in development for the Xbox 360,” but topic of exclusivity was never broached. Given the iconic status of the franchise, we would think that Microsoft would have been quick to mention exclusivity if such a contract existed. But with a release date yet to be announced, anything can happen before Metal Gear Solid: Rising reaches store shelves.

On the music front, popular music discovery site Last.fm is getting a custom interface for use with the Xbox 360. What is great about the customization is that Microsoft isn’t just throwing up a browser and making the experience the same as on the PC, but worse. Instead they are actually taking the time to tailor the experience for the console.

Other random tidbits for our friends in the States and overseas:

Netflix has improved integration. No longer will users be bound to the shackles of the PC in order to load up their movies!

Microsoft has also partnered up with Sky TV, so UK and Ireland residents can watch HD soccer as well as movies and shows on demand.

Facebook: Facebook and Xbox LIVE join forces to connect the largest social network on the planet with the largest entertainment and gaming network on TV. Share and interact with friends from around the globe, post real-time status updates, and check out photo galleries on the big screen from the comfort of your living room with Facebook on Xbox LIVE. In addition, with Facebook Connect on Xbox LIVE you can share your favorite gaming moments with all your friends. Starting with a future version of EA Sports golf franchise Tiger Woods PGA TOUR for Xbox 360, take bragging rights to a completely new level.

Twitter: Stay connected with Twitter on Xbox LIVE. Now you can be in the know and keep your social circle up to date by reading, posting and replying to tweets right from your Xbox 360. Follow friends and celebrities, learn about the news at it happens, and let people know what you’re up to all on Xbox LIVE.

This year’s titles have been revealed, but the order of their release has not yet been established:

MARVEL vs. CAPCOM 2 (Backbone Entertainment/Capcom): One of the most popular fighting games of all time, MARVEL vs. CAPCOM 2, arrives on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Choose from 56 legendary characters from Marvel Comics and Capcom history, including Ryu and Wolverine. With online multiplayer over Xbox LIVE and enhanced HD graphics, you decide who is the dream team in the ultimate tag-team fighting experience.

Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment and Epic Games/Microsoft): The next evolution in downloadable games, Shadow Complex marries the quality and depth of a full retail title, the stunning visuals of Epic Games’ industry-leading Unreal Engine 3, and a classic side-scroller. “Set in the world of Orson Scott Card’s best-selling novel, Empire, Shadow Complex introduces a compelling universe in which you collect items and power-ups, and evolve your character into a force of destruction.”

Splosion Man (Twisted Pixel Games/Microsoft): Fools they were, to tread where knowledge should stay forbidden.  For what emerged was not a man – it was a Splosion Man.  “And all who saw him were sploded, for he was the fire and they were but meat.”   Able to splode himself at will, the Splosion Man launches his way through levels, an uncontainable force.  From Twisted Pixel Games, developer of the award winning The Maw, Splosion Man will keep you on your toes as you play through more than 50 single-player levels and 50 multiplayer levels.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-shelled (Ubisoft Singapore/Ubisoft): Cowabunga! Everyone’s favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is back with a brand new look in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. The arcade classic has been revamped with all new 3D graphics, but the same classic beat ‘em up gameplay.

Trials HD (RedLynx/Microsoft): Put on your helmet, and rev your way through Trials HD, a fully-featured, physics-based motorcycle racing game in stunning HD graphics. Tear up more than 50 tracks and test your metal in two unique game modes: Race and Skill. Create, share and download an unlimited number of free tracks with the level editor, and customize your rider to fit your personality.

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L4D2 is slated for release in November for the PC and Xbox 360. Until then, try to survive by watching this trailer with some friends:

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Inspired by David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, Alan Wake takes place in Bright Falls, a small fictional town located somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Players will unravel the riveting plot through multi-layered character interactions, unique problem solving and intense combat.

Remedy, the developers that brought us the Max Payne series, shared these features and screenshots at E3:

• Intense psychological thriller. Alan Wake delivers a deeply psychological and finely crafted plot that raises the bar for storytelling in video games. The riveting story of Alan Wake is propelled by a movie-like atmosphere, compelling situations, memorable characters and real-time pacing. Remedy has a record of creating and developing games with unique cinematic presentation and exceptionally high production values.
• Light as a combat element. As Wake journeys deeper into the mystery of Bright Falls, the shadows close in around him. When darkness descends, light becomes his only ally as he fights his way to daybreak. . This poses a severe problem for Alan Wake since his enemies seemingly gain strength from the shadows, and before long, light itself becomes his greatest ally. Players must skillfully combine their use of light with more conventional weapons to stand a chance.
• Realistic, interactive environment. Set in the town of Bright Falls, the hyper-detailed environments of the Pacific Northwest play an important role; even the change in daylight and weather will profoundly affect the characters and enemies in Alan Wake. The game’s advanced rendering engine provides amazingly realistic environments that bring this world to detailed life — from the lush forest of evergreen trees to the quaint small-town buildings and streets. The world of Alan Wake is alive and real.
• Episodic narrative. The mission-based structure of Alan Wake creates an episodic narrative similar to a deeply structured dramatic television series, such as Twin Peak and X-Files. As the episodes progress, gameplay will evolve to introduce new elements and characters, escalating the level of threat and action in the game.

Launching this October exclusively for the Xbox 360, Forza 3 is the latest in developer Turn 10’s award-winning racing franchise. Boasting gorgeous high-definition graphics and a blazing framerate of sixty frames per second, Forza 3 aims to be “the definitive racing game of this generation.”

Building upon the community-driven features of Forza 2, Forza 3 will take user-generated content to a new level. Painters and tuners will once again be able to showcase their creations through the Livery Editor, Auction House and deep tuning garage. Each car is a blank canvas and can be fully upgraded with hundreds of custom components and tuning techniques.

Want to show the world how your car performs on the track? Forza 3 will enable players to create their own high-definition videos to share with the rest of the community.

Using the in-game video-making tools, Turn 10 has provided us with this real-time trailer:

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Forty-five songs will be packaged with the disc, and the first album that will be available for download is Abbey Road. The ten songs that have been revealed thus far are:

I Saw Her Standing There

I Want To Hold Your Hand

I Feel Fine

Taxman

Day Tripper

Back In The USSR

I Am The Walrus

Octopus’s Garden

Here Comes The Sun

Get Back

The Beatles live again on the PS3, Xbox 360, and the Wii across all regions on September 9th, 2009, so get your vocal chords ready to rock out like it’s 1969.

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The original Crackdown surprised many gamers with its unique brand of sandbox gameplay and memorable multiplayer modes, despite most players purchasing it for the included Halo 3 beta key. Crackdown 2 promises to further expand upon that formula, allowing players to act as the judge, jury and executioner of Pacific City. Offering both competitive and co-operative modes, Crackdown 2 will provide you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, restore or destroy the city in any way that you choose.

Crackdown 2 will start laying down the law in 2010, exclusively for the Xbox 360.

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Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, Project Natal is a sensor that combines an RGB camera, a depth sensor, a multi-array microphone and an internal processor running proprietary software all in one device. The result? Project Natal tracks your full body movement in all three dimensions and translates them into actions on screen. If you jump up and down, so will your on-screen avatar. If you put your left foot in, then put your left foot out, then put your left foot in and shook it all about, your on-screen avatar will have successfully executed the Hokey Pokey.

And Project Natal isn’t just limited to emulated physical actions, it acute sensors are capable of object and facial recognition. Want to log onto Xbox LIVE? Simply step in front of Project Natal and it’ll recognize you, loading up your avatar and profile. Furthermore, it can even tell if you’re smiling.

One of the more interesting features of Project Natal was the voice recognition enabled by the multi-array microphone. Project Natal isn’t just limited to the recognition of key words, but is capable of understanding full sentences and phrases. Gone are the days of navigating through text-based conversation trees, Project Natal will enable players to speak to in-game characters directly.

We were treated to a demonstration by Microsoft’s Lionhead Studios, creators of the Black & White and Fable franchises. In the demonstration we were introduced to a young boy named Milo. A player stepped up to the screen and called Milo’s name to get his attention, he lept off a swing and approached the screen, greeting the player by name. “Hello, Claire,” he said, utilizing Project Natal’s facial recognition feature, and then proceeded to make small talk with her. Milo and Claire chatted for a while, engaging in unbelievably realistic conversation, then walked to a nearby dock to look at some fish. While there, the player, Claire, leaned down toward the water. Her reflection – captured by the Project Natal camera – stared back at her. She out-stretched her arms and was able to splash the water around. Milo dared her to try to catch a fish, and Claire responded by quickly lunging her arms into the water a few times, albeit unsuccessfully, before finally giving up. Seeing that Milo was disappointed, Claire chose to draw him a picture of a fish instead. She pulled out a real-world piece of paper and some crayons, drew a quick picture of a fish and held it up to the Project Natal camera. Utilizing the object recognition feature, the drawing became an in-game object. Milo reached up and took it from her, looked at it and accurately exclaimed, “it’s orange!”

The possibilities that Project Natal offer are almost beyond imagination. A painting game and a brick-smashing game were also demonstrated, as well as demo reel containing footage of a kung-fu game and a trivia game in which players delivered their answers verbally, but those concepts only scratch the surface. If developers fully embrace this technology we could see action adventure titles and role-playing games in which we are truly the hero, or sports games in which we literally call the shots. Project Natal places the player directly into the game and makes the controller disappear. The future of home entertainment is coming, and it may forever change the way in which we play games.

Update: the Milo demonstration can be seen here.