It’s not every day you get to say you were present for history in the making. But Microsoft made history on January 1st, 2009, and I was there to see it.

Xbox set the bar insanely high with its 2009 E3 Media Briefing. This multi-million dollar affair was a star-studded venture filled with juicy exclusives, jaw-dropping demos, and revolutionary surprises that just might turn the entire gaming industry on its head. Microsoft stunned the audience with surprise appearances by Steven Spielberg, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and others.

But let’s get right to the big: Microsoft is about to change the way you play games forever with a new piece of hardware it’s codenamed “Project Natal.” Natal is Microsoft’s answer to Nintendo’s motion-sensing technology, but it’s much more than that.

Natal is a set-top box, about the size of a thin DVR player. It has a whole host of state-of-the-art technology inside, including a motion-detecting camera, sensors, audio equipment, and more. When put together with your Xbox 360, Natal transforms you into the ultimate game controller. Not only does it sense full body movement, it recognizes your voice, your face, gesture commands, and more.

I got full video of the entire Project Nadal presentation and it explains the technology far better than I ever could. It features the likes of Steven Spielberg, Fable creator Peter Molyneaux, lots of demos and video, and much more. Prepare to be blown away:

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Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. On Thursday of last week, TellTale Games announced that not only would we be seeing their new episodic adventure series, Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures, on Xbox Live, but we’ll also be seeing the sensational dog and lagomorph series, Sam and Max on Xbox Live as well. Why only limit the greatness of Sam and Max to the PC? Why not let the ENTIRE Xbox playing world in on their fun little secret?!

So, when these Sam and Max episodes do hit Xbox Live, instead of looking for Sam and Max Season 1 and Season 2, they’ve had a bit of a name change. Season 1 will be called Sam and Max Save the World and season 2 shall be known as Sam and Max Beyond Time and Space. I think naming them this way will get those people who aren’t in the adventure gaming circle to actually check them out and see what they’re all about, which can only be a good thing for the adventure genre.

All I have to say is: Well done TellTale!

[Image courtesy of TellTale Games.]

This seems to be the week for Telltale. And why shouldn’t it be? They are pretty freaking awesome. And the news that they’ve brought this week have made this adventure gamer quite happy. According to 1UP, the next adventure in Telltale’s line up Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventure will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade!

So, why does this make me happy? They’ve already had games come to the Wii for download. Why not just play it on the Wii?

Because… I love the Xbox so much more than the Wii. It hate filling out the stupid Wii-Credit page to get more Wii Points. The Wii Remote and me are not friends. Using the Xbox controller is so much more Adventuress friendly. Now, I wonder if there’s a way they can get the rest of the their adventure games on the Xbox Live Arcade. I’m sure it’ll take some changes, but I would be so much happier.

Right now, on XBox Live, there is a new puzzle game that looks somewhat short of amazing that was just released on August 5th. The game, Braid seems to be a big hit with a lot of people, probably due to the coolness of it. I mean, it’s so good, that even 1Up gave it an A+, and they never say good things about anyone!

Okay, that’s a lie, I’m sure. But still - an A+ from 1Up is like a blessing from the heavens above!

The game, which was developed by independent game developer, Jonathan Blow, plays kind of like a Super Mario Brother platformer, except that you can rewind time and do some pretty crazy stuff!

Take a look:

You can check out a demo of the game in the XBox Live Arcade.

Back in December, around that time I like to call “Christmas”, I got an XBox 360. Just this week, I was finally able to get the dang thing on my wireless network (those XBox 360 wireless adapters are freakin’ expensive!) and I got to check out XBox Live and look at all the games I could download without having to get off of my butt to rent them!

What I found out is that there are quite a few adventure and other kick ass cool games that you can purchase via XBox Live and I thought I’d share the titles and the prices with you! So, here we go:

• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - 1200 Microsoft Points: This game is one of the best adventure games I’ve played in a very long time. While I didn’t play it on the XBox 360, I did play the PC version of it and there are a lot of things to this game that are just awesome. In this game, you get to play three different characters who have very different roles in their worlds. If you haven’t played it, this is a definite must. Now, if they can only get The Longest Journey (the first game in this series) out on XBox live, I would be in heaven.
• Indigo Prophecy - 1200 Microsoft Points: This game was… different. A lot of fun, but very different. This isn’t your ordinary adventure game, either, as there are plenty of action sequences that you must complete before you can continue in the game. You get to play as four different characters to figure out why the main character, Lucas Kane, killed someone.
• Psychonauts - 1200 Microsoft Points: This game is by our friends over at Doublefine and it’s a wacky game featuring lots of different worlds that take place in the minds of Raz’s (the main character) friends. If you’re a schizophrenic, then this is totally the game for you. And only is it fun to play, there’s a lot of great humor involved. So, if you like to laugh, buy it!
• Fable - 1200 Microsoft Points: Now, this game isn’t really an adventure at all, unless you call wandering around the wilderness and random towns, choosing the path of good or evil an adventure. It might not be your typical adventure game, but there’s a lot of cool stuff you can do in this game. There are plenty of side quests to keep you busy, plenty of stuff to buy to make your dude look like a freak, or be a super pimp. I mean, what more would you want in a game?
• Sid Meier’s Pirates - 1200 Microsoft Points: This is another non-adventure game, but there are pirates. And I enjoy pirates. I tried to play this game on my laptop, but for some reason my laptop and Sid Meier’s Pirates didn’t want to work peacefully together for very long, causing the game to crash. But, what I did play of it - it seemed like it could be a ton of fun. I mean, there’s pirates!
• Gauntlet - 400 Microsoft Points: Okay, Gauntlet isn’t an adventure AT ALL. But it’s freaking fun to play. And it brings back a lot of memories of kicking ass with my brother from childhood. Ahhh, memories.
• Prince of Persia Classic - 800 Microsoft Points - Who doesn’t like to play a game where you kill people with swords?

So, there you have it. Games you can download off XBox Live that are awesome.

[XBox Live logo courtesy of Microsoft.]