The gaming community got their first taste of E3 2008 today, as the conference officially got underway by way of Microsoft’s press conference—and, if the magnitude of the announcements and news that came from today are any indication, we’re in for a very busy week.

Perhaps the biggest news to come from today is that the next installment of Final Fantasy is now going to be multiplatform, as Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the Xbox 360 to go along with the originally scheduled PlayStation 3 release. A worldwide simultaneous release for both platforms is anticipated. Square-Enix’s Yoichi Wada was all smiles during the Microsoft press conference and also dropped more information on three other projects for the Xbox 360. Infinite Undiscovery, which is being developed by Tri-Ace, is due on September 2nd in the USA and shortly thereafter for Europe and Japan, respectively. The Last Remnant will then release on November 20th, followed by Star Ocean: Last Hope, which will drop next spring.

Although Microsoft’s now-apparent strengthened partnership with Square-Enix and the Final Fantasy XIII announcement dropped jaws in the viewing audience, there was other big news to take in. The Xbox 360 dashboard is getting what appears to be a Vista-like makeover sometime in the fall, and it’s a rather dramatic change from what current Xbox 360 owners are used to seeing. Integrated into the new dashboard will be new avatars, which bear some similarity to Nintendo’s Mii avatars but are more fleshed out with customization options. A video of RARE staff discussing and developing the avatar program was shown during the press event.

The avatars will be seen on updated Gamercards, plus they will be prominent in the new Community Channel. There will also be an option to set up a Live Party, which can contain up to 8 friends in the same room as they can chat, share pictures, and even share movies and television programs while in the same room. Aside from the Community Channel, Microsoft will also roll out Xbox Live Primetime, which will use the avatars in game show formats, such as 1 Vs. 100, in which players can compete for real prizes. Lastly, Microsoft revealed that the upcoming release of Scene It: Box Office Smash will also use the avatar system prominently; also, the game will feature new localized content, depending on where in the world you are.

New footage and demos were shown for anticipated releases, including Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3, Fable II, and Gears of War 2. Fallout 3 was debuted with aplomb, as the visuals were quite stunning and the gameplay was pretty interesting. The new VAT targeting system looked awesome and the array of available weapons was impressive. Resident Evil 5 was also shown, and perhaps the biggest change is the addition of online co-op play, which was demonstrated at the event. Unfortunately, fans still have a bit of a wait to go, as the game won’t be available until next March—on Friday the 13th, to be precise. Peter Molyneaux talked up Fable II and showed some in-game footage. Online co-op play will also be available in this game, and Molyneaux showed it off by way of Albion orbs, which signify other Fable players who can be tapped to join you in your world. Lastly, Cliff Bleszinski played through a rather intense area of Gears of War 2, which showcased a flamethrower, fighting through a collapsing building and then escaping, and being able to ride a giant brumak—which is where the demo ended, to loud cheers from those in attendance.

Five new releases for Xbox Live Arcade were touted during the press event: Geometry Wars: Evolved 2, Galaga Legends, Portal: Still Alive, South Park, and UNO Rush. Geometry Wars: Evolved 2 is being published by Activision and will be available next month, and looks to be more of the same addictive shooter gameplay that fans of twitch shooters have come to love. Galaga Legends, which was announced as the first true sequel to the arcade game, also drops in August and looks pretty cool. Portal: Still Alive was announced by GLaDOS to loud cheers from the crowd and will be available this fall, published by Valve. Unfortunately, there was no footage of Portal: Still Alive shown. Also, sometime in 2009, a South Park game will be coming… but there were no details given about the game, although it probably won’t be hard to top Acclaim’s South Park efforts from the late 1990s. Lastly, Microsoft announced UNO Rush, which will be available sometime in the fall, likely to coincide with the new Xbox dashboard. In addition to these releases, it was revealed that the original Banjo-Kazooie game will become available for download on XBLA later this year to coincide with the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Other notes of interest from the event included the announcement of partnerships between Microsoft and Netflix and with NBC and Universal for new movie and television program content for the Xbox Live Marketplace, plus the unveiling of two new family or party games: Lips, which is a karaoke game that bears a striking resemblance to Sony’s SingStar games and You’re In The Movies, which seems quite similar to Sony’s EyeToy Play series but builds on it as your motions are captured and then can be edited to make hilarious movies later on.

Lastly, new announcements were made for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. Guitar Hero has exclusive agreements with Van Halen and the Eagles, plus Metallica will be featured by way of content exclusive to the franchise as their forthcoming album will be fully available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero III in September and then for Guitar Hero: World Tour when it launches. Also, an Xbox 360-exclusive R.E.M. track pack is on the way. On the Rock Band side of things, the full setlist for Rock Band 2 was revealed and a rather surprising bombshell was dropped: Shackler’s Revenge, from the extremely long-awaited Guns ‘N Roses album, Chinese Democracy, will be debuted on the Rock Band 2 soundtrack. Aside from that, the setlist revealed master tracks from acts including Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Alice in Chains, and more.

Microsoft certainly made a big splash today, leaving Nintendo and Sony with a tough act to follow. It can be argued that today’s announcements will put some pressure on Sony to deliver something impressive to counter the Square-Enix multiplatform bombshell as it seems that Sony’s last major third-party exclusive has now jumped ship. Stay tuned fro summaries of the Nintendo and Sony shows, plus other events and unveilings from E3 2008.