Stevenotes? Meh. The suit-and-tie speech that's getting gamers riled up this morning is Microsoft's GDC keynote, which promises big news about the Xbox 360's upcoming year in software.
Corporate vice president of Live, software and services John Schappert, who joined the company in August coming from Electronic Arts, will deliver an address on Wednesday, February 20 called "A Future Wide Open: Unleashing the Creative Community." In an email announcing the keynote, the GDC described it thusly:
"Schappert's keynote explores the Xbox 360 platform's next step in democratizing game development, vastly opening up the industry for developers of all sizes. The session will set the strategy for Xbox 360 this upcoming year, revealing top developers' plans for the platform in 2008. Schappert will discuss how the increasing role of online gaming will continue to shape gameplay and game distribution this year. (emphasis ours)"