Jamil Moledina, the director of GDC, took the stage before Microsoft commenced its GDC 2008 keynote. After welcoming everyone for attending, he commented about the necessity of change in the gaming industry and how boundaries of what games can do are being pushed.

After that introduction, John Schappert (Corporate Vice President of Xbox Live) came out. He joked about not having any HDTVs to give out and not having a tattoo to show off (calling out the showmanship of former Xbox exec Peter Moore). After that levity, he mentioned how he got his start in programming in an attempt to connect with the developer-oriented audience. During his tenure at EA Games, he programmed games such as Desert Strike and Madden '94 (among many other Madden games).

Schappert credited developers as gaming's true pioneers, transitioning quite smoothly into a compliment for Microsoft, saying that innovations like Xbox Live and built-in hard drives have revolutionized the industry. Shifting his attention to the economic side of things, he noted that the gaming industry has since grown to over $18 billion dollars sales in the U.S. and is bigger than music on a global scale, according to Jupiter Research.

Speaking specifically to software sales, Schappert laid out certain million selling titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and Madden '08. With some pride, he noted that for the first time in years, Madden sold more copies on a non-Sony platform (the Xbox 360) than elsewhere. Schappert mentioned how there are more 360 titles with meta-critic scores of 80% or above than any other platform.

A friendly developer environment along with elements like Xbox Live and achievements have made Xbox 360 games popular, Schappert said. How popular? A slide announced that Xbox 360 users have unlocked over one billion achievements and that Xbox Live Marketplace exceeded $250 million in sales.

Numerous developers, including Ken Levine, Alex Rigopulos, Chris Butcher and Jason Ward, came out to praise the Xbox 360 in video form as Schappert returned to the stage and commented on how development costs have skyrocketed. Back in the day, "all you needed was your father's computer and a good idea," said Schappert. That's why he likes Xbox Live so much, mentioning how Poker Smash was made by just three people. Schappert said that there needs to be more "democratization" of development and with that, he introduced Chris Satchell, head of XNA.

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