Well today marked the first day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in beautiful San Francisco. Microsoft's media breifing was the big thing on everyones mind. The big question? What was next for Xbox 360 fans everywhere. The question was answered and it has left alot of us with confused looks and awe at some of the releases. Overall this event was trully a mixed bag.
The conference started off with a massive hype inducing trailer from Activision and Treyarch's newest spin at one of Microsoft's biggest titles, Call of Duty Black Ops. After the trailer aired one of Treyarch's developers walked out on stage and took us into the world of deniable black ops with a demo of the game. We saw what probably was an early mission in the campaign where you will travel through an underground tunnel and run into an enemy hostile who makes quick work of one of your allies. From there the game cuts to a later part in the mission where you reach an enemy base and after clearing it out man the chopper and use it to aid in the fight, taking out bridges, enemy helicopters, and more. It was a wonderful start to the conference and it definately got me into what was to come.
Microsoft's vice presidant stepped on the stage and talked about how they plan to "transform" the way we play games, much like Nintendo did in 2006. There biggest focus throughout this conference was Kinect, which is Microsoft's motion control offering to gamers. It's totally hands free and this time appears to play much more fluidly. Before I talk about that though let's talk about the games we really want to hear about.
Microsoft decided to show their big 3 titles which are Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. Now I have no complaint about this but as you'll see later I do have a couple complaints. After Call of Duty's showcase, one of the biggest game suprises last year returns as Hideo Kojima came out to debut a trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising. Seeing Raiden take out that cyborg beast in the trailer had me jumping out of my chair like when Zelda Twilight Princess Debuted. The games focus and cutting up everything in sight you can't help but love the game. Then a crowd favorite Cliff Blezinski took the stage and demoed a wet dream of alot of gamers, Gears 3. The game featured a much improved frame rate and the gameplay was phenomenal showing off the lampent and the two new female additions to the Gears team. Cliff also mentioned at the end of a new Beast mode they were revealing. Then Bungie finally took the stage and delivered what I personally was questioning, the Halo Reach campaign. Debuting today was a darker side to the Halo story featuring brutal elites that know no fear, speak in their own tounge, and were prepared to battle to the death. The demo ended with you taking control of a aircraft and battling in the skies. It was simply outstanding.
After all this, Microsoft went father talking of the history of Xbox and how things have been changed in this transformation of the console and its online. Then they showed that when technology is out of the way connecting with friends and family is easy and natural. In Kinects demo I liked how you could say what you wanted to access or move it with your hands. It's a very nice way to do things and it does help deal with that frustrating search for your controller or TV remote. These aspects of the device are great and new and i find it to be a nice luxuary to have.
However, as the conference continued with Kinect I found alot of the games to be a little too casual. A lot of them felt like early Nintendo releases like Excite Truck and Wii Sports. It's all great but it really only appeals to people who may not have played games or are just looking for a casual experience. On the other hand though a lot of the games do look fun to play like the Star Wars game for Kinect. Also I found the video chat very interesting and smooth. A few other games like Your Shape Evolution and Kinect Sports, get you more involved and out your seat for the game. One of the biggest announcements for Kinect was Forza's take on the device and how not only can you drive but actually take a more in depth look at your favorite cars. It was all very innovative and I wonder how other developers will use Kinect.
Now if all this didn't cause a heart attack then this more than likely will; Microsoft in a huge suprise attack unveiled a brand new Xbox 360, complete with all new sleeker design, built in Wifi 802 11n, glossy black exterior, and a whopping 250 GB hard drive. That's not all the Xbox is being shipped today and will hit store shelves later this week. If you would like some in depth specks of the console you can head on over to xbox.ign.com
So what does this all mean? Well, it looks like Microsoft is going for a more casual approach this E3. The core games like Gears and Halo didn't dissapoint and Kinect did show a few interesting features. However it looks like the family game was more appealed to making Microsoft's conference an ok one really. Aside from the new Xbox and MGS Rising, and Halo Reach and Gears, nothing too major was announced or really shown. All in all it's just a mixed bag.
Microsoft's vice presidant stepped on the stage and talked about how they plan to "transform" the way we play games, much like Nintendo did in 2006. There biggest focus throughout this conference was Kinect, which is Microsoft's motion control offering to gamers. It's totally hands free and this time appears to play much more fluidly. Before I talk about that though let's talk about the games we really want to hear about.
Microsoft decided to show their big 3 titles which are Call of Duty, Halo, and Gears of War. Now I have no complaint about this but as you'll see later I do have a couple complaints. After Call of Duty's showcase, one of the biggest game suprises last year returns as Hideo Kojima came out to debut a trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising. Seeing Raiden take out that cyborg beast in the trailer had me jumping out of my chair like when Zelda Twilight Princess Debuted. The games focus and cutting up everything in sight you can't help but love the game. Then a crowd favorite Cliff Blezinski took the stage and demoed a wet dream of alot of gamers, Gears 3. The game featured a much improved frame rate and the gameplay was phenomenal showing off the lampent and the two new female additions to the Gears team. Cliff also mentioned at the end of a new Beast mode they were revealing. Then Bungie finally took the stage and delivered what I personally was questioning, the Halo Reach campaign. Debuting today was a darker side to the Halo story featuring brutal elites that know no fear, speak in their own tounge, and were prepared to battle to the death. The demo ended with you taking control of a aircraft and battling in the skies. It was simply outstanding.
After all this, Microsoft went father talking of the history of Xbox and how things have been changed in this transformation of the console and its online. Then they showed that when technology is out of the way connecting with friends and family is easy and natural. In Kinects demo I liked how you could say what you wanted to access or move it with your hands. It's a very nice way to do things and it does help deal with that frustrating search for your controller or TV remote. These aspects of the device are great and new and i find it to be a nice luxuary to have.
However, as the conference continued with Kinect I found alot of the games to be a little too casual. A lot of them felt like early Nintendo releases like Excite Truck and Wii Sports. It's all great but it really only appeals to people who may not have played games or are just looking for a casual experience. On the other hand though a lot of the games do look fun to play like the Star Wars game for Kinect. Also I found the video chat very interesting and smooth. A few other games like Your Shape Evolution and Kinect Sports, get you more involved and out your seat for the game. One of the biggest announcements for Kinect was Forza's take on the device and how not only can you drive but actually take a more in depth look at your favorite cars. It was all very innovative and I wonder how other developers will use Kinect.
Now if all this didn't cause a heart attack then this more than likely will; Microsoft in a huge suprise attack unveiled a brand new Xbox 360, complete with all new sleeker design, built in Wifi 802 11n, glossy black exterior, and a whopping 250 GB hard drive. That's not all the Xbox is being shipped today and will hit store shelves later this week. If you would like some in depth specks of the console you can head on over to xbox.ign.com
So what does this all mean? Well, it looks like Microsoft is going for a more casual approach this E3. The core games like Gears and Halo didn't dissapoint and Kinect did show a few interesting features. However it looks like the family game was more appealed to making Microsoft's conference an ok one really. Aside from the new Xbox and MGS Rising, and Halo Reach and Gears, nothing too major was announced or really shown. All in all it's just a mixed bag.
No comments:
Post a Comment