Wednesday 8 June 2011

E3: Microsoft

As I began writing this I decided to split it into 3, they will all be published consecutively 
Sorry for the delay, I had back to back exams today so missed the live stream whilst studying/sleeping.

Lets run them in order shall we

For images I shall be using pictures from the Engadget live report, All copyrights AOL Inc 2011
Microsoft: Xbox 360 Please reconnect the controller
 
We were shown footage from Modern Warfare 3 to start out with. A wee mishap occurred, little did we know this was an ominous omen for the games to come. Firstly, from here Microsoft continued to do as they always do, and spent the first portion of their conference talking about multiplatform games. There is nothing wrong with advertising Call of Duty's, they do have timed exclusive content for the 360 it makes sense. Some of them I don't get though, Tomb Raider is over a year away and doesn't have (unless I missed something) any unique feature for 360... Anyways..

I remember when Modern Warfare 2 was played up on Microsofts stage for the first time, it was intense, gripping exciting, different even! Today I saw the exact same thing done, as such it was remarkably less impressive, absolutely no engine update on what is an increasingly outdated engine, I saw absolutely nothing new that I had not seen out of a Call of Duty previously, it was incredibly boring to me, I'm not entirely sure why. I loved Call of Duty, I've played it for years, maybe it's time for this series to go into retirement, I think it has lost its spark. Blegh off to a bad mood. Then this prick comes out.





God I hate Don Mattick, every single year he comes across as the most pompous dick in the world, something about him rubs me up the wrong way.

Next we had Tomb Raider, which did look pretty neat, abeit very pedestrian, I'm not sure if it would be worth the buy, while the concept was nice, QTE fight scenes are always a big turn off for me.




And then Peter Moore, good god, just after I was feeling better from Tomb Raider... Talks about EA Sports title supporting Kinect, kinda cool I guess, personally the only sports title I play though is Fifa, I would be interested in seeing that perhaps work on Kinect, but today was not my lucky day.

But with EA comes Mass Effect, and I'll be honest I LOVE Mass Effect, both games have been such a thrilling experience, the story is so well told and presented I just feel so immersed and invested in them.
We saw the use of Kinect to pick voice options in the dialogue wheel, which is kind of neat I gotta say. Then we saw a short battle, showing the player commanding Garrus and Liara via Kinect, again very cool. Although I could do this on the PS2 in Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (which I did absolutely love to pieces). Also saw a omni-tool blade, cooooooooooooooool!

Next we see some Ghost Recon, I never really got into the Advanced Warfare series, but they showed of a Gunsmith mode, which you could interact with using Kinect to take apart and modify guns. Now while this is impressive, it does strike me as something that would get old after about 20 minutes.

Did I mentioned we have another New Xbox Experience for the dashboard?



What was wrong with the first iteration, it was so fast and easy to use.... Every iteration gets further away from this slick design to something more artsy and inefficient, also Youtube and bing on the 360. Why its better on 360 than a PC, I'm not entirely sure. Xbox TV, I won't comment on since it is unlikely I'll receive it in New Zealand. The system for watching MMA seems neat, picking who wins in what way, if it was for Starcraft I would be all over that, but nah cool feature.

Now we are down to exclusive town all Xbox only games from here. Next is Gears 3, I love Gears of War, but this seems a little samey, at least its the last in the trilogy, I have it preordered, nothing shown today changed it, looking good.  Next we see Ryse, a Roman fighting game(?) from Crytek, using Kinect, no gameplay was shown, so I don't think I can pass judgement on it.

Next Halo 1 HD, confirming rumor's we had heard all week. Not a big Halo fan, but I did particularly enjoy Halo 1 so I may have to look into it. After that Forza 4, I do admire the speed at which Turn 10 puts out quality titles.

Now up to here, its an okay conference, a B-, now here is where it goes down hill. Next we see an on the rails Fable game, which seems to be about everything that Fable isn't. Minecraft with Kinect, I may not be the most knowledgeable about Minecraft, but if I was acting out every motion I would get pretty exhausted mining all day, Minecraft is great on PC, I don't see it working on 360.

Next was Disneyland Adventures, uggggh, UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH, WHY DID YOU GIVE SUCH A HUGE AMOUNT OF YOUR CONFERENCE TIME TO ABSOLUTE TRASH.

Star Wars Kinect, because every Jedi activates his lightsaber by saying "Lightsaber on".

Tim Schafer, gaming genius, making a Sesame St game for Kinect, not even my worst nightmares could have conjured that up.

Kinect Funlabs, kind of cool, giving us many features shown in what was called Natal 2 years.

Kinect Sports 2, because we needed another one
Dance Central 2, including co-op dancing, no gripes but I didn't see why it couldn't be put in the first, at least I was proved right for waiting

And we finish it off with a trailer for Halo 4. Just because the entire Microsoft conference couldn't state enough how over they were on being original.

Rating? D-, horribly disappointing. Arguably one of the worst E3 conferences in years.

6 comments:

  1. D- it wasnt that bad was it?
    can't wait for the new halo

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  2. Haha i know how you feel man, it really did feel like the worst conference ever :P

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  3. @ Phosports, it's just my opinion, if you enjoyed it, I'm glad you did ^_^

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  4. Mass effect 3 will be amazing

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  5. I love Tim Schafer! I think he's going to finally make a kids game that parents can enjoy with their kids.

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