Today is day one of E3 2010 and Microsoft took the stage first with it's E3 press conference. Here's a look at what happened and some thoughts on what Microsoft's presentation had to showcase.
First up was Call of Duty: Black Ops. We've seen a lot of footage of this one for a while, but this was the time we say gameplay in action. It looks to follow in-step with other games in the franchise. This time look for some fantastic visual detail in the game's jungle settings and what looks to be some exciting gameplay while flying a helicopter. All add-on and multiplayer packs are set to launch first on the Xbox 360 through 2010 although I believe Microsoft has already tied that up until this point anyway. You can expect Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Xbox 360 - and likely the PS3 - on November 11.
Next was Metal Gear Solid Rising. This time it's Raiden in the drivers seat and it looks like the main point is to "cut" your way through the game. Although a connection with the new Kinect was not officially announced, it looks like players will be using the motion controlled system to make precise cuts into character in what looks like a very bloody game. No launch date was set although we'll likely have to wait until late 2011 or later.
Everything from that point forward was announced as "only available on the Xbox 360." That perhaps means that Metal Gear Solid Rising will likely find it's way to the PS3 (and perhaps Wii, although that's highly doubtful).
Gears of War 3 was showcased in a four-player, story-based cooperative mode. It looks to take the best of Resident Evil 5 and throw it together with classic Gears of War gore and mayhem including newly mutated enemies.
Fable 3 takes place 50 years after the events of Fable 2. I've never played any of the Fable games, so I'm not sure how significant of a title the third installment will be. It ships out on October 26.
Developer Crytek is creating an Xbox 360-exclusive Codename Kingdoms. Get your gladiator on.
Halo Reach continues the story of Halo from the beginning. Looks like a lot of your typically Halo action with the addition of what looks like space combat. It appears no release date was given.
Finally the Project Natal turned Kinect. It's voice recognition is pretty impressive and the entire Zune library is now available on Xbox LIVE. VideoKinect looks like a possibly versatile by allowing Xbox 360 users to video chat with those on a PC running Window's or on an Xbox 360 all with sleek motion controls with the wave of a hand (can't tell how you select though). The ability to watch videos together makes for great conversation pieces and camera moves and focuses on the speaker as they move. Space-age technology.
A new partnership with ESPN will allow for more than 3,500 sporting events to be streamed on the Xbox 360. Amazingly, the new service is free for Xbox LIVE Gold Members. However, ESPN means no hockey.
The showcase of some of the titles we'll see from the Kinect begins with a little girl playing with a baby tiger named skittles, once and for all showing just how stupid you can potentially look while playing the Kinect in Kinectimals.
You can look equally stupid running in place in Kinect Sports. Then there's Kinect Joy Ride and Kinect Adventures (the game splits to a split-screen mode when another player walks into the action).
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved from Ubisoft showcased a great example of what the Kinect is capable of. The Kinect scanning a body image and tailor makes menus and exercises based on your body type. It actually looks like something you might lose weight from because it requires full body movement unlike Nintendo Wii versions.
Dance Central looks like a next-generation DDR. Also the epitamy of how stupid you can look while "dancing" on the Kinect. Nevertheless, it's sure to be a kit with the Jonas Brothers/Twilight crowd.
Kinect launches in the U.S. on November 4.
A new Star Wars using the Kinect was showcased in Jedi lightsaber-wielding fashion complete with force powers coming in 2011. Not sure how you're supposed to move through the environment and the visuals seemed a little cartoony. Hopefully not something based off of the "Clone Wars" t.v. show. We didn't get to see much of it to form a lasting opinion.
Forza Motorsport was able to pull off controls with the Kinect while maintaining a seamless 60 frames per second. The controls actually looked very responsive and the visuals were as beautiful as ever. The game also allows you to have a 360-degree look around each car and even allows you to focus on specifics such as the lights. This could open a gateway for a new way of advertising content by allowing the player physically move around the product, and in this case, even sit in the product. Too bad Forza fans will have to wait until 2011.
Finally, the "new" Xbox 360 was unveiled. It is smaller, quieter and blacker. The new Xbox 360 has a 250 GB hard drive and 802.11 N WiFi built-in making it the fastest wireless console on the market. The new console ships today and should find their way to store shelves by next week with a price tag of $299 unless you were in attendance and received the fancy, external-hard-drive-esque console for free. It looks like
rumors are often true at E3.
Overall, Microsoft's media event was about showcasing the Kinect and giving us a little more insight than what we saw last year with the Natal. It certainly has a lot of potential with voice commands, video chat and - of course - fluid motion controls. It will be a matter of seeing the Kinect operate in practice. However, Microsoft's focus on the Kinect overshadowed its software titles. Certainly Halo Reach, Gears of War 3 and Fable 3 are all exclusive titles that Xbox 360 owners can be excited about, but it was evident that the Kinect is Microsoft's primary focus. We saw what Nintendo's focus on the Wii's motioned controlled novelty did to any solid titles on the console and it's highly likely Sony will make a similar mistake with the PlayStation Move, but the console giants can't forget about their core gaming fans in the pursuit of the Nintendo Wii's Grandma market.
The Nintendo announced and showcased the Nintendo 3DS, the gaming giant's next iteration into the hand held foray, at Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference (although it was more or less announced earlier this year) to a bonanza of hype.
