E3 2010: Microsoft Press Conference Thread

[GrandAmChandler]

Microsoft Press Conference for this year's E3 starts today. Post all discussion relating to it here.

Want to watch? Check it out Live at IGN: http://e3.ign.com/2010/live/

-GAC-

EDIT: Join us today in #vbender to chat about today's press conference! Link: http://www.digitpress.com/irc/

[grolt]

Thanks for the video link. I thought this was going to be distributed exclusively on Spike TV (which is what M$ has been saying on Twitter and XBL) so it's nice that it's still going to be online for those of us who don't opt for a cable plan.

Hopefully we get some nice surprises here, rather than their fab four flogging of Halo, Gears, Fable and [strike]Natal[/strike] erm, Kinect. Seriously, I was really liking the Natal name - had some significance and I liked the whole second-nature play on words. Kinect, though, is just really obvious portmanteau that reeks of marketers just trying too hard to emphasize how Active! and Involving! the system is.

[TonyTheTiger]

I think Kinect sounds worse, too. Which is funny since I was never even that big on Natal. It's just that Kinect makes the product sound that much more like a simple Eye Toy accessory or one of the many mid-90s "interactive" devices that never worked right.

[portnoyd]

Kinect? Really? Sounds pretty Stupet.

[Oobgarm]

Kinect? Really? Sounds pretty Stupet.

This one's gonna be hard to top, folks.

[Oobgarm]

MGS Rising looks incredible, of course. Could make Kinect worth a look...though I'd rather have a regular controller.

[Oobgarm]

Space Combat in Halo? I'll take it.

[Oobgarm]

Pretty much all of the MS-developed Kinect titles look like crap.

[grolt]

The thing I didn't like about the Kinect demos were that nobody ever seemed to screw up. I'm worried the games would be too forgiving because the motion recognition isn't good enough.

New system is "whisper quiet" and has a 250 GB HDD, and Wi-fi N built-in for the same $299 price point as the elite. Ships today.

[Oobgarm]

New 360 this week. Holy crap. I wonder if my old HDD is compatible somehow? I'd hate to think they'd abandon that, given how many are out there. Or at least include a transfer cable with each system sold.

[GrandAmChandler]

Uhhh..... what just happened? ESPN? Kinect? Kinectimals? Really?

None of the Following was shown:

Infinity Ward/EA Call of Duty Game
Dead Rising 2
Fallout New Vegas
Rock Band 3
Crackdown 2

Really Microsoft? REALLY?

Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank...

[Dr. Dib]

That had to be Microsoft's worst conference. At least last year they mixed the bad in with the good, but here it was just good, good, and straight bad throughout the entire conference.

Kinect doesn't really have any appealing games besides the Star Wars game which we haven't seen much of. It seemed like every game they showed was just a tech demo or a "WOW NO CONTROLLER " game. I mean that may be good for a while, but eventually you need actual games.

I mean when Nintendo launched the Wii they followed it up with an string of great games the following year. Microsoft will need to do the same thing if they want Kinect to succeed. So far they seem lackluster or only good for a few days before they get old.

And of course we still need to see the price.

Edit:
The new 360 looks smaller than I expected, and probably will be nice for those whose Xbox dies and they need a new one. I'd get one probably if they had the money since the 360 I have now is technically my brothers. The big question is how long does it last before it red rings?

[Enigmus]

Uhhh..... what just happened? ESPN? Kinect? Kinectimals? Really?

None of the Following was shown:

Infinity Ward/EA Call of Duty Game
Dead Rising 2
Fallout New Vegas
Rock Band 3
Crackdown 2

Really Microsoft? REALLY?

Nintendo is laughing all the way to the bank...

This makes me hope for Wii 2 or HD tomorrow, since MS is pulling a Sega now.

[megasdkirby]

The big question is how long does it last before it red rings?

Well, looking at recent "slim" designs, I say an RROD would be much faster due to overheating, even with reduced chipsets.

I hope not, as I plan on getting one as a spare model.

[Oobgarm]

Only decent things to come out of this conference were MGS Rising, Halo Reach, and the 360 redesign.

Otherwise, meh.

Sucks that they're letting most of the heavy-hitter titles stand on their own with their publishers since MS's focus has obviously shifted into the "Wii-too" camp.

[Ze_ro]

Don't want to sound like an apologist, but lets look at the bright side:

• Everything that they did with Kinect *worked*. There were no real hiccups, and it seemed to recognize everyone from a black guy to a little asian girl to a fat white guy without any trouble. There seemed to be a bit of lag, but hopefully that's just the feed to the big screen causing that.
• Most of the stuff they did was stuff that can't be done with a Wiimote or Move, since it required whole-body motion. So hopefully this means some variety (Yeah, I know... it's basically just an EyeToy with a microphone, but still).
• The showed quite a few Kinect games, and a pretty wide variety, including some 3rd party support, so hopefully this won't be a Power Glove that gets forgotten right away.
• Looks like everything aside from games (obviously) will be possible without a controller. This might not sound like THAT big a deal, but I think it'll certainly be convenient. In theory, this could provide a completely motion/voice controlled entertainment center.
• Sounded like they said all the ESPN content was free for gold members? I'm sure most of the nerds on DP aren't into sports, but this could be a huge draw for the mass market.

Obviously, Kinect was never intended to appeal to the hardcore audience. This whole press conference was about appealing to the Wii crowd, which is something the 360 has never really managed before. To me, it seems like they're doing it right, though it might be too late to start now. It's a little disappointing that they didn't show much "hardcore" stuff, but hey, Gears 3 and Halo Reach, right? Besides, they already have the hardcore market, so they don't have to try as much there.

I wish they talked more about that Roman game running on the Crytek engine... Codename Kingdoms? Looks like it could be interesting. All they did was show the teaser and immediately moved on.

--Zero

[Therealqtip]

Worst e3 press conference by far. The only reason they gave the audience free xbox's is cause they had sit through that entire god awful press conference. Nintendo and Sony can win best in show by simply showing more then 4 games.

[The 1 2 P]

Although not one of their strongest shows(the last two years they completly stole the show at E3 with their press conferences) it still had it's moments. Interestingly enough, no price point was made for Kinect. This leads me to believe that the $149 rumor might be true and they want to hold off on announcing the price so that Sony can't say "ours is cheaper". But giving that you can control your games(and other features) with your hand gestures or your voice, $149 really isn't a bad price.

And even though it wasn't particularly a strong show, I'll hold off judgement until I watch the other two. Microsoft's show is always better than Sony's and Nintendo's so this may be a really bad year for shows or maybe we'll be surprised.

[grolt]

I know I've been gaming for 20 odd years now, but really, between all the Marios, Sonics and Quakes, all I've ever wanted to do is virtually pet a tiger. And Kinectimals lets me do that. Thanks, Microsoft. But no licking, that tickles...virtually.

[GarrettCRW]

As one of the many, many 360 owners whose system has bricked, I damn sure hope that there will be a way to transfer the contents of my hard drive to the new version of the system (which I saw coming the instant Natal was announced).