E3 2007: Microsoft's Press Event

Russ Pitts

The Boss of You
May 1, 2006
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E3 2007: Microsoft's Press Event

My ears hurt like I've just left a Tool concert, my ass feels like I've been sitting on concrete for 90 minutes and my feet are sore. The new E3 has just begun and already it's feeling a lot like the old one.

"Tonight we let the games talk," said Microsoft frontman Peter Moore, drawing to a close the most bombastic press event in recent memory. The evening began to the tune of the Halo theme as performed by "five Halo fans from Illinois," a rattling off of a series of impressive-sounding sales numbers (did you know that Microsoft has sold 18.1 million games for the Xbox 360, and they've grossed 2.4 billion dollars?) and the claim that this holiday season, Microsoft would unleash the greatest lineup of games "in the history of gaming."

OK, so maybe the games weren't doing all the talking.

The fan band's opening set was followed by what Microsoft hopes will be the headliner this season, but what I can't help but think is going to be a disappointment. A handful of heavy hitters from Harmonix took the stage to demo Rock Band, and with Peter Moore playing along, cemented (at least in my mind) what's wrong with this title: it makes people look like idiots.

Each time I see the game demonstrated I can't help but be embarrassed for the poor sods on stage, and this time was no different. To make matters worse, even on the gigantic, IMAX-sized screen at the event, the Rock Band interface looked cluttered and confusing, not nearly as simple and inviting as it's guitar-bound predecessor. I may be wrong about this one (and I open the door wide for that possibility here), but I expect Rock Band will be the surprise dud of the season.

But the assault on the senses didn't end with Peter Moore getting booed off the Rock Band stage. After Corporate VP of Global Marketing (and natural tenor) Jeff Bell left the stage, leaving behind an announcement that Microsoft had partnered with Disney to bring Disney, Touchstone and Miramax pictures to the Xbox Live Marketplace starting tonight (and forever more) and a rousing Madden 2008 session with New Orleans Saints star Reggie Bush (Bell called him "bro" about a dozen times), Moore retook the stage to attempt to breathe life into the sputtering Games for Windows brand, with a little help from Cliffy B.

Not only will Epic's monster hit, Gears of War be making its debut on PCs this year, but Games for Windows Live support is now being built into the Unreal 3 engine, paving the way for increased support of Microsoft's fledgling integration scheme.

And then Infinity Ward stepped up with a real time demo of their latest, Call of Duty 4. Befitting the bombast of the evening's proceedings, CoD4's creators grabbed the mic proclaiming that with their latest game, they would be going "deep and hard." And in spite of the infantile euphemism, their presentation stole the show.

Call of Duty 4 brings the series into the modern age with a conflict centered on the radiated Ukrainian countryside. The visuals were gorgeous and the gameplay looked like a cross between a Tom Clancy title and Saving Private Ryan, which is another way of saying "best seller." The scene where the player, in a camouflaged ghille suit, must evade a tank regiment trooping through high grass mere feet away left me breathless, and provided one of the few thrills of the evening.

After that, the surprises were fairly unsurprising, but interesting nonetheless. Moore showed his one exception to the rule that all games demonstrated at the event would be slated for 2007 release, with a teaser trailer from Capcom's Resident Evil 5, due out next year some time for the Xbox 360. He also announced the long predicted Halo 3 hardware bundle, unveiling a Halo 3 themed Xbox 360 slated to hit store shelves this holiday season. No details were provided, but we can assume it will be top of the line. Let's hope after the repair bill comes in, there's some of that 2.4 billion in sales left over for R&D on the new machine.


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Logan Frederick

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Aug 19, 2006
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[blockquote]The fan band's opening set was followed by what Microsoft hopes will be the headliner this season, but what I can't help but think is going to be a disappointment. A handful of heavy hitters from Harmonix took the stage to demo Rock Band, and with Peter Moore playing along, cemented (at least in my mind) what's wrong with this title: it makes people look like idiots.

Each time I see the game demonstrated I can't help but be embarrassed for the poor sods on stage, and this time was no different. To make matters worse, even on the gigantic, IMAX-sized screen at the event, the Rock Band interface looked cluttered and confusing, not nearly as simple and inviting as it's guitar-bound predecessor. I may be wrong about this one (and I open the door wide for that possibility here), but I expect Rock Band will be the surprise dud of the season.[/blockquote]

I would have to largely disagree with your perspective of the upcoming Rock Band title. Rock Band is the natural progression of music gaming, and is the culmination of all the other games that Harmonix has built. The idea alone inspires many music gamers. And although the screen may appear cluttered, it is an effective use of the screen space given the amount of gameplay one screen must show at a time. Watch most people play DDR and Karaoke Revolution and they'll look stupid. That's a large part of the intrigue for the games and is what has helped make the successes. If anything, the goofiness helps Rock Band, just like every other game in the genre from the past.

Will Rock Band outsell Guitar Hero this holiday season and be a bit of a disappoint? Sure. The barriers to entry from both a networking (finding players to join your virtual band) and financial perspective are too high. But it'll be one hell of a music gaming evolution that I don't want to miss.
 

Andy Chalk

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Funny, I was going to make the same point about DDR. Having watched a few booze-fueled idiots play the game recently, there was no question that dignity held hands with sobriety as they both went merrily skipping out the door. But everyone, players and audience, were laughing their fool heads off and having a hell of a time with it. After awhile, people who I thought would never do such a thing - people who should know better - were up and waiting for their turn. Pictures and video were taken, which gave everyone a good laugh in the days following. I think there are a lot of good reasons why Rock Band may fail, or at least fail to live up to expectations, but I don't see fear of being made to look like a super-spastic as one of them.

GoW and CoD4 news is interesting, particularly that CoD4 is no longer whoring for WW2. I haven't kept up with the franchise since the original, which if I recall correctly is the game that triggered my ongoing WW2FPS moratorium, but if they're actually going to do something different with it then it may be worth a new look.
 

Tarmanydyn

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Jun 15, 2007
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I personally think that the only reason you'd be disappointed with Rock Band is if you have no friends, not to chide on geek stereotypes, but friends can make even the most pedestrian of games, fun. Case in point: 4-player WarioWare.

Making yourself look like a jackass is part of the experience.
 

Virgil

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Tarmanydyn said:
I personally think that the only reason you'd be disappointed with Rock Band is if you have no friends, not to chide on geek stereotypes, but friends can make even the most pedestrian of games, fun. Case in point: 4-player WarioWare.
My biggest concern with Rock Band is actually directly related to this. Although Guitar Hero is certainly great when there are multiple people playing (and people watching), it's still a very entertaining experience if you're playing solo. Which, in total, most of my time playing the game actually ends up being. I really doubt I'm alone in this regard, and "having no friends" has nothing to do with it if you lead a reasonably busy life.

If Rock Band doesn't also provide a similarly compelling solo experience as Guitar Hero, and ideally without the cop-out of relying solely on online multiplayer, I don't think it will end up doing nearly as well as its predecessors.
 

Geoffrey42

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Aug 22, 2006
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My understanding (someone correct me if they know otherwise) is that you are allowed to play through all of the songs solo doing Guitar, Drums, and Vocals (No Bass, because *supposedly* it's too easy to warrant its own campaign. This disappoints me, because that was the one thing that disappointed me about GHII, ie, the lack of ability to play the bass and rhythm guitar lines by yourself, without being in practice mode).

Given that this is Harmonix, who created the look and feel of Guitar Hero, and given that the core of Guitar Hero's experience is just the thrill of playing the songs (a complex pavlovian trigger/response, right?), I don't think I will be disappointed.

I do believe though, that Rock Band will not sell as many units as they might want, given a PERCEIVED high cost of entry (You don't need 2 guitars, drums, and mic to play the game, but that doesn't stop people from thinking it), and a less than stellar online multiplayer experience. I want it to work well, but somehow lag seems like it would be problematic, and the social aspects of Rock Band multiplayer are very different than most other adversarial multiplayer games. I doubt I'll be able to find 3 other friends with a matching console and copies of the game (and appropriately distributed peripherals), and the alternative of playing with strangers doesn't seem likely to cut it.
 

Logan Frederick

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[blockquote]I doubt I'll be able to find 3 other friends with a matching console and copies of the game (and appropriately distributed peripherals), and the alternative of playing with strangers doesn't seem likely to cut it.[/blockquote]

The requirement of friends is more imperative to Rock Band than it ever was for Guitar Hero. However, I have been blessed with a large group of friends who own 360s, and we're already fighting over each role in the team. Sadly, I seem to be the only willing vocalist.
 

Tarmanydyn

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Virgil said:
If Rock Band doesn't also provide a similarly compelling solo experience as Guitar Hero, and ideally without the cop-out of relying solely on online multiplayer, I don't think it will end up doing nearly as well as its predecessors.
I don't see how it won't deliver the same, if not a potentially greater experience. The premise is similar, if not exactly the same, except with the addition of a vocalist and a drummer. I can only imagine that you'd have a lesser experience when solo, only by contrast, lamenting not having anyone else to jam with, but there's always online if that's that case.
 

Russ Pitts

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May 1, 2006
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I finally did get some hands on with Rock Band, and it was fun, but I'm still not convinced it will take off. I also played a little Guitar Hero III tonight at a Microsoft event, and the difference was amazing. Guitar Hero is just so much more approachable and fun. I'm not sure why, but there it is.

It also occurred to me to wonder if Rock Band would still be any fun with four people playing who are all fair to bad at the game. Would you hear any music at all, or just a series of bloops and scratches? It would seem you not only need friends to make it fun, but also friends who can play, and with whom you play well. Like all things, the closer the simulation gets to reality, the less fun it becomes.

I'll try to spend more time with the game tomorrow at the hangar so I can give it a fair shake, but at this point, I'm still not blown away.