Liveblog: Microsoft E3 2010 Media Briefing

[Baby Tea]

That's crazy that they came out with the new 360 "slim" and it's actually being shipped today.

No joke.
Not only that, but that they kept the lid on it so long. It's available THIS week, so it must have been worked on for some time! And it's the same price! Great for people who are looking to make the jump to 360! I'd buy one for sure if mine ever broke! Hmm...maybe mine should have an...accident.

On Kinect: I'm probably getting it.
At first, I liked it. Then, I was skeptical. Now, I love it. The Star Wars game look neat, but FORZA (Which I freaking love)!! Looking around corners while you turn? Sign me up. The dance game looks like a blast, even the fitness game would be great! My wife is into that fitness stuff, so she'd be interested in that. I'm very interested in it now.

 

[Jumplion]

I'll just repost what I said earlier;

Well, just finished watching Microsoft's conference, and I gotta say, to risk sounding like a complete fanboy, it sucked.

Personally, I don't care much for Microsoft, but I at least respect them in the industry. They have a good amount of heavy hitting titles that are appropriately epic.

But they just glanced over the big ones. They showed Gears of War 3, rushed through Fable 3, glanced over Halo: Reach, and then all they did for the last part of the conference was Kinect showing "casual"-tastic games and those two ESPN guys would not shut up.

As much of a fanboy I am, I really did want to be impressed by Microsoft, give them some props for some good games n' all. But this was just painful.

I hope Nintendo and Sony can ramp it up tomorrow.

But, hey, maybe I'm just being a needless fanboy blinded by fanderisms. Still looking forward to Nintendo and Sony.

 

[Rugged 13]

What do you think of your new X-box 360 slim?

 

[Carnagath]

MGS... Missed it. I'll assume it looked great.

Star Wars... Railshooter. Old, tired concept. We don't NEED to reboot all gameplay advancement throughout the years just because a new gimmick is out.

The pet game... SKITTLES! FELLATIO!

The adventure game thing... Yeah, my girlfriend would find that fun, I find it generic. Guess I'm not the target audience.

Fitness game... Oh fuck off.

Forza... It LOOKED ok, but as any seasoned racing fan will confirm, these games require surgical accuracy. I prefer a good old steering wheel or at least a controller to the Kinect model.

Fable 3... Too many cutscenes, too little gameplay on that trailer. Looks more of the same. Not thrilled.

Halo... It's Halo. Again. With a bit of space fighting. Frat boys all over the world will be thrilled.

Gears... It's Gears. Again. With..uh..girls. Frat boys all over the world will be thrilled.

Crytek game... I have no idea what this is, they showed nothing.

ESPN... I'm not American.

Video chat... I'm not American.

Zune... I don't even know what this is.

360 slim... Looks cool, will wait till Xmas to see what's the consensus on its hardware quality and failure rate.

Pretty much the only slightly interesting thing for me in that conference was the Dance game, which looked fun but not enough to buy Kinect for. Let's see what Sony has in store.

 

[Treblaine]

Err... Microsoft does realise they are selling to GAMERS here?

The thing is they arn't. The point of Natal (I will call it by its new name when they learn to spell) is to get the Wii players to come to Microsoft and so they are trying to convince those in the audience that arn't gamers that its worth it. Remember, it wouldn't just be the tech and gaming press there.

Hmm, well their customers ARE the 40 million Xbox 360 owners (actually, that's units sold, considering RROD's out of warranty I wonder how many actual Xbox users there are) if they are selling "Kinect" as an upgrade bundle (they are).

Though if they are doing for a non-gamer market they are doing a good job of it.

This is going to introduce some interesting new game dynamics, such as how likely an Xbox is actually goign to get under a HDTV. HDTVs in the living-room is a community space, if the "non-gamers" see Xbox 360 as a positive thing rather than hogging the TV... that could jsut get more Xboxes into people home and more people playing Xbox, including "hardcore" games.

 

[Treblaine]

What do you think of your new X-box 360 slim?

It's not very slim. Then again it isn't even called the slim, it wasn't very well introduced, I don't even think it has a special name.

One thing I notice: a NEW line of proprietary hard drives (I think) only they seem to have upgraded to being based around the 3.5" hard drives - which by the way are FAR cheaper - and will likely be a controlled market. Come ON Microsoft, Sony has been using off the shelf hard drives since day one, you can even use any third party gamepad if you like.

But I think the biggest change is WiFi for no "extra" cost (though with the price cuts of the old elites effectively the price is included) I see this as a vital causal feature.

Think about it, "casuals" are not going to connect online if it means "go out and buy a specific component" or "fuck around with Ethernet cables - do you even know what an ethernet cable is?!?"

So to summarise:
-no major hardware revision or shrink
-cheaper manufacturing-cost hard-drives - proprietary - controlled
-WiFi for casual idiots.

This is not NOT the console for Xbox's Hardcore.

The best news is Xbox Arcade for $149... that is fucking AMAZING value if you don't get Xbox Live Gold and use the USB storage for downloadable games and so on.

 

[Awexsome]

Halo... IIINNN SPAAAAAACE!!

Aw man I'm hyped big-time. The streamed video on gametrailers is not working but I caught the Trailer off of Bungie.net and it looks awesome. Definite pre-order for sure but still not sure whether to get legendary or not... heroic at least is a must.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Ok, a few things:

First up, they are sending me my new Xbox,so I haven't seen it up close and personal yet. Will report back when I do.

Secondly, yes, everyone, I love Skittles. I took an ungodly number of pictures of that silly tiger.

As for people questioning the sports agreement...you folks are aware of just how many people buy Madden every year, right? There is a huge crossover between sports fans and gaming, especially on the 360. Oh, and Keith Olbermann is godlike. Just sayin'.

Moving on, I will do whatever I can to personally take Dance Central for a spin and see if it really works as advertised. Because if it does, I want to preorder that mofo, because it looks like so much fun.

 

[soapyshooter]

Wow Treyarch, way to alienate the hundreds of thousands of PS3 gamers who will buy your game. 3 year exclusive add ons? Who the fuck will be still playing Black Ops in three years? Fuck you guys, I'm buying MoH.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I will not get excited about Fable 3...
I will not get excited about Fable 3...
I will not get excited about Fable 3...
ahhh...screw it! YAY!

Precisely how I'm feeling.

Gears 3 looks like it takes everything you love about Gears of War and multiplies it by a factor of 50.

And Susan (a.k.a The Nerd Queen) got it so right when she said Halo Reach is a modern Halo game. It's the Halo game fans have deserved since Combat Evolved.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Err... Microsoft does realize they are selling to GAMERS here?

That's the funny thing. All this talk of ESPN and Natal... most people who watch E3 are gamers. I don't know of any casual gamer who would watch a six hour video game press conference. On the chat next to the live streaming video on G4, someone said "Natal killed E3" and I would agree.

 

[Treblaine]

Err... Microsoft does realize they are selling to GAMERS here?

That's the funny thing. All this talk of ESPN and Natal... most people who watch E3 are gamers. I don't know of any casual gamer who would watch a six hour video game press conference. On the chat next to the live streaming video on G4, someone said "Natal killed E3" and I would agree.

it's like E3 2009 Nintendo all over again... only this time for Microsoft.

Ok, not THAT bad, I don't have any idea who would have bought (or in fact did buy) Wii Music, I mean that was a mess, why was Nintendo trying to compete with Rock-Band and Guitar hero with such fail?

Hold on a tick... how much is a complete Rock Band Beatles set? About $149. Now that isn't going for the Halo-hardcore, but to the 40-something hipster casual market, and that sold like gangbusters, for basically one game.

Though it DID have the Fab-Four attached to it, the same people are heading it - Harmonix - if they can sell that for $149, then maybe - just maybe - "Kinect" has a chance.

 

[crotalidian]

If you don't want to use your hands, you can just say "Zune" to get to the section you want. To use Kinect to operate your movies, just move your hand left and right - or again, just use your voice. Say "Xbox pause" or "Xbox play" to work the movie. "Xbox, play music!" Oh, but not Justin Bieber, please. Shuffle through your playlist by waving your hand around

Anyone else see that he kept his hands by his side the entire time looks like random gestures may cause issues.

Also does anyone else think that it would be soooo much cooler if you could rename your Xbox? so instead of "Xbox pause" you'd say "Malcolm pause" or whatever? what would you guys name your Xbox (will start a seperate thread and link to avoid hijacking this thread!)

Thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.202713-If-you-Could-Rename-Your-Xbox-for-Kinect-Voice-Control]