Dtoid Community Discusses E3 Edition: Microsoft

Welcome to an extra special edition of Dtoid Community Discusses! Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that E3 happened last week. Destructoid has brought you the greatest coverage of one of the largest game conventions, from psychic predictions, an epic KarE3oke party, and loads of liveblogging and video interviews. With all this new information that came out last week, there is TONS to talk about! Like our buddies over at Failcast, DCD has taken on an interesting format this week. Through last week, while E3 was going on, a large panel of Destructoid community members discussed the big three presentations in different discussion threads.

First up, was Microsoft and its very interesting show. What did Dtoid Community members have to say about this show? Members of this discussion included Wexx, Ryu89, BunnyRabbit2, ScottyG and Guttlesswonder. Read on to find out what they thought!



Tactix

It starts!

So the Microsoft show finished and I want to get your first impressions of the news. The show started with tons of games announced, such as Beatles Rock Band, the new Tony Hawk game, and then teasing Halo: Reach and showing a bit (finally of Alan Wake). Then things went crazy....Xbox Live started showing off all its new collaborations such as last.fm, Facebook, and even Twitter (!), not to mention what I wanted from the start...a LiveParty system that allowed you to watch movies with your friends (can you say ShiMuNi anyone?)

Then we got a couple of *not* surprises, such as the fact that the 360 was getting a MGS game featuring Raiden called MGS: Rising, and also motion controls. But this motion control that we knew was coming could not have been anticipated. Called Project Natal, it involves using a motion capture camera that has face recognition and will allow you to play games by just moving your body. Peter Molyneaux was even on hand to introduce us to Milo, his first project using this new technology. Twitter has been going crazy calling Natal the coming of Skynet, and who knows if they are actually right? And that wrapped the show.

So....whatdya think?! Are you excited for the games? Does XBLA really need all these new functionalities? Is the Wii doomed?

Wexx

I wasn't really that impressed by the Microsoft conference. Sure, New Metal Gear game being exclusive and Left 4 Dead 2 is kind of cool, but I don't really see the Natal thing coming into its own in the near future. All they showed were tech demos, and unless they already have some developers putting some real games on it, I don't see the point of it, other than looking like an asshat switching your movies with your hands.

Left 4 Dead 2 really rubs me the wrong way for some reason though. Sure, I'm excited for more of that universe, but a sequel, already? The SDK just barely came out a month ago for the first game, shouldn't this just be a patch? I know Microsoft fees for DLC are ridiculous, but seriously? Why change the way you've done business — for, oh, a decade? — to accommodate their decrepit platform that's trying to microtransaction the shit out of its customers. Hell, if they put it out as a DLC pack on the 360 I'd pay for it on the PC. I just don't like the idea of Valve doing a sequel barely a year after the game was released. If they continue this trend I'm not sure what to think of them anymore.


Left 4 Dead 2 teaser trailer. Does it rub you the wrong way?

BunnyRabbit2

I pretty much sat here going nuts on most of it. I am sad to say I will be poor when these games come out because I will be buying so many. Crackdown 2, L4D2 and MW2 are all must buys because I enjoyed the first one of each so much. That new Splinter Cell game looks to be pretty much the exact kind of game I am looking for right now. It has the right mix of 24, Jason Bourne and Splinter Cell to be enjoyable as hell and I can't wait for that. Forza 3 looks a blast and the video thing had me very, very impressed.

The Halo stuff I will get just because I am a dirty whore for Bungie and will take anything they give me. Seeing ODST I am reminded of Star Wars: Republic Commando a hell of a lot and that can only be a good thing. Alan Wake looks fun and MGS sounds cool but those are two I'll need more info on to be sure about. Overall MS has impressed me a lot and I'm actually looking forward to the other conferences just to see how they match up to this.

Ryu89

I agree that Left 4 Dead 2 seems kind of like a phone in. Where's Half Life 2 Episode 3? Where's Portal 2, which I was expecting considering how short the original is. On other fronts, ODST looks awesome but it was pretty much what I was expecting in the first place. Alan Wake looks very interesting and I am looking forward to it. The facebook/twitter/ last.fm stuff just does not appeal to me. The game that REALLY got to me however was Splinter Cell Conviction. It really looks like a really fluid experience. The floating word stuff is out of place for sure, but I really like it, it gives the game alot of STYLE.

I would like to take this paragraph to talk about Natal. I honestly wasn't expecting to care about it that much. At first I was right, there was casual stuff like the paint thing that really wasn't my thing. However, what Peter Molyneux showed off COULD be groundbreaking, if what’s there isn’t faked like it could totally be. If that video was for real, that means that we are closer to creating true AI. The technology could improve the industry where if you are playing a shooter, for example, and you start taking hits, and your real life face shows frustration, the enemy AI might know to be more aggressive and take advantage of the situation.

Just an idea. What do you guys think?

ScottyG

As a primarily PC Gamer... just... don't mention being willing to pay for PC DLC. :(

I will agree that aside from the director being able to change level layouts on the fly, L4D 2 (they need to change that name into a better pun... Left 4 Dead: 2gether maybe?) seems more like an expansion pack than a sequel. Honestly though I don't blame Valve. It sounds like it's still getting healthy play on the 360, but I've been sick of it on the PC for awhile now (although I might be alone on this). Sorry 360 fans, but I really hope Valve makes this one with the PC primarily in mind.

One thing to note though is that they used the TF2 Scout's bat sound for a melee weapon (presumably a bat). ^_^

Wexx

True Scotty, but I'd rather pay 15 dollars for all of that stuff, as opposed to $40-$50 for it.

Guttlesswonder

At the moment I would say that Natal is nothing more than a concept video. I would assume that much like the PSeye, something like that would be plagued with a lot of problems such as very specific lighting requirements and the need for other people to remain virtually motionless as you race your car down a virtual road. If they can pull it off it would be nice, however I think it would fall the same as the PSeye, a fun toy but hardly an optimal interface.

As far as the Halo's goes I find ODST/DSTO/TODS/STD to be nothing more than a MOD appearing on an engine that is quickly showing its age, and using an outline style to somewhat mask fact much like Crackdown did. Halo: Reach is the very obvious way for Bungie and MS to keep Master Chief in the forefront of peoples minds without immediately bringing him magically back from the end of Halo 3, which no doubt will happen.

Silent Hill + Twin Peaks + Max Payne = Alan Wake!?!


Does Project Natal look like nothing more than a concept video to you?

ScottyG

Heh, I do like the shot they took at the Wii during the Ricochet demo. Shame the actual product won't be anything even remotely like the family play trailer might lead us to believe.

Man... I nearly wet myself when I saw the Alan Wake videos. Then Sam Lake had to kill my boner by saying Spring 2010... I've been waiting for that game for far too long. :(

BunnyRabbit2

With L4D2 I just think people are forgetting that by the time it comes out, L4D will have been out for roughly a year. That game as it stands right now doesn't have the content to still be fresh then. It might well be fun but people will want more. Whereas Valve normally do what they have done with TF2 with the class updates and custom maps, they are this time adding in as much if not more content than was originally in the game before. I have no problem with them charging full price because although little is changing, there is a lot of new content. It was the same with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. Essentially the same thing but with extra bits on top set inside lots of new maps.

Natal has me very interested indeed. The tech demos were impressive but when me and a few of my housemates were bouncing ideas around we really saw the potential in it. There's all sort of fun casual games you could make with it but I think that if used as an extension to the controller rather than a replacement it could lead to all sorts of interesting stuff.

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Thats all for the Microsoft conference! Stay tuned on Wednesday, when we discuss Nintendo's conference and then Friday for Sony's!