The Microsoft Press Conference just came to a close, and we here at Destructoid were working hard during it to get you all the most updated news and images.
Now that it is over, though, we have a moment to breathe and let you know what we think.
So ... what did we think? Were we pleasantly surprised by some of the announcements? Or disappointed in what the Xbox 360 has to offer in the upcoming year? Is E3 2011 off to a good start?
Feel free to join the discussion!
Jim Sterling
It was the Kinectrosoft Press Conference. That is what it was, and that is my contribution to the discussion.
Tyler Jones
So Kinect is getting pushed super hard this year. I'm kinda worried that most of the action games like Star Wars looked super on-rails-ey. Ghost Recon did a few cool things, but I can't imagine that it will be easier than using a controller. I will say that I would gladly buy a game where you can walk around a virtual Disney World as long as they leave out the Kinect Adventure-style minigames, but that won't be happening.
Jordan Devore
Sadly, Double Fine's Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster was probably the best Kinect game shown.
Quick, everyone have kids so we can buy the game without being judged.
Jesse Cortez
I thought it was very Kinect heavy, and therefore not really for me. I think the most interesting thing to me was they they showed off Kinect Fun Labs and then said it was going live today. The Kinect technology it finally starting to show its potential with the scanning items deal.
With that said, the voice control in the games is nice, but I hope is not required. What if you are playing the game at a party or amongst lots of friends? I'd hate to have the commands drowned out by my drunken friends in the room.
Jonathan Ross
I think it was a solid conference, although nothing really stood out at me as a "Holy crap, wow" moment like other conferences in past years.
The focus on Kinect was unfortunate, but understandable. I actually think one of the best things to come out of it was the Fun Labs thing, since there's a ton of really cool stuff happening with Kinect in the PC/indie scene. I'm glad MS has decided to embrace that, instead of ignoring it. I think a few years from now, there's potential for some REALLY cool stuff with Kinect once devs really get a handle on it and figure out how to harness its power -- it's really a remarkable piece of tech.
Purely gameswise, nothing I saw really excited me. Mass Effect 3 is probably the game I'm most looking forward to, but I'm getting that for PC. I know a lot of people will be really happy about Gears 3 and Halo 4, but I'm not really a big fan of either franchise.
I'd probably give it a solid B. No real embarrassments or big flops, but nothing that really left a major impression on me.
Chad Concelmo
Yeah, I feel the same way, JRo. The conference moved smoothly and there was a nice list of titles and exclusives announced.
But nothing really stood out as something I HAVE to have ... well, except that amazing Sesame Street Kinect game.
Still, a confident, solid, if underwhelming, showing from Microsoft.
Excited to see what Sony has to say later this evening!
Matthew Razak
I think the most impressive part was the tech demos in the Fun Labs. That's the kind of cool shit that makes me want to use my Kinect for things other than voice commands. Of course I know I'll use it for ten seconds and then get bored, but those will be an awesome ten seconds. I'm also a little sad that a lot of the games looked like they were on rails. Did they learn nothing from the Wii? And this a fan of some of the better on-rails shooters that landed on the Wii.
Game wise I wasn't that jazzed for much but they definitely brought out all the heavy hitters. I also like Master Chief so that got me a little excited at the end.
Oh and Tomb Raider looks absolutely amazing. I had many concerns for it with the whole revamp (I loved the recent games), but damn that looks killer.
Chad Concelmo
Ah, yes, I have to mention Tomb Raider. That was easily the game that got me the most excited.
Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Geoff Henao
They really pushed for Kinect support. A lot of it was pointless, like having voice control for ME3 when it's just as easy to move your stick towards the choice. The Kinect Fun Labs stuff is cool, but it seemed like nothing more than just a tech kit to show what you can do. Who's actually gonna be using it extensively? I think the biggest gaming surprise was definitely Minecraft.
It's interesting to see how Microsoft was really adamant about the Xbox entertainment experience. Their tagline, "You say it, Xbox will find it," is witty and catchy, but how effective will that be in a room full of people? Controllers aren't that cumbersome... well, this is the 360 controller we're talking about... Overall, It was a very underwhelming conference and it won't be hard for Nintendo and Sony to outdo Microsoft this year.
Matthew Razak
And in turn, Chad reminded me about Sesame Street which made me want to impregnate my fiancee so I had a child to play it with.
Niero
You are the talking waggle.
Taylor Way
Most of the Kinect stuff was underwhelming, but I know a lot of Disney fans will appreciate the Disneyland game, and I want to have a baby, JUST so I can play Sesame Street with them.
I love the Mass Effect series, and while the voice integration is interesting, I'll probably play it without it.
I know Halo is now the game that everyone loves to hate (but secretly used to love), but I love it. Period. Halo 4 continues the story where Halo 3's cliffhanger left off, and I'm excited about that. And while I love the gameplay innovations made to the series thus far, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary looks like a fun romp down memory lane. From what I saw of the multiplayer footage, they added some of the new stuff from Reach (read: special assassinations), which doesn't bother me, but people who care are probably going to be pissed, just because it's a little different. I also appreciate that they didn't just up the texture resolutions, throw in widescreen support and call it a day. They added all kinds of environment detail, lighting, and what looks like completely new models. So I'm excited.
Maurice Tan
It was exactly as expected. Lots of Kinect stuff to push it to more sales, using the 360 as a media hub, and a few games here and there. Nothing groundbreaking, that's for sure. It's nice to see them make good on some of the promises that Kinect once made, but overall it was pretty underwhelming.
Hollie Bennett
I actually quite liked it, got my core title fix -- so many 'OMG I can imagine Hollies face' tweets when Gears of War came on, a good push for Kinect which it very sorely needs, a better amalgamation and integration for dashboard based features and some things to look forward to.
Kinect is a funny creature, some people bloody hate it and in-turn will have HATED that conference, I quite like Kinect. I love Dance Central and fitness games; if I had kids I'd buy the shit out of the Disney and Seaseme Street games; the Kinect Lab was amazing and scored lots of open mouths and spontaneous applause and I loved the idea of the 'triple A titles' having a good go at using it in a more serious way -- I'm honest to God all over the Mass Effect Kinect stuff.
However, I don't care who makes it -- microstudio or Lionhead -- on rail Kinect slash games do nothing for Kinect and are poor, poor games. Do not want.
It's exactly what I expected, I'm not disappointed at all. I personally think not having a new piece of tech I.E NPG or Cafè does make it harder to have a 'wow factor' that people demand but I think they did a good job. Also whoever leaked Halo 4 was a cock, they ruined what could have been a mind blowing ending -- and I don't even like Halo games!
Bob Muir
What little footage we saw of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary does not instill confidence in me. If it's basically a graphical redesign with a few more modern features, then it will be leaving intact the worst campaign and level design of the series. As for Halo 4, it takes more than a shiny cutscene to wow me these days.
Speaking of "wow," Tomb Raider is looking fantastic and was easily the best part of the conference. But then again, it's not even an Xbox exclusive. I don't know, the complete lack of surprises left a very bland taste in my mouth, and all the Kinect emphasis (with the exception of Sesame Street!) put me off. No, Bioware, I don't feel like talking through Mass Effect 3. At least it was better than last year's conference.
Maurice Tan
Yeah, I think the best thing I saw was Mordin with the new lighting. Gears 3 just looked like Gears, which is fine but at this point we know what to expect. Halo HD will probably sell plenty and make them a nice profit, but I'm with Bob on the Halo 4 thing. It didn't show much, it was all CG and it looked like the Halo 2 CG reveal trailer.
Matthew Razak
I'm a little surprised no ones mentioned Minecraft yet. I don't play so it was no biggy for me, but I feel like that should be huge to a lot of people. Am I wrong?
Taylor Way
I think since Halo 4 is so far off, all they needed was that teaser. We all know what to expect as far as gameplay, but it was nice that they gave a glimpse that they still care about wrapping up the story.
Also, @DavidEllis from Bungie just tweeted "And yes, you can switch between classic & new graphics in real time in Halo: Anniversary."
I think that's pretty neat.
Samit Sarkar
I'm with everyone on the "underwhelming" judgment, if only because the conference was so Kinect-focused and surprise-lacking. On the Kinect side, it's good to see that Microsoft is serious about supporting the peripheral, since there hasn't really been much to do with the damn thing since it launched last fall and sold 10 million units. But essentially everything at the briefing was a known quantity, and even the things that weren't known until just before the show -- namely, the Halo games -- weren't exactly "megaton" announcements. (Like you didn't know that 343 Industries was working on a Halo title.)
The non-Kinect games they showed, including Gears 3 and Tomb Raider, did look impressive. But I'm actually much more interested in the expansion of the Xbox 360's media capabilities -- did anyone notice that prominent "My DVR" icon in the slick new dashboard's live TV section?
Jim Sterling
In all seriousness, why expect more? Microsoft, for the past two years, have had dull press conferences, mostly trying to push Natal/Kinect. If anyone was let down, then they have very short memories. Microsoft at E3 just isn't very interesting, When it has major news, it usually does it on its own time.
I guess the Halo stuff was cool, and as a Gears fan, that was neat to see, but that's as far as this conference went. A few "kinda cool" presentations surrounded by stuff that simply cannot penetrate my brain. It's for a totally different audience and nothing I can begin to appreciate.
I'm not disappointed though, because it's exactly what I said it would be.
Jonathan Holmes
I was happy to see Minecraft coming to Kinect, as I hope that it helps the game go even more mainstream and become a more influential in the industry. But like Conrad said, I see absolutely no advantage to playing the game with motion controls. The mouse and keyboard are perfect for the game.
As for the show in general, was there anything that would potentially sway non-360 fans into wanting a 360? Personally, I didn't see anything. Modern Warfare 3 was noticeably bigger and more epic in scale, but that's not an exclusive. All the exclusive stuff was either a sequel or sort of dull.
Or am I missing something?
2:15 PM on 06.06.2011 | Chad Concelmo
Contest:
Hahaha. That's a glitch. Will be fixed soon.
But it kind of is appropriate for how we fell about the press conference, I guess. :)
That could be because I'm a Halo fanboy...Actually...It is =D.
9/10
Never cared about Gears.
Kinect amazes technology-wise again, but the games are still stupid.
Why can't Mass Effect 3's voice command thing just use a regular headset?
Meh.
They made me feel like kinect would be a relevant purchase now.
Granted...I'm buying one specifically for Forza 4 at some point, but the voice commands and new integration with stuff looked fair enough to add some appeal for me.
Also are you guys seriously joking about the sesame street game being good? Are you absolutely insane or just screwing with me. It might be good for kids, but all that happened was arm waggling and more dumb minigames. Don't say it's good just because it was made by schafer, it just makes you look fanboyish.
As I started in my blog, if I didn't already own a 360, this year would be the nail in the coffin.
Kinect looks like it'd be amazing with children.
Think It's a strange time were all I feel I want anymore are my pc and nintendo's latest.
Microsoft gets a D. The press conference was a rehash of last year's. The Halo 4 footage was nothing but CGI. Way too much casual Kinect / Dashboad crap. Tomb Raider didn't really show any action, just a bunch of QTEs. I'm done with the CoD series, so it's dropped.
There just isn't anything for me to get pumped about.
Happy for Gears of war 3 can't wait for that one.
Kinect is impressive but it's still wii sports plus HD power x2 Also still no games that make me want to say I want to go out there and buy it. I'll still go to my freinds house and plays his which he doesn't use much anyway.
Mass effect 3 looks good can't wait for that one also. Though I was hoping for more games instead of the youtube thing for xbox. :(
Come on guys, that was way to high.
Why push Minecraft into the mainstream? I just see it as a smart business move from Notch rather than it actually changing anything in the industry.
If this was launching months ago, hell, even during Alpha, then perhaps I would agree that it would spark some huge change in the industry. But as Minecraft stands currently, it is just another game that's largely complete and is just getting some content updates which are going to be few for those on Xbox because of the limits/costs on updates.
1.6 had 5 updates in a matter of hours and another final update bringing it to 1.6.6 within another four days. That's not going to work well on the 360 and so I don't see it changing anything in the industry beyond pushing back graphics.
But the only thing Minecraft changed was how indie games are funded and that's going to remain a primarily PC thing where the finished products will eventually find themselves onto a console when the devs are ready because I don't see console gamers buying into the alpha and wait scenario. And Live's update policies make that impossible. PSN? Maybe...
@llort het
Jesus. You're bashing the xbox and MS a bit much today don't you think.
The biggest surprise for me was the claim that the 360 would end up as the best selling console of 2011. How, when they might very well slip into third place because of the Wii price cut? Does this mean they have something really big planned for later? I don't get that, unless it was just pure marketing hyperbole.
Voice controls are cool, but you can do it with a headset or normal mic, why use kinect?
... all in all I was pretty disappointed. :(
The most exciting stuff was multiplatform for me, so overall a bit of a failure. I would have been interested in Fable 4.. without the whole coach driving with kinect thing.
The only highlight was Forza... for my husband, not me.
I think Sesame looks great because I have a young child and have advantage of empathysing with her persoective of the world. There are alot of crap games aimed at kids that rely on the idea that their parents are clueles game-wise and will buy a lousy game. The Sesame game looks like it delivers a good experiance for its target audience, kids & their parents.
“I have to pull these levers in a certain order so that door opens!”
“I have to shoot this tiger!”
“I have to solve this block pushing puzzle!”
conference was better then last year but nothing shocking maybe halo 4 for fans.
kinect sports 2 , poor rare.
I really need to learn to RTFA before I comment...
Lame conference.
I started of a fan of the Xbox platform but MS has continued in every way possible to try an alienate me. With things like faulty hardware, increasing Gold costs "justified by apps like twitter, going after timed exclusives but almost abandoning 1st party core support and their tight grip that makes it difficult for free content to find it's way to the platform.
With Halo and Gears being basically the last exclusives left on 360 I care about ill be more interested in what Sony has in store for next generation.
Yay a new Halo trilogy, to go along with us getting a new halo game every year since 2009, which actually had 2 Halo games, if you count Halo Wars. I love the Halo franchise, but I'm already Halo'd out, so I can't imagine getting excited for 3 more Halo games when they come year, after year, after year now. What a underwhelming press conference. It was just like last year!
I remember the wow effect the novelty of Kinect had on me 2 years ago. But today was just sad. I feel sorry for the core xbox audience. I only hope Sony won't push too hard with move and and 3d...
6/10
Star Wars on rails Kinect, ouch that was painful to watch!
Ghost Recon had some nice ideas, too bad i don't like milltary shooters ...i even skipped past the Modern warfare stuff,thats not for me.
Now Mass Effect 3 was interesting ,that was the first time i for a split second thought i could get some fun out of Kinect.
Gears, Halo and Fable no thanks.
The voice commands in Mass Effect 3 and the Gunsmith mode of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier were impressive, and showed that Kinect could very easily supplement proper games, but overall what it added were minor things that don't warrant a £150 price tag. Future Soldier's motion controls looked promising, but it'd be much easier to stick to the controller.
The really heavy focus on non-videogame media additions to XBL was also off-putting; we didn't drop £250 for a bulky, noisy iPod or DVD player, Microsoft, and I can watch TV on my TV just fine. All of the recent stuff they've added is something a PC could do much more efficiently, easily and cheaper (no XBL Gold cost) and just overall better. People buy these things to play games, Microsoft, we have other hardware for other things.
If I had to grade it, I'd give the conference a D-, or a 3-4/10.
Tomb Raider Looks pretty good.Everything else Meh..
If I had kids under 12 I'd give it a 8/10.