E3: MS Xbox360 Conference

It was no big surprise to see that the MS conference opened with COD Black Ops. About the only new gameplay aspect shown from the series during the demo is that you get to fly a Hind helicopter. Also no surprise that they followed the demo with the announcement that for the next 3 years overpriced COD maps packs will come to 360 first. It was kind of a surprise that Don Mattrick expected applause for that announcement.

MGS Rising was up next and the sword mechanics and destructible environments definitely got my attention. I’ve lost interest in the MGS series for the most part but this might be the game to bring me back.

360 Exclusives:
Gears of War 3 – Cliffy B. and some of the devs were on hand to demo 4 player co-op. The mutating Lambent are a bit of a game changer in terms of enemies but aside from that it all looked really familiar. Heres hoping matchmaking takes less than 30 mins this time.

Fable 3 – What can I say about Fable 3, its a series you either love or hate. Either way Fable 3 is looking great and the series does look like its grown a bit. Still no clues as to what part Kinect will play.

Codename: Kingdoms – A Partnership between MS and Crytek, just a teaser showing some dudes with axes, swords, and shields at this point so we’ll have to see where this goes.

Halo Reach – If i’m being honest this looked like just another Halo installment until they showed ship combat, definitely new for the series and definitely going beyond new weapons and some polish.

Kinect – This is where MS blatantly targeted the Wii audience, from the Kinect navigation and interface to the games but we’ll get to that in a minute. That being said the 360 ain’t no Wii. The amount of content available on XBL is huge, and being able to navigate it without a controller does appeal to me.

Video Kinect – Adds some new functionality to the existing video chat on 360. With the built in Mic theres no need for a headset. You can surf some content with the person you’re conferencing with and talk to friends on Windows Live Messenger from your 360.

ESPN – A Partnership that will bring live HD MLB, NBA, MLS, College Basketball, and Football content to XBL. Some cool functionality and controller free navigation and its all free. Sadly no NFL content announced at this time.

Kinectimals – A virtual pet game, Kinect looks to be really intuitive for this sort of thing but I don’t need a virtual tiger.

Kinect Sports – Soccer, 200 Meter Hurdles, Bowling, Javelin, Long Jump, Table Tennis, Boxing, and Volleyball. Once again this is not exactly new ground but it does support MP via XBL and does look like fun.

Kinect Joyride – A Kart racer using an imaginary steering wheel, I cant even stand Mario Kart with a Wii-mote so I cant see this working the way it should.

Kinect Adventures – A Party game apparently designed to make you and your friends look like jackasses in a whole new way. I gotta say it looks like it would be a lot of fun drunk but thats probably the only way you would get me to play it.

Your Shape – A fitness program that seems to tie in gameplay elements with your workouts, the Kinect functionality once agin seems ideal for this type of game. This demo actually made my girlfriend ask me to pre-order Kinect so they may be onto something.

Dance Central – DDR’s got nothing on this game from Harmonix in terms of showing people how little rhythm you actually have, again looks like it would be fun while drunk and a perfect fit for Kinect…Even with the whitest guy on the planet demo-ing it.

Star Wars – Unfortunately this looked pretty lame, scripted and awkward. I guess they are just counting on the Lucas name to sell it.

Turn 10 Racing Demo – The POV car exterior demo was nice, but the bottom line is I don’t want to have to pretend I have a steering wheel and move my foot forward/back to hit the gas/brake. the control will never be accurate enough for a high speed racer and the slight lag from the interface would hurt a game like Forza.

And finally the 360 slim, 250GB internal HD, smaller, slimmer, built in wireless N, a proprietary port that provides connectivity and power in the same port to Kinect, and it doesn’t sound like a jet engine – $299. You could bitch and complain that 360 should have had built in wireless a long time ago but you have to admit – the Slim is pretty badass and a much needed hardware revision.

Overall Impressions:
The focus on for MS this year seemed to be on solidifying their place as the system that wants to be all things to all people, the hub of your entertainment world and now more fun for the whole family. I think they did a good job of hammering that message home, they appealed to the core shooter demographic with Halo Reach, Gears of War 3, and getting content first for COD. They also showed some good examples of whats possible with Kinect but in my opinion they inadvertently displayed some of the pitfalls and created more questions than answers. I do think that Kinect has the potential to reach a new audience for MS but I don’t believe that they can take the market share from the Wii for a few reasons.

1. I believe the success of the Wii can largely be attributed to timing of its release and the first party IP’s that gamers have grown up with. MS cannot capture that audience by creating a similar but improved control scheme.

2. The 15 launch titles look like arcade titles and titles aimed at the Wii audience but in my opinion theres not 1 console-mover in the bunch. Essentially theres not a lot about Kinect that will appeal the current 360 crowd and even less that would convince people that own a Wii to suddenly go out and buy a 360.

3. Price point will be a huge factor, if the speculation is true and Kinect is $150 on its own it will be the most expensive add-on to date for 360. If it doesn’t sell, support will wain and the Kinect my be gone before it ever has a chance to arrive.

All-in-all I understand what MS is trying to do but in the end it doesn’t serve my gaming interests so my PS3 will probably occupy more of my free time in the coming year…and I still have no interest in Wii.