OXCGN’s E3 2011 Microsoft Conference Wrap-up

Little Innovation With Massive Reiteration

by exterminat

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

The very first press conference within E3 week was led, as usual, by Microsoft.

Microsoft promised a big year and had an overall solid conference.

OXCGN gives you a wrap-up.

Summary of affairs

While there is too much that happened to go into great detail, every announcement made is pointed out below in the ‘Key points’ section.

Microsoft opened their keynote with the most important aspect of E3: games. The entire conference was based around REAL games, and not entirely Kinect shovelware (although that did make a wonderful appearance…) like last year.

And that’s where Microsoft succeeded, albeit in a small way. They finally showed hardcore games that gamers such as you and I want to play, and with Kinect functionality.

The first ‘hardcore’ Kinect announcement had me worried: Mass Effect 3. But once they showed it in action, I was extremely impressed: if you have Kinect, you can read out the dialogue selections instead of selecting on the conversation wheel with a controller, and you can command your squad with voice as well. In a game where it truly is the player’s story, this will undoubtedly increase immersion.

The next thing that really got me was the demonstration of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. An epic trailer played, and then the demonstration ensued (still no release date!).

What caught me was the intense weapon customization available. The demonstrator said “… and that’s why we added in COMPLETE customization…” as he made a hand motion and completely dismantled his weapon on screen; everything was pulled apart for customization, and I mean EVERYTHING! Barrel, stock, chamber, sights, rails… everything. And best of all: for you gun nuts out there, you can literally talk the game through how you want to customize each part.

And another cool point regarding Future Soldier: you can shoot without a controller. Yes, you read that right: you can play Future Soldier with Kinect. While movement and squad command was not shown, gunplay was. To put it simply, it’s interesting, but I’ll be sticking to a controller as my weapon of choice (bah dum tish!).

Gears of War 3 was demonstrated, with Mr. Cliff Bleszinski‘s personal friend Ice-T (who I have no idea why or how he was even there…) and Cliff called it Epic’s “most polished game yet.”

You’d think it was over by now… but not at all!

More announcements ensued, primarily that of Halo Anniversary, the previously rumored Halo: Combat Evolved HD rerelease. But it’s not simply a rerelease; it’s a completely rebuilt, remastered title with four-player campaign coop and seven multiplayer maps. We’ll start the fight again on November 15, 2011.

Among other things, Microsoft ended their conference similar to that of E3 2006. Don Mattick walked off stage, and the lights dimmed. A stranger trailer played, but then we heard “JOHN, I NEED YOU!” with our famous friend Master Chief awakening from cryostasis right after the end of Halo 3, hurtling towards danger.

Halo 4. Winter 2012.

Microsoft managed to keep their announcements interesting, but they didn’t really do anything new. It was better than E3 2010, but not as good as E3 2009.

Key points

• Modern Warfare 3 demonstrated, DLC timed exclusive for 360
• EA focusing on Kinect development
• Mass Effect 3 to feature voice control for conversations, and squad commanding
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier demonstrated, deep and complete weapon customization, with voice controls to edit individual parts, and Kinect motion controls to take down enemies in normal gameplay
• All future Tom Clancy’s titles to have Kinect support
• New dashboard imminent, completely voice supported (optional of course)
• YouTube coming to Xbox Live
• Bing coming to Xbox Live
• Halo Anniversary; HD remake of Halo CE, coming November 15, 2011, with 4-player coop and 7-map multiplayer
• Crytek’s Codename Kingdoms, named to Ryse
• Fable: The Journey announced, Kinect support showcased, running on Unreal Engine 3
• Minecraft coming to Xbox 360 with Kinect support
• Tim Schafer’s next game to come exclusively on Xbox 360 with Kinect, based on Sesame Street
• Kinect Fun Labs announced, to showcase user-generated Kinect content
• Dance Central 2 announced
• Halo 4 announced, coming Winter 2012; part of a new trilogy

The grade

Microsoft’s conference was in no way unexciting. Many interesting new games were shown off, with many demonstrating unique usage and compatibility with Kinect.

The announcements made were nothing short of spectacular.

But where Microsoft failed was the lack of innovation. Nearly every single thing shown was a sequel of some sort, and there was maybe one new IP.

I mean come on, Halo 4… with an entire trilogy? Not to say I’m not excited; I just want new series to reveal themselves.

Microsoft gets a solid C. Had it not been for the Kinect shovelware, it could have been a B -.   C

©2011 Nicholas Laborde

xxxxxx

Filed under: 1st Party Titles, 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, E3 2011, Editorial, Events, Game Industry News, Industry News, Microsoft Games, New Game Information, New Xbox 360 Games, Press Release, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 News, Xbox 3rd party exclusives Tagged: | Cliff Bleszinski, Halo 3, halo: combat evolved, Kinect, Mass Effect 3, Master Chief, Microsoft, Microsoft e3 2011 conference, MS conference e3, Sin (song)