The day before the Electronics Entertainment Expo even opened its show floors, Microsoft held their annual press conference to show off their hot new software and hardware. Last year, the computer giant tore the house down with surprise guests like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Steven Spielberg and Felicia Day. This year didn’t bring any big name stars, but it did bring a new, slimmer XBox 360 and a name and release date for their revolutionary motion-control camera Kinect (formerly Project Natal). How was their show? Let’s take a look at the good, the bad, and the WHAT?
The Good:
- The Big Games Look Big - Both the Gears of War 3 and Halo: Reach demoes were appropriately grand and atmospheric, perfectly planting the audience into what’s new and noteworthy of the worlds in these established franchises.
- Control with Kinect - The “simplified” XBox menu for use with their new motion control camera is significantly nicer looking than its regular interface, and the ability to speak to your XBox and vocally command it to control your media is something we’ve dreamed of in home entertainment ever since Star Trek.
- ESPN - Sports are sort of a big thing. Having ESPN access exclusively on the 360 certainly won’t drive up XBox sales, but it perfectly placates the frat boy demographic that has made the XBox the smash hit it currently is as well as appeal to the casual family demographic Microsoft is so desperately grasping at.
The Bad:
- Kudo’s a douche! - Seriously, everything about Kudo Tsunoda just screams “asshole!” I’m supposed to want whatever this guy is selling? I don’t care if he’s the creative force behind your hot new product, Microsoft, your pitchman has to not horribly offend the audience.
- Kinect still looks unfun and unresponsive - A year after its original unveiling, Microsoft’s new motion control camera still looks not-ready-for-primetime. Game developers on Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures seemed to be having a good deal of difficulty controlling their own games properly, the Star Wars trailer looked like a bigger waggle-fest than anything the Wii has seen, and Kinectimals just looks stupid. I’m sorry, little girl, but when the cartoon tiger licked the screen it did not actually tickle you! I refuse to believe our imaginations will ever get that carried away while playing with CGI jungle cats.
- The entire Forza Kinect demo - Soooooo, we can slowly move around a car, then zoom in for details on all the pieces? This looked more like a commercial for interactive car commercials. And seriously, we got it the first time you zoomed in on the headlights and showed us a mini movie about how awesome they were, we did not need a repeat with the wheels… and the engine… and the dashboard… and the OH MY GOD, THIS THING WENT ON FOREVER!
WHAT?
- No XBLA - XBox Live Arcade is one of the best things Microsoft has going for it in the console wars, allowing any PC developers to make their own games and share them with the world. There are tons of fantastic independent games already on XBLA with plenty more to come, but the service didn’t get a single mention in the press conference, not even upcoming guaranteed hits Comic Jumper and BattleBlock Theater.
- Joy Ride to retail - At last year’s E3, Microsoft showed off Joy Ride, a kart racer set to compete with Nintendo’s Mario Kart and Sony’s ModNation Racers with the defining difference being that it would be 100% free to play (with purchasable upgrades for those who care). It was an exciting gamble that we were eager to learn more about. This year it was revealed that Joy Ride was now Kinect-enabled and be sold in stores just like all other games. Wait… what? We’re supposed to buy this game now? Sort of defeats the purpose of the experiment, doesn’t it?
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