MS’s big E3 presser just wrapped up, and lots of stuff was shown and said. For those eager to know what the future holds for all Xbox 360 owners, keep reading…
Now, it’ll take a little time before media gets distributed, and since there’s also no real to regurgitate all the PR jargon that was spilled, how about I just pass along my two cents to everything as it was said, in the order it was said, in real time?
Basically, this is me reposting my Twitter feed during the event, with some tightening up. Because game journalists believe that they’re so damn funny during such occasions, and this particular egotist wants to make sure his nuggets of truth have not been missed:
1. Re: the new Call of Duty, it’s nice to know enough time has passed in which game makers can go back to blowing up buildings in lower Manhattan without a second thought.
2. Hey, Tomb Raider reboot #7,012 actually looks really nice!
3. Ubi Soft’s new Ghost Recon’s Kinect integration is the same level of waving your hands around to manipulate computer graphics that we’ve seen in movies, so good job! That being said, still not interested in actually using it as my main mode of playing FPSs.
4. Glad to see the Widows 7 Phoe/Windows 8 interface make its way into the dashboard, though if it’s only for the Kinect as implied, gonna be pissed.
5. Hey, YouTube is finally coming to the Xbox! About damn time.
6. Not a big fan of this whole talking to your dashboard to get it to do stuff. Sorry, but it actually takes more effort and time to actually say “Harry Potter” nice and slow so the computer will be able to understand than to push the appropriate buttons.
7. Dana White came on stage to announce UFC Live and managed not to say the c word! Color me shocked.
8. Never been the biggest Gears of War fan, but news of it being the reason for Body Count’s reformation, immediately makes me one!
9. The new Crytek gladiator game is yet effort to all the hardcore audience. And sorry, but gruesome graphics is great and all, but it still doesn’t cover up the on-rails underpinning (which one has to assume it has cuz every other Kinect offering shown today). Also, yay another game I can’t play in my tiny Manhattan apartment.
10. The idea of a Halo remake is great and all, but there’s no reason why the update Master Chief shown doesn’t look as bad-ass as the one in 3. Sorry, am sick of all these re-releases in which things are just nominally touched up. If you’re gonna do it, go all the way and retouch EVERYTHING.
11. It’s amazing how that stupid Kanye West song will make me not give a rat’s ass about any game, no matter how much I was previously interested. Sorry Forza 4.
12. Hey, Minecraft on the 360! That’s legit awesome.
13. The new Disneyland things for the Kinect seriously looks like the ultimate kid’s game. Amazing. Also, I want to hug a virtual Daisy Duck, sorry.
14. Sorry, but the new Kinect Star Wars games has too much Episode 1-3 for me.
15. I just hope Tim Shafer’s new Sesame Street has Cookie Monster sticking with cookies and not vegetables like he’s been forced to adopt on the show due to angry parents groups.
16. The Kinect Labs portions of the conference was when I began to grow bored and checked in on Steve Jobs & the Apple WWDC. Man, OS X Lion for just $30? Download only via the Mac App Store? Crazy.
17. Re: Kinect Sports Round 2… you know, I’m no sports fan, but I’m pretty sure the real things don’t act like those two guys did on stage.
18. Dance Central still remains the sole reason why I want a Kinect, and part 2 looks just as good. F the haters.
19. Halo 4… but without Bungie? Sorry, don’t give a sh*t.
20. In the end, no hint of a Xbox 720, thank goodness. Was afraid with Nintendo about to make official a new system, they might be a bit trigger-happy. Then again, this is MS we’re talking about. They know when a cash cow is still giving milk. Look how long it took them to properly update XP?