Bonus – E3 2010, Microsoft Press Conference

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(Runtime: 22 minutes)



It’s a little late, but I’ve got all of the tantalizing news from
Microsoft’s awful E3 press conference right here in
this post, complete with a brief, unedited podcast roundup
(starring both me and Elliot). Well, let’s get on with the show.


It’s hard to imagine that it’s been a full year since we first
heard about Microsoft’s Project Natal, but today we were given a
glimpse into a more fully-featured version of the revolutionary,
controller-free Xbox 360 interface, now renamed “Kinect,”
presumably to tie into Microsoft’s new phone, the Kin. The
project has now become a slightly new interface for the Xbox 360,
complete with voice commands and hand gesture-controlled menus.
Kinect will launch worldwide this fall, specifically in North
America on November 4, 2010.



Granted, most of the games shown at the conference seemed to
simply be clones of Wii games, including a sports pack, a cart
racer, and even the Wii Fit-esque Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
from Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft also showed off non-game
features (actually, a lot of them) that take advantage of the
microphone and camera in Kinect. These include a video chat
application (demoed by the MOST AWKWARD engineer and her twin
sister), new interfaces for interacting with video and music
content, and an ESPN application featuring videos of sporting
events. [[EDIT: Among some of the third-party
games available for the new peripheral are a new Forza racing
game (available in 2011) and an MTV Games-produced,
Harmonix-developed dancing game.]]


Oh yeah, there were some games there too. We saw a
previously-released trailer for Activision and Treyarch’s Call
of Duty: Black Ops, coupled with an announcement that Microsoft
has signed an “exclusive, multi-year agreement with Activision”
that will result in all Call of Duty games, map packs, and
expansions releasing first on the Xbox 360 through 2012.
[[EDIT: Of course, Halo: Reach was there, with
a video of its single-player campaign (now with GIRL
Spartans!).]] Cliff Bleszinski, also known as “CliffyB,” got up
on the stage early on to show off Gears of War 3 (spoiler: it’s
more Gears of War) and Hideo Kojima showed off one of the
highlights of the conference: a new trailer for the
Raiden-centric game Metal Gear Solid Rising. Apparently this
game is about cutting. Cutting everything from limbs to brick
support beams to watermelons.


Last but not least, Microsoft announced their new Xbox 360
model (often called the “Xbox 360 Slim” by consumers and
press), which is smaller and features built-in Wi-Fi and a
250GB hard drive for the same price as the current Elite model.
And it launches … today? Just like the Sega Saturn? Well OK,
way to follow in the footsteps of one of the industry’s
greatest success stories. But that just wasn’t enough everyone
in the audience was also given a free Xbox 360, a move
mirroring Oprah Winfrey’s now-classic “and you get a car” event
that left most of the press conference’s audience speechless
and somewhat confused.


For more news and commentary out of E3 2010, check back
with our E3 2010 label page.