Microsoft E3 Presser Highlights

x360The Microsoft E3 press event has officially taken place. With it come a bevy of announcements, trailers, videos and more.

Here are the highlights:

  • Modern Warfare 2 gameplay looks awesome.
  • Splinter Cell Conviction coming Fall 2009. Sounds like they’ve added some new gameplay elements, mainly for the story.
  • Final Fantasy XIII coming in Spring 2010, much earlier than projected.
  • Left 4 Dead 2 Coming November 17th! Seems a little early, but I can dig it. New weapons, including chainsaws.
  • Forza 3 is coming in October.
  • Crackdown 2 trailer shown! This rules, it was one of my favorite games of this generation so far.
  • Halo 3 ODST video looks sweet. They also highlighted a story-telling element: most of the game will be a mystery pieced together through flashbacks. Coming September 22nd.
  • Bungie also shows a trailer for a new Halo game, Halo: Reach. Guess they lied when they said they were done with Halo, but I’m cool with it since Reach is such an awesome story. The book is incredible. Fall 2010.
  • Last.fm is coming to XBL gold users at no additional cost. Listening to music is neat, but I’d rather not do it on my TV. Still though, not bad for a service I’m already paying for.
  • Facebook and Twitter are coming to the XBox 360? Double no thanks. The world is over as we know it.
  • Kojima sneaks onto stage to announce that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the 360. Kind of cool, but it’s a Raiden game. Which is not so cool. If you’re bringing MGS to the 360, bring the actual game, not some dumb Raiden extension. Guess sloppy seconds is better than nothing, though.
  • Motion control coming to the 360. The final wtf? It’s not a controller. It’s a camera that translates your actual movements to the game. Sounds mega-lame. “Project Natal”. Lionhead even showed off a new game for it called Milo.

By the way, the links are to videos. So, which of these excites you most? Which is the stupidest? Go!

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

24 thoughts on “Microsoft E3 Presser Highlights”

  1. Crackdown and TWO Halo games? Be still my beating heart. MW2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake…METAL GEAR?! I mean, even if it is a Raiden spin-off…I wonder what the Big Boss image on the teaser site is for. Probably for the PS3 version.

    This also has to be the biggest celebrity studded keynote ever. Ringo, Paul, Tony Hawk, Spielberg. Yikes.

    Oh, yeah, the motion controller is pretty dumb. I grew up on a hard piece of plastic in my hands, and by gum, that’s the way I likes it!

  2. That motion control just looks lame. Pass.

    MGS would be awesome, but its not a true MGS game. Is Kojima directing it?

    So much for that L4D DLC.

    This was a strong press conference, but its kind of sequel heavy and since the most of these originals were on the 360 also, I don’t think many of these will help them sell more consoles.

    But they look like good games, so good news for 360 owners.

  3. umm…

    MW2 looks sick.

    SC: Conviction was an impressive demo.

    I totally geeked out at Crackdown 2.

    Alan Wake looks good.

    Too early for an L4D sequel.

  4. MW2? It’s ok, i guess… I liked the first one.

    Last.fm,Twitter and Facebook? Come on… seriously?

    L4D 2? Sorry, too soon, i can’t see Valve allowing this.

    (Oh,hey, Nick! Your beard looks pretty cool! I wonder if it gets in the way, when you try to use your third fist, like Chuck Norris. Can’t wait for Ep. 10 of TLW)

  5. Sorry to comment here twice, but I just checked out the trailers for ODST and Reach.

    ODST looks really goddamn good. I had to watch the trailer two times just to absorb all the awesome. If Bungie is going for fan service with ODST, they have me hook, line and sinker.

  6. Feel free to comment here all you want. The links are all updated to include mostly direct feed videos now instead of off-cam stuff, so that’s really cool.

    Also, Halo ODST totally looks like what Halo 2 should have been- a battle for Earth. The trailer really got me, and I wasn’t excited about the game at all. I’m pretty excited that it’s going to be here in September. Also, purchasing it gets you into the multiplayer beta for Halo: Reach.

  7. MW2: Excited for it. Can’t wait to play it.

    Splinter Cell: Never really got into the series, but this game might change my mind.

    L4D2: Looks awesome, but I’m still working on the first. I’ll wait for more info.

    Crackdown: Again, never really got into this series, but the trailer was cool. I’ll wait for more info.

    ODST and Reach: Win. I’m hyped for it. Reach looks awesome as well. I haven’t read the book yet, so this will hopefully make that story a lot more epic.

    Last f.m: Pass. I don’t even use the netflix feature. I use my console to play games, not watch movies, ect. That’s what my laptop and my dvd player are for.

    Facebook/Twiter: No. And who’s bright idea was it to put twitter on the 360? Honestly, what people will do for money…

    MGS: I’d like to see a little bit more info and gameplay first. Shame it’s not what I was hoping for.

    Motion Controller: After what happened with wii, Microsoft has some work cut out to convince me to buy this. I bought a 360 to give me a different experience than the wii.

    Overall, I say this conference was good.

  8. I use last.fm pretty extensively, and I could see the benefit of having it available in the dashboard. There are certain games, like Crackdown or several of the puzzle games I own, where playing your own music doesn’t affect the gameplay since the music is basically just window dressing in the first place. That’s where I see this being a cool feature – pop in Crackdown, start up a good rock station and just go at it.

  9. OMGASM MW2 looks suh-weeeet! I really hope they release more info about the game, even if it isn’t gameplay.

    Halo 3: ODST looks like it’ll be worth whatever an expansion to a 2-3 year old game would be worth.

    Left 4 Dead 2…ah, I have mixed feelings. Obviously, it’d be awesome to get some more L4D action, but do we really need a full sequel? Why not add more DLC for new characters, environments, and weapons? It’s doable.

    I never played Crackdown, but CD2 looks fairly enticing.

  10. Also, I have to say…

    Upon second viewing of the Natal motion control stuff for the 360… it actually looks kind of neat. It makes the Wii look outdated a little bit, and definitely has some interesting interface possibilities. I just hope that most games don’t start migrating to it.

  11. L4D2 could be good. Really good. But they need to start with more content and a lower price point if I’m going to ditch the original so quickly. MGS on the 360? I’ll pass. Not a fan. I didn’t like MGS4 or 2, so that gives me a good chance of not liking this new one. New Halo, also no thanks. After Halo 3 I’ve had about as much Halo as I ever want. For a while, anyways. I think the best announcement was of Crackdown 2. I’m a sucker for open-world games as well as super powers. It’s why I wish I had infamous, and why I’ll be getting Prototype as soon as it comes out. Ditto for Crackdown 2. Facebook/twitter on the 360…well…it’s as if millions of social lives cried out in pain, then … silence. Everything else I’m pretty ambivalent about.

  12. Left 4 Dead 2? Nope. Hated the trailer.

    I love Left 4 Dead, but I will not be buying this sequal. For the first time, IMO, Valve has failed.

  13. L4D 2? I think this may be one of the only times you’ll hear gamers say they actually want to wait for a game. As for MW2, it’s nice to see Soap is still kicking.

  14. MW2: Holy Crap, YES!

    ODST: They really better not screw this up. It needs to be more than a re-skin. W@W is proof that that is not good. I want it to be a new game. New style. No more ‘jumping all the time and you win’ NEW GAME.

    Reach: Eddy Ill start it off by saying amazing on how you actually mentioned the book, thank you. It is my favorite of the series, right before Ghosts of Onyx. When I saw that they were doing a Reach game…my first thought before seeing the video was “Oh crap, they really are beating the horse senseless arnt they” Well the video….awesome. I cant wait to see how they do the game.

    Also to note on that. THAT is how the Halo Movie should be done. I think about it….all CG, none of that live action crap. If they pick that movie back up. Learn from all the CG. Its much better

    Other thoughts, great, more crap for the xbox

  15. While at first i thought Natal was a gimmick, i looked beyond that in the videos of it in action and lionhead’s Milo “game” and realised that it has great potential!

    Slightly after this discovery i realised i had contracted “Wii Fever” let me explain,the Wii looked to revolutionize video gaming experiences by introducing motion sensor technology, our heads swam with the thoughts of swinging weapons (a lightsaber for me) in any given direction. When released however, turns out it was unrefined and required more jerking, twisting, and slow movements. something that really took the fun out of gaming.

    Natal has potential, but eventually its flaws will show, i highly doubt that the camera will be able to cope with faster motions, and be able to trace movements as perfectly as the videos portray. Eyetoy 360 anyone?

    The most iffy part however is that Microsoft showed a video of it in action….rather then show the crowd with a demonstration. It could mean that its not finished yet, but im putting my money on that it is unresponsive, slow, and a teensy bit lame.

    Metal Gear Solid looks…ok i guess, im just not an awesome fan of Raiden. It wouldnt be too bad if it goes to sony aswell, but if this is Xbox’s exclusive answer to MGS4 i would have to laugh.

    Left for dead 2 is a favourite, but i want it to go multiplatform, packaged with left for dead 1 and titled “the green box” for ps3. i can dream.

    All in all microsoft did ok, however i wouldnt say any new mind-blowing exclusive games being announced. Im reserving microsoft in 2nd place for 2009, waiting to see what Sony shows. (Nintendo get automatic 3rd, even if any hardcore games are announced.)

  16. Hahah those lying bastards at bungie anyway looks like a really nice lineup, and about uh Crackdown 2 um im sort-of new to m-games im young only have been playin with them for about 2 years almost 3 now anyway should i get the first crackdown was it good?

  17. Lionhead making a game called milo? sounds like shit… of course anything that aint a new black and white sounds like shit. They said they were not going to make one but I DONT BELIVE THEM!!! unless milo has a walrus in it I aint sinking my teeth into it. as for the rest of the showings… meh

  18. I, too, am starting to warm up to natal. After having the idea bouncing around in my head for awhile, I’m starting to see how it could work. The majority of games probably won’t ever take it past the level of cheap gimmicks, but there will inevitably be some titles that integrate it perfectly. If Microsoft gets some people from some of the better NDS development companies (mainly Nintendo, but maybe 5th Cell too) they could get some solid titles. I’ll definitely be watching this as it develop.

  19. At first I thought the motion control would be a Wii rip-off, but I am pleasantly surprised by the NATAL tech. I most likely won’t buy Milo, but I won’t say what they have done is impressive and is a step forward in gaming.

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