Microsoft Press Conference E3 2009
By daz0608 5 Comments
Just going to talk though the Microsoft Press Conference and what I thought about it.
Multiplatform games
So Microsoft started the press conference talking about multi-platform games although this was interesting because we got to see gameplay from The Beatles: Rock Band and Modern Warfare 2, it was not what I wanted to see out of the Microsoft Press Conference, I'm glad they got it out of the way first.
The Beatles: Rock band
First there was a very impressive stylised trailer, then Alex Rigopulos came on stage and with a couple of people from Harmonix, to show off the new game, and well it looked like Rock band, I don't think I expected much else, a later trailer showed better in game footage and how it would look and it does look slightly different to Rock Band in the design but looks to have the same fun gameplay we have come to expect from a Rock Band game.
Modern Warfare 2
Being a massive fan of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I was looking forward to see this game, however I don't think that the press conference was the best place to show it, it did seem to drag on a bit, even though what they did show was impressive I think it would have been better suited to be shown and it's own booth and someone talking though the demo.
Final Fantasy XIII
Having never played a Final Fantasy game I'm quite interested in this one espessially because it's coming to the 360, as I don't own a PS3, it was good to hear the english voices in the game and see the game running on an Xbox 360, I and defintely looking forward to that one.
Xbox Exclusive games
This is the part of the show that I was looking forward to and it didn't disappoint.
This is the title that Epic Games have been working on, and is a very impressive XBLA game it's a 2D platformer that where you can use one of your guns to interact with the enviroment, the graphics from what was shown looked really good and gameplay looked like a lot of fun.
This is an interesting game, I'm glad that it is a free game because I couldn't see myself paying for it, it did look like fun from the trailer that was shown, it put's your avatars into the cars and from the looks of it, it will play like a Mario Kart game. The thing that is interesting about this is that it is free, you can pay for micro transactions, such as tools to customize your car, but apart from that it is free. It's good see a company like Microsoft try things like this and hopefully if it all goes well we will see more of this type of thing
Crackdown 2
Not much to say here but FUCK YES!! I loved the original Crackdown, there wasn't much shown apart from a trailer but I can not wait to hear more things on that game.Now this is a wierd one, firstly I think this game looks awesome I loved Left 4 Dead, and from what I've seen this looks like it is going to be a great game, but there are a few things that are odd firstly if it does come out on the slated release date of Nov 17th it would only be a year after the original release and that is very 'un-valve like' my guess is that later on in the show they will annouce Half Life 2: Ep. 3 and that this will be bundled along with it, but I've got no idea and I would not be supried if something else does not get annouced to go alongside it.
This looked really great, I loved the projected stuff on to walls, the graphics and the whole tone of the game, it was very intense and I'm really looking forward to seeing mroe of this game.
Great for people who care about that franchise but personally I couldn't care less
Here Bungie showed two games:
This is the first time we have seen gameplay and it looks really good, it was good to see the Halo 1 pistol back, and the way they have done the story is quite interesting, it reminds me a lot of Lost, with all the flashbacks.
This was an unannouced game, it would have been nice to see Bungie do something other than Halo, but who am I to complain, there's a new Halo game coming out next year and that's awesome!
It has been a while since we have seen anything from this game, here we were shown gameplay footage and I really liked it this is another game I can not wait to see more on, and I really hope they can stick to their release date of spring 2010. It defintely looks like a story I really want to get involved in and it looks like there are gameplay mechanics to make it fun as well
Xbox Live Stuff
Here Microsoft annouced a lot of really great things including Last FM integration to Xbox Live, there was also Sky TV integration announced which is great news for people who live in the UK (like me) but I will probably go though that in more depth in a different blog post.
Other stuff that was annouced was instant streaming movies in 1080p, very impressive if they can pull it off, also Twitter and Facebook integration to Xbox Live, this is a great feature and one that I will defintely take advantage of when it comes out. The only thing I did not like about this was that they said it was coming in fall, now come on Microsoft, you would have to be working on this for a while why do we have to wait until fall to see this in action on out Xboxes?
Surprise! (well not really)
So Metal gear is finally coming to the xbox who didn't see this coming? Although unlike many predicted we will not see Metal Gear Solid 4 coming to the Xbox but a new game in the form of Metal Gear Solid Rising, I'm defintely looking forward to seeing a Metal Gear Solid game come to the 360, even if it isn't MGS4.
"You are the controler!"
This really did steal the show, when I first heard about it I was very skeptical, but now I've seen it I think it looks amazing. It also produced one of the best quotes from the conderence "This isn't a game where you sit on the couch using some pre-built waggle commands" a much deserved jab at Nintendo there. Joking aside this technology is really impressive, mixing 3D movement tracking with face recignition, with voice recignition and a lot more, I can't wait to see what games will be made for this and and how game developers will react to it.
Project Natal really did impress me and I can't wait to see what becomes of it.
It will be interesting to see what Nintendo and Sony come out with tomorrow and to see wheather they can match/top Microsoft.