Microsoft’s 2011 E3 press briefing was definitely a more underwhelming hurrah when compared to their 2010 event. Then, the big news was Natal Kinect. After a decent enough list of launch titles, that particular peripheral has been a bit neglected. Trying to keep the Kinect-wave alive this year, Microsoft debuted several new titles to all implement Kinect in some way.
We got to see some new coop gameplay for EPIC’s upcoming Gears of War 3 which featured Cliffy B and Iced-T taking on a gigantic sea monster infected by the Lambent.
Activision showed off some gameplay of their upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which featured Seal Team 6 assaulting an invading Russian submarine in order to commandeer its compliment of surface-to-surface missiles. Additionally, we got a bit more of an idea the kind of scale the attack on New York City is made of. In the distance, the New York City skyline was burning, tons of building damage from volleys of sea-to-land missiles and air strikes from above.
Microsoft also announced the Xbox LIVE Experience, which featured enhanced functionality for YouTube, Bing, and even integration with the UFC – all slated for release to the console this fall. Also on-track with this release is live TV channels coming to the console. This definitely represents a step-forward in Microsoft’s attempt to get the Xbox 360 console w/Kinect as the focal-point electronic box in the American home entertainment cabinet.
“Liara, move up!”
Mass Effect 3 was confirmed to utilize the Kinect system, employing cool voice commands allowing you to say lines of dialogue and even command teammates to utilize abilities and tactics. Overall, Mass Effect 3 looked to have some really smooth gameplay and it was nice to see returning characters like Liara and Garrus.
Dance Central 2 had some interesting gameplay to show off to fans, featuring cooperative dancing.
The, basically, on-rails Fable: The Journey looks interested, although it may feel to linear for fans of the open-world gameplay featured in past Fable titles.
One gem of the show was Crystal Dynamics upcoming Tomb Raider. The footage featured Lara Croft waking up after being ship-wrecked on a danger-filled island. She crawled through caverns and escaped crazy-looking bad guys. The whole gameplay experience seemed much darker than previous entries into the series and I can’t wait to see how this one shapes up.
“Blow this thing and go home!”
One let-down in the press briefing was Star Wars for the Kinect. The movement looks really sluggish and delayed from what the user was gesturing. Also, it did not look at all like 1:1 lightsabre combat and, in the end, that is going to hurt this game a lot. Additionally, it looks to be set all in the new trilogy of movies, before Luke Skywalker and Co.
To end the morning on a high note, Microsoft showed the debut teaser for HALO 4, but like several of Microsoft’s announcements, the surprise was somewhat missing thanks to the news being leaked earlier today.
Overall, Microsoft’s 2011 E3 showing might have been somewhat underwhelming when compared to its previous years’ hype-filled Kinectitudeness. However, they did have a few interesting offerings that will be fun to use and get into. It is just unfortunate that their internal security is so bad that they have all the leaks they do shortly before the event! If they could get those under control, we may be more surprised next time.
