N-Philes

The Microsoft Press Conference Report

Posted June 3rd 2009 by Derrick Lutz.

Microsoft showed a lot of games at their press conference, and nobody should have to suffer through watching the entire conference including awful scripted banter and games you don't care about.  It's a day late, but if you're looking for an opinionated guide to what all was shown at the Microsoft conference, look no further.  Convenient trailer links and release dates included.

The Beatles: Rock Band
Release Date: September 9, 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
Harmonix is insisting that this game is a brand new game built from the ground up, but I'm just not seeing it.  Also, why do they need to take that defensive stance?  Just tell us it's Rock Band with The Beatles, that'll be plenty.  I'm sure there are people who will whine about how it could've and should've been DLC, but there's more people who will buy it anyway because it's Rock Band with The Beatles.  Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr showed up at the conference to pitch the game with embarrassing banter for 15 seconds.

Tony Hawk: Ride
Release Date: Fall 2009
Video: Trailer
Tony Hawk stood holding the skateboard controller in the darkened center stage for 30 seconds while his game's trailer played.  It was kinda sad.  EA clearly scared them a little with the success of Skate, and now Tony Hawk has to stand up there and say that it was always his dream to make a game where you stand on a plastic two-by-four.  I'll have to try it, but I just can't picture it ever taking off with the general public like Guitar Hero.

Modern Warfare 2
Release Date: November 10, 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
The live gameplay demo started off with a long uneventful ice climbing sequence (spoiler: someone ends up getting a face full of ice picks later).  Then they settled into familiar Call of Duty territory with things exploding all around you as you find the glowing spot on your mini-map where you have to press the "Use" button on some object.  I'll still get it for the multiplayer.  Microsoft has arranged a deal for two timed-exclusive map packs to be released on Xbox Live.

Final Fantasy XIII
Release Date: Spring 2010
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
People with spiky hair are fighting bad guys to save the world.

Shadow Complex
Release Date: Summer 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
Mr. Clifford Bleszinski was at the show to announce Epic's new Xbox Live Arcade game where you scroll sideways with some light platforming while shooting bad guys.  I don't know why more big companies don't make smaller scale games like this; it seems cool.

Joy Ride
Release Date: 2009
Video: Trailer
This is a free-to-play arcade racer with not-free DLC.  EA is doing this with a few of their PC games (Battlefield, Tiger Woods, Need for Speed), now Microsoft is trying it on Xbox Live.  My feeling is its success is probably going to be more in jeopardy based on the game's quality than its business model.

Crackdown 2
Release Date: 2010
Video: Trailer
There was a rumor that this would be at E3, but I was still pleasantly surprised to see it.  Honestly though, if the trailer didn't say Crackdown 2 at the end I wouldn't even have remembered it.  It was pretty unremarkable.

Left 4 Dead 2
Release Date: November 17, 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
Another title that was rumored before E3 but that I was still happy to see.  At first I thought they had made it with a Team Fortress 2 cel-shaded style, but watching the trailer again I think it was just the amount of sunshine throwing me off.  It would've been nice to see this new content delivered as free updates/add-ons to the original game, but that's a laughably unrealistic notion for any company other than Valve.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
Release Date: Fall 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
They stressed that this isn't the Splinter Cell you've known before, and I'm sure they're right.  But then I start to wonder why is it a "Splinter Cell" game.  And really why are they still obsessed with using Tom Clancy's name on everything.  Nobody cares.  Four-fifths of your game's title is marketing bullshit.  Other than that the game looks pretty cool.  It's more than a little bit Assassin's Creed.

Forza Motorsport 3
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Video: Trailer, Gameplay
Apparently Microsoft thinks this is the definitive racing game of this generation.  That's what I heard them say at the press conference anyway.  Several times.  They have 400 cars which seems like a lot until you remember Gran Turismo 4 had about 800 cars.  Granted, Forza 3 will have damage modeling and a generally much higher level of detail.  But if we're talking about the definitive racing game of this generation then 400 cars doesn't seem like enough.

Halo 3: ODST
Release Date: September 22nd, 2009
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
This is a prequel to Halo 3... or in other words it takes place during the time of the events of Halo 2.  You play as a different character who's not a spartan.  The most interesting thing to me was the playable flashbacks idea, where your character will find something that triggers a flashback which you then play through.  ODST comes with a Halo Reach multiplayer beta invite.

Halo Reach
Release Date: 2010
Video: Trailer
Obviously a multiplayer Halo game, other than that I really don't know anything.  Might be massively multiplayer.

Alan Wake
Release Date: Spring 2010
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
It was about five years ago when Alan Wake was first shown in what was essentially a tech demo.  Until the Microsoft press conference this week I still had no idea how the game would play.  It's a third person action game with survival horror elements.  The bad guys are hurt by light.  The story is about an author whose fictional book is coming true.  Looks interesting.

Social Networking and Streaming Video
Release Date: N/A
Video: N/A
Applications for Last.fm, Facebook, and Twitter will be coming to Xbox Live in the near future.  I guess that's cool, but I already have a computer, so...

The Netflix app will finally be updated to let you select movies from the 360 instead of having to add them to your queue from your computer.  They're also adding a feature where your Xbox Live online party can watch Netflix movies together online.  I could see how that might be fun with certain people and certain movies but it seems like something very few people will ever use.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising
Release Date: TBA
Video: Trailer
A new Metal Gear Solid made for the 360, featuring what looks to be post-MGS4 Raiden.  Instead of the usual MGS tagline of "Tactial Espionage Action" this game had "Lightning Bolt Action."  Whatever that means.

Project Natal
Release Date: TBA
Video: Trailer, Stage Demo
Microsoft's answer to the Wii is a camera/sensor that tracks your body movement without any controllers.  The pre-recorded demo featuring a little British kid that talks and reacts to you was probably the coolest, but also the creepiest.  I don't want to talk to some little British kid inside my TV.  The other demos either didn't work very well or were unintentionally funny.  But even if they had worked great, I never really bought into this theory that the major barrier to enjoying videogames was the controller.  That was always Nintendo's line, now Microsoft is taking it to the extreme.

Final Thoughts

Microsoft's conference focused mainly on exclusive games and features.  In fact, everything after the first four games is at the very least exclusive among consoles to the Xbox 360.  There were no 10 minute montages of mostly boring third party multiplatform games.  I also liked that they didn't spend too long on any one game, or preaching about how great they're doing.  Project Natal didn't make as good of a first impression as it probably should've, but Microsoft has a decent amount of titles being released in the coming year.

Tags: Microsoft, E3-09

Posted in: News, Gaming

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