Microsoft E3 2011 Press Conference

Microsoft just presented it's E3 2011 press conference here are the highlights:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3:  The conference opens with a live demo.  The demo starts with the player underwater scuba diving up to a submarine.  After placing and detonating some charges on it, the player gets the submarine to surface and infiltrates it.  Inside the submarine the player makes it to the bridge to activate missile launch killing hostiles on the way.

The player then escapes the submarine by boat heading to his helicopter taking out enemies that are in pursuit.  The game is looking pretty good, if you're a COD fan I'm sure you already got this one pre-ordered or will shortly.

Tomb Raider:  The next demo to be shown is the new Tomb Raider game that shows the origins of our dear Laura Croft.  I really like the new direction that the series is taking; giving it a more gritty and realistic approach to surviving impossible situations.  Finally seeing some gameplay has me hungry for more.  This is a game we will be following and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.   

EA:  Four EA Sports titles to offer Kinect support: Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Madden NFL, FIFA, and one unannounced title. Other EA titles to include Kinect support: the Sims, Family Game Night 4, and Mass Effect 3.  In ME3 you will be able to use your voice to make dialogue choices in the game as well as issue combat commands to your teammates.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier:  Although the trailer had no gameplay, it was still pretty badass.  It has me interested in the fancy new gadgets you'll get to play with in game.  They showed off using the Kinect to aim and fire weapons which didn't look too horrible. I'm still not sold on using Kinect for hardcore gaming especially for long periods of time.  Customizing the weapons looked really interesting and a lot of fun as you are able to completely take apart the weapons and build them how you want. 

Xbox Live:  There will be some new features coming to Xbox live.  With Kinect you are able to navigate the menu using voice commands.  Some other interesting things coming to Xbox Live are: Youtube, Bing, and live TV shows.

UFC: Microsoft is partnering with UFC so you can watch it on Xbox Live.

Gears of War 3:  Cliffy B takes the stage with Ice-T to play a live demo of Gears 3.  The game is looking bigger and better than the previous Gears titles which is no small feat.  If you own an Xbox and enjoy a good shooter be sure to check this one out.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary:  Remastering of the most popular Xbox exclusive series is coming out November 15, 2011.

Forza Motorsport 4: The best Xbox exclusive racing game will be coming out October 11.


Kinect:
             -A trailer for Ryse (a first person hack and slash game set in Roman times) was shown.   
            
              -Fable Journey live demo.  I wasn't really impressed with this one.
            
              -Minecraft coming to Xbox this winter!
            
              -Microsoft partners with Disney for Disneyland Adventures. This game recreates the entire
                park for you to explore, have fun, and play games.
            
              -A live demo of Kinect Star Wars was played. To me the gameplay looks pretty bad, but it
                just might be the best looking Kinect game I've seen so far.
           
              -Tim Schafer is working on a Sesame Street game for Kinect called Once upon a Monster.
                It looks great for kids.
           
              -Kinect Fun Labs announced. With it you are able to develop for and try out new apps for
                the Kinect made by the game industry or the community.  A few of the new apps were
                demonstrated. People scanning was one of the more interesting ones shown.  With it you
                are able to scan yourself using the Kinect to create your avatar to use in game.

               Object capture as you can imagine is where you can scan in any object to use in game.  It
               will be interesting to see what other apps are created for connect in the near future.  Kinect
               Fun Labs goes live today, check it out.

              -Kinect Sports Season Two will be available this holiday season.

              -Dance Central 2 the most popular Kinect title will be getting a sequel with more songs and
                modes with a TBA release date.

Halo 4 announced for holiday 2012.

Overall I wasn't too impressed with the press conference.  There were a few good announcements that I'm sure a lot of people will be excited about.  I feel they focused the majority of the conference on shooters and games for the Casual gamer.  For me, I'm looking forward to what's in store for the rest of E3.  Sony, you're up next!