Once again Microsoft has the first press conference at E3 and took the opportunity to reveal a huge amount of new ideas, games and revelations. This looks to be an amazing year for Microsoft, and they are obviously throwing a lot of resources into their Xbox brand. Sony and Nintendo have a hard act to follow after this press conference. Much here is very, very good; very little is bad.
The Good
Final Fantasy XIII running on Xbox 360 – This is great news as Square Enix had famously said that Xbox 360 development would not begin until localization is done. Either they are done with localization or they changed their mind. Either way it further guarantees that the game will release sooner then later.
Project Natal – A very cool concept and potentially VERY exciting for developers and gamers. It is a sensor that tracks 3D movement and recognizes visuals and voices. With icons like Peter Molyneux and Steven Spielberg talking it up it looks like it could be huge. The Minority Report-style dashboard manipulation was what really had me standing up and watching.
Alan Wake – Great to finally see this game again. It looks scary as hell and absolutely amazing. It looks to combine the best parts of Max Payne and Silent Hill. A release date of Spring 2010 is listed, but I doubt that will happen.
More Halo = a great thing. Halo: ODST and Halo Reach were shown. ODST looks like a step in the right direction for Bungie. Reach I am not sure about, but both are guaranteed blockbusters. ODST seems to take a System Shock/Bioshock approach to story instead of the vanilla thin one we are used to.
Forza 3 – Looks, plays and seems amazing. It's not my kind of game generally but when something looks and plays this good you have to notice.
Splinter Cell Conviction – This is the shot in the arm the series needs. Looks like the re-tooling has work, grittier game, has a Taken vibe and new gameplay hooks like tag/kill seem really cool.
Article comments
1 - Ken Edwards
You are not alone in your assessment of Shadow Complex. It honestly looks like Gears of Ware: Bionic Commando to me. Matt made the point that it is Contra meets Metroid. Both analogies are frighteningly truth. At least when InFamous comes off as a close relative to Crackdown, it is its own game in its own terms.
It looks like MGS Rising is PC, 360, PS3. And I don't know what to expect from it yet. But it really does not matter. The fact that Kojima was on stage at the Microsoft presser was all that mattered. Sort of like FFXIII last year, it did not matter what the game was, it mattered that Sony just lost another third party franchise exclusive.
Nice write up Mike. Well balanced.