Microsoft Press Conference Thoughts

 The first half of the Microsoft conference focused on titles that are multi-platform, like every other year. They did highlight a few that would have Kinect compatibility, but were very vague on the details. The ones that they showed, Ghost Recon Future Soldier and Mass Effect 3, looked ultimately pretty dumb. Mass Effect had voice commands, which would actually be pretty useful when you're busy with other buttons controlling weapons and firing, although I'd feel pretty silly speaking to myself. On the other hand, Ghost Recon looked terrible. The guns can be edited using Kinect motions, but it would be much easier to use a button input. Also, firing a gun with the motion of opening and closing motion is absolutely stupid. Kinect voice compatibility has been redone as well, with a new dashboard and and Bing search system added. Honestly, unless I was with friends, a button input is again, much easier, and less awkward by yourself. It's nice to see them support their peripherals, but its nothing exciting yet.

If you liked Kinect, this conference is for you.

Pretty upset about the quote "The biggest exclusive on any console this year." Maybe by sales, but sales do not make a game by any means a good game. This statement is completely subjective, and just shows how Microsoft values their customers, by their money. Sony has so many exclusives this year its crazy, and they've done a great job with all of them so far, with almost all of them receiving great ratings.

During the second half of the conference, they focused on things that are Microsoft exclusive. Of course, they focus on already completely announced and established franchises, such as Gears of War 3 and Forza 4, so nothing new here. They announced a title, Ryse, which is a Kinect gladiator type game, which looks interesting, as well as a Fable Kinect game. The problem with these games is that they are RAIL SHOOTERS. There isn't an option of where to move. Essentially, you can only choose where to shoot and what to attack with. Even the Star Wars game, which admittedly looks like a cool concept, will only merely be a wonky controlled rail shooter and racer. It looks to play really horribly as well. The graphics look sub-par on these games, which is really odd, considering they're still on 360. The Disneyland game looks horrible, and is just a ride. The Sesame Street game looks really basic and very childish. Its interesting for children, but nothing more, even for parents. The last mention was Minecraft, which is a huge hit on the PC already. Not too sure how its exclusive, as android phones are getting it, along with the Xperia play and PCs already have it.

Kinect needs games that will interest the GAMER.

They're still focusing on sports titles and dance titles. They're continuing to make sequels to games that may have sold well, but they're not helping the industry. Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports 2 are completely not needed. They'll come out as full priced games, and will only be introducing a few new features. To me, this is the Wii all over again, full of shovelware. They continue to make games for the money and changing the gaming industry for the worse. They feel that its changing it for good, but its forcing developers to incorporate Kinect and motion gaming into things that it doesn't need to touch.

Their closing announcement was the rumored Halo 4. Good teaser, but as more information comes out, it'll be interesting to read. This was the only thing in the conference that was necessary for gamers. It doesn't have Bungie behind it anymore, so we'll see.


Overall, Microsoft's press conference was completely aimed toward Kinect, not gaming. There really wasn't a huge presence by anything important. If they're getting rated, they better not be given good ratings. It was all 3rd party based, meaning its on the Playstation 3 as well.

Overall Rating: C