E3 2011 - Microsoft Press Conference: What We Saw
Monday, June 6, 2011 at 4:44PM Marlon Reyes 
Well, well, well, Microsoft! Not a bad press conference at all With the show mostly being all about Kinect, which isn't as bad as you think (and we will get to a litle bit futher in this post), Microsoft didn't forget about the core gamers with obvious demonstrations of what we know is coming out within the year. One example was Gears of War 3, but let's not start with something like that. Let's indulge ourselves with what was shown at the conference from beginning to end.
Microsoft opened up their press conference with what everyone wanted to see: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3! When the demo opens up on stage. we take a gander at team of soldiers, underwater and going en route. As we slowly creep in the water, we begin to realize that wer're going through a tunnel that's in complete shamble.
Rising up from the tunnel, we swim passed underwater mines, sinking ships and as we see all this, we constantly keep hearing the sounds of muffled war. The objective, the enemy sub, goes right over our team of soldiers and plant a bomb. The team tries to quickly evade before the bomb goes off, which goes off, leading us to swim to the surface....all out war has broke in New York City. At the same time, the sub that had begun to sink had surface as well, in which our team of soldiers raid. After raiding it, we leave via speedboat, reaching a helicopter and leaving the city under siege. Thus, ending the Modern Warfare 3 demo.
Next up was the ambitious reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, developed by Crystal Dynamics. One of the most distinctive things that we saw from the live demo was the dark and gritty look for the game. To those familiar with the Tomb Raider Games, this is definitely a new take on what we can expect from this installment in the franchise.
Lara Croft also can use her instincts to get past obstacles/puzzles - reminiscent to Batman: Arkham Asylum's detective mode. Comparable to Uncharted, this looks like it could turn some heads over to their direction. I mean, it's sort of been a while since we got a good Tomb Raider game, no? Here's hoping this one is!
Peter Moore from EA Sports was up the stage where, from here, Kinect reveals had begun. Peter Moore talked about how their studios, such as EA Sports had begun working hard on incorporating Kinect with their sports games like Tiger Woods, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer and many more from their lineup.
Speaking of Kinect and EA Games, Mass Effect 3, which will be published by them will be compatible with it. With Kinect implemented, of course being optional, Voice Recognition will be used. With your voice, you will be available to give out squad commands to your teammates. Along with that, one of Mass Effect's distinctive features that's popular among fans is the dialogue wheel will let you choose what you say by your own voice!
This isn't anything new that we've seen, but possibly taking that could lets us play Mass Effect in a whole new way.
Another game, which was least expected to use the Kinect, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. At first, I and the rest of the industry, were skeptical on how Kinect would even work with this installment of the franchise. Remember, Kinect utilizing these features are optional. What I can say right now is that it was pretty damn impressive. One of the first things we see is Gunsmith, a feature that's in Future Soldier where the player can customize their weapons.
Choosing from each and every single piece, your weapons are truly unique in the way you customize them yourself. So how does Kinect step into this? Well, with you standing in front of Kinect, you will be able to use your own hands to dissamble and re-assemble each weapon. You can in fact, almost, fire the assault rifles with your hands as well! Getting the best of the best also comes in this. You see, I'm not that great with in-depth details about guns, but with Kinect, saying, "Optimize for Long Range" gets you set up for...well...long range fire! Leaning yourself to the left or right even gives you a look at your weapon, which I'm imagining you can do with the controller as well. Thus, wrapping up Future Soldier, Kinect sure uniquely gave the game a small twist in gameplay.
With more Kinect features being showcased, Microsoft gave us an early look at the next dashboard update using the Kinect.
We get the normal voice commands that we're all aware of that we expected to see, but we also get to hear and see what's next for new dashboard and Xbox Live service as well, like YouTube, Bing voice search engine, UFC Social Entertainment, and live television! A first I assume, not counting AT&T U-Verse, heh!
Next up, not forgetting the core gamers, Mircrosoft brings out the big guns with some exclusives that we'llbe getting. Cliffy B and Ice-T take the stage to do a live stage demo for Gears of War 3 in a never before seen campaign level being played cooperatively!
Crytek, known for making the ambitious Crysis games, revealed their game RYSE. Not much is known, but we were lucky enough to get a trailer!
Sure, that's one awesome game that's been highly anticipated, but there's been one that was rumored and wanted by hardcore fans of the series. Yup a Halo 1 remake as coming! The actual title is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary - Celebrating the 10th Anniversary when the game first launched way back on the original Xbox in 2001. Included will be all the classic multiplayer we have come to love and all maps remastered!
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will arrive on November 15, 2011!
We also now take a look at another Kinect compatible game that will make car enthusiasts, "Squee". Forza Motorsport 4 was showcased with the best of the best graphics seen in a racing game in such a long time, besides Gran Turismo 5. With Forza 4, using Kinect, headtracking will be enabled to see the enviroment and track you're racing on. Forza 4 will also feature a crapton of manufacturers and in fact get frequent updates!
After looking at the amazing Forza 4, Lionhead Studios', Peter Moleneux steps up to the stage to talk about his latest Kinect title, Fable: The Journey. Now, this is a different take on Fable that we've never seen, but may turn away some hardcore fans of the series. The demo opens up with the game in First Person with you playing and guiding the horse that you're riding to your destination. Once we get off of it, from here, everything is on-rails, meaning that, if you're famliar with arcade games, the game guides you through everything.
One of the most distinctive features is that, even though you're on rails, there are different approaches that you can take to take down the monsters livinig in the fantasy world that we all know of from Fable. Using your hands, casting magic spells is uniquely used by rubbing your hands, making friction, where in the game, that takes in effect, which makes a fire spell used against your foes! You can even craft weapons with your hands as well! As of now, there is no release date yet.
Tiny announcement did get brought up, which none of us expected, nor do we know how it'll work, but with Kinect, Minecraft will be coming to Xbox Live. Mojang, the developer behind the highly successful, and unexpected, indie game has had this game under development for so long (and still is at this moment) will arrive to the current gen console. Nothing more's been said.
From here we get even more Kinect games, but mostly short demos of what's to come like Kinect Sports: Season 2, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (by Double Fine - Tim Schafer's studio), Kinect Star Wars (which was seen at last year's Cirque de Soleil), and Dance Central 2, but one unique thing that got showcased was Kinect FunLabs.
From scanning your favorite things at home, your body, and one cool thing known as finger tracking. Using Kinect you can take pictures of yourself. Kinect FunLabs became available the same day.
That was a wrap for the Microsoft Press Conference, with Don Mattrick stepping the stage, leaving with just one trailer. I'll let that speak for itself...
