E3 Review: Microsoft

A quick recap of everything Microsoft announced during their 2010 E3 press conference. Find out which games were showcased, how well Kinect functioned, and whether or not it was special enough to outshine what Nintendo and Sony have planned for this week.

Games
Microsoft’s press conference was centered heavily around their new motion controller Kinect. The few Xbox exclusives that were showed were:

Microsoft’s exclusive games showcase was pretty disappointing. It’s not that Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3, and Metal Gear Solid Rising are anything less than spectacular, but we’ve known about all of these titles for a while now. Compared to last year’s big Microsoft surprises, namely Final Fantasy XIII for Xbox 360, this year’s event was lackluster to say the least.

Kinect
As the main focus of the event, Kinect took up most of Microsoft’s precious press time. Was it worth it? No, considering they didn’t show off any future features of the device and instead focused on what we knew it already could do, play Wii games in HD without a controller.

Other Announcements

The redesigned Xbox 360 was a nice surprise. The bigger hard drive and built in WiFi was an even better surprise. Still, the Alienware look of the new streamlined system pales in comparison to the PS3 Slim that Sony launched last year.

The worlds largest sports network was partnered with Microsoft to bring interactive on-demand sports to the masses for free to all Xbox Live Gold members. This announcement trumped anything Microsoft brought to the table this year. Sure, that Metal Gear Solid Rising trailer got me feeling all tingly inside, but the implications that can occur if this partnership works out could be revolutionary.

Now this announcement just gets under my skin. I own both a PS3 and Xbox 360, so it really doesn’t bother me in a way that it would some others, but I prefer to play my online multiplayer games on my PS3 because I don’t like having to pay $50 a year for a service that its competitor offers for free. What bothers me is that Microsoft makes it seem like they are doing their gamers a service, but in reality PS3 gamers get the same service a month later and don’t have to pay a yearly subscription fee.

Overall
Let’s face it, saying that Microsoft’s press conference was boring and uneventful is being nice. The truth is, there was no effort on Microsoft’s part to make this year special. Last year they stole the show, this year it seems like they forgot the show was that day and scrambled to throw together a presentation at the last minute. Showing the press gameplay from all the games teased during last year’s E3 isn’t enough, you have to step up at E3 and represent everything you hope to accomplish for the year to come and if this is all you got Microsoft, then I’ll pick up your 3 exclusives and move on to my PS3.