Zombie67's 2010 E3 XBOX360 Report

[zombie67]

No, I am not there (or I would now be clutching the new 360 - more on that later) but I have just watched the Live-feed of the Keynote speech.

I'll post each item as a different post, starting with a game that most here are probably waiting for:

Call of Duty: Black Ops

This is apparently set during the Cold War and the location shown during the Demo was Vietnam. It started in the old Vietcong Tunnels (I assumed) and had you crawling through with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The tunnels were very atmospheric with rats running around and echoes of voices etc.

The action was then moved on to an assault of a Helicopter pad and after dispatching the guards in an intense gun-battle the two Heroes climbed into the cockpit and took to the air which led to some Helicopter combat with rockets and guns being fired onto the ground as well as another 'copter etc.

All very intense, all very good and all very COD!

[zombie67]

After the announcement that it had been 10 years since the first Xbox was unleashed onto the world, Hideo Kijama came out to show Metal Gear Solid: Rising and a concept that is named in Japanese Zan Datsu

In Japanese, the two words literally mean Touch Take, what they actually mean to gameplay is that using Raiden's sword you can and can choose how and where and how you slice and dice the enemy by choosing the location and angle of each slice on their body.

As a final little in-joke they showed Raiden slice up a Watermelon into nice neat pieces and anyone who has played a MGS game will know how important Watermelons are.

[zombie67]

Next up was another game I am sure most of us is waiting for:

Gears of War 3

Cliff B demoed a 4-player co-op mission with 3 others and it was packed with the usual OTT GOW action. New to the game were Female Gears and Mutating Lambent enemies.

The demo opened with the Gears needing to get a to a fort and to srtart the section a cut scene showed a locust ripping off a Gear's arm and beating him to death "with the wet end".

As the Gears moved forward killing locust at one stage Marcus grabbed a downed locust as a shield but instead on just breaking his neck, him seemed to plant an explosive and push him towards the other locust before he exploded - very cool.

At the end, Cliff B announced that they would be demoing a new game mode called Beast at their booth.

Next up came the Mutating Lambents, which as they emerge from the tentacles coming out of the ground, they suddenly sprout tentacles and other things themselves. The players seemed to be focusing on taking out each tentacle etc. a bit like Dead Space. One of the Lambents was spewing forth spider like creatures to attack the Gears.

Finally, came a Lambent Berserker boss battle which though seemed to be ended when the Gears made it inside the fort, seemed to continue as the Berserker jumped over the wall but that was where the Demo ended.

[zombie67]

Peter Molyneux introduced a trailer for Fable III, which looked good but as there was no gameplay demo, I can't really say how much of a leap it is from Fable II.

Next came a teaser-trailer for a future Crytek game at the moment called Codename: Kingdoms. This was just a very short live-action teaser with a bunch of fantasy warrior looking blokes dripping blood and holding shields and weapons. Not much else to say.

Then came a game that some of us may have played the MP Beta for:

Halo:Reach

The gameplay demo trailer showed Spartans storming towards a base with Elites dropping down in pods and attacking. It was all very Halo - looks good but nothing exceptionally new other than a face-lift, though it did show a Spartan grabbing an Elite and stabbing repeatedly in the back.

It ended with the player making his way to a space craft, launching and then taking part in a space battle.

Looked good but not blown away by the trailer. Also, bit crap of them not to have the game actually playing there in the room.

[zombie67]

Then came the major section of the Speech, dedicated to Kinect. This is the peripheral formally known as Project Natal.

First, they demoed the new menu system with the guy waving at the screen to sign-in and then using his hand to select something. He then showed the Voice Recognition Software by just saying what he wanted (with the word XBOX in front). He selected and started Tim Burton's Alice and scrolled through the film using his hands. He then paused, re-started and ended the movie just by saying "Xbox Pause" etc.


Next up, came Video Kinect. This is a video chat system which lets you choose your friends on both Xbox and Windows Messenger and talk to them via video. You can also watch films etc. with that person whilst connected. Not sure how legit the demo was as it seemed so scripted between the demonstrator and her sister who she called up.

[zombie67]

Next up for all you sports fans, was the announcement that Microsoft has struck a deal with ESPN to bring content to the 360. Two guys from SC (Sports Channel?? Hey I'm a Brit I don't know who they were) demoed the facility, showing that you can watch, pause, reply games with the Voice Recognition. You can route for your team, take part in trivia questions, get the latest news from ESPN.com, whilst still watching you selected game.

The service will be free to Gold Subscribers.

[zombie67]

Then came some of Kinect's launch titles:

Kinect Animals - this will be advanced Eye Pet game, with the animal reacting to you voice, hands and movements etc.

Kinect Sports - games such as Football (the real one ), bowling and track and field events can be played by moving your body appropriately. The demo had to people competing in Hurdles by running on the spot and jumping to clear the hurdles.

Kinect Joyride - this is the cart game using your XBL avatar demoed last year but with the controls now through Kinect. move your hands left and right to steer and lean to slide around bends, then thrust your hands forward for a boost. You can also use you body to perform stunts, such as turn around to make the car do a 360 degree spin.

Kinect Adventures - the first game had the on-screen representation of the player standing on a moving platform and jumping, side-stepping ducking etc. to avoid obstacles. He was also moving his hands, legs and body to collect "coins". At certain times, usually when he jumped the game took a picture which was shown on screen at the end of the game. The pics can be saved and sent via Facebook.

Next in Kinect Adventures was a game with two girls riding an inflatable dinghy down river, leaning to steer and collect "coins". They also jumped over rapids and actually ended up riding along a cloud. Again, pictures were taken during the game.

These and others will be available at launch on Nov 4th in the US, with 15 titles in all being available.

[zombie67]

Then came so 3rd -party Kinect titles:

From Ubisoft came Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. This was obviously similar to Wii-Fit but your whole body is scanned so menus and work-outs are tailored to you, from training with a personal trainer, to combat and Gym games through to a Zen Class.

Maybe, I'll finally drop this weight!


Harmonix was up next with their game Dance Central. As you can guess this is a dancing version of Guitar Hero/Rock band etc. It featured tracks from the likes of Lady Gaga, No Doubt and as the track played the next move shows on the right hand sided of the screen for you to perform. It has a section for those with two left feet which breaks each move down to its component parts.

Personally it is not for me but then neither is GH or Rock Band.


Then came the biggest Kinect announcement, Lucas Arts is releasing Kinect: Star Wars in 2011. The trailer showed a game similar looking to Force Unleashed but controlled using your body. Not sure what it will be like until I see it in action but it could be fun.


Lastly, was Kinect: Forza Racing - as with Joyride this was controlled by putting your hands up at 10 & 2 and then steering. They then showed the showroom with the camera being controlled by the demonstrators movements.

Looked interesting but not sure how gear changes and breaking work yet.

[zombie67]

...and finally back to what I mentioned quickly at the beginning, Microsoft showed the new 360. Smaller and thinner and glossy black. It has a 250GB HD and Wi-Fi built in.

The amazing thing for this kind of announcement is that it is actually shipping to retailers TODAY and will be in shops by the end of the week...

...at least in the US...

... and will not cost any more than the current top 360.


Then, they proceeded to give one to each of the journalists in the auditorium on Microsoft......Another reason to hate journos!!!


All in all, not an amazing Keynote Speech but an interesting one.


Cheers

[Sarku]

Geesh. I picked the wrong major in college.

Oh well... better luck next time!?!?
(Insert dramatic music here).