official Microsoft E3 2012 Presentation

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Okay, that gameplay footage is much more like it. Looking real, real good based on that. Love the visual style.

Really glad to find out the excitement was not based on that horrible live action piece, or I would have last all faith in humanity. :laugh:

[the better twin]

Terrible conference. Exactly the same as last year. Show some halo, some cod, a crap load of kinect (which has become an expensive microphone now that they realised it doesn't work for gaming) and pointless features no one cares about.

The Xbox certainly isn't the place for compelling GAMES anymore.

The writing has been on the wall for the last couple of years. Coincidentally, my gold xbl is up in July. I won't be renewing. Ms can shove it.

[the better twin]

I don't get some of you, what did you want? More new exclusives? What dev in their right mind would make a new IP for a system in it's, lets face it, last year? All you'd get are sequels, new stuff will just have to wait for the next Xbox, which is why the only new exclusives are arcade titles, but I guess you guys hate arcade titles as well now?

You might have had a point if it wasn't for the fact that MS have pulled this crap for the last few years. Halo gears forza and Cod. Maybe if I hadn't played cod 2 in 2005 or halo when the Xbox launched I would care about the latest installment of the same game with a different number on the end. As it is tho I like to try different games, something which ms have failed to provide for a long time and its certainly put me off buying the next Xbox.

[~Johnny]

<p>

Terrible conference. Exactly the same as last year. Show some halo, some cod, a crap load of kinect (which has become an expensive microphone now that they realised it doesn't work for gaming) and pointless features no one cares about.

The Xbox certainly isn't the place for compelling GAMES anymore.

The writing has been on the wall for the last couple of years. Coincidentally, my gold xbl is up in July. I won't be renewing. Ms can shove it.

It's not that there aren't many great games coming to the Xbox - it's just that they're not being shown at the Microsoft conference - the individual developers are keeping them for their own conferences. Ubisoft and EA showed off some nice games that are coming to the 360 for instance.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

<p>

It's not that there aren't many great games coming to the Xbox - it's just that they're not being shown at the Microsoft conference - the individual developers are keeping them for their own conferences. Ubisoft and EA showed off some nice games that are coming to the 360 for instance.

But keep in mind almost all of those games are also coming to the PS3. From a gaming standpoint, there is no longer compelling reasons to own just the 360, again, from a gaming standpoint.

I was just texting this to a friend, so might as well share it here...

The way I approach all of this new "gaming related" tech is actually from a purist standpoint. I like my controller, scratch that I love my controller, and nothing that is being shown is persuading me to jump on the bandwagon that I need more than it. Take the glass table stuff. Nothing convinced me that it would make me put down my controller, pick up my iPad, and use it over just playing the game with a controller. Same thing with the Wii U tablet, and has always been the same feelings for myself and Kinect. Until all of these things do something I absolutely cannot do with a controller, and even more importantly do something I deem worthwhile as an addition/extension to the gameplay and not just doing it for the sake of doing it, then I personally am not all that interested.

And MS's focus this year was obviously making the 360 the all around entertainment hub. Thing is, the 360, and PS3 for that matter, have indeed both been capable of all of these features for quite some time. I have always been able to listen to music, or watch a movie, or browse photos, from all said devices. Yes, they are making it all more social than ever, but truth of the matter is I am 37 years old. I am not on my consoles for the social experience. I am on them to game. I generally do not browse movie titles for instance, and if I do I am doing so on rotten tomatoes. I am not going to start using Bing Voice Search just because I can, as it really adds nothing to my own personal way of doing things.

I will say the purist statement one last time, as again, that is how I approach all of this. I own a PS3 and 360 to play games. All of this other stuff my house has been setup to do long before they arrived on either my Macs or my Windows comps. So yeah, I am a skeptic, and I personally want to see the focus of e3 be on games, not everything else but. This is where I feel MS missed the mark completely.

And FTR, I think the whole glass table stuff is pretty much the beginning of what is to come with computing. The convergence of everything into one piece of hardware. I just do not see it is ready yet, so for the time being, I am going to wait until it really is. Until then, I want to play games.

And this is why I wait with eager anticipation for the Sony press conference. About the worst thing they can do is start talking about the cool social apps they have coming for the Vita or the PS3. I know some of that stuff is going to be mentioned, but i really hope they keep it to a minimum, and really focus on the games side of things. This is where I think Nintendo goes into this years E3 with a huge advantage, most of their conference should be about the games since the Wii U is coming out.

[Anthony Tosie Veteran]

Okay, that gameplay footage is much more like it. Looking real, real good based on that. Love the visual style.

Really glad to find out the excitement was not based on that horrible live action piece, or I would have last all faith in humanity. :laugh:

Live action footage should be banned from press conferences. Unless it's awesomely hilarious live action, like the Command & Conquer FMV scenes of yesteryear.

Rewatching the gameplay footage, I'm not sure that I've ever been so excited for a game from a single gameplay video. And I'm not even a very big Halo fan. It's got a really Metroid Prime feel to it.

[Growled Member]

Super excited for this, hope the Smart Glass announcement lives up to the hype.

Yeah, me too. That was exciting to see.

[Rudy]

Looks like my 360 is going to keep gathering dust

[Alladaskill17]

Very happy with Microsoft, Xbox, and their direction - very satisfied with my XBL experience (since original launch). Only thing I was (not shockingly) completely unimpressed with was the new Fable - would have loved a new, real, Fable game. Not a Kinect 'arcade' like game that seems so incredibly basic. Otherwise, loving the lineup. Oh, and owning a Nike+ Fuelband, very excited for that.

[SuperJediMedia]

Casual games ARE games too! Just because hardcore gamers don't lke them, doesn't make them poor system-sellers!!!

Besides, if you think Sony will do a better press conference, you are only fooling yourself!

We know for ages, they have the games Rain, Quantic Dream as exclusive and that's their only good game IMO, but I wouldn't say Sony is much better than MS!

[SuperJediMedia]

OK I take that back, Sony does seem to have better exclusive games now... Last of Us looks Incredible!!!

[George P Global Moderator]

I expect a new "real" Fable game for the next Xbox, I also expect other exclusives for the next system as well. If anything, the Xbox 360 has shown that it doesn't need a large exclusive library to sell, it's selling fine without them and most of the multiplayer games sell better on the 360 in the end.

[Ben Dyson]

Hi,

This is kinda a weird question but does anything have a screenshot of the http://www.e3companion.com/ webpage, I'm currently redesigning my portfolio to use metro elements and have been collecting images that follow metro and I really like the webpage they used.

Thanks, Ben

Hey,

Is anybody able to grab a screenshot from when they were live streaming last night, I'm kinda a bit OCD about collecting pictures that I can use in the future and it would really help, Thanks, Ben

[Emn1ty]

Yeah, me too. That was exciting to see.

Really was impressed with the Glass demonstration. I'm also glad developers are catching on to how Kinect should be used (Splinter Cell, for example).

Other than that, Halo was neat but the rest of the conference was lackluster.

[BajiRav]

OK I take that back, Sony does seem to have better exclusive games now... Last of Us looks Incredible!!!

I saw couple of minutes of gameplay and I am hard pressed to understand why everyone's praising Last of Us. It felt like a generic shooter but honestly I haven't bothered to read about it, care to explain?

[The Teej]

I saw couple of minutes of gameplay and I am hard pressed to understand why everyone's praising Last of Us. It felt like a generic shooter but honestly I haven't bothered to read about it, care to explain?

Because it's not a generic shooter. Enemies are fewer and further between, but the stakes are much higher. You're a lot more vunerable and ammo/weaponry isn't in abundance, you gotta make do with what's around you. Completely different feel to the "generic shooters" like Call of Duty. It's a lot more "survivalistic" then COD, where it's RUN AND GUN MAN, RUN AND GUN. Plus, it's not entirely a shooter, more along the lines of Uncharted that's got platformey elements as well as shooting elements.

(I don't mean to put down COD in this post, but that's the only way I can differentiate it from other shooters).

[Emn1ty]

I'm interested in Last of Us merely because the realism (good realism). But the question still comes down to what it's about. I have no clue what will drive me to play the game beyond curiosity.

[compl3x]

OK I take that back, Sony does seem to have better exclusive games now... Last of Us looks Incredible!!!

I always thought Sony had the better exclusives.

I saw couple of minutes of gameplay and I am hard pressed to understand why everyone's praising Last of Us. It felt like a generic shooter but honestly I haven't bothered to read about it, care to explain?

Because it's not a generic shooter. Enemies are fewer and further between, but the stakes are much higher. You're a lot more vunerable and ammo/weaponry isn't in abundance, you gotta make do with what's around you. Completely different feel to the "generic shooters" like Call of Duty. It's a lot more "survivalistic" then COD, where it's RUN AND GUN MAN, RUN AND GUN. Plus, it's not entirely a shooter, more along the lines of Uncharted that's got platformey elements as well as shooting elements.

(I don't mean to put down COD in this post, but that's the only way I can differentiate it from other shooters).

Generic isn't a word I thought of when I saw TLOU' gameplay. Apparently, there is going to be a choice between stealthy/cover gameplay and more traditional shooting, but not a run-n-gun type style like Uncharted. The chick you're with isn't just someone you'll have to baby-sit, she can actually help/interact (like when she knocks that guy out with the brick). The equipment you've got can be used in different ways, e.g. You can use a bandage for a Molotov cocktail, or to make a med kit, depending on your gameplay choices.

Naughty Dog usually brings the quality in terms of aesthetics. The Uncharted series, I think, is proof of that. If they take the sexy graphics of Uncharted and make it a stealthy, moral-based kind of game, I think it will be bad ass.

[Debus42]

Microsoft certainly had the worst conference out of the lot for me, which took me by surprise. The most exciting things were probably Halo 4 and the new Forza, and that silly bizarre SmartGlass thing just looks kind of pointless to me. Also far too much focus on the entertainment side of the Xbox. Funny how they've turned my console into a media hub. I've got a television, I don't need to have all sorts of TV stuff on my Xbox as well, I just want to play games.

[Melfster]

I personally think this generation is done. I think what concerns me more is that Sony had a decent this time around but is likely to be unprepared for the PS4 next year. While it looks like microsoft is gearing up the for next gen xbox launch.

[SuperJediMedia]

Years ago, Microsoft always had BETTER exclusives!

[SuperJediMedia]

Nintendo had the WORST press conf.

Nothing they had to talk about excite me whatsoever.

At least with Microsoft, the casual gaming and media is much BETTER than Nintendo!

[BajiRav]

Microsoft certainly had the worst conference out of the lot for me, which took me by surprise. The most exciting things were probably Halo 4 and the new Forza, and that silly bizarre SmartGlass thing just looks kind of pointless to me. Also far too much focus on the entertainment side of the Xbox. Funny how they've turned my console into a media hub. I've got a television, I don't need to have all sorts of TV stuff on my Xbox as well, I just want to play games.

well to me, SmartGlass still sounds like rebranding+consolidation of various XBL apps. The Xbox Companion and Halo Waypoint "ATLAS" for Windows Phone do everything they have said about SmartGlass so far (with a dash of Kindle WhisperSync like stuff for movies/music). The interesting factor about SmartGlass at E3 was multi-platform support but since then, Xbox Companion has gone iOS/Android too and ATLAS was already multi-platform (but free on WP).

[George P Global Moderator]

well to me, SmartGlass still sounds like rebranding+consolidation of various XBL apps. The Xbox Companion and Halo Waypoint "ATLAS" for Windows Phone do everything they have said about SmartGlass so far (with a dash of Kindle WhisperSync like stuff for movies/music). The interesting factor about SmartGlass at E3 was multi-platform support but since then, Xbox Companion has gone iOS/Android too and ATLAS was already multi-platform (but free on WP).

At it's basic level Smart Glass is like those apps but it's also more of a platform in it's own right. It's used as a base for what the developer or content provider wants to use it for and not just a fixed set of features like the Xbox Companion app for example, which isn't that feature rich IMO.

Smart Glass sounds way more flexible and open as to how it can be used compared to the other options out now so I think it will start to shine once it's used in smart ways.

[Hedon]

No doubt MS had the better conference this year. But I suspect next year will be even better if they announce the Xbox 3.