For those who watched Microsoft’s E3 press conference earlier this morning, it’s understandable if you’re still in a bit of a daze. With all the hard-hitting features, tech demos, and world premieres of highly anticipated games, you’d be forgiven for being in a bit of stupor after such a bombardment. Microsoft certainly outdid itself this year, ditching the boring, typical marketing drivel that often bogs down the show for a more gamer-friendly conference.
As John Schappert put it, “We’re going to be showing, not telling.”, and show Microsoft did. We finally saw footage of several key games, including Splinter Cell: Conviction, Alan Wake, Halo 3: ODST, Forza 3, and Modern Warfare 2. Of all the games shown, Alan Wake was arguably the most impressive all-around, offering up a healthy dose of story reveals as well as some great live gameplay footage that showcased some of the innovative ways Remedy is working on the action genre. Conviction looked fantastic, finally bringing into the light the new Sam Fisher that everyone was anxious to see after the poor reception of the initial concept. ODST, Forza 3, and Modern Warfare 2 showcased just about exactly what you would want or expect, revealing gameplay footage that was designed specifically to appeal to fans of each game.
While some of the games were a little disappointing, such as Epic/Chair’s upcoming XBLA title, Shadow Complex as well as Joy Ride, it’s worth noting that although their E3 showings were lackluster, the games showed promise.
On the features side of things, it only gets better. Much better. Microsoft came into E3 saying they were going to reinvent home entertainment, and after this conference, I can only say that they might have undershot their previous statement. All the new features coming to Xbox Live are substantial and look to be natural extensions of the system’s social networking mantra. Facebook and Twitter were both announced to hit the dashboard later this fall, and Last.fm will even be making a new home in a slot on your Xbox 360.
Netflix will also be getting a few key upgrades, allowing users to queue up content right from their 360 rather than only their PC. In addition, the Xbox LIVE Party functionality gets a large upgrade, allowing friends to watch movies (Netflix or the new, Instant-On full HD movies) together on a kind of virtual couch. The features presented in each showing were substantial and sleek, and integrated the NXE’s trademark look into each presentation. The level of integration was something that thoroughly impressed me, considering that other companies struggle with adding such robust features to existing hardware without clouting the effectiveness and/or universal look of their device.
While it remains to be seen just how effective and fleshed out these features will turn out to be, their mere induction into the ever-increasing array of networking features on Xbox 360 shows that Microsoft was very serious in saying that it intended to revolutionize the way we look at entertainment.
Nothing, however, mentioned previously even begins to touch on the impressive new Project Natal (nuh-tall). Natal is likely the biggest breakthrough in gaming peripherals and technology the industry has seen in quite awhile. At first glance, Natal appears to be an improved Xbox Live Vision camera, but upon further inspection (and a healthy amount of official demos), Natal is really a new way to experience interactive media. Using full body motion capture, Natal enables players to do nearly infinite tasks by using gestures or moving their body.
Want to navigate the Dashboard on your 360 without a controller? Simply move your hands left or right in a sliding motion and Natal does the rest. The possibilities here are nearly endless, not least of which was proven by the absolutely astounding Milo, a new game (if you can call it that - more like a proof of concept) from Lionhead Studios which utilizes breakthrough AI procedures and Natal to create an incredible new way to interact with on-screen characters. Milo is the name of an artificial boy who reacts to things you do in real-time and real life with stunning realism and dynamics. While it’s unclear at this point how exactly Milo works, the tech demo presented at E3 provided knowledge that both voice recognition as well as motion recognition are used in incredible new ways. For example, Milo is a character you can actually have a conversation with, reacting with lifelike emotions and snappy dialogue. He’ll ask you questions and remember things you tell him, and soon enough, you’re interacting with one of the most realistic AIs ever created. Creepy? A little. Cool? If it plays out, definitely.
Overall, Microsoft delivered a hell of a conference this year at E3, and it’s going to be interesting to see whether or not the remaining companies can top what has become a historical performance on Microsoft’s part.
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