E3 Liveblog - Microsoft Conference - Year of the Kinect

Call of Duty 3: underwhelming in a word, at least the first couple minutes, it was hard to care, until only when the setting left the sub, then I got really jazzed about what the hell was going on.

EA revealed Sports junk, namely new kinect controls for Madden and Tiger Woods, and Sims, but a huge reveal was Mass Effect 3. The conversation engine using the kinect voice sensor felt natural and well-understood, albeit limited to reading a single line at a time, but what really shone was the use of voice sensing in combat. The player shouted commands that were responded to seamlessly!

Tomb Raider looked amazing, and I've not been excited for a Tomb Raider game in the entire length of the series. I have to think that the story must be centered on Lara's first adventure, and I also thought the model they made of her looked sooo much better.

Tom Clancy's Future Soldier looked great in the cinematic shown, but I had wished for more gameplay. The gunsmith really drove home the fact that this year was a Kinect year for sure, and the gestures used in the gunsmith mode really looked intuitive as well as having the first Kinect-based gun controls. What worries me is the possible rail system that might be required unless movement controls that are just as intuitive are introduced.

Xbox Interface Updates. The integration of Bing looks to be awesome so xbox players have a complete aggregation of all their content so gamers don't have to bounce between different marketplaces to check on something. Those updates ought to come very soon, but the Youtube channel, which will be a huge function for the Xbox experience, basically collecting the top 4 reasons for players to go online, it'll take probably longer to be released and we'll have to wait probably till July at the earliest to see it come out.

Ryse sure was confusing to watch, but the gameplay looks entirely awesome, visceral but intense as hell. I'm interested to see how it pans out for gamers.

Halo HD Remake. Continuing this trend of not only rereleasing games of the past, but the relatively new trend of remaking and remastering these games comes the first game in the Halo franchise. I thought it looked interesting, but I don't think it'll be a terribly huge release as gamers will not see alot of reason to play a game that's ten years old, but the remastering might be a reason to relive the experience.

Forza 4, funny to me how the Forza series has quite possibly overtaken the Gran Turismo franchise, and it looks just as amazing. Though I can't care too much about the racing genre, it does look really nice.

Fable the Journey presented the shortest Peter Molyneaux speech ever, without deep commentary on the human condition or such things. but moreso, it presented a wary concept of a fourth Fable, but made the experience look fun with the use of kinect to cast spells and power up the spells and engage enemies, though the concern is with the game being on rails just as the Future Soldier video instigated.

FIST BUMP

Disneyland looks to be basically Disney Kinect Adventures. Nothing special, though the ...*ahem* actors were something to be seen..but don't worry, we'll get the coins next time.

Kinect Star Wars. FINALLY we can actively pantomime slashing shit with lightsabers and using the force but actually having a game system to blame for looking like an idiot! Plus I wonder how much from the universe they're pulling, it almost seems like they are pulling from the expanded universe to an extent to me which is really cool.

Tim Schafer directs Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster. This game is such a distraction for kids, no doubt, or at least a game to play when you're on something.

Kinect Fun Labs. Kudos...Kudo. Sorry, had to do it. This looks to be Kinect arcade games. Face Scanning looks cool, if not completely killer for the avatar marketplace. Fingertracking is gonna really change gamerpics allowing for these custom pics and not just that but opens a new avenue for creative photography. Active object scanning to finally deliver on the promise of scanning skateboards. Took long enough.

Kinect Sports 2. Finally, I can play football and not have to buy a new game every year. Looking at you, Madden. Golf looks nice, though it's already been done. Christ, screaming plays in Football, great, brahs everywhere are getting noise complaints already. But that looks like a lot of fun for sure.

Dance Central 2, I loved Dance Central, though I'm wondering why they didn't just make dlc for the original. Making new separate installments is what killed guitar hero and rockband.

EA LiveBlog - Ubisoft - Best Conference of Day One if not the entire show.

Rayman - Watching co-op play of this game is alot of fun, partly because the people are playing and they are doing so realistically. No cheesy acting or anything. Plus it's only in these moments that we see how outrageous the rayman universe truly is. The use of tetris pieces and music is really sweet and tongue-in-cheek.

Mr. Caffiene took the stage to unveil Driver San Francisco, and proved his reputation as being hyperactive and somewhat silly. Driver of course, looks like it's going back to what I loved about the original series with the pure driving rather than stupid on-foot sequences that just killed the gameplay for me. The trailer they showed of the sunny traffic report was really charming as well.

Farcry 3 looks out of the rageous zone in so many ways, it really feels like a totally awesome installment that could really redeem the series which has been under so much shit lately. The mohawked character you see was a humongous badass in my opinion, his monologue at the beginning was amazing, the animation and the voice acting was superb and the gameplay really looked intuitive without writing checks it's base gameplay couldn't cash, along with the seamless gameplay transitions to scripted events was positively glorious.

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 is totally over the top and is very reminsicient of Inglorious Basterds, though as a Montanan Indian, to have a character who is a Mohican and a character named Montana, I'm not gonna hear the end of it from certain people. *sigh* The things I deal with..

TinTin GAME! Oh MAN, I can't believe that, the TinTin series is such a legendary series and yet nobody ever thought to make a game out of it. I really love how this is happening with the team of Spielberg and Peter Jackson?? I'm really quite excited for it.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a terribly advanced looking shooter that uses incredible technology that hopes to really set this game apart from the slew of modern combat shooters. Plus the ability to actively coordinate strikes and give orders really sets this game with the feel of Rainbow Six and other tactical squad based shooters really is something that's gonna be key for this new age of multiplayer and making gamers really want to work together. Not to mention the use of technology that is rooted in real military R&D (look up Active Camo tech and see what I mean)

Ghost Recon Online - The Ubisoft entry into the new market of free to play, hi-quality browser games looks to be one of the most innovative and interesting, offering comparative gameplay as well as connecting to the console  versions of Future Soldier.

Maniaplanet -
Trackmania 2: Canyon - The new entry of the Trackmania franchise which really looks great graphically but also promises some awesome gameplay mechanics taht promise to satisfy racing nerds and arcade lovers.
Also Shootmania and Questmania were announced to a subsequent pique of interest as we wonder what the two games could do to match the awesome customization of Trackmania.

Rayman: Raving Rabbids Alive and Kicking - A new entry in the Rabbids series that promises to use the Kinect technology to make some really awesome party gaming experience, I look forward to pantomiming ufos and shapes with my pals after a few shots of the creature.

Just Dance 3 - Another installation in the Just Dance series, nothing terribly new, riding on the success of the previous games but that doesn't stop me from lusting for the dancing I could be doing in this game.

Rocksmith - Wow, I'm really impressed with this innovation, to allow for gamers and guitarists alike to further their guitar ambitions without having a whimsical controller but any guitar you can pick up, from a BC Rich Warlock to a tight old Washburn blues machine, I'm really interested to see if this game works out well and could revolutionize the utility of gaming as a whole.

YourShape - Another fitness game..whatever.

Assassin's Creed Revelations - A new cel-shaded Assassin's Creed video opened the announcement of the next installation of the game that introduced us to and closes story arc of Ezio, hero of the last two releases. The graphics looked amazing, movie-quality but also headed into a gameplay demo that didn't show a whole lot new to the gameplay besides some really nice sequences and hopefully a really great entry in the story.

E3 2011 - Nintendo - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

To open, a wonderful tribute to the zelda series after 25 years of making games with a full orchestra, always one of those things that makes me misty-eyed, realizing how I've been living with zelda for all these years.

What followed was a massive list of Zelda related announcements:
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening available on the Wii Store
The Legend of Zelda 3D will be available next weekend.
Legend of Zelda the Four Swords will be available for free to download.
Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword will be available this holiday season, and will be released concurrently with a golden wii remote plus.

There's so much Zelda in this conference that my eyes have become triforces.

Legend of Zelda orchestra concerts premiering around each region in the nation in the fall.
Legend of Zelda 3D official soundtrack available as a free gift to the first registrees of the 3D adventure
Also, the Legend of Zelda orchestra soundtrack will be released concurrently with Skyward Sword.

MarioKart looks like a great update of the MarioKart Wii product, including new stages, new gameplay mechanics including hang-gliding, vehicle customization and so much more, I'm sure. I loved the Wii version that preceded it, and I think I'll really enjoy this game as well. YAHOO!

Starfox 64 3D is coming this September, and boasts controls that will use the joysticks on the face of the 3DS but moreso will allow gamers to use the tilt functions of the 3DS to control the yoke of the starship, giving gamers a different experience than they're used to.

Super Mario looks great, a nice combination of features in the other games, including more of the classic suits that we remember from Super Mario Bros. 3, such as *ahem* the TANUKI suit. I've waited a long time to shake my tail in HD. The platforming gameplay is reminiscent of Super Mario Sunshine though the side-scrolling perspective doesn't quite seem to utilize the full extent of the 3D technology, so we'll have to see how Nintendo plans to utilize that feature.

Kid Icarus: Uprising showed a great trailer, that proved there to be a whole new narrative to the story of the game and also plenty of great gameplay, but moreso a reveal of a multiplayer mode that looks to be rather interesting, as well as augmented reality card usage to battle other players and characters in real-world settings.

Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS looks great, showing features not present in the first game, strong flashlight blasts, dual vacuum streams, new enemy types, and I'm excited for the new installment that hasn't been seen since the gamecube.

Tekken 3d, Resident Evil Revelations, and tons of other sweet games were featured in the prerequisite montage of trailers, looking really exciting.

A new virtual console store is being featured on the 3DS that carries portable games from the game boy and the game boy color and others, as well as enhanced 3D versions of classic games, starting with a new 3D version of excitebike.

Pokemon will also be boasting a new pokedex 3D that boasts a multitude of ways to expand the pokedex and utilizing the 3D technology and Augmented Reality technology and it's available for free for eShop users.

WiiU will be the name of the new Nintendo system, the controller looked like a miniature iPad. The uses are strong as hell, as we see ideas using this new controller technology, mostly using it as a peripheral to interact with plenty of other games in creative ways, such as using it as a scope on shooting games, an extension of the wii video display so that players can play their games without bogarding the television.

Satoru explained the WiiU controller but at the moment, alot of people are disappointed that it appears to be a simple peripheral for the Wii rather than an entirely new console.

Smash Bros. for the 3DS and WiiU will be released in the future and will be connective between the two consoles.

Fils Amie revealed more facts about the WiiU, mainly making me think that the WiiU will actively upgrade the system performance of the Wii by streaming it's power to the tv from the Wii from the WiiU, a very very interesting idea. But I was wrong, because, in fact, there is a console that is very similar to the wii, smaller, more curved, but still similar and actually capable of 1080p hdmi graphics and stands alone as it's own system contrary to what I thought.

Also revealed, for the hardcore gamers, a line up of great new games from flagship producers such as THQ, EA, Namco, Sega, and many others. Not just party games and junk, but plenty of mature themed gaming experiences including Assassins Creed, a new Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, and many others that hope to satisfy gamer's urges for more hardcore gaming experiences.

EA forever alone

EA coming strong out of the gate with mass effect. "all out galactic war" puts you in the midle of an epic war to save earth. with new mele abilitys and the ability to "paint" objects for missale assult by the normandy. this volume is unabashedly more action focused then even the last installment. the biggest E3 reveal is partial Kenect support, forgoing motion control but rather focusing on voice control for not only NPC conversations but in game squad controles freeing up fingers and thumbs for combat.

next need for speed a caninball run on steroids that, for the first time ever, takes you out of the car. i know what your thinking, "out of the car?" but this is not some half assed GTA clone. in lieu of an open world experience  the on foot chase scenes take direct design cues from the road racing, sharing all the fast paced intensity of a street race with the added layer of quicktime combat.

the old republic showing was paltry at best compared to last year's showing. no live game demo and a short intro of a trailer, half of which was comprised of the already reveaild TORO trailers. Disappointing for the millions of folks that are becoming tired of the hype and want a release date.

More details of SSX reveals tracks from all around the world. should be more then enough to please old fans and entice new fans. the presentation was exactly what it needs to be taking an arleady extreame sport to the next level with aerial acrobatics.

fifa 12 looked well boring, Madan as well and a shameless Lil Wayne thumbs up is just not enough to interest me.

sims social? Forever alone...

Reckoning  seemed like the sucker punch of the EA conference an RPG that brings R.A. Salvatore  and Todd McFarlane together is about as epic as it gets. A thrilling trailer has me wanting more.

Another surprise was insomniac's first venture outside of 2nd party development called  Overstrike a seemingly co op espionage action game. The trailer feature's Insomniac's signature weapon design ethos and quirky humor.

Ending strong EA showed gameplay footage of battlefield 3, which hits stores Oct 25th. amazing sound and graphics, the question is however, how good will it not on a beefy show PC. The battlefield look abnormally huge which might be refreshing to MW and MoH players.

All and all one of the best showings from EA in recent memory.