E3 2012 YEE YUUUUHH - Xbox Press Conference - The Year of TRANSFARRING >: D

It's a brand new year, a brand new week, and a BRAND NEW LIVEBLOGGED E3!!

As I'm sitting here, waiting for the Microsoft conference to start, I'm thinking we're gonna see more information about Microsoft's endeavors to integrate media experiences into the Xbox service, as they have been surprisingly aggressive since last year about expanding their library of apps. Even now, I'm watching the Xbox conference on their Live Event App, truly Microsoft hasn't slouched and let their media lust go out of focus, but have only provided users even more choices to consuming media.

As for a new system, I just don't know. With all the rumors of heavy drm nonsense, I'm nervous to see what that means for any new consoles on the horizon, but also, with the latest analytics, is it possible that it's not financially feasible to make a new console? Well, Idk, but I can say for sure that they do have competition with the Wii U and they have to answer in some way, but idk yet. My best guess is yes, the first official word will be released today. Though it won't be much I'd think.

As for the gaming end of it, I wonder if new refinements will be announced for the Kinect sensor, perhaps in the way of deeper immersion in the Kinect experience. Support for multiple sensors? Or maybe just a wiimotionplus sort of add-on that, if anything, widens the field of vision of the sensor, as, if I'm correct, the sensor can zoom in, but it's essentially a box-like field of vision, but is it capable of achieving a panoramic field of vision? This could help accomodate more social gaming in small spaces.

But really, 45 minutes away, and I just don't know besides new announcements of media partners. So let's get it going already!

I guess if there's anything I want to see for the media announcements is more actively streaming content, much like in the case of the youtube app that lets users press a button and enjoy a variety of content in a passive experience, just like what you'd get with your cable tv service. I would love to see TwiT or CNET be integrated this way, something that could deliver tech news, as I suspect users of the xbox appreciate tech news moreso than others. What about Marvel digital comics? Or Audible support? I believe maybe that could be a huge step if users could integrate literary experiences on their xbox, especially Audible. Can you imagine? Playing one of your favorite games, and using the music player in your xbox menu, listening to your favorite Tom Clancy story?

Halo 4 Halo 4 Halo 4, I know it's gonna be a big game, but personally, will it capture my imagination like Halo Reach did? Idk, I feel like low-gravity movement might be a mechanic in the game though, and perhaps bigger and badder space combat.

Star Wars 1313? Oh really? We'll get back to that...

Halo 4? The Covenant are still screwing around? JEEZ.
Halo 4: Attack of the Bionicles!
New weapons for sure, and despite being bionicles, they look sweet.

Whaaat, playing AS the terrorists? INTERESTING
New Splinter Cell, o rly? I see it's still the same gameplay as the last game. But it feels alot more smooth than last time.
Voice recognition in gaming, used in this capacity is always an awesome choice. One of the best aspects of the Kinect sensor.

Fifa..again, I don't think this'll be a good feature, I mean, playing sports games is a social game so how can you really play with friends and use the voice commands?

Madden 13, ... I can dig it, though the delay in voice recognition showed itself for sure.

Fable as a fps....I just can't get my head around that. I believe in Lionhead, but wow...what a departure.

New Gears, I smell the lubricant at Epic, as they work this franchise dry. And I heard the story I wanted to hear with the first 3 games, I'm not really interested in hearing the story before that. But I think it'll at least warrant a look.

I'm excited to see the new media applications, though uhh, why do I care about multilingual support for the kinect sensor, has that not been there since the first place?
Nickelodeon, machinima, and Paramount support? Interesting.
I see Machinima being just like the Roku channel, on-demand video content, though again, I wish it would be passive. So we'll see.
NBA and NHL coming? That's interesting, but I really want to see them make it more available for everyone to enjoy, instead of just making it premium access through espn3.
Interesting to see support of espn, if there can be at least one live broadcast in my region in the northwest, I'll be happy.

As an aspiring musician, I don't really care about these innovations on the xbox music, it's nothing new or exciting, it's just xbox saying we have this too!

Nike?

To quote my friend Kevin "...remember video games?"

I'm so happy that we can train in our home using the Kinect sensor! SO MANY PEOPLE WILL BE GETTING FIT THANKS TO THE KINECT! THANKS NIKE! YAAAY!

Let me sum up this whole media transferring nonsense. WHO THE FUCK CARES?

Internet Explorer on the xbox? About damn time...

Tomb Raider looks just so damned good! Lara stabbing the heck out of a guy's throat, this game looks so intense! I'm nothing short of proud of the team behind this, they've certainly made this fantastic new direction for the franchise!

Ascend looks like a game that can be interesting to say the least, maybe not a success in the making, but something to look forard to at least.

Matter? Cool looking, though looking a little too much like Portal for it's own good.

Resident Evil 6 is shaping up to be a completely awwwwesome game! Chaos, a zombie apocalypse on a wide scale? I'm super excited. Think about the things we'll see in this game!

Wrecketeer....how...annoying. Basically Angry Birds in a new perspective.

South Park game...just looks like Dragon's Lair. You get told what to do and press buttons to make it happen.

So Dance Central...where's the gameplay?

Oh Don Mattrick, my favorite guy in gaming atm. So cute. Yeah, I said it.

Black Ops 2, interacting directly with the President, and seeing hints of the plot. Interesting so far.
The gameplay looks sort of the same, but definitely is catching that feeling that mwf had with the huge amount of destruction in the urban environments, really interesting, but worth a buy? Idk.

In summation, I think the stars of the show for me was Splinter Cell, it looks like it's gonna be a game that's going to be really action packed and fun to play, the voice recognition was pretty sweet, I'm excited to see the use of it in the game. Tomb Raider is continuing to expand it's allure and keeps this sweet, delicious viscera that makes me excited to play it, slack-jawed, reacting more to what happens in game than to what happens in the real world. XD Resident Evil 6 looks like another game with very similar gameplay, though uhh running zombies, alls I have to say to that is oh shit. I notice as well the use of more command grabs, which could make the game a little more interesting, perhaps suggesting a greater use of melee in place of gunplay, giving it a more close quarters feeling, having to conserve ammo and what not. Black Ops looks interesting for the story it's presenting, I'd feel like it would warrant a playthrough, but at this point, maybe not a purchase I'm afraid. But as one who has cut the cable cord a long time ago, I greatly GREATLY appreciate the inclusion of Internet Explorer functionality, it'll be incredible to basically be able to access other video sites, do searches and other things from my tv, and I think really gives the xbox a new step toward their goal of one-stop media platforming.

All in all, a decent year, but not at all like last years show.