GUT REACTION: Microsoft E3 Briefing
June 14th, 2010
Welcome to the first entry into a new series on Padinga: Gut Reactions. Before we’ve had time to calm down and think, our editors will write down their thoughts on the current subject. Today’s topic is Microsoft’s E3 2010 Keynote.
Discussed at the keynote was the big hitters, such as Metal Gear Solid: Rising, CoD: Black Ops, Halo Reach, and Gears of War 3. More importantly, Kinect and a slew of titles for it ate up the majority of time, with a final announcement concerning the new 360 console.
Let’s start! (after the jump…)
Eric:
This was one of the weakest keynotes I’ve seen at E3 in a long time. Seriously, the middle hour, in which random people droned on about Kinect, was mind numbing. Coupled that with the several titles that look like HD Wii titles, and I’m not sure what I should be even remotely excited about. With a rumored $150+ price tag, plus $60 confirmed pricing on Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures, and I think Microsoft has a hard sell ahead of it.
God, I hope no one notices the Wii’s going for $199 in the same store.
Andrew:
Not as strong as I would have liked, although I sympathize with Microsoft’s position here. They can’t announce a new system with the Kinect coming out, and the redesigned 360, while sexy, isn’t really a barn-burner. Eric’s right, built-in Wi Fi and knock-off sports titles just makes this thing play like Nintendo’s pick-up team. What annoys me the most about the Kinect is that Microsoft doesn’t seem to want to carve out their own niche with it. They have this fantasy that if they do exactly what Nintendo did, somehow success will magically occur. But Nintendo already did it. Yes, it’s humiliating to find out there was a casual gamer market after all, and I sympathize, but move on! The families that own a Wii are not going to just trade it for your system. They are casual gamers, and casual gamers are literally defined by the fact that they DON’T sit around waiting for the new upgrade. If you insist on motion control, at least do something hardcore gamers can get behind.
HOWEVER.
“Halo: Reach” is going to have SPACE BATTLES. And that is almost awesome enough to make up for everything.
