E3 DAY ONE: MICROSOFT CONFERENCE

DAY ONE at E3, no I'm not there, I'm at home watching the G4 coverage live.  Today is the Microsoft Conference, tomorrow will be Sony and Nintendo.  I am a little biased because I don't own an X360, but thats not to say I don't like the console.  I just don't own one.  So I apologize if some of the games mentioned don't sound too exciting, I'm sure they are fine but I more than likely wont be playing them.  Please also visit some of the gaming sites that I read, to get different opinions on todays announcements, and in case I forgot some games or announcements:

1UP.COM

IGN.COM

BITMOB.COM

GAMESPOT.COM

THE GAMES:

BEATLES ROCK BAND; VIDEO/DEMO.  The conf. opened with the opening cinematic from The Beatles RB which looked amazing.

MODERN WARFARE 2; VIDEO/DEMO.  Gameplay in a snow environment.

JOYRIDE; VIDEO.  XBLA download, uses avatars to race in a Wacky Racers/Crash Team Racing style racing game.

TONY HAWK RIDE; VIDEO.  Gameplay includes using a skateboard peripheral that is similar to the Wii Balance Board.  

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3; VIDEO.  

FINAL FANTASY XIII; VIDEO/DEMO.

SPLINTER CELL CONVICTION; VIDEO.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2; VIDEO.

HALO 3 ODST; VIDEO/DEMO.  Essentially Halo 3 but played as an ODST instead of a Spartan, so you have access to different tech such as visors and weapons.  It is a breath of fresh for sure, but I'm not sure how long the sensation will last, since the game is set right before Halo 3, it seems like you wont be treading any new waters. 

HALO REACH; VIDEO.  Multiplayer Beta available with purchase of Halo ODST.  HALO Prequel.

ALAN WAKE; VIDEO/DEMO.  Survival horror only with a novelist as the main character.  Looks very good, very scary.

XBOX LIVE:

LAST.FM ON XBOX LIVE.  Seems cool but if you have an ipod touch/iphone and a good sound system, kinda useless.

NETFLIX ON XBOX LIVE. 

ZUNE VIDEO.  1080P VIDEOS, no downloading necessary, instant stream to console, THE DARK KNIGHT was demoed.   

FACEBOOK.  Post in-game screenshots straight to Facebook.

TWITTER.  WHY DID THIS GET A BIGGER RESPONSE THAN FACEBOOK??  Just stupid.

!   METAL GEAR SOLID  !  METAL GEAR SOLID RISING ANNOUNCED.  Yes, it's on Xbox 360.  Starring Raiden.

YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER - Project Natal.  

Video.  IMPRESSIVE.  Uses full body motion capture to control games and applications.  A sensor bar similar to the Wii sensor bar is mounted near the tv and captures the players movement.  Tech demos in the video included a fighting game, racing game, game show game that showed off voice recognition.  They even showed off a girl talking to her friend through XBLA and dressing themselves like on Clueless.  The technology can be used to simply scroll through the XBOX360 menus, movies just by sliding your hand.  SPIELBERG shows up and reveals that HE HIMSELF is involved with Project Natal, has been for 10 years!!?!  In his own words "its not about reinventing the wheel, its about no wheel at all..."  This technology could be the nail in the Wii coffin...

The demo plays...  Facial recognition signs the user into their account.  MOST IMPRESSIVE.  Demo of 'Ricochet', dodging on screen balls using full body control, are able to move in a fully 3D space, moving forward or backward.

Demo of 'Paint Party', painting on a canvas, uses voice recognition to change the colors that you are using.  The gamer shouted 'Light Blue' and his paint bucket changed to light blue.  The gamer can pose and by saying 'cheese' the game will take a picture of the pose and create a stencil of the image which you can color.

Video of 'Milo'.  A strange video game boy, who can interact with the gamer.  Creepy at best, but revolutionary no less.  Able to recognize emotions and tone in voices.  Interacts with the game in a non scripted manner.  This kid in the game has AI.  Yup, he decides what to do and what to say on his own.  This video MUST be seen.

This is not a game.  This conference just took a step from gaming, to life.  This technology both astonished me and frightened me.  I immediately thought of MINORITY REPORT, where everything was motion controlled, using motion without touch to control cars, video players, and computers.  And now its here.

This is a smart move for Microsoft.  What makes Wii so successful is its playability, its ability to have people pick up and play and to connect gamers young and old, hardcore gamers and non gamers.  What gave it that appeal was the motion control utilized by the Wii remote.  What Microsoft has figured out is that it wasn't the CONTROLLER that people loved, it was the CONTROL.  The ability to use movement to play a game.  They even said "..controllers have been our biggest barrier", its safe to say that he was referring to the Wii Remote.  By effectively removing the remote you have body movement, no equipment to familiarize with, no buttons t memorize, just you.  This is big.  Suddenly Nintendo's Wii remote 'Motion Sensor Plus' add-on seems worthless.  I hope Nintendo has something better than that up its sleeve for tomorrows conference...