So starting off this year's E3 and my blog posts is Microsoft with their annual press conference. Going into the conference there was a high amount of speculation about the fact whether a new console would be announced or not(X-Box 720 as they are calling it). People had opinions, and Microsoft had 'no comments' to all those opinions. All those speculations were laid to rest however when the conference ended and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, not as much as hint towards a new console. Microsoft proudly mentioned that X-Box 360 has now become the largest selling console in the world, and they looked happy to keep that up until next year (atleast!!!). Personally, I am quite relieved that no new console is hitting the market anytime soon and there are 2 reasons for it:
1) I just bought an X-Box 360, and I did not want it to go out of date so soon.
2) I don't to want to spend an unbelievable amount of money on hardware anytime soon.
Moving on, the conference began, as it was supposed to, with (you guessed it) Halo-4. The trailer showed the UNSC battleship INFINITY crash landing on a planet with Master Chief in rescue mode. The show continued with some game-play showing off a completely new race or alien species (Cortanna mentions them as being non-organic and Forerunner tech) trying to take down the legendary chief, along with some Covenant nemesis thrown in for good measure. I would say it looked awesome, but you can check out the trailer and the conference below (Thanks for IGN for providing me the complete conference link) .
Okay once you are done watching that conference, you would notice that this one was more about the new extra non-gaming services that Microsoft would be providing. The emphasis on Halo-4, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed was far less than what was put on Smart-Glass (a new tech introduced by Microsoft). This particular shade of the conference is a bone of contention among the gaming community, most viewing it a departure of the company from its gaming roots to more of a life style emphasis. I myself felt that this conference was less suited to an E3 rather than an official unveiling of a new product.
Having said that, there were some new games on offer. As I mentioned Halo-4 would see Master Chief returning. Splinter Cell :The Blacklist will see Sam Fisher donning his spy suit again. Also on display were games like South Park: The Rod Of Truth, Fifa'13, Madden'13 and Dance Central (if that floats your boat).
The end of the show also displayed a game-play trailer of COD: Black Ops 2. The game showed a terror struck LA with a lump of soldiers protecting the US President, but get this the attack is not from a Terrorist Organization but from the computer controlled Drones, and machines of the US Army itself.
Wrapping up, the game to watch out for from this conference was obviously Halo-4. Nothing else even came close to that excitement. Apart from the games themselves, Microsoft didn't really have much to offer to a pro gamer. While Smart-Glass may be an interesting new technology, it can best be seen as targeting a casual gamer. No new consoles, some new entertainment apps, and a brand new planet with Master Chief, a conference that could have been better.
Signing Off,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan
1) I just bought an X-Box 360, and I did not want it to go out of date so soon.
2) I don't to want to spend an unbelievable amount of money on hardware anytime soon.
Moving on, the conference began, as it was supposed to, with (you guessed it) Halo-4. The trailer showed the UNSC battleship INFINITY crash landing on a planet with Master Chief in rescue mode. The show continued with some game-play showing off a completely new race or alien species (Cortanna mentions them as being non-organic and Forerunner tech) trying to take down the legendary chief, along with some Covenant nemesis thrown in for good measure. I would say it looked awesome, but you can check out the trailer and the conference below (Thanks for IGN for providing me the complete conference link) .
Okay once you are done watching that conference, you would notice that this one was more about the new extra non-gaming services that Microsoft would be providing. The emphasis on Halo-4, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed was far less than what was put on Smart-Glass (a new tech introduced by Microsoft). This particular shade of the conference is a bone of contention among the gaming community, most viewing it a departure of the company from its gaming roots to more of a life style emphasis. I myself felt that this conference was less suited to an E3 rather than an official unveiling of a new product.
Having said that, there were some new games on offer. As I mentioned Halo-4 would see Master Chief returning. Splinter Cell :The Blacklist will see Sam Fisher donning his spy suit again. Also on display were games like South Park: The Rod Of Truth, Fifa'13, Madden'13 and Dance Central (if that floats your boat).
The end of the show also displayed a game-play trailer of COD: Black Ops 2. The game showed a terror struck LA with a lump of soldiers protecting the US President, but get this the attack is not from a Terrorist Organization but from the computer controlled Drones, and machines of the US Army itself.
Wrapping up, the game to watch out for from this conference was obviously Halo-4. Nothing else even came close to that excitement. Apart from the games themselves, Microsoft didn't really have much to offer to a pro gamer. While Smart-Glass may be an interesting new technology, it can best be seen as targeting a casual gamer. No new consoles, some new entertainment apps, and a brand new planet with Master Chief, a conference that could have been better.
Signing Off,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan
No comments:
Post a Comment