Dean: I have to hand it to Microsoft... they certainly know how to make people forget about something terrible that happened only a night beforehand. They're like the Jedi of the gaming industry.
By now, you all have heard that attendees of Microsoft's press conference today each get a shiny new skinny 360, and no, we don't have them in our hands yet as they're apparently being shipped—we probably won't lay hands on them until we return from E3. But our feelings on what Microsoft showed today haven't changed; a shiny toy has not swayed our judgment, and those Kinectimals are still incredibly creepy.
After nearly a decade of attending press conferences at E3, I've come to expect surprises and events full of "oh shi-" moments, but today was actually rather lacking in both of those departments. Yes, a free Xbox was a surprise, but it seemed to be a footnote to an otherwise lackluster press conference.
Everything they presented today seemed to be something we already knew about: more sequels to games we've played three times before, a few exclusivity announcements, and Kinect. Maybe I'm jaded after all these years, but Microsoft really dropped the ball this time around. Though it wasn't all bad; Gears of War 3 looks gorgeous and full of color, which is something the series hasn't had much of over the past two iterations. In my day job, we all play Gears 2's Horde mode together; the new additions and locales of Gears 3 looks to be an incredibly worthwhile evolution to the series.
If I may put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, it seemed to me that Microsoft may have planted a few employees into the audience to measure a response to last night's event as well. Before the press conference started, a lady sitting next to me kept asking what I thought about the Natal event instead of agreeing or offering a competing view of the evening.
She kept asking me why I thought things were a certain way, why I felt the Natal showing wasn't "for us" and a number of other things that kind of tipped me off to her possible Microsoft affiliation. Top it all off with well timed reactions to Kinectimals such as "I would so play that!" and "isn't she [the girl playing with the tiger cub] adorable," and I had formulated what I think is a fairly accurate picture of Microsoft's attempt at PR recovery after last night.
Part of this makes me wonder if Microsoft had always intended to give away a new 360 to the audience members, or if this was just simply a larger part in trying to calm the stormy seas of angry games journalism reacting to a lackluster beginning to such an important E3 for this industry. Tomorrow is when the fun really begins when Sony and Nintendo go back to back to either confirm or deny some crazy rumors we've been hearing around the Internet.
By now, you all have heard that attendees of Microsoft's press conference today each get a shiny new skinny 360, and no, we don't have them in our hands yet as they're apparently being shipped—we probably won't lay hands on them until we return from E3. But our feelings on what Microsoft showed today haven't changed; a shiny toy has not swayed our judgment, and those Kinectimals are still incredibly creepy.
After nearly a decade of attending press conferences at E3, I've come to expect surprises and events full of "oh shi-" moments, but today was actually rather lacking in both of those departments. Yes, a free Xbox was a surprise, but it seemed to be a footnote to an otherwise lackluster press conference.
Everything they presented today seemed to be something we already knew about: more sequels to games we've played three times before, a few exclusivity announcements, and Kinect. Maybe I'm jaded after all these years, but Microsoft really dropped the ball this time around. Though it wasn't all bad; Gears of War 3 looks gorgeous and full of color, which is something the series hasn't had much of over the past two iterations. In my day job, we all play Gears 2's Horde mode together; the new additions and locales of Gears 3 looks to be an incredibly worthwhile evolution to the series.
If I may put on my tinfoil hat for a moment, it seemed to me that Microsoft may have planted a few employees into the audience to measure a response to last night's event as well. Before the press conference started, a lady sitting next to me kept asking what I thought about the Natal event instead of agreeing or offering a competing view of the evening.
She kept asking me why I thought things were a certain way, why I felt the Natal showing wasn't "for us" and a number of other things that kind of tipped me off to her possible Microsoft affiliation. Top it all off with well timed reactions to Kinectimals such as "I would so play that!" and "isn't she [the girl playing with the tiger cub] adorable," and I had formulated what I think is a fairly accurate picture of Microsoft's attempt at PR recovery after last night.
Part of this makes me wonder if Microsoft had always intended to give away a new 360 to the audience members, or if this was just simply a larger part in trying to calm the stormy seas of angry games journalism reacting to a lackluster beginning to such an important E3 for this industry. Tomorrow is when the fun really begins when Sony and Nintendo go back to back to either confirm or deny some crazy rumors we've been hearing around the Internet.