Microsoft kicked off E3 2010 in unique fashion with their Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience featuring a Cirque du Soleil crew. Next they kicked things into high gear with their media briefing at the Wiltern Theatre. Ready, set…
The press conference began with a number of game trailers and real-time demos. First up was Treyarch with Call of Duty: Black Ops. It releases November 9. It was announced that Microsoft & Activision signed a multi-year agreement pertaining to Call of Duty downloadable content. Starting with Black Ops in 2010, all Call of Duty add-ons and map packs will launch first on Xbox 360 through 2012.
Next was Kojima Productions with Metal Gear Solid: Rising. It’s being described as a “sword action game” that’s based on the Japanese terms “zan-datzu” which means “to cut” and “to take.” A brief trailer revealed that the game will feature protagonist Raiden slicing and dicing his way past enemies (and watermelon).
Then Xbox’s major blockbusters hit the stage. Epic’s Cliffy B. demonstrated Gears of War 3 which is due out April 5. A new mode called “Beast” will be detailed soon. Then Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux showed off a trailer for Fable III; it releases October the 26th. And things rounded out with a new trailer for Halo: Reach, “the most ambitious game Bungie has ever created.” The trailer was a mix of gameplay footage and cinematic cut scenes. Reach drops September 14. Also thrown into the mix was a new game from Crytek codenamed Kingdoms; it looks like a game based on the move 300. (*Each game title is linked to their respective E3 trailers/gameplay footage.)
Kinect for Xbox 360, formally known as Project Natal, was detailed. “Kinect detects both movement and sound in very sophisticated ways.” An image revealed the guts of the motion-sensing device; it contains two 3D depth sensors, an RGB camera, multi-array mic, and a motorized tilt. “When you combine the power of Xbox 360, the services of Xbox Live, and the magic of Kinect, the result is not just a revolution for your games, but for all of your entertainment.” Enter the Kinect Hub.
To get your Xbox 360 to recognize you, simply stand in front of Kinect, wave your hand, and the software will sign you into Xbox Live and bring up your custom avatar. Wave your hand a second time and you’re brought to a “controller-free menu” designed for Kinect gestures. The Kinect Hub allows you to interact with your games, friends, Netflix, Zune, Facebook, last.fm, and also customize your avatar. Thanks to the built-in mic, voice control is also accessible. Their motto is “if you see it, just say it.” You must precede all commands with “Xbox.” So for example, if you say “Xbox, Zune” the Zune hub loads up and now you have access to Zune Video, and now, Zune Music. Over seven million songs are now available over Xbox Live with Zune Music integration. With controller-free entertainment that’s “natural and effortless” you can also play/pause movies with your voice and rewind/fast-forward them with your hands. To select a piece of content simply hover your hand over it for a couple seconds.
Video Kinect is a revamped video chat service available over Xbox Live. With Kinect, now you can participate in video chat without a headset. Video Kinect brings together your Xbox Live and Windows Live Messenger friends together in one space. While you’re video chatting with a friend you can also bring up video and image content (ranging from news, sports, TV, movies, music) thanks to integrated Bing support. Thanks to the built in motorized tilt, Kinect will also track your skeleton as you move so it can follow you and keep you in the frame. To end a chat–you guessed it–say “Xbox, end chat.”
Sorta out of nowhere came the announcement of an exclusive partnership between ESPN & Xbox 360. ESPN’s Josh Elliot & Trey Wingo spilt the details: over 3,500 live sporting events will be available on Xbox Live including coverage of college football & basketball, MLB, NBA, tennis, golf, and soccer. Out-of-market games and on-demand ESPN.com video clips are also available. “Most” of the offerings will be available in HD. Besides gaining access to the live events and highlights, ESPN on Xbox 360 throws in some social interaction. You can participate in community polling, game predictions, sports trivia, and even share with others which team you’re rooting for all while the game is going on in the foreground. Also you can access current scores and stats in the middle of watching a game. With Kinect support, the majority of these social features can be gestured or voice activated. Demoed at the conference was the “Xbox, replay” command; pretty slick. All Xbox Live Gold members can access ESPN on Xbox 360 free of charge, so long as you have an affiliated service provider.
Ready for some Kinect news? Good, because there’s more. Microsoft is readying four launch games for Kinect. Kinectimals allows players to adopt 40 animals and engage in over 30 unique activities with them. (A tot named Sarah demoed the game with a virtual tiger, and she’s the cutest little girl you’ve ever seen.) Kinect Sports from Rare is like Wii Sports but without the controller(s). It offers a wide range of game involving sports like soccer, bowling, track & field, ping pong, boxing, and beach volleyball. Kinect Joy Ride from Big Park Studios puts you behind the wheel in an avatar-based racing game. There are five gameplay modes, and one of them involves performing stunts. Kinect Adventures! features obstacle courses, riving rafting (called River Rush), and over 20 other “adventures”. A second player can join a game at any time and the activity automatically goes split screen. Kinect also takes pictures of you at various points of gameplay and reveals them to you at the end of an activity. Then you have the option to share them with friends over Facebook or other social networks.
Besides all those Microsoft-branded casual Kinect games, other third-party offerings were shown off. Ubisoft’s Your Shape: Fitness Evolved and MTV Games/Harmonix’s Dance Central will give you a workout. Dance includes 600 moves and 90 routines, some of which you’ll recognize from popular artists’ music videos. Some featured artists include Lady Gaga, No Doubt, and The Beastie Boys. Coming later in 2011 is a LucasArts Star Wars game that pits you against Storm Troopers and Darth Vader in a light saber extravaganza. Turn 10 plans on bringing a Kinect version of their popular Forza Motorsport game that’ll feature photo-realistic controller-free racing and the ability to check out your custom rides by literally walking around and inside them. Neat stuff. And wait for it–Kinetic launches in North America on November 4. Pricing details were not disclosed. Bummer, I know. (But according to a recent Gamestop leak, it’ll likely go for $150 stand-alone.)
The conference wrapped up neatly and rather quickly with the introduction of a brand new Xbox 360 console called…the new Xbox 360. It’s described as “sleeker, smaller, whisper quiet.” It packs a removable 250GB HDD and built-in WiFi 802.11n. Inside its got one large fan (instead of two) and a smaller 45 nanometer and integrated CPU and GPU. On the outside it’s extremely glossy and now features touch sensitive on/off and eject buttons just like the PS3. Ports-wise there’s 5 USB ports (two in the front), AV, HDMI, and optical audio, and a special “Kinect-ready” auxiliary port that allows Kinect hardware to draw all its power from the console. The power supply is smaller and much lighter, and the bundled black controller has new chrome accents to match the console. It remains at the $299.99 price point and it’s available for purchase today.
Here’s a couple other specifics worth mentioning. If you’re planning on moving from an old-gen Xbox 360 to the new slim model and want to transfer all your Xbox Live and game save data, you’re going to need the $20 Xbox 360 Hard Drive Data Migration Transfer Kit. There are no memory card slots on this slim beast. And there’s this: According to Gamespot, the production of current Xbox 360 Elite & Arcade consoles has been halted, and once they’ve been swiped off store shelves the new slim console will be the only Xbox 360 SKU on the market. Microsoft has plans to introduce a cheaper $199.99 Arcade-type slim model sometime in the future.
And that’s a wrap! Look in the gallery below for some official press shots of the new Xbox Slim-60.
