Microsoft

With E3 kicking off today, Microsoft is the first of the big three to hold their keynote. They began last night with their Cirque du Soleil disaster where they faked Kinect gameplay and dressed up the audience in plastic ponchos with shoulder-pads. So how did it go?

Kinect:

Project Natal is officially named Kinect – a cross between Kinetic + Connect. Many Kinect games were shown and we are left with the impression that Kinect is more for the casual fan. I’ll discuss Kinect in detail in my upcoming article about the 360S.

ESPN:

An ESPN partnership to deliver on-demand and streaming sporting events over Xbox Live. Apparently free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Can’t wait to hear more details and which sports are included. Would love to see some Tennis, for example.

New Xbox 360 S:

A new Xbox 360 Slim announced. I have a full article coming out to discuss the new 360S and trust me, you wont want to miss it. Here are the details we know so far:

* Smaller form-factor, quieter fans
* 250GB hard drive
* 45 nanometer integrated CPU and GPU
* Five USB slots: two in front, three in back
* Touch sensitive buttons for on/off and eject
* 802.11 N Wi-Fi, optical audio out

Metal Gear Solid Rising:

Metal Gear with swords, looks like an incredibly fun ‘hardcore’ motion game! Fantastic slow-motion animation, beautiful art style, and another Metal Gear. One of my top-three games of E3 so far.

Call of Duty:

Timed exclusivity for the Call of Duty series for the Xbox 360. Bad news for Sony since this is one of the best selling mutiplayer games in history. I wonder how much they paid?

Need For Speed Hot Pursuit: Race:

A new Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. This one looks to go back to its roots as a true cops vs. bandit car chases. Absolutely loved the original so can’t wait to see how the HD treatment looks on Hot Pursuit.

Child of Eden:

Looks like a motion control REZ HD! I admit to never playing this game except for the demo on Xbox Live but have always wanted to. The PS2 version became a rare collectible and sells for $50-$80. Looks like Child of Eden will be my first.

Gears of War 3/ Bulletstorm:

Another version of Gears of War is on the way, and it looks goregous. Also from Epic Games is Bulletstorm, a Gears like FPS game with awe inspiring graphics. I mainly want to see if Host-Advantage is finally fixed for GoW3. Bulletstorm look like it might be a pure shooter designed for fun. Will keep an eye on these.