E3 2012: Microsoft
Another E3 is upon us and I’ll try to give a little bit of coverage here on the site. Considering there is an overload of information I’ll spare you with the details and just show you some of the things that are a highlight for me from each press conference.
Microsoft was up first this morning without many surprises. On the hardware side they spent a lot of time selling the Xbox360 as a media player and showing off many different types of integration. From different sports channels like NHL Game Center, better Kinect voice control, better media player and Internet Explorer.
Out of all of the same-old-same-old from last year was a bit of details how Windows 8 will connect with Xbox via “Xbox Smartglass”, which essentially links up what is happening on your TV screen with your Windows tablet and phone. Nothing out of everything that was shown in this respect is a must have and more of a neat feature if you happen to own a Windows 8 device. Personally, if I’m watching a Movie, I’m not fiddling with my tablet to look up the cast or tweet my friends.., I’m watching a movie. Perhaps I’m just out of touch with current day society and don’t share a common case of Attention Deficit Disorder.
I digress… On the software side we saw a lot of old IP’s and one new one. Halo 4 opened the show with a game play demo and it looked great. A new Forza game (which looked really nice) and the expected fitness and dance game. At one point Usher game out and someone made a bad “ushering in” pun. Thankfully I had buffered time in the stream to cut ahead.
The new Tomb Raider looks really good. It looks dark and gritty and has some really fun game play mechanics. They played a demo for us and it simply looks like a lot of fun. It reminds me a lot like Uncharted… or does Uncharted just remind me of Tomb Raider? Check out the video and see for yourself. This is definitely a return to form for Lara Croft.
My favourite part of the briefing had to be the South Park trailer. I’ve been excited about this since I heard it was announced and it looks like a lot of attention and care was taken with the brand. With creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone working closely with Obsidian it looks just like the TV show and I can’t wait to get my hands on this. It won’t be the summer blockbuster of video games but it just might be the most fun.
Splinter Cell is probably the pleasant surprise of the show. Even though I haven’t played a Splinter Cell game in awhile it looks very exciting. The gameplay has been sped up from past Splinter Cell games with the “killing in motion” mechanic of targeting enemies and taking them down quickly. Ubisoft is really top notch when it comes to animations and scenery as well so I think this might be the game to play if you’re a fan of stealth games. The only thing I don’t quite like is the mindless shoot-everything while covering behind a mid sized wall.