E3 2010: Microsoft Keynote

Microsoft kicked of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010 today with heavy emphasis on their new “Kinect” control scheme, Kinect is the official name of the codenamed project natal.

Call of Duty Black Ops

Strangely the conference did not kick off with a Microsoft game or even a game exclusive to the 360, an all new Call of Duty: BlackOps trailer was shown instead, followed by an in game demo of Treyarch’s upcoming FPS by Mark Lamia. Some tight tunnel gameplay was shown with set piece moments around every corner, Lamia gave a comical reaction of surprise at these moments pretending he had never seen them before (yeah right!). The demo blacked out and moved on to an outdoor jungle section, possibly Vietnam where the objective was to capture and pilot a Hind helicopter, yes I did say pilot. It seems like the chopper piloting section is fully playable with a two man cockpit on display, the gameplay looks a little scripted but that’s what Call of Duty is all about, creating epic moments.

Hit the jump for more.

After the demonstration senior vice president Don Mattrick stepped out to inform us that once again Microsoft would be cornering the Call of Duty DLC market  by having all map packs and game add-ons available first on 360, apparently PS3 owners should lay waste to their consoles now and give in to the 360 for a better COD experience.

Mattrick went on to explain that project natal now has an official name; Kinect.

Metal Gear Rising

Kojima was then rolled out like a prize pony a’la E3 2009, Kojima has been brushing up on his English explaining that he was excited to make something for the 360 project (Kinect) before handing down the reigns to Metal Gear Rising’s producer Shigenobu Matsuyama. Matsuyama described Rising as a sword action game of the like that has never been seen before queuing a first look at some of the slice and dice game play.

The video shows some sort of man beast Gekko moving through a corridor before Raiden comes in and slices him whilst the slogans “cut”, “cut at will” and “cut what you will” coming up on screen, one after the other. It seems everything in the game world can be sliced and diced, removing supports will bring buildings down whilst slicing enemies produces splashes of blood. Its important to note that the sword can be used from a number of angles slicing enemies up into bits of your choosing. No Kinect interaction was shown, its unclear how much Kinect if at all will be used in the final game.

Corporate Vice President Phill Spencer comes out to tell us how great the 360 is at introducing gaming characters such as the Master Chief to mainstream audiences…

Gears of War 3

Cliffy B arrives to introduce a 4 player co-op session of the Gears of War3 campaign. The session heavily features the new mutated lambent locusts which take on a number of forms with flailing tentacles and the ability to shoot out what looks like emulsion. Some new gameplay features such as bag and tag, which involves grabbing an opponent, sticking them with a grenade and then throwing them into another opponent are included. Other features include the ability to charge and spear enemies with an all new assault rifle. The ability to switch weapons with squad mates is also featured with Marcus receiving the classic lancer from Anya. At one point a large mutated Locust throws a car at Dom enabling the COG to use the car as cover before the Locust follows up and destroys the cover, it seems like dynamic cover will be available in GoW3 leaving no place to hide.

The new cover system looks good, the graphics seem improved with modified lighting and new enemies add mix the gameplay up.

Before Cliffy B leaves the stage he informs the audience that an all new mode called “Beast” is available on the show floor.

Fable III

Every ones favourite designer Peter Molyneux stepped out to tell us all about Fable III informing us of all the wonderful things we can get up to in Albion before a short trailer is shown.

The trailer tells a tale of revolution in a quest to save Albion.. again. We can expect choices, interaction with AI and a dog.

Codename Kingdoms

Apparently Crytek are a new Microsoft partner bringing the exclusive Codename Kingdoms to the 360. The game looks like it will take place in the time of the Roman empire with adult themes and the possibility of gladiatorial combat, not much is known at this point.

Halo Reach

Not much is known about Reach’s campaign mode but that’s about to change, Bungies creative director Marcuss Lehdo comes out to unveil the world premier of the campaign with an excerpt of the game. The video shows the Covenant attacking a UNSC base with drop ships whilst a multi coloured Spartan team assault from a beach, multiple weapons are used through out the excerpt including the futuristic looking rifle found in the Reach beta and an all new grenade launcher. The gameplay progresses into the UNSC base where we see a nice third person melee assassination on a Covenant Elite before the Spartans are instructed to “get to the Saber”. The Saber is a space shuttle which launches like the space shuttles NASA launch, the biggest surprise is that once in space the shuttle can be controlled for some space combat. It seems like air to air combat is the way to go at E3 2010.

Microsofts Kinect

Kinect

The Reach demo abruptly ends with Corporate Vice President of Xbox Live, Marc Whitten making his entrance. Marc tells us how the 360 has evolved into a multimedia device before introducing “Kinect”. Kinect can track movement and take voice commands making it easier for less tech savy users to have fun with the 360. A demo of Kinect is given, hand gestures are used to login whilst a your hand can also work like a pointer to pinpoint services on the screen. Simple voice commands such as “xbox pause” will pause the current media playing making the whole experience controller free.

This feature seems to be the most promising opening up a Minority Report style of interaction for users.

Video Kinect

Video Kinect allows video chats to take place on the 360 with windows  and xbox live friends, we are treated to a cheesy video chat between Laura and her twin sister Kristen. Video Kinect is more than just a web cam though, it allows users to watch movies, tv, news and listen to music together offering something unique.

ESPN for 360

ESPN

Much like the Sky player in the UK, ESPN is coming to the 360 in the USA at least. ESPN on the 360 will be displayed in HD and is apparently free for gold members. The service will feature in game trivia with users joining in to take each other on, live pause and rewind is also included making the sky player look like a 1950 stream of the world cup.

Scores and highlights from other sporting events can be configured to show up with the ability to cut to the action without ever leaving the live game and of course everything is controlled though Kinect.

Kinect Games

Creative Director for Kinect Kudo Tsinota comes on stage to talk up some of the upcoming Kinect titles which have casual gamer written all over them.

Kinectimals

An animal petting game a little like the Eye Pet on the PS3, the cheap tactic of using an adorable little girl is used to make women’s hearts everywhere melt. There are 40 unique animals with 30 activities such as hide and seek, skipping and petting.

A must have for kids and broody women.

Kinect Sports

Did any one say Wii sports? It seems every one needs their own sports party game and this is Kinects. The game uses players avatars and includes activities such as running, football, bowling, table tennis, boxing, long jump, and volley ball. We are treated to the running on the spot Olympics with the 200 meter hurdles.

Kinect Joy Ride

A car game where air is the steering wheel, the game looks fun with the ability to drift, perform stunts in the air and boost. Its unclear if everything is commanded through movement or if vocal commands such as “boost!” will add some speed and boost cars forward.

Kinect Adventures

A game designed to get players off the couch dodging incoming obstacles and collecting some form of tokens by making obscure body movements. Adventures also shows  off a water rafting mode where players jockey left and right to move the raft whilst jumping to hoist the raft over obstacles. Adventures looks like a fun party game for players of all skill with a promised line up of 20 mini games. Adventures also takes pictures throughout gameplay to ensure those embarrassing moments are never lost

Your Shape – Fitness Evolved

Next up to push Kinect is Ubisofts “Your Shape”, this is the 360’s answer to Wii fit. The fitness programme tracks everything including players clothing and features menus that follow users to ensure they are always in reach.  Your Shape works like a real life gym allowing players to choose between a personal training session, taking classes such as yoga and using gym equipment in a free roam mode. All the usual virtual fitness features are here including a feedback system to ensure workouts are correct to form and competitive games to make workouts “fun”.

Harmonix – Dance Central

Harmonix provided the laughs of the conference with Dance Central. The dance simulator allows for full body dancing creating the opportunity for authentic move by move choreography . The dance simulator is for players of all skill and looks like a strong dose of alcohol is required, Dance Central will feature songs from artists such as Lady Gaga and the Beasty Boys with further songs available via download. If you’re serious about your dancing  or you enjoy party games then Dance Central is for you.

Star Wars

Whats a motion controller without a Star Wars game? Well little was given away in the next demo, cartoon like graphics depicted a jedi of some sort deflecting blaster bolts back at storm troopers. At this point it seems like traditional movement is not available with the game moving on via a force glide, the demo is capped off with  Darth Vader landing to tease a lightsaber battle.

Forza

Perhaps in an effort to restore hardcore gamers faith Bill Giese and Dan Greenawalt of turn 10 studios are brought out to show us what Kinect means for Forza Motorsport.

The Ferrari 458 is shown off  and with no peripheral to hang on to, Dan Greenawalt simply grasps at the air in the pass challenge mode where your tasked to drive past slower AI controlled cars. Kinect allows players to move their head to see what’s going on around them whilst offering fun intuitive gameplay. A promising feature is one that lets players inspect cars by walking up to and around them, certain sections such as the engine can be inspected closely by activating an info button that activates a close look cut scene.

Cars can be walked into and sat in with fully detailed interiors giving gamers an opportunity to sit at the wheel of some of the worlds top cars.

New 360 Compared to Old

To cap off the show an all new 360 model is revealed. The new model is smaller and quieter than any 360 currently on the market and will come packed with a 250 gigabyte hard drive and WiFi 802.11N. The new 360 is shipping to retailers today with every one at the conference receiving the new hardware for free (Ed- US only! Figures, right?). The New 360 is a sleek black to match the Kinect and will cost $299, the Elite will be bumped down to $249 whilst the arcade will be lowered to $149.

Kinect bundles are expected but no official news as of yet.