Hello everyone, as you may be aware the Microsoft Press Conference starts in 5 minutes. I will be updating this post Live Blog-style with what happens. I'm watching it on Spike TV, with IGN and Gamespot open on my desktop for backup.
12:29 - Heeeeeere we go, Spike TV has started it's coverage, and the conference is beginning!
12:32 - Just saw a trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops, with the head of Treyarch studios coming to the stage for a live demo.
The demo looks like it takes place in Vietnam, travelling through some of the infamous tunnels. Definitely Vietnam, a Vietnamese soldier just popped out and stabbed one of the soldiers. Now they are stealing a helicopter, looks like you will get to pilot the helicopter yourself in this game. There sure is a lot of texture pop-in in this demo, anyone else seeing this?
12:37 - Demo has ended, now Don Matrick comes out on the stage. Black Ops will release on November 9, with the map packs being a timed exclusive on CoD games for 2010, 2011, and 2012. I smell that he's about to talk about Kinect (aka "Natal"). I'm right on the money, and how he introduces Hideo Kojima!
12:40 - Hideo Kojima comes out on stage! They are obviously talking about MGS: Rising, hopefully we will see some gameplay. A very cool-looking trailer is being shown for the game, with this being very obviously rendered. Raiden drops down behind a walking/living mech (excuse my lack of MG knowledge), and tears out it's innards. More gameplay, using a lot of sword. Apparently this is a Kinect game now, as it was saying "cut freely". Now Raiden is cutting watermelons.
12:45 - Halo: Reach, Fable III, and Crackdown 2 will all be shown today, as well as Kinect obviously. Everything shown today is Xbox 360 exclusive.
12:47 - Cliff Blezinski comes out on stage to demo Gears of War 3. There is 4-player co-op. Marcus has just pulled a cool stabbing move with the lancer. You can now hand each other weapons Left 4 Dead-style. A lambent enemy has multiple tentacles and a flamethrower apparently. The demo has now ended. There will be a new mode called "Beast" on the show floor.
12:52 - Peter Moleyneux comes to the stage, to obviously talk about Fable III. Fable III ships on October 26. Trailer for the game is being shown. It looks like Albion will be going through a Revolutionary war-ish era this time.
12:54 - Talking about independent developers. Exclusive title for Xbox 360 from MS's newest partner. There is a trailer being shown. The partner is Crytek! The game is called "Codename Kingdoms".
12:56 - Now they are talking about Halo, specifically Halo: Reach. Bungie creative director being introduced on stage. World premiere of the campaign today. Game ships in September, now there is a trailer. The trailer has a bit of gameplay mixed in, it looks very nice. The player just performed a cool combat-knife stab on an Elite. Now the player got into a rocket and took off into space. Apparently you get to take control of the ship it looks like!
1:05 - Xbox Live corporate VP comes out. He is here to talk about Kinect more, specifically the hardware. A diagram of it is being shown. Kinect is now being demonstrated, you can sign in just by waving at the camera. You can navigate movies controller-less. He just paused the movie by saying "Xbox pause".
1:08 - Kinect comes to every country where Xbox 360 is sold. Xbox Live coming to Windows Phone 7. Looking at some "new experiences". Kinect includes video chat. Video chatting with someone from Texas now. The video is 60FPS on both ends! That is impresive! Kinect tracks your movement, this is headtracking, much like that technology Tommy Lee figured out back on the Wii. Nintendo missed out on picking that one up!
1:14 - A trailer is being shown, something about ESPN. It looks like sports and ESPN Sports Center coming to Xbox 360! Sports Center is partnering with Xbox to bring sports to XBL! I think I might actually be safe in saying "It's over, TV is finished!" You can use Kinect to navigate through different games. This is good for sports fanatics I must say. I am not one myself, but I know this is probably big news for them. Next thing I know my father may want an Xbox 360. Being able to access stats and scores without stopping watching the game! This is free for Xbox Live gold members.
1:20 - "Ever wonder what the bottom of an Avatar's shoe looks like?" guy comes out on stage. He's here to introduce 6 Kinect games available this holiday. First up is Kinectimals. A girl is playing with a baby tiger named "Skittles". Why do I get the feeling this is the "Milo" replacement? There are 40 animals with 30 activities.
1:25 - Kinect sports is next, done by Rare! Avatar sports obviously. Now they are running Track & Field. Kinect sports has Soccer, Bowling, Track, Ping Pong, Boxing, and Volleyball.
1:28 - Kinect Joyride, a kart racer for Kinect. If anyone remembers, this was shown last year as a free XBLA game, obviously it's been reworked. It has 5 gameplay modes.
1:30 - Kinect Adventures, "uses your entire body to play". Standing on a board on a track where you have to collect objects and avoid obstacles. Joining in mid-game is possible, kind of a cool feature. The next adventure mode is River rafting.
1:35 - Ubisoft showing some kind of Kinect trailer. Game is "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved", which is a Kinect exclusive. Ubisoft manager comes out. They're doing some various exercises. The demo is over now.
1:43 - Harmonix is showing a game called "Dance Central". As the title implies, it's a Kinect dancing game.
1:48 - Kinect will launch this holiday, starting in North America, on November 4. There will be 15 launch titles. Kinect is compatible with all the Xbox 360s.
1:49 - Star Wars for Kinect. There is lightsaber wielding action. It looks like sort of an arcade shooter with lightsabers, where you stand there and the screen moves around you. You can also use force powers in this game. You can fight Vader 1 on 1 with a lightsaber.
1:51 - Forza Motorsport speakers now. It looks like there will be a Forza for Kinect. The game is running at 60FPS, which is very nice. Now a trailer for the game is being shown. You can walk up to and around the car and look at it closely. The demonstrator is looking at a Ferrari up close.
1:56 - Xbox 360 slim is unveiled, just like the leaked images last night showed. It has a 250GB HDD, built-in Wi-Fi. Ships today, will be available later this week. The audience gets them for free!
2:00 - Conference is over now.
I must say, I am dissapoint. They didn't seem to spend much time talking about anything other than Kinect.
