Microsoft's Press Conference held few surprises of any real excitement, but what it did have was a case as why the Xbox 360 and to a lesser extent the PC, will offer the most well rounded library of games this holiday season. Only one game, Resident Evil 5, will not come out this year. Microsoft's line-up is extremely impressive. One almost has to wonder if there are not too many games this holiday season, around 20 must have titles are coming out for the Xbox 360. Who has time to play all of those?
Microsoft is clearly interested in copying some of the Wii's success. With the announcement of a family-oriented board game, four of these new controllers will come packed in with the game for the price of any other 360 title. The controller, which looks like a remote,features a giant red button at the top, with the standard 360 controller butttons vertically aligned underneath. I may have missed it, but no mention was made whether this controller was a motion sensing or not. By having this controller packed in with software and only havving one game at present that supports these controllers, all Microsoft has done is tell the world that Nintendo's formula works better. If they were serious about competing with the Wii, the games and controllers would be packed in with all 360's from here on, and all games coming out this fall would be required to support it. This is too little, too late.
Does Microsoft need to mirror the Wii's success? Obviously, Microsoft is doing extremely well this generation and I believe that success will continue to grow. There was alot of support shown from Japanese publishers with exclusive games. While this helps them compete with the PS3, it will also help them to sell more systems in Japan. There are now alot of compelling reasons for Japanese gamers to invest in a 360. Especially if there's a price advantage...
And that was disappointing. No price drop for any model of the 360 was announced at E3. A new Halo 3 themed Xbox 360 will be launched in time with Halo 3. Microsoft seems to think that gamer's hunger for Halo 3 will drive 360 sales. This may well be true to a point, but I can't help thinking with gamers reaction to the Halo 3 beta that was out a while ago, whether the Halo series is past it's prime. A price drop is needed for the 360 if Microsoft really wants to mop the floor with the PS3.
Although nothing unexpected was shown, there is more and more support for the Games for Windows platform Microsoft has created with Vista. Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 will be huge games, both demos were jawdroppingly impressive. It's nice to see more and more games with a console flavour coming to the PC, but it makes me wonder....between the PC and the Xbox 360 there were only two or three exclusive games going either way. Microsoft has, in a sense, started competeing with itself. If you have a PC capable of running all of these games, there is no compelling reason to pick up a 360. If you have a 360, there is no compelling reason to upgrade your PC. Perhaps this isn't as big a deal as I think it is, but the experience on the PC and the 360n are becoming so close, one has to be concerned.
Microsoft's and Xbox Live offerings seem to have a little more variety, and a few console games will add to the flavour of Xbox Live Arcade. Problem is, many of the games camee out of compilations last generation. There are enough original titles to hold interest in Xbox Live over the next few months. Perhaps Xbox Live Arcade has been downplayed a bit in order not to overshadow the console's disc releases for the fall. This would make sense.
It was confirmed that all footage from the previously released GTA IV trailers were Xbox 360 footage, which really satiates alot of concern of how the game will run on the 360. Resident Evil 5 was a nice surprise and Call of Duty 4 was...unbelievable. Let me make this clear: I have had no interest in the Call of Duty franchise up to this point, but I really, really want to play this game. It is for the first time, what I consider, what this generation can do that the previous couldn't. And I'm not just talking about graphics. Be sure to check out all you can on this game.
Overall, Microsoft's E3 press conference gave me the impression that Microsoft is doing everything it can to fight the good fight, and making sound decisions that makes the 360 a safe investment, if not the best investment for this generation. Yet the underwhelming new controller and time spent demoing some unspectacular games like the new Viva Pinata Party Game and Madden 08, give the impression that Microsoft isn't confident about what direction they want to take this platform. They seem to be doing absolutely everything...but with no real focus. If I was a shareholder I would be very concerned. As a person who plays games I am very impressed with Microsoft's game line up for the fall, I doubt Sony can match it and I know Nintendo won't. I'd say that their press conference this year was a success, and the chinks in Microsoft's armor don't warrant any immediate concern to gamers. If you own an Xbox 360, or even a Vista enabled PC, this going to be a great year.
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