Microsoft’s E3 Announcement – LiveBlog

Do you think that an entire country between NY and Los Angeles was gonna keep up us from liveblogging? Guess again, check here for today’s announcements. 

First things first, though we couldn’t be there live, we’ll be following via live video feeds. Things will be getting started in about ten minutes. For now, we’ve got some music to get us ready for the event.

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Mon 01:03pm Chris NessMy summary: Some kick ass games, made more kick ass by Kinect Augmentation. Great features coming via Kinect, maybe it won’t just be a goofy gadget anymore. Re-releasing Halo CE? Meh. Gears of War 3, Ghost Recon, MW3? All look fun as hell. Also, there’s a Halo4 Nice. But the biggest thing is the exclusives and first available list that Microsoft has commanded. They’ve bought their way into the best position in every console gamer market, and it looks good too. Let’s not forget the Bing, UFC, YouTube and LiveTV integration. Your Xbox will be the most important thing in your Living room, if Microsoft has their way, and I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for joining us.  

Mon 01:01pm Agrippa

Well, that’s a wrap folks. They showed some great games, some awesome new Kinect features, and an exciting future for the living room, but still a somewhat boring Keynote. Hope WWDC is more exciting.

Mon 01:00pm Agrippa

Holy… hell. Showing a trailer. Master Chief just woke up… Halo 4. Holiday 2012. Honestly, I thought I was done with Halo, but once I heard Master Chief’s voice, it sparked me back up. We’ll see if they can sustain my interest till Holiday 2012.

Mon 12:57pm Chris Ness

Kinect Sports: For Bros.

Mon 12:56pm Alberto Lima

Dance Central 2 – now with multiplayer dancing.

Sidebar: i think I’m the only one awake at this point. Oh, and they’re demoing an Usher song you’re probably sick of by now.

Mon 12:53pm Agrippa

… Kinect Sports is looking kinda corny… this feels awkward. The Football game is so… awkward. They were getting too crunk on stage.

Mon 12:50pm Alberto Lima

Nicole Makila comes to the stage to talke about Kinect Sports Two

Mon 12:49pm Agrippa

These new Kinect features are awesome. Really excited for the avatar. You can use Kinect to make a digital version of yourself. They’ve shown detailed finger tracking, 3D image edits, scanning objects (yes, you can finally scan your Skateboard and use it). Kinect Fun Labs It goes live today if you have Xbox Live.

Mon 12:49pm Chris Ness

So your kids Avatar can have their stuffed animal?

Microsoft has really (like Alberto said) jumped into the kids market, and is ready to be there when they want to play real games too.

I’m impressed.

Kinect Lab is available today to all XBL members.

Mon 12:46pm Alberto Lima

Kinect Fun Labs looks pretty slick but seems a bit campy. Then again, Mario Paint actually happened.

Mon 12:46pm Chris Ness

3D drawing, by tracking fingers. That’s awesome.

Mon 12:41pm Alberto Lima

Sesame Street, Disney all getting in on Kinect? Nintendo has to absolutely own if they’re gonna be able to compete. The XBox is no longer just the realm of the hardcore gamer; they’re eying down Nintendo’s lunch.

Mon 12:40pm Agrippa

Sesame Street on Kinect. Looks so adorable. I know a few kids who would love this.

Mon 12:40pm Chris Ness

Kinect Sesame Street looks cute, like Disney did. Good job getting young kids addicted to gaming, Microsoft.

Mon 12:39pm Agrippa

Star Wars Kinect… not the best graphics I’ve seen, but it looks fun.

Mon 12:38pm Chris Ness

Kinect Star Wars!? 

Yes, Please.

Mon 12:37pm Alberto Lima

I bet you all feel real silly making fun of Star Wars Kid now that the upcoming Star Wars game is Star Wars Kinect.

Mon 12:37pm Agrippa

Star Wars on Kinect? Looks cool, but again, what’s with all the exerize? The guy demoing looks like he’s in shape and he’s breathing hard.

Mon 12:34pm Agrippa

Those kids were awkward. Kinect Disney actually looks fun, but I gotta tell ya, there would be no more fat children. End of an era I tell ya.

Mon 12:34pm Alberto Lima

Nerdgasm: Star Wars. Not LEGO Star Wars. Star Wars.

Mon 12:31pm Alberto Lima

Those kids look like an infomercial. Just sayin’.

Mon 12:30pm Chris Ness

Fable is Kinect powered. Cool. 

Mon 12:29pm Agrippa

Minecraft on Xbox 360 and Kinect in the winter. *yawn* Also Kinect Disney. Yay?

Mon 12:29pm Alberto Lima

Whoa! Kinect and Disney? Yeah, shit just got real.

Mon 12:27pm Alberto Lima

Fable’s use of the kinect is impressive. How I would look in my living room doing these motions however, would be the polar opposite of ‘impressive.’

Mon 12:27pm Agrippa

Yeah yeah, I love Fable, and it looks gorgeous. It really does. But for some reason, I’m not that excited. It looks so amazing though and they are controlling it with Kinect. Will it be Kinect only, or can we use controls? Those magic gestures look tiring. Fable is a looooong game.

Mon 12:26pm Alberto Lima

Fable will be using the kinect. You wanna steer that horse and carriage; you better get used to “riding” on the kinect.

Mon 12:25pm Alberto Lima

Fable: The Journey trailer is up.

XBox is really pulling out all the stops on their exclusives this year.

Mon 12:24pm Agrippa

Forza Motorsport 4 is on its way. Another amazing looking game. Damn, imagine if Xbox discs had the same capacity as PS3 discs. These guys are pushing the envelope.

Mon 12:24pm Alberto Lima

Forza 4; I can get with this.

Kanye on the trailer. “Power” seems very appropriate.

Mon 12:21pm Agrippa

Okay, so this isn’t a new Halo game, it’s a remastered version. I’m honestly kind of through with Halo. “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary”

Mon 12:21pm Alberto Lima

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. I’m sure there’s a bunch of you excited about this. (Sorry guys and gals, just not into Halo.)

Mon 12:17pm Alberto Lima

Mayhem, destruction, a ridonculously large killing machine. Sounds like a day in the office.

Mon 12:16pm Chris Ness

Yeah! Mech Suit!

Mon 12:14pm Alberto Lima

The set-up: Two years after Gears of War 2; we’re on a ship trying to get away. They think it’s safe.

Ice-T: “They ain’t safe.”

Mon 12:14pm Agrippa

Showing us multiplayer gameplay with Ice-T (also voices in the game).

Mon 12:14pm Chris Ness

Gears of War 3. Two years later.

Ice Tea is onstage playing co-op.

“Most polished Gears game yet” – It looks amazing.

Mon 12:13pm Alberto Lima

Gears of War… and Ice-T.

Mon 12:13pm Agrippa

Now showing us Gears of War 3:

Mon 12:11pm Agrippa

Oh damn. It was actually a UFC channel like ESPN for Xbox Live. Awesome.

Mon 12:11pm Chris Ness

UFC fights coming to Xbox. This is another great move.

Microsoft is set to own my living room.

Mon 12:09pm Agrippa

Dana White. Guess we’re about to see the next UFC game, and hopefully UFC broadcasts.

Mon 12:08pm Agrippa

It launches this fall. The 360 is taking this whole integration home. They are really carving out their spot in your living room.

Mon 12:07pm Agrippa

Live TV coming to Xbox 360. #Winning

Mon 12:07pm Chris Ness

Live TV? On my Xbox? Okay, that’s it. Good bye Cable. Again, voice searched.

Mon 12:06pm Agrippa

Bing is coming to Xbox. This is good. If it works as intelligently as it works on WP7, this will be huge. All voice activated.

Mon 12:05pm Chris Ness

Bing on Xbox? Searches all installed content providers. Netflix, Hulu, Games, Music, etc. All voice controlled.

This makes the Xbox a really powerful media center.

Mon 12:05pm Agrippa

Youtube is coming to Xbox Live. About damn time.

Mon 12:04pm Chris Ness

Speech commands seem like she’s taking it slow, to ensure it doesn’t miss a cue.
I imagine it could handle a little variation in voice, but they’re really not looking to mess this up.

Also, YouTube coming to XBL? Nice move, Microsoft!

Mon 12:02pm Agrippa

Oh man, I wish you guys could see this. This is so far the best Kinect integration I’ve seen. I have to find a clip of this somewhere. It allows you to pick weapons by voice and gesture, and you can also control and fire using gestures. “All future games in the Tom Clancy franchise, will utilize Kinect.”

Mon 12:02pm Chris Ness

Holy fancy gaming, Batman.
Fully customizable weapons in Ghost Recon.

All future Tom Clancy Ghost Recon titles will use Kinect.

Below is a demonstration of the weapon customization, being used via Kinect.

Mon 11:59am Agrippa

Ubisoft. Ghost Recon looks amazing right now. They are mentioning Kinect again. Looks like it uses both gestures and voice commands. Win!

Mon 11:58am Chris Ness

Kinect works with Mass Effect 3. Takes voice cues, gives you a bit of tactical control as well.

Mon 11:57am Agrippa

They are demoing ME3 right now and showing the voice integration. Using voice commands to make decisions and determine dialog. Not bad.

Mon 11:54am Alberto Lima

Switching feed, apparently mine was lagging by about 5 minutes.

Mon 11:54am Agrippa

Here’s the Mass Effect 3 trailer:

Mon 11:53am Agrippa

Mass Effect 3 will support Kinect. Using voice recognition. Damn. I still haven’t played ME2 but I love the series.

Mon 11:52am Alberto Lima

This new Tomb Raider looks amazing. There seems to be genuine action/suspense in the game-play so far. It’s Resident Evil (original one) level suspense going on. Excellent.

Mon 11:51am Agrippa

Madden, Tiger Woods PGA, FIFA and one other unannounced games will get Kinect support. Think: calling audibles, and special gestures.

Mon 11:51am Chris Ness

Tomb Raider world. Looks good.  4 EA games to utilize Kinect within a year.

Mon 11:50am Agrippa

The Tomb Raider reboot looks amazing and will launch in the fall. EA president is on stage now. Talking about EA Sports.

Mon 11:49am Agrippa

Embedding that video may have slowed the page for you guys. Next time I’ll just post links.

Mon 11:49am Steven Callas

Real fake rumor: Microsoft is pushing a firmware update for Xbox 360 consoles to change the default power ring color from green to red.

Mon 11:47am Agrippa

Trailer:

Mon 11:47am Alberto Lima

Here’s what to expect: Games, Kinect, and a new way to “experience” TV? Interesting to see what that will be.

First up: Tomb Raider on XBox 360. We’re gonna find out how Laura Croft became the tomb raider we know and love.

Mon 11:47am Agrippa

Tomb Raider looks amazing. I haven’t been looking forward to a Tomb Raider title since maybe the first or second game.

Mon 11:46am Chris Ness

Lookin’ good, Ms Croft

Mon 11:43am Alberto Lima

Robert Bowling and Glen Schofield would REALLY like you to pick up CoD: MW3 on Nov. 8th. I will be happy to oblige.

Mon 11:40am Alberto Lima

Great animation and wave physics on this Call of Duty. Definitely looks impressive; this is how you do a teaser!

Mon 11:40am Chris Ness

There’s a whole lot of destruction going on here. Not sure how it’s rendered, but it looks smooth.

Mon 11:38am Alberto Lima

Just fast forwarded through a couple of action shots. “In the interest of time.”

Mon 11:37am Alberto Lima

So far game MW3 looks good. We’re getting a preview of the SEAL Team infiltrating a Russian sub. Headshot!

Mon 11:33am Alberto Lima

MS is starting off with a bang. Just teased us with some CoD: MW3. We’re getting in-game footage.

Mon 11:32am Chris Ness

Controller disconnect issue? Was that to prove this is gameplay?

Mon 11:30am Alberto Lima

We’re about to start. Robo-lady just said so.