E3 2011: Microsoft’s Presser, Condensed

IF YOU’RE NOT INTERESTED in the play-by-play of the whole Microsoft press conference below, here’s the quick version of what they showed today:

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 gameplay
  • New Tomb Raider game
  • Four EA Sports games will support Kinect: Madden, Tiger, FIFA and one more TBA.
  • Mass Effect 3 demo. Voice commands via Kinect shown.
  • New Tom Clancy franchise: Future Warrior. Supports Kinect. Cool “gunsmith” feature lets you complete disassemble weapons and build new ones.
  • Xbox Live: YouTube and Bing integration on the way.
  • Ultimate Fighting game.
  • Gears of War 3 demo with Cliffy B and Ice-T.
  • Trailer for new Crytek game called Ryse, featuring gladiatorial combat in Rome.
  • Halo: Anniversary, an HD remake of the first game with online and co-op support.
  • Forza Motorsport 4 demo.
  • Peter Molyneux shows off Fable: The Journey, with Kinect support.
  • Kinect stuff: Minecraft with Kinect is coming; Kinect Disneyland Adventures (sort of a theme-park explorer); Kinect Star Wars; Tim Schafer demos Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster; some stuff about “finger tracking,” Kinect Sports, Season 2; Harmonix demos Dance Central 2.
  • Halo 4 trailer, “the dawn of a new trilogy for Xbox 360,” holiday 2012.

So in short, an extremely underwhelming showing. A lot of blather about Kinect, and a lot of games with 3 or 4 in the title.