Kinect controller and Xbox 360 250GB show together.
Microsoft announced Sunday night at a pre-E3 event in Los Angeles that the name of its long-awaited camera-based motion-control system-known as "Project Natal" since it was unveiled at E3 last year-is now officially Kinect.
However, it wasn't until the game giant's E3 press conference on Monday that the world finally got a good glimpse of some of the games with which this innovative interface will be used. Chief among them: a fitness game from ubisoft called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, a dance game from Harmonix dubbed Dance Central, Kinect Sports from Microsoft Game Studios, and a new Forza racing game from Turn 10.
Also on stage was a demonstration of Microsoft's flagship game this fall, Halo: Reach, which will apparently include space combat-a first for the franchise-as well as clips of Xbox 360 exclusives Gears of War 3 and Fable 3. Third-party titles shown included Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and a new Xbox-exclusive Crytek project tentatively dubbed Kingdoms.
The presser wrapped with the unveiling of a revamped Xbox console called the Xbox 360 250GB that will go on sale this week. It's smaller, quieter, offers 250GB of storage, and has built-in Wireless-N, all for $299-the current price of the Xbox 360 Elite.
I had a chance to chat with Xbox Canada's Craig Flannagan shortly after Microsoft's press conference concluded.
So, the big news is clearly Kinect. Tell us what it is and what's behind the name.
What it's about is opening up gaming to new audiences by breaking down the barriers. There's nothing between you and your game now, and it really is transforming fun. The name is playful; it can play on kinship, it can play on connect. That's what it's about, making social connections and having fun. Hanging out with friends and family, whether it be in the living room or over Xbox Live. That's what we wanted to do here: Open gaming to everyone.
What will people do with Kinect? Microsoft showed demos of games like Kinect Adventures, Kinectimals, and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, as well as some media interface possibilities.
We showed a number of games on stage today and it really did span the gamut. You've got everything from dance and fitness right through to sports games with Kinect Sports, driving games with Kinect Joy Ride, and an amazing game that I think will be one of my favourites called Kinect Adventures which offers over 20 games to play and allows you to post all of your adventures for family and friends to see on Facebook.
But there was more than games. We talked about how your Xbox dashboard is going to change and how you can interact with your entertainment. Now you can step in front of your console and you're able to control your Xbox experience with your body. You can tab to the left, tab to the right, move and select things just with your hand or voice. That's one of the things we showed on stage. You can step in front of your Xbox and say "Xbox play" and you're watching a movie.
It's very cool, and that's what we wanted to get to; something that was so accessible that we could invite a whole new group of people to come in and experience gaming who may not have done so otherwise.
Microsoft seems to be going out of its way to say that controller-based gaming will not suffer at the hands of Kinect. Do you anticipate Kinect will simply attract new players to the Xbox, or will core gamers see something of interest as well? A Kinect game based on Star Wars and one using the Forza license were shown. How will those work?
I see core gamers flocking to Star Wars. The collective gasp that you could here in the audience when they saw you could not only use a lightsaber but also the Force to take down your enemies… it will let you experience Star Wars in a whole new way.
And Turn 10 showed us a bit of Forza. Now you can explore cars like you never could before. You can get as close to the cars as you've ever been able to, you can get inside the Ferrari 458.
But I actually think core gamers are going to take quite a liking to a lot of the other Kinect games. There was a lot of excitement in the audience for Dance Central. I think there will be a lot of experiences for core gamers. I think some of them will be things that they have traditionally loved, and I think they're going to introduce themselves to some new games as well.
You've announced a Kinect launch date of November 4th…
Yes, November 4th in Canada.
And Microsoft has stated that there will be 15 Kinect games available at launch. But you haven't touched on price yet?
That is correct.
Does it make sense to offer the Kinect as a bundle, perhaps with the newly announced Xbox 360 250GB, which seems to match Kinect's glossy black aesthetic? Or with a free game, like Nintendo did with Wii Sports?
We'll be sharing more details on a lot of these things as we get closer to the holiday. Even in the next couple of weeks I think you can expect to hear more.
But you did mention something else, which is the new Xbox 360 250GB, which we announced today. It's sleeker, it's smaller, it's whisper quiet. It's got built-in Wireless-N, so it's the fastest wireless console on the market. And the crazy part is that we announced it today and it ships to Canadian retailers today.
Is it a replacement for the Xbox 360 Elite?
Actually, no. Effective immediately, the Xbox 360 Elite and Xbox 360 Arcade will enjoy a fun new price. You can go out and get your Xbox 360 Arcade and Xbox 360 Elite for $149 and $249 [respectively] The Xbox 360 250GB is $299. And they-along with every other Xbox 360 we've sold-are all 100 per cent Kinect-ready. That's some really exciting news.
Let's talk about the first-party games Microsoft showed, games like Gears of War 3, Fable 3, and Halo: Reach. The space combat shown in Reach generated quite a reaction…
You know, it was a great way to start E3. Halo: Reach will be the biggest game of 2010, and the audience reaction was crazy. And yes, one of the things that we did show in the gameplay was-if you'll pardon the pun-stellar combat. That was something that was very well received. I think you'll be able to experience Halo in a whole new way; Halo from the beginning. You can go and explore the story that happened on the planet Reach and get to see what Noble team [ Reach's protagonists]and Reach are all about.
Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski came on and showed us Gears of War 3, which comes out in 2011 and looks absolutely phenomenal. He showed us four-player co-op and a lot of really cool innovations that the studio has been working on. The game just looks amazing. I mean, it looked awesome.
And then, of course, Peter Molyneux came on. He's always a favourite. He talked about Fable 3. It takes place five decades after Fable 2. The son or daughter of your hero from the second game gets to carry on the story.
From a more traditional Xbox game perspective, we're having an amazing show here.
At the beginning of the event there was brief bit on a mysterious new Xbox 360 game from Crytek called Kingdoms…
We gave a little bit of a snapshot of Kingdoms. I can't wait to be able to share more details on that one. I think it will be something that will definitely get the core salivating. It's a beautiful looking game.
A couple of other major third-party titles that Microsoft showed were Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Call of Duty: Black Ops. What can you tell me about those?
So Metal Gear Solid: Rising was a great demonstration of what its studio [Kojima Productions]is known for, which is innovating and making incredible games. It looks great. We got to see a little bit of Zan-Datsu, which is a gameplay style based on cutting and removing. There were a lot of flashes going on onscreen. It was quite an experience they had for us there.
Call of Duty: Black Ops looks beautiful. But there is an exclusive twist to Black Ops, and Call of Duty with Activision going forward: In 2010, 2011, and 2012, the first place you'll be able to play downloadable content is on Xbox 360. So if you're a Call of Duty Gamer Xbox 360 is your platform.
Microsoft also talked media content, specifically a deal with ESPN to provide access to some 3,500 sporting events. Canada often doesn't see the same sort of media content that Americans do. Will we get access to this content?
We're always working with content partners for Xbox Live in Canada, but right now we don't have anything to announce regarding the ESPN servers in Canada. Right now it's an announcement that's for the United States. But we are working actively on a lot of different content partnerships for Xbox Canada and Xbox Live and hopefully in the coming months we can share more.
In a sentence, what is your message at E3 this year?
Xbox 360 is transforming the way Canada will have fun.
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