OK... finally watched the entire MS presentation, and I was really very impressed, especially so regarding
Project NATAL. 👍
The intro video for Project NATAL was obviously pre-rendered fluff from the graphical and marketing department, and even the "demo" with the CGI character Milo also seemed suspiciously pre-rendered and rehearsed, although that's perfectly understandable.
However, the actual live prototype demos with project director Kuto Tsunoda showing the way NATAL will allow you to log-in using voice and facial recognition, control your avatar's moments, and navigate your XBL dashboard were all very impressive! 👍
The tech demo game,
Ricochet (hand/kickball breakout game), that Abigail was playing was also impressive and to me at least proved NATAL was not just dressed up vaporware, but proved to me they were serious about developing this technology. 👍
The
Paint Party tech demo that Darren Bennett demonstrated was also very cool. 👍
Finally, the tech demo introduced by Peter Molyneux
(founder of Lionhead Studios and lead game designer of Fable 2) with the virtual character
Milo. Call me skeptical but his comment about the video being from "a film crew" that had come out to see the demo seemed very misleading. In other words, if the tech demo was truly real-time and not "adjusted" and even partially pre-rendered, then why not show the demo live, like all the other great demos they showed before it. Fake or not, it was still impressive. 👍
I am genuinely excited to see what actually comes out of all of this, especially after Tsunoda mentioned that the development kits for NATAL were being made available today. 👍
I also really liked what they showed regarding integrating
Facebook &
Twitter into XBL:
- Friend Linker
- Profile
- Photos
- Status Updates
- Faceboook Connect (real-time screen shot capture & share)
- Twitter Integration
Yes, you can use Facebook and Twitter already with the PS3, but the way it's integrated with XBL seemed both logical and convenient. I especially liked the Faceboook Connect feature that will apparently allow you to take a screen shot of any game you are playing and instantly send it to a friend. 👍
I also think it was a very smart move to add
Last.FM Internet Radio support as well as
Sky TV, and most importantly 1080p video for their
Zoom Video service... although from what I can tell, and based on the poor quality (low bit rate) of their 720p video, it is still going to suffer from the same visual compression artifacts.
The tech demo for
Live Party where, much like some of the PSN Home spaces, you can interact with your XBL friends via the avatars while simutanously watching movies, TV, or listening to music with friends, looked like it needed a lot more development, but the possibilities seemed promising. 👍
As for the games, MS definitely did what they had to do, and start promoting some exclusives.
They started off though with muli-platform titles:
- Rockband: The Beatles (PS3, 360, Wii)
- Tony Hawk: Ride (PS3, 360, Wii)
- Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, 360)
- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 360)
Then they hit on their upcoming exclusives:
- Shadow Complex (XBL)
This looked pretty bad, both in graphics and physics. I've seen much better in PSP game footage, like the new Resistance mobile game.
- Joy Ride (XBL)
This looked like it could be a fun little arcade game, but again, the graphics that they showed were distractingly poor, especially for a trailer and not an early demo. 👎
- Crackdown 2
There really wasn't a whole lot to go on, and it wasn't exactly a surprise.
- Left 4 Dead 2
This had even less of a reveal than Crackdown 2, but L4D was a pretty big hit, so I suspect this will be as well. 👍
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
This looked great, and I thought they did a great job demonstrating it live! 👍
- Forza 3
I had very high hopes for this, but it seems Forza, like so many driving franchises are going farther away from sim, and leaning more and more heavily towards sim-cade. FZ3 seems like it's a cross between FZ2 and PGR4. 
I definitely like the livery editor, and the whole car trading system from FZ2 was always a big plus. 👍
The best thing for this game is that it is very likely coming out well ahead of GT5... which like the 360 to the PS3, was likely done for a very good reason, as a direct day-to-date comparison between the two most likely would not have favored FZ3.
- Halo 3: ODST
I'm a bad judge for Halo games as I have never really understood their popularity, and this demo seemed just plain dull to me. 
- Halo: Reach
I have no idea, they showed very little of it, and discussed it even less.
- Alan Wake
AWESOME!!!! Great trailer and great live demo. This is likely going to be near the top of my must play list for 2010. 👍👍
Finally there was the big news that
Metal Gear Solid: Rising would be making it's way to the 360
(although no mention of any exclusivity, so PS3 fans shouldn't panic). It's extremely unlikely that a PS3 version will be a "port" of the 360 version, if anything it is likely going to be the opposite, although more likely they will be developed independently. This game is likely barely in development so it's likely not even going to get released by 2010... unless it's a stripped down MGS game, and considering the size of MGS4, and the comments from Kojima himself on how MGS4 wasn't even possible on the 360 - it is certainly going to be interesting to see how the game eventually turns out.
Overall I thought MS did a great job, and certainly better than last year. 👍
The only complaint I would have is the lack of release dates for most of the features demonstrated... and the fact that you'll have to be a Gold XBL member, which means paying $50 a year or more outside the US.
)
...so 1 hour to go.
). 
