XBOX E3 Press Conference (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

Ok, it's over but here are the big announcements: * A SLEW of Kinect Games. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/kinect-support-explodes-ea-sports-mass-effect-3-hop-on-board/ More then that, MS is opening up Kinect to the XBLA, so that home-developers can play with it too and market their Kinect wares. MS's experiment in allowing small developers to get their stuff in the XBLA has been a pretty big success, this goes one step further and gives them more tools to work with. * Hulu integration now XBOX wide, scanning Hulu, Netflix, and all apps.. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/xbox-com-leaks-e3-secrets-early-voice-search-and-a-new-look-f/ Voice command search and custom navigation controls are also new. * Media Center Upgrades get pushed to the front, in a post-conference release.. and they are big.. MS is diving into Global IPTV in a big way, offering IPStream and content from numerous global and domestic providers to go along with ESPN3/360, like FoxTel, Sky, and rumored announcements of BBC. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/microsoft-unveils-live-tv-streaming-for-xbox-360-from-sky-tv-fo/ Allowing users to subscribe and add them to their video feeds for coherent guides.... * Halo4 kicks off a new Halo trilogy http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1172941p1.html * Mass Effect 3: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1173006p1.html * Cloud based saves for XBOXLive, and Cloud Based transfers will now be possible A few other game announcements still brewing.. Now we have to hear from Nintendo and Sony.. Nintendo should have the big show, as they will preview Cafe, their new console

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Going to be honest....kind of a let down. Most of the Kinect games are unappealing to me, personally, and once you remove the non-XBox exclusive games you're left with an IPTV service (with no firm date, price, or content list) and...uh...cloud saves? Halo 4, which is coming out in a year and a half? What about stuff that's, like, interesting and happening before next year? Sure, being able to tell your 360 what words to search for is neat, but is that really the future of entertainment or the future of internet searching?


This is MS pushing the 360 into being an all-in-one living room entertainment device. And that is a very good thing, but that sort of feature list is what you show off at a CES, not an E3. Is there going to be a demo booth where people go up to a 360 and have Bing search for crap? Or would people rather play a demo of a real game, preferably one that isn't a rip-off of something the Wii already did 2/3/4 years ago?


MS is certainly moving the 360 and Kinect in the right direction, but it seems to be against what the Electronic ENTERTAINMENT Expo audience would want to see.

 

[Ning Wong]

yeah, no new great stuff

 

[joshEH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan Jolley

Going to be honest....kind of a let down. Most of the Kinect games are unappealing to me, personally, and once you remove the non-XBox exclusive games you're left with an IPTV service (with no firm date, price, or content list) and...uh...cloud saves? Halo 4, which is coming out in a year and a half? What about stuff that's, like, interesting and happening before next year? Sure, being able to tell your 360 what words to search for is neat, but is that really the future of entertainment or the future of internet searching?

Speaking of -- I kinda feel like any new Halo games from this point onward should be the story of a brand-new Spartan. They told the Master Chief's story already; they don't need to drag it out this much. He was cool and all, but it's not like you can't have other Halo games about new and different characters.

That said, I don't necessarily mind following Chief again (as much of a non-character as he is), as long as he ends up someplace truly alien this time around. All new enemies/friends. Do justice to the "Combat Evolved" thing with the AI of some enemies. Make it like Starship Troopers, with swarms of enemies (while avoiding being anything like the annoying Flood). No Covenant, no Elites, no Grunts, etc.


Make it truly bizarre. If it's good, it'll sell no matter what, but I doubt they'd ever take that chance, now.

 

[JohnS]

It was a letdown.

I find the kid demos very annoying.


I was very disappointed to find out the kinrct labs avatar creator cannot be transfered over to be used as your main avatar.


The one thing I did like is the creating and dimantling of the guns using the Kinect in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Solider.

 

[Sam Posten]

The fall update is now live, with a surprise! Yup, the rumors were true, there's an iOS app and it's now live: http://majornelson.com/2011/12/07/introducing-the-official-xbox-live-ios-app/

 

[mattCR]

Quite a few really cool things in this update. iOS update to the XBox Live client.

For people running WP7 phones, the new cross-client save and more robust connection pack is there.


New Links to metro, revamped store and buying management, tile system.. it really has the look and feel of a total reboot of XBOX, a major update all the way across the platform. New Kinect ready menu systems, etc. Very slick.

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

The fall update is now live, with a surprise! Yup, the rumors were true, there's an iOS app and it's now live:
http://majornelson.com/2011/12/07/introducing-the-official-xbox-live-ios-app/

/t/312012/xbox-e3-press-conference#post_3877402

 

[Sam Posten]

People are raging against both the ugly metro look and the TERRIBLE changes to the netflix UI. Time will tell on this one.

 

[mattCR]

People have raged and bitched about every single change they've ever made to the XBOX experience.. I remember when people went crazy that Netflix dropped the ability to manage your DVD order que from their XBOX app.. or when people went nuts that the Blades went away as a menu system; etc. etc. etc.

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

People are raging against both the ugly metro look and the TERRIBLE changes to the netflix UI. Time will tell on this one.

/t/312012/xbox-e3-press-conference#post_3877491

 

[Sam Posten]

Did you read the comments? The objections look legit to me.

 

[mattCR]

No.. do you have a link you could post to them?

 

[Sam Posten]

Sure, i posted it in other threads, didn't want to be accused of spamming: http://blog.netflix.com/2011/12/netflix-unveils-new-xbox-experience.html 170+ negative comments now.

 

[mattCR]

People are upset about Netflix parties.. except Netflix largely gave that one to the studios when they renegotiated. People can complain bitterly, and I agree with them, but I don't see that ever coming back.


As to the other bits.. eh, Netflix is one of those things that I think screws up a ton on their own; I don't put any blame on the XBox Live update - which is kind of seperate subject from the Netflix App update. Your first post tended to imply hatred for new interface.. maybe true (they'll live) but almost all these complaints are about Netflix.. since I think Netflix sucks (in general) it's hard for me to say much more then that

 

[Gary Seven]

The complaints are legit... I hate it as well for the same reasons stated. I suggest people check it out before they berate those that are berating the UI.

 

[Gary Seven]

Correct.. it is more a Netflix UI issue rather than the Xbox UI issue.

 

[mattCR]

I'll throw myself as one who loves the general UI; I find it a vast improvement over the previous, semi-unweildy scrolling space. While still not as smooth and elegant as I find the PS3 interface to be, it works very well.


As to the Netflix.. can't comment, I dropped them all together a while back

Originally Posted by Gary Seven

The complaints are legit... I hate it as well for the same reasons stated. I suggest people check it out before they berate those that are berating the UI.

/t/312012/xbox-e3-press-conference#post_3877751

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I like the new update overall. That said, I rarely use my 360 anyway, even for Netflix. As to the Netflix issues, was the Party mode that popular? I believe this was something dropped because MS removed the feature, not Netflix. There's concern over whether you could use the Party feature in other applications, like while watching a recorded TV show, across different content providers. Basically, if people expect to use Party mode in Netflix, they'll expect to watch a show on FiOS with their friend who has Comcast, and that could be a problem. It's similar to the idea that Kinect cannot be used to turn the 360 off because then people would expect to be able to similarly turn it on.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I've been sick the last few days so I played around with the new Netflix UI on 360. Honestly, I think its better. You can actually search through stuff now instead of only having a set list of recommended videos and there are more options for things you can tell Kinect to do. As I said, I never used Party mode so I don't seem to have a problem with its absence but otherwise the update is great. Oh, and I found that you can, in fact, turn the console off with Kinect under the Settings tab from the Home menu.