Kinetic E3

In case you've been living under a rock or just have no general interest in video games, you probably missed the fact that E3 started yesterday and thus the first round of announcements of new games and hardware. Yesterday, E3 was all about Microsoft, who was the first of the three console companies to have their press conference and they didn't disappoint. Then again, maybe it may depend on who you talk to.

Microsoft definitely had many big announcements at this year’s press conference, the biggest of which was the unveiling of Kinetic, which was formally known as Project Natal, as well as a raft of new games that will be coming out for this new device. Some of the more hard core titles looked impressive, like the new Metal Gear Solid game, but then there were also a ton of games that just made little sense to me other than to try and copy Nintendo. Mainly, the new Kinetic Sports which is a complete knock off of Nintendo's Wii Sports. Everything about Kinetic Sports looks ripped off from the character models that look like Mii's, to many of the sports themselves.

But Kinetic wasn't all bad. Kinetic has some cool features like their recognition features which can recognize who you are when you walk into the room. Kinetic also has an ability to measure your dimensions which will demonstrate its usefulness in Ubisoft's new fitness game for Kinetic. Finally, the way that you navigate menus with your hands does look kind of interesting. So I do feel some optimism about Kinetic, as long as it works as demonstrated. There was one hiccup with one of the demos, so I hope it was simply just the lighting that affected how Kinetic was working.

One surprise announcement that Microsoft made was their new Xbox 360, which is much slimmer than the original and has built in Wi-Fi and a 250G hard drive. Ok, maybe it’s not too surprising of an announcement since on the weekend Microsoft's new console was accidentally outed by a new Italian ad featuring the console. One question that I wished was answered at the press conference is, will this new Xbox 360 red ring? But for some reason that question was skipped.

All in all, Microsoft's press conference was very impressive, which makes me wonder just how Nintendo will top Microsoft. In any case we will have to wait till tomorrow to find out. So what do you think? Is Kinetic everything that you were looking for? Or do you not care about Kinetic?

KI3 is Coming

I don't know about you but when I read this article over at IGN.com I got pumped.  I loved the previous two 'Killer Instinct' games and I can't wait for this one to come out.  I remember back in high school playing the previous two Killer Instinct games in the arcade.  They were amazing and I just hope that Rare can do it again with this game.

The other reason I'm looking forward to KI3 (Killer Instinct 3) is that it would mean that Rare is back in the video game industry.  Not that they left.  Its just they've been very absent over that last couple of years,  pretty much only releasing DS ports of games (Well, other than Viva Pinata).  KI3 would represent probably their first major release since Perfect Dark Zero (which wasn't that good). 

Rare was a company that when they came out, they only produced hit games, like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong 64, etc..  But ever since they were bought out by Microsoft they have pretty much just tanked.  So i really hope they can get back on there feet.

Now I should mention here that apparently this won't be our standard Killer Instinct game.  In the interview with Games TM  magazine,  apparently Mark Betteridge alluded to the fact that this game will use technology from Project Natal.  Now what that could mean for the game play of this game I don't know.  I just hope that they don't commit to much to motion control or it may make for a pretty exhausting experience for us gamers.

What are your thoughts on KI3?

Natal 360?

IGN is reporting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer speaking at the Executive Club of Chicago announced Microsoft's plans to ship a new console in the new year.  For weeks there have been rumours going around the internet that Project Natal would in fact not be a peripheral for the Xbox 360 like it was announced at E3, but would be its own system. 

Although these rumours may seem weird,  they do have some merit.  Nintendo originally was going to ship the Wii motion controller as a peripheral for the GameCube, but ended up  creating the Wii system since there was a perception issue with the GameCube that they knew they couldn’t overcome. 

When asked for comment,  Microsoft responded with this statement.

"As the Xbox team stated at E3 two weeks ago, we are not even halfway through the current console generation lifecycle and believe Xbox 360 will be the entertainment center in the home for long into the next decade. Project Natal will be an important part of this platform, but we have not confirmed a launch date at this time."

So in fact it will not be  a new console,  but they did confirm that Newer Xbox 360’s would be manufactured with some upgraded memory. To read the full story just follow the link to IGN’s post.