As usual, I like to watch all of the E3 press conferences (for at least the big 3 hardware makers).  Here’s my stream of consciousness on Microsoft’s briefing today.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
– I’m not a big CoD fan.  Looks ok. I’m sure fans will love it.

Metal Gear Solid Rising
– Cutting action could be fun, or could get old after an hour
– The logo graphic said “lightning bolt action” which they didn’t really show, but sounds a lot like “MGS infamous”

Gears of War 3
– 4 player story mode co-op is nice
– Anvil Gate is the title of the next novel
– Not a fan of the female Gears. I have nothing against the idea, and in general I like to choose female characters to play in games where there’s a choice, because it can be a different experience (female Shapard FTW!!). But to do it in GoW in game 3 just seems like they shoehorned it in to appease complainers. And they picked two attractive females, rather than the strongest one in the novels, who is not. I don’t even think I’ll play Anya, because Marcus Fenix is such a good character.

Fable 3
– 5 decades after Fable 2
– Looks like more Fable

Codename: Kingdom
– Nice video, no action

Halo: Reach
– Ooo space ship combat. Wasn’t expecting that! Looks awesome.

Just over 30 minutes in, and what have we learned so far?  If you like shooters, you should buy an Xbox.

Kinect for Xbox 306
– Kinect hub.  Would be better if you could put what you want on it. Doesn’t look like you can, though.
– Voice recognition looks nice.  Will it work as well as it appears?  Or will there be a lot of “Xbox pause” … “Xbox Pause!” … “XBOX PAUSE!!!” …. “oh forget it, where’s the remote?”
– Waving your hand around seems a little clumsy.  Not sure that waving is better than a remote
Games:
Kinectimals
– Kids will love that if it’s easy.  They make it look very unscripted, but I’m guessing you have to know specific actions to get it to work right.  If they have to learn a bunch of actions, will their patience wear thin?
Kinect Sports
– Recognition problem…
– Doesn’t show me stuff that makes it any better than Wii
Kinect Joy Ride
– Because driving without a wheel is just like the real thing…
Kinect Adventures
– EyeToy game.  This is what everyone thinks when they think Project Natal … err, Kinect for Xbox 360.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
– Could be a seller like Wii Fit, if the cost of Kinect plus the game is comparable.  Without motion build into the 360, I suspect a combo pack of this with Kinect will be twice as much as Wii Fit.
Dance Central
– Finally, a Harmonix game I have no interest in
Star Wars  game
– Again, why wouldn’t I want to hold something like a lightsaber in my hand?  And the computer moves for me? Doesn’t look good. Very mild audience reaction too.
Forza game
– Moving your head to look around is nice.  I can see where a combination of that with AN ACTUAL CONTROLLER might be nice.  But holding my hands up at 10 and 2 sounds annoying and somewhat painful.

New Xbox 360
– Same price $299.  Does that mean no cheap model anymore??
– Slightly smaller.  Ships today, available later this week.  Every audience member gets one.
– Will it red ring??

Final Thoughts:
A full two-thirds of the press conference was taken up by Kinect. There’s a big push for it, but I’m not really seeing the big seller that’s going to make people run out and buy it. The games are nothing special. The voice recognition seems nice, but I have a gut feel it works for some stuff and not for others. As soon as it doesn’t work for one thing, and you have to walk across the room and grab the remote anyway, it will be the thing that could have been cool. And notice that they gave no price again for Kinect? That has to mean it’s pricey. Something tells me it could be the PS2 hard drive of this generation.  Oh wait, there’s the PlayStation Move…

The new console is nothing special for current owners. Certainly not enough there to make me want to upgrade. There’s a couple of titles coming like Gears of War 3 and Halo Reach that I’m excited about, but in general I’m not all that enthusiastic about Microsoft’s briefing. Chances are good right now that I won’t get a Kinect (at least not right away), and with just a couple of titles highlighted that do interest me, I might be using my Xbox 360 less this coming year. Good thing I have a backstock of unplayed games.