Although we didn’t get to attend the “Project Natal” event with Cirque du Soleil on Sunday night, there was no way we’d miss the briefing. After the shuttle braved the busy LA traffic, we braved the gigantic line to get into the theatre, while passing some people roasting in the sun, supposedly in a “waiting list” in the event that there were still seats left after getting everyone in.
The briefing began with a trailer of Call of Duty: Black Ops, followed by gameplay demo in underground tunnels, jungle setting and helicopter flight.
Senior VP Don Mattrick reassured franchise fans with news of a multi-year agreement with Activision, which dictates that game add-ons and map will launch FIRST on Xbox 360 up until 2012.
Project Natal news followed, which is now renamed Kinect. Kinect will be featured in big blockbuster games, as well as several all-new titles, and it’s definitely all about showing, not telling. Beginning with Hideo Kojima showing off something new and unique, Metal Gear Solid: Rising (subtitled Lightning Action”, this will be “an action game unlike anything you’ve seen before.
Next, we saw a 4-player co-op live demo of Gears of Wars 3 – which looks fantastic, fun and challenging – and were briefly made aware of a new mode coming up called “Beast”, where you play the Locust while defending yourself against humans.
Peter Molyneux was the next speaker, leading us a little deeper into the world of Fable III, which focus a lot on choices and consequences, action-packed gameplay and the typical british humor (John Cleese voices your butler, at that!). We had a look at some video and are now waiting for the release date on October 26.
Xbox has also made more partnerships with indie developers, who always bring interesting and unique visions to the console. Their newest partner is Crytek, and the new project is Code Name: Kingdoms, of which we had a sneak peak of.
As for Halo, a new chapter is about to be told. Halo Reach is the most ambitious game Bungie has created, as is coming out September 14. With some gameplay video, we discovered the new addition to Halo: space combat.
Every game, every demo and every experience shown at the briefing will be available exclusively for the Xbox 360. But I guess the most exclusive item would be Kinect. Kinect recognizes you when you step in front of it. It will listen to your voice and respond to your gestures. You can play games without your controller, watch movies without using a remote. It’s what happens when technology “gets out of your way, it’s so simple everyone can do it.
You simply wave at Kinect to sign in to your Xbox 360 account, and if you see it on the screen, just say it to access it. Use your hands to select whatever you hand. It’s simple, natural and effortless. For example, you can watch a movie by simply saying “Xbox, play”; pause it by saying “Xbox, pause”.
Kinect will be making entertainment controller-free in every country where the Xbox 360 is sold. Xbox Live will also be available on Windows 7 phones.
Additionally, you can connect to people all over the world with Video Kinect. This allows you to video chat without a microphone, controller or headset, with other users on Xbox Live or Windows Live Messenger (on their PC with their webcams). You can also watch things together, such as TV shows, movies, sports or news. Kinect tracks your skeleton and automatically knows where you are, moves with you and adjusts to your position, so there is no physical camera adjusting necessary. To end a video chat, simply say “Xbox, end chat”.
Following in the trend of adding movies, TV shows and music videos to watch on your Xbox, sports fans can now rejoice with the addition of ESPN live and on-demand sporting events, streaming in HD. You can join the fan base for your favourite team, participate in polls and trivia, and watch how the collective fan score measures against the other team’s fans. You can also watch replays by simply telling your console “Xbox, replay”. ESPN comes at no additional cost for Xbox Live Gold members.
As we the briefing was wrapping up, we were presented with a quick list of titles and respective trailers and demos.
Kinectimals is a virtual pet game where you can pick any of 40 available animals from around theworld to play and interact with in 30 activities. Pet it, teach it to play dead or roll over, hide to the side away from camera view and the pet will come up and look for you. The reaction and interaction level is fantastic.
Kinect Sports offers a range of fun sporting activities such as track and field events, soccer, bowling, volleyball, boxing and ping-pong, for more than one player.
Joy Ride was announced last year as an avatar kart racing title, but is now adapted to Kinect, requiring no controller.
Kinect Adventures is a series of activities and mini-games that lets anyone join is (Kinect will recognize the second person and place them in the game in split-screen right away). The games involve on-rails routes where the players must jump, tilt and make poses to control their vehicle, collect coins and take snapshots in certain spots, which will be showcased at the end with funny captions, and you can also share them on Facebook with your friends.
For third-party titles, Ubisoft presented Your Shape Fitness Evolved, which scans your body and customizes exercises to your body shape. I am personally excited about this, since it seems like a much better experience than Wii Fit (and I also won’t be represented by a ball with feet).
Harmonix’s Dance Central is the newest thing in rhythm/dancing games. While it can be challenging enough for experienced dancers, it is easy enough for beginners. The “Break it Down” mode lets anyone jump in with immersive full-body dancing and have fun in the process.
Kinect will launch worldwide this Holiday season, and in North America on November 4, with 15 titles available at launch. An arrangement with Lucas Arts will bring a new Star Wars next year, and Forza Motorsport will also come to use Kinect in 2011.
Launching a new era of entertainment, a new model of the console was revealed. The Xbox 360 is being redesigned in a new smaller, sleeker look, more quiet, with a 250GB HD, built-in Wi-Fi and this for the same price of $299. This model will come to replace the old system, which will stop being produced. The last words had an amazing impact on the attending crowd:
“The new Xbox 360 is shipping to retail today, and to all of you… right now.”
We left the theatre blinking in disbelief, but it’s confirmed. I can’t wait for my new 360, and I’ll definitely be all over Kinect when the time comes!