After the Microsoft press conference finished, there were some mixed emotions. The Twittervese was full of both joy and disappointment with the direction MS is headed. The conference came out strong with some awesome triple A titles, Gear of Wa 3, Fable 3, and Metal Gear Solid: Rising. I think where a lot people ran into a problem was the Kinect presentation. Casual sucks I guess...photo via joystiq
I personally found the Kinect presentation to be strong, albeit hokey and gimmicky, but strong nonetheless. There was an obvious emphasis on Kinect, its Microsoft's baby, its new technology, and they want to also appeal to the dreaded casual audience. For some reason, this is a bad thing. Some people expressed disdain for the whole casual direction Microsoft took this year, something that seems completely out of character for the Seattle behemoth.
Their concern is somewhat warranted, the last thing I want to see is the same crap we've seen on the Wii the last three years , except with sexier technology, and a very sexy UI. For some reason there is this notion that MS is abandoning the 'core' user (I hate that buzz word by the way), which is ridiculous. There is no reason to think this, seeing as that accounts for a large amount of their customer base. I feel that they are doing this simply to cash in on the casual cash cow. I mean, why not? This could also be a huge opportunity for Sony to drop some huge bombs, such as some new IP's, but we shall see tomorrow morning.
I still think MS had a solid presser, Sony does a chance to really nail it this year. Hopefully it won't be anything like this. I think a lot of why people were disappointed with the MS presser, was that there were no real surprises. The did showcase there major titles, but we already knew how awesome Gears 3 and Halo Reach were going to be. Seemed to be less focus on games, and more on Kinect. Overall, I enjoyed the press conference. How about that 360 slim design? Sexy like a chocolate strawberry.
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