Shigenobu Matsuyama came out about the 12 minute mark in the presentation. He discussed about this word which this game concept for Rising was based on: Zan-Datsu. In japanese, zan means to cut and datsu stands for to take. While I didn’t understand fully, what I saw in the video demonstration was absolutely freakin’ awesome. I don’t want to describe the imagery but wow, this looks to be a great deal of fun.
Gears of War 3 looks very interesting for 4 player co-op play. I know that I will need all the help I can get because I truly suck at the first one.
Halo Reach sounds more like some hooker’s special talent. However, I have yet to jump on the Halo bandwagon but the Halo encyclopedia and this newest Halo game has peaked my interests. The later part of the Halo vid had a space combat mode which I guess it’s the first for the Halo, if I am correct? I’m all up for dogfights in space rather than the first person shoot ‘em up mode.
Finally at the 33 minute mark, we get more information about Project Natal or now, MS Kinect. This is truly an amazing add-on piece of technology for the X-Box 360. I simply love how the simple act of using my voice or just a wave of a hand can interact with the type of entertainment that I am interested in. The Video Kinect is very cool feature especially the feature whereby you can both watch a movies, listen to music and watch tv. While the video demo didn’t show the latter of the two, I can see the benefits. This Video Kinect is similar to the Netflix viewing party. The ESPN XBox 360 is not as thrilling for me since I am not a sports fan since I moved down to Florida.
The first game experience for the Kinect was Kinectimals. I was left speechless on how effortlessly the interaction was seen between the little girl and Skittles the tiger cub. My 4-year-old son would love this to no end. While we do have cats, some times he can be rough but with this game he can interact on his terms and the game will learn from him. The Kinect Sports look very similar to Wii Sports but you can’t blame MS for copying something that works. Kinect Joyride looks to be another Nintendo’s Mario Kart likeness less the throwing of fruit. Kinect Adventure is the best of the bunch. I rather looking foolish doing the crazy things that is being asked rather than carry the ridiculous globe dome microphone from Playstation’s Move.
The Ubisoft’s demo of Your Shape is very promising except for the virtual uniglob of yourself. I love the scanning of myself into the game but I am less impressed by this avatar.
Harmonix’s Dance Central is the next level of DDR which can train me with all the latest moves 15 years ago but hey, I can’t dance anyway but I can now kick ass.
The last Kinect game to briefly talk about is the Star Wars one. While there was no name or actual live game demonstration, the video alone is enough for me to get excited for 2011. Using the Force will be for reals, lol.
Okay, this is enough for me to report on this presentation. I know at work there are those who are more PS3 users and while I will not get one until several years later where I can pick one up for the price of a piece of candy. Regardless, of the additional hardware I will have to invest, I will be happy with my XBox in the coming years. Suck on that PS3.
