E3 08: X-Box 360 Impressions

So Mircosoft's E3 press confrence has just ended and after watching G4's coverage of it. I thoguht I've share some of opinions. Last year Mircosoft's E3 showing impressed me so much that I finally decided that the 360 would be sitting alongside my Wii by year's end. This year Mircosoft left me in the middle of the road, but there is still somethings for me to excited about.

Fable 2: I didn't play the first fable since I didn't own an X-box at the time. But from what some of my friends told me, it seems to be a very intresting title. Peter Molyneux, the game's creator, show small demo of what was to come in this RPG. The central idea here is that you start the game out as little boy or girl and watch yourself grow up to become the hero of your people. Along the way you can be a good person or bad person (a standard in gaming these days), get married and interact with the various people found in the game. Suppose to released in October if my memory serves me right.

Gears Of War 2: Another follow-up to a game I didn't play, but i've always wanted to. It looks like I'm gonna need to get a hold of a copy to catch up on the story, because I'm excited for this one. I've never been to big on shooter titles and have only recently started to find some degree of interest in them. I find it interesting (for those that even care) that the star of the game, Marcus, is voiced by the same person that does the voice of Bender from Futurama. From the demo we were shown, It looks like Gears 2 will have many of the same elements that made the first game a huge hit. Non-stop shooting and hulking adverseries abound and the AI looks fairly challenging.

The New X-box Live Interface: This fall Mircosoft will be taking a page a from Nintendo and Sony's handbooks and finally allow there users the abiltity to create their own avatars. They look like the Miis only with a bit more detail. The menu system will also get an upgrade to a fairly slicker design choice. More interaction with your online friends is always a good thing and I think it's really neat to be able to watch movies with online frineds over X-box live.

X-Box Live Games: The new Portal game titled Portal: Sill Alive will hit the X-box arcade by the end of the year. Like everyone esle on the face of the planet, I loved the original and can't wait to download this. Also of note is a new game based on South Park, which I'll keep my eye on this even though the other games based on the show were awful. Sadly no info on the title was given.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: Like many fans of the Banjo-Kazooie series, I'm not in the least happy with the new aspects of this long awaited revival of the series. The whole platforming elements that made the series a hit have been downplayed for custom vechicles and mini-games. I just think this is the wrong direction for the series at this time. Had the Banjo-Kazooie franchise been a bit more active in the last 8 years, the gameplay of Nuts & Bolts would be a lot more welcome, afterall, you've got to change up the formula sometime. However as the grand return of a franchise that has been (more or less) dead for the last 8 years, It would have a been a little wiser for Rare to keep things in line with the first 2 titles. But hey, maybe I'm wrong, and the game will actually turn out to be good. I will be checking this game out come it's release, I just won't have my hopes up.

Banjo-Kazooie On X-Box Live: Now this gave me a nice big smile. The orignial classic N64 title will be released on X-Box live arcade around the time Nuts & Bolts is released. It will also have some form of connectivity with Nuts & Bolts as well. I can't wait to download this game as it is one of my favortive N64 games.

New Guitar Hero & Rock Band Games: I'm interested in these games, but I don't understand why they felt like they needed to spend so much time talking about these 2 titles. I mean sure there are new feaures in the Guitar Hero game (like a drum kit that kind of defeats the purpose of GUITAR hero), but the only thing we really wanted to know about these games was the music, which turns out to be great once again.

Final Fantasy 13 on X-Box 360: I was surprised by this one and it was Mircosoft's biggest annoucement in the conference. Although I'm not too big of a Final Fantasy fan (I've only played like 5 games in the fanchise), I just had to get excited like everyone else. Mircosoft getting ahold of another PS3 title is going to really hurt the PS3 here in the U.S (In japan i'm sure this won't make to much of a differance).

Overall, Mircosoft had a very strong showing . I think they did a really good job showing off the games they had available for both the hardcore and casual gamers. It also interesting to note that a majority of the hardcore titles are coming from third party companies instead of mircosoft themsevles. Very good showing, Can't wait for some of these games. And I can't wait for Nintendo's Conference tomorrow.