Microsoft Press Conference - Focus on 2007
Microsoft opts out of hyping the future of the Xbox 360 and makes a strong (albeit boring) argument for the here and now.
The general feeling of the internet appears to be that Microsoft’s 2007 E3 conference was, well, a bore. In the respect that no huge announcements were made, no big surprises, nothing that got everyone in the crowd all jazzed up and frothing at the mouth, the internet is correct. What was interesting about the conference, was that it was tightly focused- one short teaser for Resident Evil 5 aside, everything Microsoft showed is coming out this year. It’s a bit of a risky move. E3 is generally the time when companies will show off upcoming content, in many cases content that is a year or more away. Being the only “next-gen” console in its second generation of software, however, has its advantages. The 360 has already had its bumbling start. Microsoft is making a point, a point that says “We’re here right now with great content. It’s not a year away, it’s coming out in 2007.”
The Games
Microsoft showed off a good number of great titles coming out in 2007. Highlights include:
Ace Combat 6
Assassin’s Creed
Bioshock
Call of Duty 4
Eternal Sonata
Halo 3
Halo Wars
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Project Gotham Racing 4
Rock Band
Too Human
Viva Pinata: Party Animals
and a full complement of ‘08 editions of EA’s established sports franchises
The Xbox Live Marketplace is getting similar treatment. Unfortunately, they mostly rushed through this area and didn’t actually focus on them all that much, but the conference showcased a number of games on its way to the box’s hard drive:
Bomberman Live!
Every Extend Extra Extreme
Golden Axe
Hexic 2
Puzzle Quest
Sonic the Hedgehog
Space Giraffe
Super Puzzle Fighter II HD Turbo Remix
Tetris Splash
Wing Commander Arena
Naturally, not all of these games are for everybody, your taste varies. There’s also a lot of multiplatform releases in that list. But the simple fact that a diverse amount of content is flooding the gates intends to show that Microsoft is serious about gaming this generation, and quite frankly, I’m convinced. The 360 is getting some great exclusives, and overall great content. Now is a good time to be a 360-owner, especially with that new extended warranty.
The Presentation:
The downside of this conference is that we already knew about pretty much all of these titles. Nothing surprising it all. It is akin to watching through a recap of announcements from the first half of the year. Limiting the conference to only 2007 releases has its prices, and the main price is not being able to hype up the future of the Xbox 360. Luckily for Microsoft, X07 is only months away, and you can rely on the second half of the expected E3 conference to make an appearance there. Luckily, we did see some new gameplay footage of many anticipated games like Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, and Assassin’s Creed. This is great, but when you are focusing on games in a 5-month release window, it would be nice to really focus on them and show some more gameplay. Instead we get fluff like Madden ‘08 gameplay. I can tell you how Madden ‘08 plays. Exactly like Madden ‘98.
Above all things, when your goal is to get people excited for your console, the conference has to be interesting, dammit! That’s tough to do when you have no big secrets to reveal and most of the footage you show has been on the internet for at least a week. In this case, the big secrets revealed are that Peter Moore sucks at Rock Band, Jeff Bell is not black, and Microsoft is pretty pumped for Halo 3. Granted, the Peter Moore thing was definitely good for some lulz, but that was right at the beginning of the conference, and not much else entertaining occurred past that. A new trailer for Halo 3 showing some shinier graphics and snippets of gameplay likely satisfied (temporarily) those excited about the game’s release, but it isn’t exactly an epic close to the conference, especially when rumors of a price drop have been dangling over Microsoft’s head since the Playstation 3 got cut by $100 (and then raised back up $100 with a new model, effectively nullifying their price drop).
Overall, the success of the conference is dependent on your expectations and, most importantly, relativity. As far as regular conferences go, it was boring and disappointing. If you were expecting grand announcements, it was a major failure. But if you look at it as Microsoft making an argument for 2007 and selling people on the 360, it really did a pretty good job, despite it still being pretty boring. Personally, I’m sold. I’ve been on the fence, but I officially want a 360, so I can play all these great games that are coming out. The only question now is whether or not a price cut is coming soon enough to wait for. And, of course, Microsoft would never say.
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