Microsoft's Press Conference : Exactly What It Should Have Been, and What It Says About the Xbox 720

It pretty much goes without saying that the gaming public’s (press or otherwise) response to the Microsoft press conference was one of distaste. The lack of new IP’s and only a light serving of actual video games left spectators with Z’s floating over their head. However, despite all of this, I think that the press conference was exactly what it should have been; and it also gave some subtle hints as to when we should expect the Xbox 720 (if that is, indeed, what it ends up being called).

[MasFlowKiller]

Maybe MS has All hands on Deck for 720?

[Auron]

Those that dissagree with you are foolish. its so obvious that MS is gearing up for the nextbox. The rumors of rare woking on multiple next gen titles could very well be true now since they were abscent from the show.

http://www.computerandvideo...

[xAlmostPro]

Oh so that means virtually abandoning core gamers on the 360 is ok because they're working on the next console?..

Why can't they do both like everyone else?..

Xbox guys are in for a huge shock when the next announcement is Kinect2, a plug and play motion control device with integrated XBL that just streams jump around games from online :P

[SuperLupe]

Abandoning how ? Forza Horizan, Halo 4, Gears: Judgement and Ascend: New Gods. Thats 4 exclusives.

Sony also showed four exclusives (TLOU, GOW, Beyond and BR). On top of that there are no exclsuive releases for the PS3 this year while the 360 has Forza and Halo 4.

360 doing just fine when you take off your fanboy goggles.

You should be more worried about what you guys will be playing this year since theres no exclusives for the PS3 and you supposedly dont play multiplats

[xAlmostPro]

Lol.. my point exactly, only two of those are out this year?.. and only one is a new IP.

Erm are you delusional? PS3 has no exclusives this year?.. I guess you're ignoring the ones already released so far too.

Starhawk, Journey, Sourcery Twisted metal already out..

The last of us could be 2012, but i won't state that since it's not confirmed.. PS allstars is actually confirmed for a 2012 release, Sly cooper 4, LBP Karting, Ni no Kuni, Dust 514.. There's more but these should get the point across.

You seem to forget Sony announce a lot of stuff before and after E3, you also seem to forget that not all games make the big stage.

This year and the previous 2 for microsoft has been nothing but Halo, forza, fable and gears..

Stating the truth is not being a fan boy, i played 360 for 2 years until i got a PS3, i still own one(honestly haven't played since i got through gears 3 though).. Maybe if you took your 'goggles' off you'd be able to handle a little bit of negativity surrounding your favorite company.

Obviously Kinect2 was a joke but the parts before it are true. Not just this year but look at the last 3 as a whole.

[callahan09]

@SuperLupe:

"No exclusive releases for the PS3 this year"?

Did you miss Twisted Metal and Starhawk, Yakuza Dead Souls and Atelier Mereru, and Tales of Graces F? That's just the games already out... If you want upcoming, then I think you forgot about Playstation All-Stars (Battle Royale), Sly Cooper 4, LittleBigPlanet Karting. Record of Agarest War 2. There's probably others, as well. And for 2013, we already know we're getting God of War, Beyond, and the Last of Us. So you named 2 Xbox 360 games for this year and 2 for next year, I named 3 and 3 for the PS3.

[otherZinc]

LMAO! You call those PS3 exclusives something to brag about? LMAO!
No one is buying Those exclusives.
Day 1 of Halo 4 sales will out sell the career of that entire list of exclusive you listed, especially if GoW were out. But still will outsell those exclusives by a great #.

The Last of Us: is Nathan Drake with dirty clothes, unshaven, in an abandoned world, with a brunet chick...thats it.

Beyond: is Heavy Rain. A point & click game that you watch, not play.

PS3 (SSM) or Battle Royale for PS3 is a copy of another game.

M$ invested MILLIONS in 343! That's for us, the fans, Great game will be on the way. Same for Gears Judgment, that game is going to be fantastic!

Smart Glass: was innovative as hell! I cant wait for that in November.

Kinect functionality was awesome as well. I dont use Kinect but my wife & kids do. The Kinect feature in Splinter Cell was terrific.

M$'s conference was great & its going to prove that as fact selling the most consoles this fall/winter.

[dcbronco]

BORING....I'm so tired of the Microsoft abandoned the hardcore market nonsense. Playstation releases a few exclusives. That mostly sell a million copies. Some more, some less. Mainly to the same 500,000 fanboys that crow on and on about da exclusives. And MS still outsells PS3 on almost every hardcore title. MS has sense enough to know that people aren't really buying those exclusives.

Where's Heavy Rain 2? Probably not going to happen. People brushed their teeth this morning so they are tired of playing it. No More SOCOM. Resistance? How many bought LBP2? Not many.

The hardcore may be GT5, Uncharted and God of War. But it is mostly Battlefield, CoD and Skyrim. And all of those games are on the 360 too. I know because I never got around to buying a PS3 and I still got to play them all.

And as long as Microsoft's hardcore game, Halo, Gears and Forza continue to outsell all of Sony's in-house games combined. MS can continue to say they address the hardcore.

You hardcore and exclusives people are the same ones that went on and on about Blu-ray. Only to find out that Sony seriously considered dropping it for the PS3.

Just looked up Starhawk on VGchartz. I don't give a damn how inaccurate you say they are. That is just pitiful. Add another to the you will not see another list.

Da exclusives!

Can we at least agree to give a rest to the abandonment and exclusives arguments for a week in remembrance of the pi-- poor Starhawk sales

[xAlmostPro]

You two talking about sales..

Sales =/= Quality.

They might not sell as much but that's because there's more options, on xbox you have Halo or Forza to buy.. even if they don't appeal to you as much you'll feel reluctant to purchase them just to play something 'new'..

Where as at least the player has a choice of something different and even new on PS..

That's the point i'm trying to get across.

Keep bragging about sales though, you only add to the stereotype of an xbox fanboy :)

[dcbronco]

Just pointing out the realities of running a business. And the fact that Sony fanboys are always bragging about things that don't matter.

If anything, MS is actually listening to their customers. When things aren't selling, they stop making it. It's really just common sense. Bragging about exclusives and not buying them is silly. Plus Sony fans are inconsistent.

Look at your other post.

Nobody bought Starhawk or twisted Metal. All I hear about Journey is that it is like a piece of art. I live in DC and never go to the art museums because I don't care about art(at least not that kind). Most of the people on this site , if honest, would say the same. Wrong demo. Beyond, to me , has art potential. Journey looks like a waste of time.

Sorcery, you say. I thought casual was bad. Why bring up a casual game. What next? Wonder Book(POS). Oh, I don't own Kinect. That's for kids for the most part. But I admit dragon calls are calling me, man. Last of Uncharted? Okay. Yeah, PS Allstars. Sorry, no longer a child. Not interested. Add the fox or raccoon or whatever. And the Mario rip off.

Dust looks interesting. Very interesting.

The reality is that PS is the console a lot of people buy because they played their older brothers PS2. That's why games like Batman and things like that are close in sales or better on the PS3. It's the kids.

Kinect menus appeal to people that pay $100 for a Harmony remote. Having all of the apps for movies and music simplifies things for the mainstream that doesn't want a lot of clutter in the living room. MS is going for a large market. They are hoping it will appeal to that market after the gamers have moved to the 720.

It's called running a business. Especially a publicly traded company. Which by the way, Sony is struggling at doing right now.

So again, please. In honor of the Starhawk sales. Let's leave the abandonment and exclusives arguments alone. At least for a week. And add an extra week for Twisted Metal. And a month for Zipper. Thanks.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Release high selling first party titles, announce More apps to the Xbox. XBL games and Kinect. be asides they ditched kid actors and "Skittles". I believe MS did ok, way better than previous years. Its evident MS is gearing up for the new box might as well play it safe until then.

[SandWitch]

It would have been OK if it wasn't so boring to listen about all the apps and other crap for a half of an hour if not longer.

[cedaridge]

Indeed the New xbox is around the corner. I think e3 next year they will annouce it but until then I'm cool with the offerings from this years e3. psn: cedaridge / xbl: cedar4Thunder

[sway_z]

MS are the only games console manufacturers in my entire numerous years of gaming I don't trust...allow me to justify.

1) MS abandons their consoles/products (Xbox/Zune) like the sinking of the Titanic > Shows a lack of respect for their customers.

2) MS think throwing money at anything and everything is the way to do woe gamers in to a very casual experience (Kinect) and expect their core gamers to put up or shut up and 'Jump In'

3) They pretend to be 'Real' gamers at all the conferences/shows...yet we all know they're just a bunch of sharp suits relying on third parties whilst they milk their own franchise year in/year out.

4) They can now basically afford to allow toll free MP gaming (Silver Membership should allow MP free) and only charge for services, but they won't because of their corporate greed.

*I believe Sony would charge for access to MP too, but use it as leverage/value against MS.

I am in no way having a pop at Xbox owners, I think the 360 is a class machine...However, I believe MS (In my humble opinion) are only in it for the money, not the love of the industry or the games.

Not to suggest Sony/Nintendo isn't in it for money also, after all its a business ...but at least you get longevity and commitment from Sony/Nintendo as proven with their previously long hardware cycles....and don't feel like you're getting screwed.

MS really owe more to their Xbox fanbase/customers and should under promise and over deliver.

[dcbronco]

Allow me to counter Sway.

MS stopped selling Zune because no one bought them. You kinda should do that. Original Xbox was stopped because Nvidia and Intel were greedy and refused to lower the price of the CPU and GPU. Limiting the potential install base and number of titles that developers would be willing to make for the system. Plus they would have had to sell the console at a loss for as long as it sold. I've never been sure why no one blames Nvidia or Intel? Oh, they usually don't do any research about the reason they stopped.

Kinect games are far cheaper than core games. That would be not throwing money. The games that the core actually buy are sold on the 360. BF3,CoD,Halo, Skyrim. Any of those games is for the core and outsells any PS3 exclusive.

So you believe every Sony and Nintendo exec is a gamer? Come on.

Sony was foolish to convince so many people that a service that cost them 1`00's of millions a year to run should be free. They are now doing everything they can to get them to buy PSN+ because the cost are killing them. The free games is about getting you to pay for PSN. The games cost little to give to you.

Microsoft lost over 5 billion on the Xbox. Yet they came back. That is commitment.

[sway_z]

Fair enough, i'll take your point regarding Nvidia/Intel since you seem more informed than I do in this regard. I will also agree Sony are probably regretful they have to stick by their free MP promises.

I in no way made the point, nor do I think 'ALL' Sony/Nintendo execs are games players.

But I still believe MS can do a lot more in terms of their game output from a 1st party stand point.

Like I said, I am not having a pop at the users, it's MS that get my goat..... but like most things on this site...it's a matter of personal opinion only.

Thank you for countering me btw :)

[dcbronco]

First, nice to find an adult attitude on the site. They are so rare here. I understand your point on the variety of games. I believe MS has been trying to get back what they've lost so far in the VG business. Though I think they have to have more than broke even at this point.

But I also understand that in this business fans are as fickle as it gets. Way too many sheep. If a comment on this site(and many others of different subjects) is posted, you will find that many that follow go on the same theme. Whether it is commentary on the article or not. The same happens with games. Once a few say it's bad, others follow. Whether they played it or not. Many good games are missed like that. And many bad games prosper because of that.

Yes, I'm talking about CoD.

So it's hard to risk 25 million(no matter how much you have) on something that might not make it because of the whims of fanboys. Look at post from December last year and you'll find post after post about Starhawk and Twisted Metal. Then look at the sales numbers. It's better to be cautious when you're dealing with a group that doesn't know what it thinks.

I also believe MS is waiting until next generation. They have been burned in gaming. But they have learned. From their experiences with Intel and Nvidia. They now have over 200 chip architects of their own. Fusion from AMD actually took ideas from MS. They will alway own their parts. The next Xbox will probably be the most tested piece of equipment ever made. RRoD will never be an issue again. I would bet there will be an Xbox 720 started soon that will run for a year straight in an over pre-heated to 500 just to make sure it won't overheat.

But I believe the games will come. Now that they are in. I believe they will look to remove all other excuses to people not owning an Xbox. Whether through 1st party studios or by buying exclusives from third parties like they did with Gears. And I will say that I wouldn't believe Samaritan or the Unreal Engine 4 tech demos aren't games. Look at the Unreal Engine 3 tech demo. You'll understand why I say that.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...