After an awkward debut for the Microsoft Kinect at the Cirque du Soleil sponsored event last night, they have turned the ship around with an impressive press conference that fed the need of hungry gaming journalists who were looking for substance.
Starting the show off with an announcement that they have secured timed-exclusivity to Activision’s downloadable content for the Call of Duty franchise until 2012, Microsoft showcased that they knew what their demographic were looking for. In addition, they swooped in and have put together a deal with ESPN for HD coverage of all sports through Xbox Live; free of course to Xbox Live Gold members.
The ball didn’t stop rolling there – Microsoft trotted Gears of War 3, Fable III, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Rising and a new title from their latest partner Crytek, Codename: Kingdoms. For the “hardcore” gamers, they had their fun and some with what Microsoft revealed.
What the press wasn’t ready for was a lull in action when Microsoft began talking about Kinect and the several of their (six were shown in total) launch titles. Launching on November 4, 2010, Kinect will play host to a variety of titles such as: Kinect Joy Ride, Kinect Sports, Kinectimals, Kinect Adventures, Dance Central, and Ubisoft’s Your Shape. Of the bunch, only Dance Central worked up the crowd in a frenzy as the motion-based and camera-tracking dancing was superbly put on display by the reps on stage.
After the brief moment of confusion of where Microsoft was heading, Microsoft decided to move the show in a different direction with announcing that 15 titles will be ready at the launch of Kinect this winter and several titles are already in the cooker for 2011 such as a Forza Motorsport and Star Wars title.
To cap off the show, Microsoft announced the new Xbox 360 Slim and surprised everyone by revealing that it was shipping to stores today to be ready for purchase by the end of the week. It didn’t end there as the sleek redesign with a 250gb hard drive and built-in wi-fi was said to be on its way to every single home of the journalists attending the event. The crowd roared with happiness, some even giving Microsoft a standing ovation.
Yesterday, I stated Microsoft needed to have an answer for their crimes they committed yesterday, and with today’s press conference, they put the wind back in their sails.
