2. Games We’ve Already Seen/Heard About: We’ve been beaten by Halo: Reach and Gears of War 3 for a bit now and Microsoft is seriously risking them becoming background static amongst other titles simply because they’re marketing the hell out of them. Yes, all the new stuff that you can do in Gears is cool and after the multiplayer beta for Reach, we’re all intimately acquainted with what we can expect when the game releases in September. Finally seeing Metal Gear Solid: Rising was pretty interesting as the cutting mechanics were no doubt something unexpected, and while impressive, we’ve been waiting to hear more about this game for a while now. It just feels like Microsoft chose to center all of their marketing firepower around Kinect at the expense of the gamers who had been expecting something new and exciting instead of finally seeing things we’d been biding our time waiting to appear.
1. ESPN Announcement: Incredible as it sounds – I’m a gamer and I like to play video games – watching sports is something best reserved for the Stanley Cup, Superbowl, or if the Cubs ever make it to the World Series in my bloody lifetime. Without question though, this certainly means a lot to the millions of 360 owners who watch sports, play Madden and NCAA. They also didn’t reveal the fact that it’s only available to those Xbox 360 customers with specific cable providers, not to everyone with a console and Xbox LIVE Gold account. Even so it is another step of the part of Microsoft that bleeds a spiteful ignorance of the players who have been with the Xbox 360 since day one – the players who wanted to play games and have a good time.
So, what did you think of what Microsoft showed off at E3 this year? Are you excited, disappointed or feel just like they gave way more attention to Kinect this year? Go ahead and hit up our forums (click here) to let us know what you think. Microsoft certainly may have enough of a gaming fan base to expand into alternate corners of the community, but that doesn’t mean that should simply pay lip service to their core audience for the sake of doing it. This year felt very phoned in on the MS’s part and no doubt places them at the rear of the pack behind Sony and this year’s dominator, Nintendo. In the meantime, PlanetXbox360 will be here to bring you the latest news, features, previews and reviews of everything Xbox 360.
