Microsoft shot first... could be a misfire

Microsoft wants it's product to be on your mind for the next couple of days, and unfortunately it will be. However, it might not be in the same context as say "cool" and "Totally Awesome" more like "meh".

Microsoft's Press conference was as Bush frontman, Gavin Rossdale used to say in the 90s "A great many things" However, in this case MS chose to take the cool of Cirque Du Soleil and combine it with the rebranded hardcore-turned-family friendly (famcore?) 360 sku the Xbox Kinect, or as I like to call it "The artist formerly known as Natal".USA today has more information on this along with a list of the games, which I took the liberty of listing. I'm sure as you read them you will notice quite a few similarities.

•Kinectimals lets you train and play with 20 different virtual cats, including a lion, cheetah and tiger.

•Joyride, a racing game, lets players use their hands to hold an imaginary steering wheel — pull your hands toward you and push back out for an acceleration boost — and their bodies to execute jumps and tricks.

•Kinect Sports has six activities including boxing, bowling, beach volleyball, track and field, soccer and table tennis. To serve a volleyball, you mimic the real motion; in soccer, you can kick the ball or do a header.

•Kinect Adventures includes a river-raft time trial and obstacle course, playable by up to four players. On the raft, playing as a duo, you and a partner must lean one way or another to steer. Jumping helps the raft reach special areas for extra points.

•Dance Central, in development by MTV Games, incorporates immersive, full-body dancing without the need for a controller.

•Star Wars characters and iconic Disney favorites will be featured in separate new games being developed at Microsoft in conjunction with LucasArts and Disney.

So we have the obligatory sports game, the obligatory racing game, A Just Dance knockoff, Micro-catz, and some tie ins. Great. The Game informer blog also pointed to a Muscle March knockoff game too.Aww man.

How does the community feel about this? Open mockery, and a lot of questions of how a company like Microsoft could be so short-sighted. So instead of actually trying to bring something new and interesting to the table, MS and Sony will be in direct competition to the Wii Knockoff at walgreens with the 150 games in it. great.

If this E3 decides the winner of this console generation (personally it was already decided back in 06, but whatever.)Then MS may be in serious trouble.


Source(s): USA Today, Game Informer, Neo Gaf