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Required upfront knowledge before reading my transcript - Craig Ferguson is Scottish and earlier in the show Jeffery Tambor exclaimed that Ferguson has very large hands. Ferguson responded that he also has a very large...well you know.
Craig Ferguson interviewing Burn Notice star Gabrielle Anwar.
Gabrielle is plugging the show when Ferguson cuts in...
Ferguson: "You're not American!"
Anwar: "No, I'm not."
Ferguson: "What are you?"
Anwar: "I'm English."
Ferguson: "Ah, I always enjoy meeting English girls... (awkward pause) and doing to them what their ancestors did to my country."
Anwar: "My what big hands you have."
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
You've been burned
Tomorrow night Burn Notice returns for season 3 (now at 9pm to provide a strong lead in for the new series "Royal Pains") and I'm psych'd (clever intentional use of the title of another USA original series).
Burn Notice is one of the best shows on TV and I'm looking forward to another great season of action, laughs and practical spy tips. If you've never seen it, check this out to find out what you've been missing. Because of the way season 2 ended you could probably even start watching tomorrow night and get into the story and watch this new season straight through. Afterwords though you should go back and check out seasons 1 and 2 (especially 2) because they were awesome.
Io mi chiamo Roberto!
Once I got hit with the news, in early April, that I would have a great deal more free time on my hands I began to think of what I could do to fill it. I consulted the mental list I had constructed over the years of "Things I would do if I ever had the time". Right near the top, was to learn Italian and since I was no longer a slave to a full schedule it looked like the time would never be better. Armed with the Rosetta Stone software I started out, unsure of what to expect and hoping that all the hype was true.
It definitely is. I study 30 minutes a night about 3-6 times a week and honestly believe I now know more Italian than all of the middle and high school Spanish I learned (save for the lyrics to "Caress Me Down"). Even though I'm sure when I try to show my mom and sister what I've learned they'll still make fun of me for having absolutely no discernible accent and my inability to roll Rs (could never do it in Spanish either), I really feel like I'm learning and could be hold a well scripted conversation with a native speaker.
If you're thinking about or just want to learn a new language, Rosetta Stone is absolutely the way to go. I suggest going to their site and checking out the demo they have. I'm not sure if the speaking parts are fully featured in the demo (you need a microphone for the full version) but they really are one of the best tools.
Anyway, so far it's been a great experience and I'm loving it and I'm actually learning (there's more I can say, but it would require me to carry around a cat and a table)
Io mi chiamo Robert. Sono Americano e Io parlo inglese ma studio italiano. Io ho ventisei anni.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
E3: Sony
Coming into the press conference the PSP Go was already leaked, so you had to wonder how Sony would react to losing potentially one of their trump cards. So kick off video is showing literally about a hundred titles flying by, while Queen's "One Vision" is playing, so you get the feeling Sony is going to stay on point in their presentation. Okay, high production intro videos are nice, but in the end mean little.
First game they're showing off - Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves. This is big for them because everyone is expecting that God of War III won't be an '09 release. What I thought was odd was that the demo started immediately in gameplay, without an intro movie to set it up or anything. At the time I wasn't sure what they were thinking, but shortly into the demo Drake climbs up to a rooftop and pauses for poise overlooking, well the world. It seriously looked realistically picture-esque and stunning. The gameplay looked good too. I never played the first one (it's on my list) but given it's good reviews and how this sequel looked, this game is going to be good.
Next they showed off a demo for M.A.G. the 256 player capable massive multiplayer battle game. Unfortuntely the presentation focused on 1 particular character giving commands to his squad and so didn't really show off anything impressive. A bit of a disappointment.
Then Sony brought out the PSP Go and explained all about it. Most people had already learned the info via the leak and people like me didn't really care. Plus they're selling it at $249, which I personally think is ludicris, and not in the "what's your fantasy" kind of way. Oh and for some sadistic reason, when the Hanah Montanna special edition PSP there was massive "pop". Ah, sarcasm and pedophiles.
However, then they started talking about some games for the PSP and it started to get me considering picking up a PSP 3000. Only considering since I don't get to spend much time with my DS as it is (and I love my DS). But the PSP is obviously a big part of Sony's plans going forward as indicated by special guest - Hideo Kojima. He's back, and he's talking about a true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3, exclusively for the PSP, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Not only is it happening, but Kojima promised that he is actively inolved in the game, and it serves as the missing link explaining from MGS3 to Outer Heaven. Watching Kojima on stage I got a glimpse of what it's like to actually be a rockstar (when you're not in the music industry) as opposed to the "corporate rockstars" I ranted about earlier. Shameless plug.
Then they talked about changes to the Playstation store and tried to show off Playstation Home. Home is still pretty impressive - technically but I still can't see a really practical use for it. They do go on to say that the Playstation Store has had a lot of downloads, blah blah, over 90 pieces of exclusive content, getting warmer and will start releasing more PS One games, interesting, starting today, oh that's nice, with Final Fantasy VII. Oh by the way. Not a game changer, but a cool announcement.
But that's not all. Here we go with a new video from Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIII. More than what Microsoft showed off and it looks great. But probably won't swerve people to the Sony side since you can get the same game on the 360. And then the announcement. Here's a first look at the next game, Final Fantasy XIV, exclusively on PS3. Wow. Movie looks great, got me all excited and then it happens. Title screen comes up, Final Fantasy XIV and right underneath "Online". D'oh! Well that just took me down a peg. A whole peg! But good job Sony in getting exclusivity back.
Then we start talking about the idea of play, create, share - epitomized by Little Big Planet. But it's not just LBP, introducing the team behind a play, create, share kart racing game. The game play looked liked a new version of Mario Kart (minus Mario and friends) with the ability to customize your characters and their karts. Then they showed off the track creator, and made a new, pretty cool looking track, in under 5 minutes. The key to this game - you'll be able to share your characters, cars and tracks with other players. That's actually a pretty cool concept.
Next has to be the reason why Sony shrugged off the PSP Go getitng leaked, and joked that it was the worst kept secret at E3, because it kept everyone off the trail of their best kept secret - the motion controller. Sure, it's been rumored but no one had much of a clue about it. Not only did Sony talk about it, but showed various tech demos to show off what they were able to do with it. And they made a good point - in some situations you need to have buttons, giving it a leg up on Microsofts Project Natal. However, throughout all of the tech demos shown there was nothing to address the idea of moving, or lower body movement. So Microsoft still has the advantage there, but if they can build a full body motion tracking camera, so can Sony. But in terms of the demos, they showed off the ability to write using sub millimeter precision, fight using a swoard and sheild, controll units from above (a possible RTS on console solution) and throw shurikens and fire a bow at zombie skeletons. Wii Motion Plus, you just got served worse than Voltron. Perhaps even more shocking than the demo was that it was announced that Sony Motion Control is scheduled for Spring 2010.
After everyone collectively gathered their thoughts from that Sony kept pounding the ground with a demo of Assasin's Creed 2. Sure it'll be on 360 as well, but it looked insane and the crowd yelled out with delight after witnessing a simultaneous two handed palm blade kill on a pair of guards. Oh and there will be exclusive content for the PS3 version, provided that you buy and play the PSP game Assasin's Creed: Bloodlines. Then there was the trailer for Gran Turismo, which must have racing facings on edge. Next was a trailer for The Last Guardian, from the producers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. It looked beautiful in that sort of "obviously artisitc, hate yourself for being impure in the face of this obvious beauty" way. That had lots of people clapping, although for me I really have minimal interest in those games.
And then it was time to close the show, with the coup de gra, or however you spell it. God of War III demo. Graphics upgrade, check. New weapons, check. Seamless looking deadly combos, check. And then the guy playing the demo thought it would be fun to show you that you can not only kill a centaur, but knock him down, cut his body open and spill out his entrails. At this point the bloodlust of the crowd was probably quenched. But the demo proceeded. Eventually we come across Helios flying through the sky fighting one of the Titans. Kratos heads towards an arrow turret and is preparing to fire when a Chimera (which looks incredible) comes out of the shadows behind him. During the course of the mighty battle Kratos cuts off the beast's snake tail. And then cuts out the lionshead from the chest. Just for good measure, in the end Kratos knocks down what's left of the chimera, pulls off one of the horns and impales it through the creatur's eye for the kill. Bloodlust elevated to a new level.
It looks like Sony is hitting the comeback trail hard, but the price point for the PS3 is still going to be a tough obstacle. Microsoft stole the last big third party exclusive Sony had and their first party exclusives are a bit more known (Halo, Gears of War) and offers downloadable exclusives for many of the multi-platform games. That said, Sony has made strides to close the gap and the new battle it seems, Natal vs. the Motion Controller could swing the whole thing. Oh, and a few hours after Nintendo seemed to get new life, Sony may have just kicked it out of relevance for core gamers.
First game they're showing off - Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves. This is big for them because everyone is expecting that God of War III won't be an '09 release. What I thought was odd was that the demo started immediately in gameplay, without an intro movie to set it up or anything. At the time I wasn't sure what they were thinking, but shortly into the demo Drake climbs up to a rooftop and pauses for poise overlooking, well the world. It seriously looked realistically picture-esque and stunning. The gameplay looked good too. I never played the first one (it's on my list) but given it's good reviews and how this sequel looked, this game is going to be good.
Next they showed off a demo for M.A.G. the 256 player capable massive multiplayer battle game. Unfortuntely the presentation focused on 1 particular character giving commands to his squad and so didn't really show off anything impressive. A bit of a disappointment.
Then Sony brought out the PSP Go and explained all about it. Most people had already learned the info via the leak and people like me didn't really care. Plus they're selling it at $249, which I personally think is ludicris, and not in the "what's your fantasy" kind of way. Oh and for some sadistic reason, when the Hanah Montanna special edition PSP there was massive "pop". Ah, sarcasm and pedophiles.
However, then they started talking about some games for the PSP and it started to get me considering picking up a PSP 3000. Only considering since I don't get to spend much time with my DS as it is (and I love my DS). But the PSP is obviously a big part of Sony's plans going forward as indicated by special guest - Hideo Kojima. He's back, and he's talking about a true sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3, exclusively for the PSP, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Not only is it happening, but Kojima promised that he is actively inolved in the game, and it serves as the missing link explaining from MGS3 to Outer Heaven. Watching Kojima on stage I got a glimpse of what it's like to actually be a rockstar (when you're not in the music industry) as opposed to the "corporate rockstars" I ranted about earlier. Shameless plug.
Then they talked about changes to the Playstation store and tried to show off Playstation Home. Home is still pretty impressive - technically but I still can't see a really practical use for it. They do go on to say that the Playstation Store has had a lot of downloads, blah blah, over 90 pieces of exclusive content, getting warmer and will start releasing more PS One games, interesting, starting today, oh that's nice, with Final Fantasy VII. Oh by the way. Not a game changer, but a cool announcement.
But that's not all. Here we go with a new video from Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIII. More than what Microsoft showed off and it looks great. But probably won't swerve people to the Sony side since you can get the same game on the 360. And then the announcement. Here's a first look at the next game, Final Fantasy XIV, exclusively on PS3. Wow. Movie looks great, got me all excited and then it happens. Title screen comes up, Final Fantasy XIV and right underneath "Online". D'oh! Well that just took me down a peg. A whole peg! But good job Sony in getting exclusivity back.
Then we start talking about the idea of play, create, share - epitomized by Little Big Planet. But it's not just LBP, introducing the team behind a play, create, share kart racing game. The game play looked liked a new version of Mario Kart (minus Mario and friends) with the ability to customize your characters and their karts. Then they showed off the track creator, and made a new, pretty cool looking track, in under 5 minutes. The key to this game - you'll be able to share your characters, cars and tracks with other players. That's actually a pretty cool concept.
Next has to be the reason why Sony shrugged off the PSP Go getitng leaked, and joked that it was the worst kept secret at E3, because it kept everyone off the trail of their best kept secret - the motion controller. Sure, it's been rumored but no one had much of a clue about it. Not only did Sony talk about it, but showed various tech demos to show off what they were able to do with it. And they made a good point - in some situations you need to have buttons, giving it a leg up on Microsofts Project Natal. However, throughout all of the tech demos shown there was nothing to address the idea of moving, or lower body movement. So Microsoft still has the advantage there, but if they can build a full body motion tracking camera, so can Sony. But in terms of the demos, they showed off the ability to write using sub millimeter precision, fight using a swoard and sheild, controll units from above (a possible RTS on console solution) and throw shurikens and fire a bow at zombie skeletons. Wii Motion Plus, you just got served worse than Voltron. Perhaps even more shocking than the demo was that it was announced that Sony Motion Control is scheduled for Spring 2010.
After everyone collectively gathered their thoughts from that Sony kept pounding the ground with a demo of Assasin's Creed 2. Sure it'll be on 360 as well, but it looked insane and the crowd yelled out with delight after witnessing a simultaneous two handed palm blade kill on a pair of guards. Oh and there will be exclusive content for the PS3 version, provided that you buy and play the PSP game Assasin's Creed: Bloodlines. Then there was the trailer for Gran Turismo, which must have racing facings on edge. Next was a trailer for The Last Guardian, from the producers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. It looked beautiful in that sort of "obviously artisitc, hate yourself for being impure in the face of this obvious beauty" way. That had lots of people clapping, although for me I really have minimal interest in those games.
And then it was time to close the show, with the coup de gra, or however you spell it. God of War III demo. Graphics upgrade, check. New weapons, check. Seamless looking deadly combos, check. And then the guy playing the demo thought it would be fun to show you that you can not only kill a centaur, but knock him down, cut his body open and spill out his entrails. At this point the bloodlust of the crowd was probably quenched. But the demo proceeded. Eventually we come across Helios flying through the sky fighting one of the Titans. Kratos heads towards an arrow turret and is preparing to fire when a Chimera (which looks incredible) comes out of the shadows behind him. During the course of the mighty battle Kratos cuts off the beast's snake tail. And then cuts out the lionshead from the chest. Just for good measure, in the end Kratos knocks down what's left of the chimera, pulls off one of the horns and impales it through the creatur's eye for the kill. Bloodlust elevated to a new level.
It looks like Sony is hitting the comeback trail hard, but the price point for the PS3 is still going to be a tough obstacle. Microsoft stole the last big third party exclusive Sony had and their first party exclusives are a bit more known (Halo, Gears of War) and offers downloadable exclusives for many of the multi-platform games. That said, Sony has made strides to close the gap and the new battle it seems, Natal vs. the Motion Controller could swing the whole thing. Oh, and a few hours after Nintendo seemed to get new life, Sony may have just kicked it out of relevance for core gamers.
E3: Nintendo
As it was honestly and bluntly put by the G4 correspondents covering the Nintendo press conference, "last year's event sucked" and Nintendo really needed to step it up.
Through the first 10 - 15 minutes it looked like last year all over again. Their first "big title" was New Super Mario Bro. Wii, which looks like a 1.5 version port of the DS title. You know you're in trouble when you're porting games from the DS. Talking about the Wii Fit plus = borring. They did finally explain the Wii Motion Plus and showed Wii Fit Resort but now that we've all seen the Wii before the novelty didn't last long. What was funny though was Nintendo Golden Boy Reggie Fils-Amie winning a 3 point contest at the buzzer by sinking the moneyball.
Reggie then started talking RPGs and my ears perked up. A new Final Fantasy Wii game that looked pretty good. Not sure how the combat is going to work, but at least you know there'll be a pretty good story associated with it. Then a new Wii version of Kingdom Hearts. A fairly solid strategy there - go to Square Enix and beg them to help you out. Also there's a DS game called Golden Sun which is supposed to be a resurrection of a franchise but I've never heard/played it.
And then it got really boring. The non-gamer philosophy, Iwata talking about a Wii vitality sensor. It's a friggin pulse detector for your finger. Let me put it this way, I actually was considering giving up and watching something else. I had half written a blog in my head declaring the Nintendo I grew up with dead and gone.
The woman who's not Reggie gets on stage with one last attempt to save the day. There's more Mario news. Like Bart Simpson saving the Fox network, Mario's going to have to save Nintendo. Video showing off Super Mario Galaxy 2. Afterwards the audience actually applauded - something I had heard and seen at Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft's presentations but was absent throughout most of Nintendo's time.
Good, but not exactly show saving. Out comes Reggie for one last attempt. He says that he reads the blogs (code for, I understand you're tired of games focused on non-gamers and you need to show your core some love) and has some titles from third parties to show off. First, Conduit from Sega a third person shooter that looks pretty good and needless to say is highly anticipated. Then, he shows a teaser trailer for a Resident Evil game. This would have been impressive except it looks a lot like a shooter remake of Code: Veronica. Although it did feature/show Leon, so I'm not sure where the storyline goes. They showed Steve Burnisde as well, lending more to the Code: Veronica theory. Lastly, a prequel to EA's Dead Space. Not surprisingly, a shooter. So the response seems to be, hey we can make games for core gamers just as long as they like shooters. Maybe RPGs depending on how Kingdom Hearts works out.
Then Reggie asks rhetorically "can Nintendo make these kinds of games?". "Absolutely" he answers, and to do it right they partnered with someone who is experienced in more adult themed games. I think everyone was wondering as the video started up.
Flyover of water, I know I've seen this intro before, then rising up through the clouds into space. Okay maybe not. Then the logo appears - Team Ninja. I knew the water was familiar. Team Ninja and Nintendo team up to bring a new version of Metroid (Metroid Other M). The demo showed Samus jumping around and blasting away a la Ryu in Ninja Gaiden. The promise of exploring her back story is a real selling point as of course is working with Team Ninja - guys who make games where you slice people up and cut off their limbs. This is the game Nintendo needed to make.
Few high points early, definitely dragged in the middel but ended relatively strong. Not a bad job from Nintendo, but Microsoft still has the top show so far (not counting EA and Ubisoft because that'd be comparing apples to bananas).
Sony's on deck.
Through the first 10 - 15 minutes it looked like last year all over again. Their first "big title" was New Super Mario Bro. Wii, which looks like a 1.5 version port of the DS title. You know you're in trouble when you're porting games from the DS. Talking about the Wii Fit plus = borring. They did finally explain the Wii Motion Plus and showed Wii Fit Resort but now that we've all seen the Wii before the novelty didn't last long. What was funny though was Nintendo Golden Boy Reggie Fils-Amie winning a 3 point contest at the buzzer by sinking the moneyball.
Reggie then started talking RPGs and my ears perked up. A new Final Fantasy Wii game that looked pretty good. Not sure how the combat is going to work, but at least you know there'll be a pretty good story associated with it. Then a new Wii version of Kingdom Hearts. A fairly solid strategy there - go to Square Enix and beg them to help you out. Also there's a DS game called Golden Sun which is supposed to be a resurrection of a franchise but I've never heard/played it.
And then it got really boring. The non-gamer philosophy, Iwata talking about a Wii vitality sensor. It's a friggin pulse detector for your finger. Let me put it this way, I actually was considering giving up and watching something else. I had half written a blog in my head declaring the Nintendo I grew up with dead and gone.
The woman who's not Reggie gets on stage with one last attempt to save the day. There's more Mario news. Like Bart Simpson saving the Fox network, Mario's going to have to save Nintendo. Video showing off Super Mario Galaxy 2. Afterwards the audience actually applauded - something I had heard and seen at Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft's presentations but was absent throughout most of Nintendo's time.
Good, but not exactly show saving. Out comes Reggie for one last attempt. He says that he reads the blogs (code for, I understand you're tired of games focused on non-gamers and you need to show your core some love) and has some titles from third parties to show off. First, Conduit from Sega a third person shooter that looks pretty good and needless to say is highly anticipated. Then, he shows a teaser trailer for a Resident Evil game. This would have been impressive except it looks a lot like a shooter remake of Code: Veronica. Although it did feature/show Leon, so I'm not sure where the storyline goes. They showed Steve Burnisde as well, lending more to the Code: Veronica theory. Lastly, a prequel to EA's Dead Space. Not surprisingly, a shooter. So the response seems to be, hey we can make games for core gamers just as long as they like shooters. Maybe RPGs depending on how Kingdom Hearts works out.
Then Reggie asks rhetorically "can Nintendo make these kinds of games?". "Absolutely" he answers, and to do it right they partnered with someone who is experienced in more adult themed games. I think everyone was wondering as the video started up.
Flyover of water, I know I've seen this intro before, then rising up through the clouds into space. Okay maybe not. Then the logo appears - Team Ninja. I knew the water was familiar. Team Ninja and Nintendo team up to bring a new version of Metroid (Metroid Other M). The demo showed Samus jumping around and blasting away a la Ryu in Ninja Gaiden. The promise of exploring her back story is a real selling point as of course is working with Team Ninja - guys who make games where you slice people up and cut off their limbs. This is the game Nintendo needed to make.
Few high points early, definitely dragged in the middel but ended relatively strong. Not a bad job from Nintendo, but Microsoft still has the top show so far (not counting EA and Ubisoft because that'd be comparing apples to bananas).
Sony's on deck.
It's a brand new night
Tonight was Conan's first show. I have to admit, watching him on the Tonight Show can only be equated to watching your team's top pitching prospect, who you followed throughout the minors and watched in Triple A, knowing that it was just a matter of time before he got the call to big show, make his major league debut. From the Simpsons, to the Late Show we knew this was going to happen and it's really, I think, a generational moment to see Conan take over the Tonight Show.
I was a bit nervous. As everyone knows Late Night is much different from Primetime and would NBC let Conan do the show his way or would they try to tamper with him to make him more "pleasing" to older audiences. So far though it seems as if they're letting Conan be Conan.
The opening skit for the show was great. Conan leaves NY but can't grab a cab so he runs across the U.S. When he gets to the studio he can't get in - cut back to the keys on the windowsill in NY. Lots of directions this can go for comedic effect, and what they choose will set the tone. Conan walks back off screen saddened. The door remains in view and then from off screen, a bulldozer drives right through the door and studio wall. Great start.
Max Weinberg is there, which I knew but I guess I missed the memo that Andy Richter was coming back. When he announced Conan I got really excited. Conan got a huge applause, "pop" as it's referred to in the wrestling game. It's obvious that the audience is aware of who he is, which I guess was a concern of NBC with regard to their usual demographic. After quieting the audience down, Conan introduces Andy and welcomes him back.
Another skit, showing Conan leading a Universal Studio tour. Crowd shots showing someone didn't get his humor, while others are just cracking up. At one point he got the crowd on the tour chanting "circle, circle" as the driver did donuts on the Universal lot. Then Conan took the tour "off-road" through L.A. before stopping at a 99 cent store to buy gifts for everyone on the tour. Great stuff. As the skit ends and they cut back to the studio the studio audience is chanting "circle, circle". And that's when I realized, things are going to be alright.
Just one thing could have made it better - someone yelling out "Vroom Vroom party starter."
Good luck Conan. We're all happy for you.
I was a bit nervous. As everyone knows Late Night is much different from Primetime and would NBC let Conan do the show his way or would they try to tamper with him to make him more "pleasing" to older audiences. So far though it seems as if they're letting Conan be Conan.
The opening skit for the show was great. Conan leaves NY but can't grab a cab so he runs across the U.S. When he gets to the studio he can't get in - cut back to the keys on the windowsill in NY. Lots of directions this can go for comedic effect, and what they choose will set the tone. Conan walks back off screen saddened. The door remains in view and then from off screen, a bulldozer drives right through the door and studio wall. Great start.
Max Weinberg is there, which I knew but I guess I missed the memo that Andy Richter was coming back. When he announced Conan I got really excited. Conan got a huge applause, "pop" as it's referred to in the wrestling game. It's obvious that the audience is aware of who he is, which I guess was a concern of NBC with regard to their usual demographic. After quieting the audience down, Conan introduces Andy and welcomes him back.
Another skit, showing Conan leading a Universal Studio tour. Crowd shots showing someone didn't get his humor, while others are just cracking up. At one point he got the crowd on the tour chanting "circle, circle" as the driver did donuts on the Universal lot. Then Conan took the tour "off-road" through L.A. before stopping at a 99 cent store to buy gifts for everyone on the tour. Great stuff. As the skit ends and they cut back to the studio the studio audience is chanting "circle, circle". And that's when I realized, things are going to be alright.
Just one thing could have made it better - someone yelling out "Vroom Vroom party starter."
Good luck Conan. We're all happy for you.
Monday, June 1, 2009
E3: Microsoft
I just watched Microsoft's E3 Press Conference (thank you G4) and I have to say - I think I need to separate XBox 360 from the rest of M$, they seem to be less evil. Well, with the exception of the project natal camera with facial and voice recognition. As Kevin Perrera said, "this is some skynet level stuff".
They started showing off some of the big new titles: the Beatles Rockband, Modern Warfare 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. None of those are exclusives for the Xbox but "All You Need is Love" will be an exclusive song download and two exclusive map packs for Modern Warfare 2. It's a recurring theme, Xbox gets extra stuff for every game. I'd like to begrudge them for that, but I really can't. They can ask for it, probably even demand it from publishers, based on their massive userbase and the popularity of Xbox Live.
Tony Hawk showed off a new peripheral stakeboard controller, which at the time seemed awesome. But after they showed of Natal at the end, it makes you wonder why you would need a peripheral in the first place. Probably more of a stop gap.
The new Splinter Cell game looked pretty cool and there was a game called Andrew Wake, which I had never heard of before, that looked really interesting - sort of a third person mystery adventure.
Then Microsoft started talking about all of the features beyond games. That was a good time to catch up on the Daily News Sports page. I peaked in a few times though. Yeah Netflix on your 360 is nice, ooh look they're adding Last.fm - don't care. Facebook on 360, not interested. Oh what a surprise, Twitter the scourge of human existance. Well they hit all of the major buzz words, so by corporate presentation standards that's a success. One thing they showed off that was pretty cool was a type of share feature, where you can watch a movie or show with friends (indicated by their avatars) who aren't there. Sort of like a remote watch option. It actually seemed pretty cool to me, mostly because my main contingent of friends are back on the East Coast and I had thoughts of getting us all together to watch the Mets vs. Yankees together and having my avatar jump up and down after David Wright took Sabbathia deep.
After that segment ended another suit got on stage and unleashed one hell of a surprise - Hideo Kojima, legendary producer of Metal Gear Solid. I believe it was a this point that myself and almost all other Playstation 3 owners looked derisevly at their PS3 and wondered "why?" or "what am I going to do with you?" Fortunately I got mine free, so it's an easier pill to swallow. Anyway, MS suit guy throws Kojima an alley-oop when he says "I can't wait to see what's next for Solid Snake." leading Kojima to quip "I didn't say anything about Solid Snake." Queue a teaser trailer showing that the new game, Metal Gear Rising is starring Raiden, back in his cyborg ninja suit from MGS4 and has a makeshift bandage over one eye.
Finally Microsoft went beyond all the speculation of a "motion sensing controller" to show off project Natal. Basically it's a camera that recognizes voice and faces, does full body capture and is used as a controller, without the controller. Interesting stuff, but none of the games they showed off were practical. Then they brought out Peter Molyneux who talked about what he and Lionhead Studios have done with it. They showed a demo of this artificial kid, Milo. In the demo one of the people at Lionhead holds a conversation with Milo, sees her reflection in a pond and swirls the water in it and even draws something on a piece of paper and passes it to Milo, who reacts and comments on it in real time. That was some crazy stuff. Like Kevin said, skynet type stuff.
Anyway, it was a very impressive press conference. I mean they had Speilberg, Paul McCartney and Ringo. Then again they also had Yoko. Still, it's going to be very had for Nintendo and Sony to keep pace. Fortunately, I just need to wake up at 9am tomorrow to find out what they've been up to.
They started showing off some of the big new titles: the Beatles Rockband, Modern Warfare 2 and Final Fantasy XIII. None of those are exclusives for the Xbox but "All You Need is Love" will be an exclusive song download and two exclusive map packs for Modern Warfare 2. It's a recurring theme, Xbox gets extra stuff for every game. I'd like to begrudge them for that, but I really can't. They can ask for it, probably even demand it from publishers, based on their massive userbase and the popularity of Xbox Live.
Tony Hawk showed off a new peripheral stakeboard controller, which at the time seemed awesome. But after they showed of Natal at the end, it makes you wonder why you would need a peripheral in the first place. Probably more of a stop gap.
The new Splinter Cell game looked pretty cool and there was a game called Andrew Wake, which I had never heard of before, that looked really interesting - sort of a third person mystery adventure.
Then Microsoft started talking about all of the features beyond games. That was a good time to catch up on the Daily News Sports page. I peaked in a few times though. Yeah Netflix on your 360 is nice, ooh look they're adding Last.fm - don't care. Facebook on 360, not interested. Oh what a surprise, Twitter the scourge of human existance. Well they hit all of the major buzz words, so by corporate presentation standards that's a success. One thing they showed off that was pretty cool was a type of share feature, where you can watch a movie or show with friends (indicated by their avatars) who aren't there. Sort of like a remote watch option. It actually seemed pretty cool to me, mostly because my main contingent of friends are back on the East Coast and I had thoughts of getting us all together to watch the Mets vs. Yankees together and having my avatar jump up and down after David Wright took Sabbathia deep.
After that segment ended another suit got on stage and unleashed one hell of a surprise - Hideo Kojima, legendary producer of Metal Gear Solid. I believe it was a this point that myself and almost all other Playstation 3 owners looked derisevly at their PS3 and wondered "why?" or "what am I going to do with you?" Fortunately I got mine free, so it's an easier pill to swallow. Anyway, MS suit guy throws Kojima an alley-oop when he says "I can't wait to see what's next for Solid Snake." leading Kojima to quip "I didn't say anything about Solid Snake." Queue a teaser trailer showing that the new game, Metal Gear Rising is starring Raiden, back in his cyborg ninja suit from MGS4 and has a makeshift bandage over one eye.
Finally Microsoft went beyond all the speculation of a "motion sensing controller" to show off project Natal. Basically it's a camera that recognizes voice and faces, does full body capture and is used as a controller, without the controller. Interesting stuff, but none of the games they showed off were practical. Then they brought out Peter Molyneux who talked about what he and Lionhead Studios have done with it. They showed a demo of this artificial kid, Milo. In the demo one of the people at Lionhead holds a conversation with Milo, sees her reflection in a pond and swirls the water in it and even draws something on a piece of paper and passes it to Milo, who reacts and comments on it in real time. That was some crazy stuff. Like Kevin said, skynet type stuff.
Anyway, it was a very impressive press conference. I mean they had Speilberg, Paul McCartney and Ringo. Then again they also had Yoko. Still, it's going to be very had for Nintendo and Sony to keep pace. Fortunately, I just need to wake up at 9am tomorrow to find out what they've been up to.
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