Microsoft Press Event 2012

I’ll be honest Microsoft did not impress me very much this year.  Their conference was by and large annual announcements (Dance Central 3,  Call of Duty Black Ops 2, etc.   I was hoping for something truly surprising and they had one thing that actually has be curious and interested.  Xbox Smart Glass looks to be something with the potential to be truly impressive.

The Smart Glass has the potential to change game play in a way similar to the same way that the Wii U Game Pad could change the way we play games.  By connecting iPads, iPods/iPhones, Android Phones and Tablets, and of course Windows based phones, tablets, and PCs together with your Xbox 360.  The potential ramifications of being able to use these devices to gather information, changing or giving commands live to your troops with out your friends seeing what your doing… there is incredible potential here.

The problem is that this is only potential.  There was no information that was provided by Microsoft about how this would work, and since the implementation is actually handled by the developers this could end up biting Microsoft in the rear.  Just as Kinect hasn’t really found its niche, so far I don’t see the niche for this product fitting in with out over taking game play being obvious.  The reason by and large for this is we don’t know if it will be limited to say, Ice Cream Sandwich, or Wi Fi only.  In short there are too many questions…. and what happens if you lack a compatible device?  If you don’t have a Kinect for example you can’t play the games for it.

I do believe that there is potential here, don’t get me wrong.  But before I can say just how good its going to be, I need more information.  Onto some of the games that they have mentioned.   This won’t be comprehensive as I will have a full review on the website as it will be too long here.

When looking at the games the one that stands out as surprising to me was Tomb Raider.  As someone who has never played the franchise I found my self wanting to learn more about the game and since Lara Croft in this doesn’t appear to be built like a pair of breasts the size of over inflated Basketballs with a woman attached, it might be something that I have to constantly explain my interest in playing it to family.

Dance Central 3 and Nike + could both be good for people interested in getting healthier.  Wreckateer looks kind of like Angry Birds on steroids, and the South Park game looks actually curiously good.  Ascend New Gods looks to be a “similar to but not quite” God of War game.

The rest, including Resident Evil 6, Madden 13, Fifa 13, Gears of War Judgment all failed to grab me.  I’m not into those particular series or into the hyper violence that they often depict.    The new Fable Game, “Fable the Journey” could be interesting, but since I don’t have Kinect, I likely wont play it.

This leaves Halo 4, Forza Horizon and Black Ops 2.  I admit that they look interesting.  Halo is a series I’ve WANTED to get into, but don’t own the titles, and WOW the game play looks like it could be epic.  Forza is racing and I don’t love realistic racing, but it looks like it has potential.  and Black Ops 2 the story line looks very interesting.

Look forward to a full review on the website once I get a chance to finish taking notes on the conferences and do my write ups later today.  Stay tuned to https://sites.google.com/site/bluemagicanssite/ and

http://www.twitch.tv/bluemagican for more.