Hello one and all, Aeropause Games is at E3, and will will have a slew of stuff to talk about today that we are seeing at the show.  Coming up this evening will be a rundown of the three major press conferences, as well as a rundown from the Ubisoft conference.  Quick summary on all – Microsoft was good, Sony surprised us all with a $249.99 price tag for the PS Vita and the Wii U looks and plays amazing.  Oh, and for once, the Ubisoft presser was actually upbeat, exciting and to the point.

Today, we will have coverage coming from games hosted by Bethesda, a close look at what OnLive is doing with their new apps and content, and a detailed look at Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Hitman: Absolution.  Roberto will have his own share of hardware and peripheral companies that he is visiting, and Fourhman will have some input with more on Ntntendo later today.

It’s a jam-packed show and we are looking to bring you the best in content with out own opinions and chatter on what we see at E3 this year.  Enjoy!

Last year was considered by most, a less than stellar year when it came to the E3 press conference for Microsoft.  Sure they had the Kinect, and they gave away the new S model 360 to all in attendance, but there was no energy from the audience for most of the conference.  So what does Microsoft do to get the hardcore faithful satisfied with their console and Kinect, but still find a way to appease the casual gamer?  You find games that use the new device, but carry name brands synonymous with the core faithful.  But there should also be announcements that add to the dashboard, as well as the user interface experience with Kinect.  So read on to see what I think Microsoft will have to show all of us at their E3 conference this year.

Word to the wise – this is a prediction article.  I have no prior knowledge of what will be at the show, but I have heard enough that I have formulated some ideas as to what will be shown, but some are pie in the sky thoughts that I would like to see, and would hope to see as well.  All of these may be completely wrong, or on the other hand, they could all turn out correct, in which case, I am going to buy a lottery ticket.

Selling Kinect to the Hardcore

Kinect has been out on the marketplace for six months now, and while it has sold through the roof for Microsoft, there has been little in the way of games that have satisfied the hardcore crowd.  Sure, we have had Dance Central, but there has been little else that has created that want or need from the hardcore crowd to own the device.  Microsoft needs to hook those people with some titles that speak to them.  First and foremost has to be a Gears of War Kinect game.  No brand, outside of say, Halo or Call of Duty, says Xbox 360 like Gears.  The rumors have been kicking around for a few months now, but I suspect that a Gears Kinect title will be front and center at the conference.

We also sort of know that Forza World will have some component linked to Kinect, but I am not sure if that is the right game to sell Kinect.  Driving games are a tough sell when a wheel or controller is so integral to the experience.  One only needs to look at Kinect Joyride as an example of what can go wrong with a Kinect driving title.  I hope that Turn 10 can pull this off, but I really hope it is a mode in the game, and not the full experience, or a completely different title using the Forza brand.

Other titles that will probably show up at the conference for the Kinect include

• Dance Central 2 – Microsoft and Harmonix struck lightning with this the first time around, so it only makes sense that it shows up for a return engagement, plus it should allow Harmonix time to add extra modes and features to the title with the Kinect experience under their belt.
• Rise of Nightmares – We saw some of this at Tokyo Game Show last year and it is titled as a scary as hell game for the Kinect.  Not much is known about the title, but it will be interesting to see a title that allows for some serious horror gore.
• Star Wars – We saw the early build of a Star Wars game for Kinect, and it looked absolutely terrible.  It played like crap and it looked completely uninspired.  If a Star Wars game is going to happen, it really needs to have better combat and interaction for players to stay interested.  However, something Star Wars will show up for Kinect.  Can I wish for X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter Reloaded?
• The New Steel Battalion game – Okay, I want to see this if only to find out how it will work.  I have to know how you take a game that had one of the largest controllers ever goes to a completely controller free mode of gameplay.  I expect it to be front and center; if only because of its link to the game on the Xbox and how hardcore it was with said controller.
• Lionhead Studios – Sure, we saw Milo two years ago and nothing since from Lionhead in regards to Kinect.  I believe that this will finally be the year that we see something from Peter Molyneux and crew when it comes to Kinect.  As to what that might be is the question?  Lionhead does have a stable of products beyond Fable, but I am not sure if they still own the rights to those titles.  Of course, it could actually end up being something to do with Milo.
• Metal Gear Solid Rising – While nothing has been stated that the game will use Kinect, I am going to go out on a limb and state that the game might show up with a Kinect component, or a “Works Better with Kinect” sticker on the box.  I mean, the game is about slicing and dicing people, and doing that with your arm is a remedial exercise.  I could be wrong on this, but I am going to say it is crazy enough to happen.

The Halo Effect

We know that this year marks the 10^th anniversary of Halo hitting the original Xbox console, and I cannot imagine Microsoft letting this anniversary slip by with nothing to show for it.  Most have called a remake of the first Halo: Combat Evolved title and I honestly think that is what we will see.  The original Halo with upgraded graphics, and multiplayer on the Xbox Live network, all for a $15 price tag on the XBLA would be a perfect fit, and would sate most people appetite or something Halo related this year. 

I would hope that Microsoft does not try to integrate Kinect with this title, but that could happen.  It is not like the game could not be ported for Kinect, but I don’t think that the multiplayer focus of the title would work well with Kinect, and it would only give the audience a reason to stay away.  Maybe adding Kinect functionality as an option, but not a requirement.

Call of Duty Makes Some Waves

Call of Duty has been considered an Xbox 360 brand title for some time even though it appears on the other consoles.  However, it has been so closely tied to Xbox Live that it might as well be a pseudo-exclusive title for the brand.  I expect to see Modern Warfare 3 as a centerpiece for the Microsoft conference, but is this really a surprise.

Sure, we know that Modern Warfare 3 is coming this fall, and it is coming from Infinity Ward, but what else does it offer fans of the series on an Xbox 360.  I am certain that the map pack exclusivity will be played up by Microsoft and Activision execs, and if anything, this is a way for Activision to try and smooth over the whole Infinity Ward fallout from early 2010.

Time to Interface

With each E3, Microsoft has also made sure to add some sort of enhancement to the Dashboard, and each of these have had mixed success.  While Netflix, ESPN and Hulu Plus have all met with fanfare and success, other surefire bets like Twitter and Facebook have been rather disappointing.  Facebook integration with games never left the starting gate, and without a browser, half of the content in Twitter and Facebook is pretty much useless.

So what does Microsoft have up their sleeve in regards to new applications for the dashboard?  One rumor floating around that might have some weight is a new TV subscription service that would feature content from major outlets.  Not sure how Netflix and Hulu would feel about this, or Microsoft’s own Zune marketplace for that matter, but if there is money to be made off of it, it could be a win-win for Microsoft.

I think the bigger payoff for Microsoft would be a return to the game show arena.  When 1 vs. 100 was cancelled with little fanfare in 2010, there was a lot of sadness around the Xbox Live community.  While it was not as successful as when it first came out, it was a unique venture, which was a lot of fun.  The bigger issue is that they needed more programming to supplement the one show.  I think that if Microsoft will revisit this formula with several different shows.  Whether there will be a live show or not might be the question, but I think there is a lot of value to having this format return, and I think Microsoft realizes this as well.

Entering the Bizarre

With most of the big stuff out of the way, I do have a few more off the wall predictions to throw out.  Most of these are longshot predictions, but some of them I throw out every year, with the hope that one year, Microsoft makes me look good.

• Kingdom Hearts 3 – It would be nice to see this series return, in a normal format, and not some portable offshoot.  It would also be a big win for Microsoft to get the first showing of this title in some way, shape or form.
• Games for Windows Live – While it has been the bastard stepchild of Microsoft’s gaming division, PC gaming has had a renaissance in the last year, and I think Microsoft is finally going to show some love for the platform at their conference, including a look at the new Flight property.
• Crytek’s new Xbox 360 exclusive title will feature Kinect.  It has been bantered around, but getting bigwig publishers on the Kinect is a win.
• Batman: Arkham City will be shown front and center this year and will feature exclusive, timed DLC for the Xbox 360.
• A price cut will be announced for both the Xbox 360 and the Kinect, or a new bundle will be released featuring Kinect Sports or Dance Central in the package along with Kinect Adventures.  While Microsoft has been ruling the roost the last few months in the NPD sales race, it never hurts to pile on
• Security will be mentioned.  Will the recent issues at PSN, I also suspect that Microsoft will come out to tout the security that they have had in place on Xbox Live for some time.  Sure, it doesn’t need to be said, but it might resonate with those that are upset about the PSN breach.
• Perfect Dark Kinect – Okay, this will probably not happen, but Rare has to be working on something, right?  Might as well be this instead of another Avatar based game.

Wrap up

So with this, I figure that if I am sitting at 50% at the end of the conference, I feel pretty good about what Microsoft is selling me at the conference this year.  Sure, some of these will be complete misses, but I think it is an interesting outlook for Microsoft this year on the Xbox 360.  Right now, they have the big dog in the kennel, but it is their race to lose at this point.  What do you think about these predictions?  Looking good, or have I completely missed the boat on what Microsoft is doing this year?  Let us know below in the comments or over at our Facebook page.

As for our case mod, this rather cool Master Chief case mod can be found over at CraziestGadgets.com.  It definitely shows some creativity and I love the damage effect on the opposite side of the case.

Let us know what you think the best picks are for March 2011 on the Xbox 360, and if you want to read about other platforms, make sure to check out the Ones to Watch articles for the PC, Wii/DS and PS3/PSP systems.

Dragon Age II (Electronic Arts/Bioware) – The first Dragon Age was a great game…if you were playing it on a PC.  On the console, it was good, but there were certain quirks that did not seem to transfer over from the PC to the Xbox 360.  The title was also plagued by frame rate issues and other graphical glitches like clipping.  Dragon Age II was developed from the ground up on the Xbox 360, instead of being ported from the PC to the platform.  It features a host of new game mechanics, including a new combat system, better camera work and most important to me, complete voice work for your main character, Hawke.  Sure, there has been some flack from the hardcore that the game has been dumbed down for the lowest common denominator, but Bioware made the same changes for Mass Effect 2, and it seems to have been for the better.  Look for Dragon Age II on March 8th, 2011.

MLB 2K11 (2K Sports) – 2K Sports knew that last year’s entry for baseball was not received as warmly as people thought it would be by gamers.  Fielding and base stealing were two areas that people found problems with the game, as well as pitching control.  This year, a lot of the design focus went into redesigning the fielding mechanics, making it harder to lesser skilled players to make long runs for a catch.  Base stealing also factors in more stats when making throws from the catcher, the lead that a runner has off the base, the pitch delivery and pitch type as well as the fielder’s skill at making the catch from the catcher.  Mix in more detailed facial animations and body types and you have a much improved entry from 2K Sports for MLB 2K11.  Look for MLB 2K11 on March 8th, 2011.

Yoostar 2: In the Movies (Blitz Games/Yoostar Entertainment Group) – While I have never heard of the Yoostar brand until I saw a trailer for this game about a month ago, I fell in love with the concept surrounding the game.  I consider myself a complete movie buff, and the idea of a game that inserts you into movie clips, grades you on your performance, allows uploading of clips to share, and it works light years ahead of Microsoft’s failed attempt to do this with Your In The Movies – it sounds fantastic.  And really, who doesn’t want to act out scenes from CSI: Miami as resident acting genius, David Caruso?  That’s right, nobody.  Sure, there could be technical hurdles to making it work flawlessly, and Fourhman made good points about the game not working as advertised when it comes to scoring, but I am giving Yoostar 2 the benefit of the doubt.  Look for Yoostar 2: In the Movies on March 8th, 2011.

Homefront (Kaos Studios/THQ) – What do you get when you make a video game about the movie Red Dawn, but substitute the North Koreans for the Russians?  Why you get Homefront, the new title from THQ and Kaos Studios.  Homefront is offering up an alternate reality where America has been besieged by a super powerful North Korea.  Homefront strikes a chord with me, because I love alternative history titles, and the fact that it pulls no punches in its depictions of violence and desolation.  Seeing things like executions of families in front of their kids, or pits that troops are dumping bodies in unceremoniously are tough to watch, and give the player a reason to fight the good fight.  I am disappointed that the team is tacking on multiplayer, and Kaos is known more for its multiplayer games, rather than its single player stories.  Look for Homefront on March 15th, 2011.

Top Spin 4 (2K Sports) – While I have never been a fan of tennis in real life, mostly because I suck, I do enjoy playing it in a video game.  A lot of this comes from the ability to pull off the moves that the pros make on TV.  That said, I was not a fan of Top Spin 3, as I felt the difficulty levels were way out of wack, leaving me consistently frustrated with my game sessions.  Top Spin 4 has gone back and remodeled the game engine, incorporating a new physics engine, game types, and tournaments.  Also new is the idea of focusing on a style of gameplay, like being a serve and volley player vs. a baseline player.  There are also skills based on the type of surface that you are playing on.  I also love the idea of streamlining the tournament mode, so you play one tournament a month, and then one prep event, be it an actual game, training, or something ouside the realm of tennis, like a TV appearance, or a sponsor party.  Look for Top Spin 4 on March 15th, 2011.

Crysis 2 (Electronic Arts/Crytek) – The original Crysis came out as a PC exclusive, and was a good title, but was designed ahead of the hardware curve on the platform and sold a paltry 90K in its first month of sales.  Needless to say, Crytek, decided that they needed to be a multiplatform company, and when Crysis 2 was announced, it was announced across several platforms, Xbox 360 included.  Sure the graphics in the game are without question, amazing, and the story continues from the first, but with enough distance as to not alienate the player.  But I have felt a little uncomfortable with the early builds and multiplayer demos for Crysis 2 so far, as the Xbox 360 controls seem a bit sluggish.  I have given the game the benefit of the doubt, as those demos are based on early code, and not fully optimized as the final product should be.  Look for Crysis 2 on March 22nd.

And there you have it folks, another stellar month of games for the Xbox 360 platform.  I should also take the time before questions are made, that these lists are not meant to be a representation of exclusive titles.  They are titles that I select as what I think the best are on the Xbox 360 platform in a given month.  They are not paid for advertisements, and at no time do we state that they are exclusive.  We just want to give a rundown of what we think you should be spending your cash on each month.   I hope that clears things up and see you back here in April for another edition of Ones to Watch on the Xbox 360.

Anyone that has used an Xbox 360, and actually has a care about their gamerscore has at one point or another, been a user of MyGamerCard.net. The site was one of the first of its kind, using the community tools available from Microsoft to link in and grab your gamertag information and putting it in a displayable format for the world to see. I remember first seeing the MyGamerCard.net gamercard in someone’s signature on a forum and immediately hit the site to get one for myself. It was clean, slick and most of all, worked flawlessly for so many years.

Sadly, MyGamerCard.net has decided to shutter their site, and while some of it was due to costs for running the site (five servers and 13 million requests for data a day!), the site owner was more candid in mentioning the lack of support from Microsoft for community developers, and the general pullback in community from Microsoft in general.

It speaks volumes about how things have changed at Microsoft over the last 18-24 months with Microsoft as being a community focus gaming company. In the beginning, Microsoft was lauded with their integration of community with their sites, interfaces and development tools. Game blogs were routinely courted for feedback, reviews, and gaming information on these topics. Companies like MyGamerCard.net were part of the initial backbone for community development with Xbox Live providing neat little services that integrated with the backbone of Xbox Live.

Things started to change in general in 2009 when the Xbox Gamerscore Blog team were shut down and most of the staff positions eliminated, including people like Nelson Rodriguez and Chris Paladino. Later, I noticed that the flow of information and news for smaller sites like Aeropause Games became harder to get, with myself and others having to actively chase down reps to get information on products or review code. Even stalwarts that had stayed through all the transitions ended up leaving the company, like Trixie360. The face of Xbox Live was gone, with Major Nelson and a handful of new players being the only ones to deliver news, and even then, it was rare to that news.

The redesign of the Dashboard last year for Kinect might have been the final hurrah for a lot of companies like MyGamerCard.net. The redesign killed a lot of the linking information that these sites relied upon to pull their data, and even four months removed from that change, there are still nagging issues for most of these sites, including the for pay sites like Raptr.com, as well as sites like MyGamerCard.net.

I was really upset when I read Morgon’s post over at MyGamerCard.net. They were one of the first to link in to the system, and helped Microsoft really build a solid community of gamers that enjoyed the service that they provided. And it was all done at no charge to gamers like myself, supported all by advertising, and the willingness of a company like Microsoft to support small communities that wanted to build something on the foundation of Xbox Live.

Worse still is that so many people started to see the writing on the wall months and years ago when the corporate culture around Microsoft changed in regards to the gamer community in general. It seemed that we were not as much the focus as a community and more as a commodity, looking to see us buy more stuff, and less about expressing support for sites like MyGamerCard.net. It is sad to see the site disappear, but worse is the idea that Microsoft seems to be tossing out the valued community players that helped build the very community that made Xbox Live and its 3rd party extensions so important.

Let us know if you used a MyGamerCard.net signature card and how do you feel about this great site shutting down. I for one, will miss seeing my card in my signature.

Sorry for the delay on this current Aeropodcast, but believe me, it is worth it as the title alone is a story in and of itself, and yes, it is directly related to spellcheck and Haygood = Haggis.  For those that may not know, Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish that takes sheep’s stomach and then takes the rest of the organs from the sheep, minces them and then shoves them into the sheep’s stomach and then it is boiled to perfection.  Yeah, you probably just vomited in your mouth a bit.

We did actually get to a topic, where we talked about Steamworks and Valve’s plans for their system on the PS3 for Portal 2.  We talk about how Steamworks could gain a ton of new users with this implementation, and whether it could become the defacto online service for the PS3.  We also look at how this affects the Xbox 360 and their closed system in comparison to this marketing device.  There is also a community corner, but we could always use some emails and voicemails to spice it up a bit, so community, get in and do your part.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Totino’s Pizza Rolls” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below.   Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace.  If you have not yet, make sure to  visit our Facebook Fan Page.

As for this month’s case mod, we have an Xbox 360 that has been removed from its case and all of its guts put back into a clear plexiglass case.  To read more about it, head over to TechE Blog for more info.

I also want to remind everyone to check out the other Ones to Watch articles for the PC, Wii/DS and PS3/PSP and if you enjoy them, make sure to let your friends know about them.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Atari/Eden Games) – The first Test Drive Unlimited came out near the launch of the Xbox 360 and gained a serious foothold with gamers.  It revitalized a franchise that had been on life support for several years before Unlimited’s release, and capitalized on the idea of living the life of a bigshot in an exotic location.  Test Drive Unlimited 2 looks to keep the same feel from the first title, but has added a second location of Ibiza, while adding a host of new activities and social items for people to invest in.  Oh, did we mention the fact that the game features a revamped driving engine that uses individual physics models for each vehicle in the game, including modeling for all the different weather types that you might find while cruising about on Oahu or Ibiza?  My only concern comes from the fact that the development team is making a lot of promises, and sometimes, it can be hard to meet all of those demands.  Look for Test Drive Unlimited 2 on February 8th, 2011.

You Don’t Know Jack (THQ/Jellyvision) – I remember the first time I encountered You Don’t Know Jack back in 1996.  It took the stagnant trivia game format on a PC and added attitude and style to create an addictive gameplay experience.  However, the franchise was drilled into the ground by Sierra at the time, and by the end, it was a shell of its former self.  THQ decided to pick up the pieces from that franchise, and has relaunched it with a new breed of gamer on the scene.  You Don’t Know Jack keeps up the humor and double entendres, but now offers features like online play, which is sorely needed in a trivia game where you do not have a lot of options if you lack anyone at home to play.  It will be interesting to see how THQ plans to keep the game’s question content fresh, as the main downside to any trivia game is the fact that a disc can only have a finite amount of questions.  No word on whether expansion packs will be available to alieviate this problem, but it the series bounces back, it should be a no-brainer.  Look for You Don’t Know Jack on February 8th, 2011.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Capcom) – It seems that smart minds at both Capcom and Marvel realized that legal issues should not hold up a great fighting franchise that gamers have wanted to return for some time.  Marvel and Capcom formed a truce of some kind and tested the popularity of the franchise with a relaunch of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on XBLA and PSN.  The response was overwhelmingly positive and the announcement of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was not far behind.  This time around, it seems like both companies are pulling out the stops, adding all kinds of new characters, old favorites and more.  Hulk, Ryu, Frank West, Wesker, Sentinels, Iron Man, MODOK and more are sure to grab all sorts of people in and keep them playing with competitive online play as well as a competent single player experience.  It also helps that the game is hitting shelves when there is little in the way of competition from another fighting brand, so it should do well on retail shelves.  Look for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds on February 15th, 2011.

Bulletstorm (Epic Games/Electronic Arts) – It was funny that up until the demo hit XBLA and PSN, I had no real interest in this title.  I mean, I enjoyed the burgers that they handed out at E3, but the game was never really capturing any of my interests.  Then I actually played the demo and my mind was completely changed.  The action was frantic, and the combo system for points had me always trying new things to build up bigger and better combo scores.  It also helped that at the end of the demo, it showed my progress against my friends, which immediately had me replaying the level to do better.  It also had an interesting sense of humor surrounding its killing system that had me chuckling from time to time.  It could be a problem for those that do not like the combo system, because if you don’t like that, or want to use it, the game could end up playing like a generic first person shooter.  Personally, I really enjoyed what I played so far, and I want to see the other ways I can create mayhem with this title.  Look for Bulletstom on February 22nd, 2011.

deBlob 2 (THQ) – Oh deBlob, how you scorned me the first time around.  I was enthralled by your initial appearance at E3 so many years ago, but when it came down to the final retail product, controls and a horrendous save system kept me from ever wanting to play your game.  With those criticisms in mind, the development team went back to the drawing board and worked on the items that people had complaints about.  It also helps that this time around, they are releasing on multiple platforms, rather than putting all their eggs in one basket.  I am curious to see how the Wii controls will translate to the Xbox 360 controller.  Motion control was not a huge part of the game, but it was present enough to make it curious how it will migrate to the Xbox 360 experience.  It also does not help that I was one of the many that wanted the first title to be great, and it was a huge letdown.  THQ has to hit this one out of the park to make it great, but I am happy with what has been shown so far, so I have stayed optimistic.  Look for deBlob 2 on February 22nd, 2011.

And with that we have come to a close for another month of Ones to Watch on the Xbox 360.  Sure there were a few others that just missed the cut like the Dreamcast Collection, which was a  toss up for me.  I wanted to put it, but the fact that half of the collection has already been released on XBLA had me take it off the list.  Make sure to come back next month to read about what should be hot on the Xbox 360.

Fans of Dance Central that have been waiting on some price cuts to DLC will be happy this week as four tracks have been marked down by 33% for a limited time.  The four tracks in question are:

• Janet Jackson – “Control”
• Cameo – “Word Up”
• Ne-Yo – “Because of You”
• Sean Paul – “Temperature”

All of these tracks can be picked up for 160 Microsoft Loonies instead of the normal 240 points.  While we did not get a difinitive end to the sale price, these markdowns normally only last for a week or two at best, so Bust a Move while the pricing is low.

Viva Pinata was a surprisingly deep and addictive simulation game when it came out.  However, it seemed to be stuck between audiences, with Microsoft wanting to make a kid friendly brand for its newly minted Xbox 360, yet the game seemed to be completely targeted at adults.  After good, but not stellar sales, Microsoft brought the title to PC where it had decent sales, but nothing fantastic.

Microsoft is trying to boost the sales over at its new launched Games for Windows Marketplace and they are posting up more $0.99 deals, and today is Viva Pinata Day.  Yep, you can get the full version of Viva Pinata for $0.99 and get a full 1000 achievement points from the title.  I have to admit that Microsoft is serious about its Marketplace re-branding this time around.  They have been handing out sales left and right with these ridiculous daily deals.  Yesterday was Shadowrun for $0.99 and Deus Ex: GOTY for the same price the day before that.  Now if they would just come out with some Microsoft branded games, it would be fantastic.  And maybe ressurect Alan Wake on the PC, where it is meant to be played.

Microsoft says: we’ve sold 2.5 million Kinects in 25 days. Sony says: we’ve sold 4.1 million Move controllers worldwide. Microsoft’s been pushing ridiculous amounts of advertising, and Sony’s had Kevin Butler working his Moves as best he can while tweeting about his fictional 90-day stay with the fictional Maguire family. You’ve probably seen his ads on TV with one-liners dissing Grandpa about being a veteran of the Mexican-American war or some such. Yeah, he could’ve been nicer to the elder statesman of the household.

All kidding aside, so far it doesn’t look bad for either Microsoft’s or Sony’s motion control solutions. The next step is the hard part. As every reviewer said — aside from each solution’s one or two signature titles — like Kinect’s Dance Central or Kinectimals and Move’s Sports Champions or EyePet — it’s all about potential and developers delivering on it. The next year will be key for them both and will hopefully push each other to do better and give us more to play.

What do you think of motion control so far? Have any of the games surprised you in a good way? Let us know in the comments.

Going into Kinect Sports, I was highly skeptical of the game itself.  I mean, I have owned a Wii for several years, and Wii Sports and its kin, Wii Sports Resort, have been staple party games in my house for some time.  Also, it seemed from the start to be the bastard child of all the Kinect games, with a lot of gamers giving it the cold shoulder.  However, Kinect Sports ended up being a surprise application for Kinect, and while it is not perfect, it could supplant Wii Sports Resort as the party game of choice on game nights.

Kinect Sports, as with most of these “sports” titles is a collection of different sporting events that gamers participate in using the Kinect device.  Upon starting the game, players have the choice of Track and Field, Beach Volleyball, Bowling, Boxing, Table Tennis and Soccer.  While most of these types have been done in the past, it seems that “sport” collections have to have a few staples, most notably boxing and Bowling.  Each of the game types sports single player, hot seat multiplayer and Xbox Live multiplayer.  A few of the sports also support two player multiplayer at the same time, however this will depend on the amount of space you have available to you.

When you first enter Kinect Sports, the game lets you choose which person will be playing, whether an existing profile or random friends that might be over, and then you are transported to the main arena, where you can conduct the crowd, either by moving your hands across the crowd or by waving your hands in the air.  With these motions, the crowd will do the wave, while moving your hands into the air will launch fireworks.  Sure, it is reminiscent of the parachute drop onto Wii Resort Island, and you never do it again after the first time playing the game, but it introduce you to the movement control system in a stealthy way.  You can come back to this screen in subsequent plays, but there is never any reason to do so unless you might need some cheering up after a bad day, or a bad performance.

For context of this review, I did go through each of the games in a single player vs. a CPU opponent, with the AI tuned to Amateur difficulty.  I did have the room for multiplayer, it was a tight fit, and it seems that Kinect Sports is very finicky for the full distance of the device viewing area.  We will look at each of the sports, the pluses and the minuses and then follow up with an overview of the Kinect performance in general.

Boxing

Now my exposure to boxing as a spectator sports is decent, but it was one of the games that I avoided like the plague in Wii Sports Resort.  It was tiring, and normally ended up with myself and another player flailing around trying to throw the most punches.  With Boxing in Kinect Sports, you have three main options: punching high, punching low, and blocking.  You can also cock your shoulder back for some extra mustard on your punches, but that is about it.  So I started just throwing basic punches like jabs, some crosses and a few hooks.  I was surprised at how well the Kinect picked up my general movements, although it seemed that blocking was a bit of an issue.  Occasionally it seemed like I would have my hands in the blocking position but I would still take a few punches.    After a while, I noticed that the game would pick up other punch types as well, like uppercuts, and as I played, I found myself really getting into it, going from the body to the head and after that, mixing up left-right combinations.  I did find myself working up quite a sweat from Boxing after about three or four matches, and I was a bit sore after it was all said and done.  I would also suggest staying away from higher difficulties until you are ready as the Champion difficulty routinely mopped the floor with me.

Beach Volleyball

One of the sports that I felt had been neglected before this was Volleyball.  I can’t recall a title that included Volleyball using motion controls on the Wii, and I have not looked at the Move lineup to see if it was used in their Sports Champions title, so this was my first experience playing it using motion control.  Playing Beach Volleyball was easy enough, with serve, pass, spike and the occasional block coming up during gameplay.  As you play, a big pink dot will come up showing you the location that your hands need to be in to volley the ball.  And be forewarned – the game wants you to jump to spike the ball over the net.  Sure, you don’t have to, but a simple volley over the net will normally put you into an endless back and forth volley with your opponent.  After a while, I did notice that you did not have to jump too high in order to get it to register that you were in the air, which was a godsend to my neighbors down below.  Tracking was fluid, and I never felt that Kinect was the reason I would miss a ball, instead it was me not being in the right location.  Pro volleyball players will love the addition of the jump serve, which will find you netting a lot of aces on lower difficulties.

Track and Field

Track and field was where the Kinect became an issue for me, but only in a couple of the sports involved.  See, there are actually five sports involved in Track and Field.  You have the 100 meter dash, the long jump, javelin toss, discus and 110 meter hurdles.  The running events were easy enough to compete in, as you just had to run in place as fast as possible, but I found that you really had to get your knees up in order to move as fast as possible.  Same went for the hurdles event.  The Javelin toss was the weakest link here, as holding your arm in a bent fashion while running just felt unnatural.  Maybe that is how throwing a javelin in real life would be, but it made for some uncomfortable moments.  The discus ended up being far too easy, with huge throws becoming a memorization issue.  Finally was the long jump and which required you to run and then jump at a pre-determined point on the runway.  The jump distance seemed to be based on your airtime, but it seemed a bit arbitrary at times.  I only went through the Track and Field portions a couple of times, as it just did not seem all that fun.

Football

Now, for anyone that follows this site, they know that I am a huge soccer fan, or as the game correctly implies, football.  I was ready for some serious balling when it came to Football and was a bit disappointed, at least early on.  In Football, you play three on three, and you have a goalie in goal, played by your character.  From there, you kick the ball, matching one of several paths as close as possible, working your way down the field, until you get to the placer farthest downfield.  At that point, you get the chance to take a shot on goal.  The Kinect device was very solid at tracking foot movement and the angle and speed of your foot movement translates well into the game, allowing for some subtle bending of the ball.  The biggest problem I had with Football is that the difficulty was not balanced all that well.  The easier levels were far too easy, while the harder difficulties have you facing the equivalent of Chelsea or Manchester United.  They are football assassins that will annihilate you in every game.  A few tweaks to the difficulty could go a long way, and it is something that can be fixed with a small patch.  Football is very responsive though, and I found it to be a highly enjoyable experience.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis was a game that I was highly anticipating in Kinect Sports, and again became a bit of a letdown over the long haul.  While it was very responsive with spin, location and service, it just felt a bit awkward trying to direct the ball while having nothing in my hand.  Table Tennis is a very tactile game, and the lack of a device or item to hold really killed my enjoyment over time.  I mean, I did enjoy it, but there was a lot of frustration with ball location due to the way the game was tracking my hand.  This was the only game in the title where I actually had to try very hard at lower difficulties to win a match.  I think over time, there is a lot to be had with Table Tennis, and as I learn what the device is looking for from me, I will probably get better at the game.  But I do not know if I have the patience to last that long.

Bowling

So bowling was the main attraction in Kinect Sports for me.  I have been a huge fan of Bowling in Wii Sports Resort, but lost interest after I found my spot and hand motion.  At that point, I became a ringer and it became far too easy to score a 300 game.  Controlling bowling is easy enough, as you put your hand out to grab a ball, and then move your arm back and then forward.  To put some spin on the ball, you just bring your arm across your body on the forward swing.  The farther and sharper you bring it across your body, more spin will be applied to the ball.  As I started with Bowling, just did basic rolls, moving my arm straight back and then forward.  Easy enough, but as I added more power to the swing, I found the ball going farther off my planned route.  The same would happen, in greater occurrence when I would put spin on the ball, with the ball going wildly right or left.  At first I thought it was the device not tracking correctly, and then I realized that all the mistakes I would make in real bowling were showing up in the game.  Not keeping my hand straight, turning my wrist and more were coming into play.  The game became a realized notion of how I bowl in real life, instead of me somehow gaming the system by finding a mark and using it.  I actually had to watch my movements and control to get a good score and over time, I did find myself getting a lot better.  Sure, I have not broken 200, but I have only done that once in my life, so I found this to be a faithful recreation of going to the bowling alley.

Now during all of this, you probably have not heard me bash the controller, and to be honest, I never really found huge fault with the Kinect device.  It worked very well in all of the sports, and more importantly, I found it to make me a better player in some of them.  Sure, some of the motions are simplified for gaming sake, but they do make you feel like you are in the event.  If you wanted the one video I posted on Facebook, or at some of the photos the game takes of you while you are playing, you can see that I forgot about the Kinect device, and instead, became absorbed into the process of the game.

So you might have seen me mention pictures and video.  As with most (and it might be all) Kinect titles, the games will take video of you while you are playing.  The video montages are pretty funny, and feature fast cuts from multiple points in the match and then finish with your celebration dance if you win.  You can turn this feature off, but it became the highlight of my son, as he loved watching his old man or himself jumping around, completely oblivious to the camera that was spying in on their gaming moments.  You can upload the videos to KinectShare, and they will stay visible in a gallery for 14 days from upload. 

My biggest problem with Kinect Sports ended up being the idea that you need to move around in order to play some of the games.  I am so use to being static when playing something like Wii Sports and those mechanics do not work in Kinect Sports.  I was getting killed in most movement oriented sports until I realized that moving worked.  You have to move left and right at table tennis to get to return hits, or bowling requires you to move your position on the lane.  These mechanics are not done for you in the game, or made with a controller, and it will hurt your performance if you do not realize it in the beginning.  Also, Kinect Sports really does want you to be on the far end of range in the game.  I found that I was almost backed up on my couch front to get to the best viewable distance, and that could be a hindrance for those that might have smaller living rooms.  If you are closer to six feet, you will not get split screen multiplayer support, as it will not be able to track the two people that well.  Also, when two people are playing at the same time, the tracking for each person is halved, so only 20 points are tracked for each player vs. the 40 points when in single player.

Kinect Sports ended up being a surprise hit for me and my family.  I was surprised at the amount of depth that can be found if you are willing to work on the higher difficulties.  And if you get tired of the main sports, there are a ton of mini-games that you can turn to for some quick entertainment.  The big question is whether there is enough to continue coming back to the title, and I would have to give that a resounding yes.  Kinect Sports gets a 4 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Check out Kinect Sports and other Xbox 360 reviews at Test Freaks.