Halo, Usher and SmartGlass

Microsoft's E3 press conference has generated a lot of buzz by showing off everything from new titles like Halo 4 and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, to more uses of your Kinect, to a new product called Xbox SmartGlass, Microsoft's answer to the Wii U.

World Premier Demos

The presentation started off with a look at the latest Halo title where Master Chief watches a human ship crash and sets off after it in order to investigate. What he finds along the way is an A.I.-driven robotic defense force that doesn't seem bent on stopping Master Chief. Cortana realizes that she recognizes the technology as that of the forerunners, and when Master Chief picks up a new assault rifle based on that technology, he goes from doing little damage to his new enemies, to finally being able to make a real impact against them. As the brief demo ended, the words "An Ancient Evil Awakens" flashed across the screen.

From there, we got treated to a demo of Splinter Cell: Blacklist where Fisher finds himself in the Middle East. Apparently, a terrorist organization has obtained the Blacklist, a document listing all US undercover agents. They have sent a warning telling the U.S. to pull their troops out of their countries else the names on the Blacklist will start dying off. Fisher is sent in to destroy the list before the next hit is scheduled.

This demo prominently showed off the Kinect Voice Commands that you will be able to use in order to perform standard Splinter Cell moves. One example was when the player said "Hey you" and it caused the nearest enemy to perk up and walk towards Fisher's stealth kill. Another voice command allowed Fisher to call fire down on a painted target, and while that wasn't as stealthy a move as we typically see in a Splinter Cell game, it was effective. Blacklist is scheduled for release in the Spring of 2013.

EA Sports

After these two demos, Andrew Wilson, the Head of EA Sports, took the stage where he showed off both FIFA 13 and Madden NFL 13, or more specifically, how Kinect Voice Commands make the games better and more intuitive.

For FIFA 13, commands like "Sub striker" will let you switch out players without having to get out of the in-game experience. In a similar fashion, you can call out formations or even curse out the refs, but you might not like the results of that last action.

When it came time to talk about Madden, Wilson brought out Joe Montana who showed how well the game picks up all the standard calls. He did everything from calling out specific players to strings of commands like "Power O Davis block left set hike" and the play kicks off just like he directed. For those that are big enough fans to know all the right words, this is sure to be a leg up on the competition. Expect Madden NFL 13 August 28, 2012.

Teaser Trailers

From there, we saw a teaser trailer of a new Kinect-heavy Fable title that seems to have the player throwing his own magic powers around on the screen and in first-person mode. This new game is called Fable: The Journey.

Afterwards, we got brief glimpses of Gears of War Judgment, where you appear to control Baird, and MS' latest racing installment, Forza Horizon. While Gears only claimed a release date of 2013, Forza will be out on October 23rd, 2012.

Xbox Entertainment

The Microsoft press conference then switched gears to talk about the rest of their entertainment foci, not just games. A future update to the Xbox Dashboard will add better communication to direct your Xbox to search movies by genre and pull up movies before selecting your viewing provider. Basically, you search for your movie and then decide if you want to watch it via Netflix or Hulu Plus.

Microsoft is also adding four new content providers in Nickelodeon, Paramount Movies, Machinima and Univision, but that's not all. They are also bringing more sports to the Xbox 360. Much like the access you have to most MLB games, Xbox will be partnering with the NBA and NHL to provide access to over 2400 basketball games and more than 40 hockey games a week. As an added bonus, you will also be able to watch all four ESPN channels (that would be ESPN 1 – 3 and ESPN U) 24/7 live and in HD.

From there, Nike took the stage to show off a new trainer software that is designed to bring all of the research the company has put into perfecting athlete training into everyone's home. This new title, Nike + Kinect Training, not only gives you a customized workout, but one that will send you messages to remind you about your next training session and regular reassessments of your fitness level.

Xbox SmartGlass

The next block of the press conference was the biggest reveal as far as I'm concerned. Microsoft announced their answer to the Wii U's multiscreen connectivity features called Xbox SmartGlass. Basically, this feature "turns every TV into a smart TV." With this feature, you can use any tablet or smart phone as an extension of your Xbox 360. If you are watching a movie, information about the actors and film are displayed on your device. If you are playing a game, the developers can add support for the device so that you can do everything from view Waypoint Data in Halo 4 or choose your plays in your hand instead of on your TV if you are playing Madden locally with some friends.

One interesting feature had the presenter starting up an episode of Game of Thrones and viewing a map of what was happening where on his tablet. SmartGlass also allows your tablet or smart phone to act as a universal remote for your TV and, with the addition of IE on the Xbox, browse the net on your TV while using your handheld device as your keyboard and mouse.

More Teasers and Trailers

Microsoft also gave us an extended demo of the new Tomb Raider title where we see a young Lara Croft making her way through an enemy-filled jungle armed with only a shotgun, knife and bow and arrow. We saw her use the bow for long range attacks, get closer and pull out her shotgun, and when the encounter got really close, pull out her knife for a much more visceral experience.

The game has a much more gritty and brutal feel to it than I've ever seen in a Tomb Raider title and during the gameplay, Lara did everything from zipline across a ravine, slide down rapids and even parachute her way through a jungle canopy.

MS also hinted at new games including a new Signal Studios title called Ascend New Gods, LocoCycle by Twisted Pixel and Matter by Gore Verbinski. All of these games are to be released in 2013, but very little information about what we can expect from these games could be figured out by these short trailers.

Viewers of the press conference were also treated to a demo of Resident Evil 6 where Leon Kennedy and what looks to be a new female character named Chris were in a non-stop run for their lives as they made their way through a zombie-filled city. We saw zombies duck and cringe when a grenade was thrown, but what stood out the most was just how up-close and personal the game seemed to be. The zombies appeared to be in your face during the entire demo.

Another high point had South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone taking the stage to talk about a new game called South Park: the Stick of Truth where you, as the new kid in town, join Cartman, Kenny, Stan and Kyle in an all-new adventure that feels like a really big episode of the show. The show's creators mused over the fact that it took a lot of work to make the game look as "bad" as the show. They also explained that they had never actually had to map out where different locations were in the show, but since you will be walking between the various sets in the game, they had to actually make a map of the town for The Stick of Truth. In the bit of gameplay we saw, there were references to the Crab People, Cartman's Christmas Critters and other crazy creatures from the show, so I'm sure there is going to be a lot of fan service in this game.

Wrapping Up

Microsoft finished off their conference with two big events, one was for Dance Central 3 with Usher taking the stage to perform one of the dances from the game live and then some live gameplay of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. For a solid rundown of the CoD: Black Ops II demo, check out our preview of the game.