xbox

Well, the conference just ended, and I feel pretty good about owning a 360 right now. I’ll just jump right into the summary, starting with the cool stuff:

360 redesign is a bit smaller than the original 360, also shinier. It has a built-in wireless adapter and a 250 GB hard drive, and I’m assuming there’s no more red ring. Everyone in the audience received one of these today, for free, while the rest of the world can buy them for $299 later this week.

Metal Gear: Rising had a trailer, showing it to be a hack and slash brawler with bodies that cut exactly where you slash. It looks beautiful. There’s also a bullet-time mode where you can carefully choose the angle of your cut as you slice through a body, or, a watermelon.

Fable 3 has a release date and a trailer. It looks like Fable, which is a good thing. North America can expect it October 26, 2010.

Kinect is coming to North America on November 15, 2010, with 15 Kinect-specific games at launch, including an unmentioned Sonic Riders game. It looks rather amazing, and I think Microsoft realizes it’s not going to replace real, controller-based games. It does, however, do a lot of what the Wii does, except it tends to do it better. Kinect Sports looks generic and a little stupid, but I could see where it’s necessary for this type of game. Then there’s Kinect Adventures, which puts a very game-like package on top of a Wii Fit sort of game where you’re copying the movements you see on the screen. Kinectimals is basically Nintendogs, but a bit more interactive - sort of the next step in that concept. There’s also a kart racer.

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3 weeks ago or so, my attempts at completing all achievements for Dragon Age: Origins were halted when the Return to Ostagar DLC was first made available, as the accompanying patch rendered my game temporarily unplayable. At first, I was obviously annoyed, but then I decided to reward Bioware for this only recently fixed bug by buying Mass Effect off XBLM. In the weeks that followed, I have discovered a new favorite franchise, having now completed the original game in full twice, only putting off my third play-through in order to pick up Mass Effect 2.

The first Mass Effect was pretty awesome. I don’t often whore myself out to achievements, especially when it comes to difficulty-based things. Yet, somehow the game demands it from me. It remains rewarding on multiple iterations through the story, while posing an increasing challenge with each unlockable difficulty. The story is communicated through strong characters, really strong emotional choices, and a general drive for the hero’s success, as I find is the case with many Bioware games. Yet, unlike games such as Dragon Age and Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect allows you to step into the shoes of a pre-existing character, our noble Commander Shepard. You guide his actions and speech without defining them, which allows him to surprise you fairly often with his intelligence and wit. Without writing a full review, suffice it to say I’m quite fond of the game. It is definitely one of the best I’ve played. (More after the break)