Microsoft really had nothing of interest to show other than the non-exclusive, but very cool looking Metal Gear Solid Rising and the 360 Slim with its imminent release.  Other than that, pretty much nothing there for me, but I will admit that Kinect looks very cool for non-gaming applications like watching movies, video chat, and excercising.  The Wii rip-off games, however, look very lame.  Of course, since all of these Kinect things seem to be positioned at women, I'd really like to know what MSFT is planning on charging for Kinect and exactly what they plan to do to get women to care.  The 360 has a reputation for being a sweaty gamer box, without any of the family friendliness of the cute little Wii, and the new 360 slim looks too much like a gaming PC.  So, MSFT: you've built it, how will you make them come?

Yeah, I was SUPER let down by that conference.  Seeing as Microsoft went a totally different route with their motion control stuff (as opposed to copy-and-pasting Nintendo as Sony is doing and... usually does), I was looking forward to seeing what kind of cool stuff could be done with it.  What I got instead was Nintendogs, Wii Sports (right down to the freaking LOGO), and Mario Kart.  And none of them looked anywhere near as interesting as the things they were ripping off.  Kinect Adventure looks like it could be kind of interesting, but tell me a price on this whole thingy and then we'll talk.

As far as gamer-y stuff, I saw lots of shooty shooty shooty - the efforts Microsoft made at the beginning of this generation to court Japanese developers (that got me into the 360 in the first place) seem to be all but forgotten, and we're back to the demographic that the original Xbox catered to that turned me so off to it in the first place.

Here's hoping that Sony and Nintendo give me something better tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and very, very R.I.P. Rareware. 

Yeah, but at least I can finally get a 360 now that they've put wifi in there, so I will pick up the new system later this week (already ordered an HDMI cable).  Funny that I'll be spending $300 to play Rez HD, Perfect Dark, Shadow Complex, and Harmony of Despair, but whatever.

Dumb question: Is the redesign going to anything to address the failure rate? Part of me wonders if putting all those components closer together is really a good idea.

Well, they're using 45nm chips in this one which generate less heat and are using a different fan system (one big one instead of two small ones), so hopefully these won't be plagued with the same problems the original design had.  Of course, the key word is "hopefully."  Won't really know until a lot of people start using them.  I did read that MSFT has decided to remove the red lights from around the power button, so it's not even possible to get the red rings of death anymore.  That's probably just hubris on their part though.

1. So if my old 360 conks out, will MS refuse to fix it and make me get a Slim?

2. Kinect means nothing to me, as I don't have an especially large apartment to pinwheel around in, and its space requirements seem a bit high (and I'm certainly not moving the furniture to play a video game). But even if I could use it, after one day's worth of news, I'm sick to the teeth of hearing about it.

Also, Child of Eden looks awesome.  It's basically Rez 2 played with Kinect, but Kinect is NOT required, so you can play it with a regular controller too.  I think they've only officially announced it for 360, but a PS3 release seems pretty likely.

The new 360 redesign reminds me way too much of an Alienware PC.  Its footprint is pleasantly smaller, though, as evidenced by this comparison shot.  The new price drop on the Arcade bundle to $150 is one hell of a sweet spot too, even when taking into account the various accessories you may need to buy on the side.

Judging by the sort of gameplay present in the Metal Gear Solid Rising trailer, it definitely looks like it'll be catered around Kinect.  Seeing as how it's also headed to PS3, though, I wonder how well it'll adapt to the Move?  (Or maybe it's the other way around?)

I'm continuing to hold off on the Gears of War 3 gameplay presentation until a clean download is made available.  I'm hoping an official trailer isn't far behind, too.

I'm looking forward to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, if just to see the all-star cast of heroes featured in a traditional 2D-style adventure.  Limbo is looking seriously cool as well.

uh.

You might want to read this:

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/109/1097581p1.html

Ah.  I saw the 2D look, and assumed it would be more traditional-based with co-op play.  I had no idea it went upwards to six players.

Ugh, that's a shame.  I knew about the six-player thing, but structuring it in raids is a whole other matter.

That's a different take.  I guess it could be a Move/Kinect title, but I figured you simply controlled the cutting line with the right stick.  Maybe Konami will give more details tomorrow during its own conference.