Giant F'ing Robots: Fefi's Armored Core V Review

Ah, spring is here, and with it, my long-awaited dose of intense mecha action. I feel as giddy as an anime schoolgirl right about now.

My face when I heard this game was finally coming out.

I will skip my usual introduction, for it is impossible for me to give a fully objective review of this game due to my massive case of mechanophilia. Suffice it to say, this game is for a specific kind of audience, although adjustments have been made to try and allow as many newcomers to adapt to this kind of action. And so, here's my evaluation:

Plus, an image of a cool robot.

Graphics: The game looks quite gorgeous, probably the only good thing it took from its predecessors on current-gen consoles. If anything, I'd say the game relies a bit too much on motion blur to make the intense action look smoother, but seeing as it's a game marketed to a very specific kind of audience, I think we can forgive From Software a little for trying to put as little stress on the console as possible to be able to focus on the gameplay.  The game scores a decent 8/10 here.

Sound: I've never been a big fan of the soundtracks for this series, but usually the fast-paced electronica beats that accompanied your massive robot shootouts were good enough to not be bothersome. This time around... You know what, I don't care much for the soundtrack, you can barely focus on it over the glorious sound of your enemies' Cores exploding. Bland background music gets a 5/10.

Boo for bland background music! Yay, for awesome robots!

Story: In a departure from its predecessors, Armored Core 4 and For Answer, the game decided to give players a bare-bones story. Only 9 story missions with a staggering amount of side missions that give you a small look into how the AC5 universe works without bogging you down in the details. The reason for this is that this game's focus is on the multiplayer, essentially implying that the story is written by the online struggles of the community. That isn't to say that the story missions are easy at all. As per usual, this game continues the series' proud tradition of cheap bosses who have access to equipment you can't ever use and can essentially pilot impossible Cores. All in all, while the plot isn't important, what little details you get are cohesive enough. A cool 7/10 for consistency, if not quality.

Gameplay: Now, here we go. The bread and butter of this particular installment. The gameplay. First off, I'd like to say I skipped over the last two games due to their terribleness. I have no clue what their control schemes were like, except for clunky and so, I will list all innovations I found in transitioning from AC3 to this one. The first big thing I noticed as soon as I got control of my Core was that I could finally use the analog sticks to aim up and down instead of using the shoulder buttons. That was a major relief. Second, one can now use both arm weapons at the same time due to them being mapped to the shoulder buttons, freeing up the face buttons for maneuvering functions such as jumping, emergency boosting and a new recon beacon function that allows you to drop a few drones around the area so you can keep an eye on your opponents, even when they're behind buildings.

The action has been tuned up as well. Core stats have been reworked to make sure everything's balanced out and each play style has it's own advantages, making for a sort of rock-paper-scissors system. Example: You could build a bipedal Core which would focus on frontline assault, but that would leave you weak against a tank-type Core which is pretty much a slow moving impenetrable fortress... except against the ammo type favored by quad-pod sniper Cores, which usually stay well out of range of tank Cores, but can be caught and quickly disposed of by assault Cores. The only thing I don't like about this system is that each category of armor and weapons seem to correspond exclusively to each play style and are hard to mix up.

Concerning the maps and online play, play areas are very varied this time around, from compact urban areas filled with buildings, to vast desert or tundra flatlands, the game has a little bit of everything for everyone. As I mentioned before, this installment focuses heavily on online play and specifically, teamwork. The main aim of the game is to control the 9 different areas on the map and keep your hold on them as long as possible. To this end, you form a clan, and recruit people to help you keep your territories. As clan leader, you get to assign positions of power to others so that they can keep watch over clan activities while you're away and hopefully, keep an eye on the territories 24/7. Maps are large because you're meant to have at least 4 people fighting together at any given moment. Maximum team size is 4 players per team, plus an extra space for Mission Control, which gets to relay map information to their teammates and hopefully help turn the tide of battle. There are still duels, of course, but the size of the maps makes this a difficult endeavor. Connection speeds on the PS3 are hardly an issue. I played on a very heavily restricted connection and found absolutely no lag to speak of. Finally, I must say most every single person I found online has been quite accommodating and friendly. Truly, the warm community I remember from earlier years. If you find yourself playing this game, don't be afraid to join a random team battle or similar activity.

And finally, the customization of one's Core has reached levels of ridiculousness I never though possible. There's well over 1000 parts for you to choose from, and a great deal of them can be quite useful depending on your building abilities. Gameplay has been outstanding so far and gets a lovely 8/10.

And there you have it. The game's charm is not something I can easily explain. You have to see it in action and give it a test run yourself to see what I mean. While this game won't win any awards, it is very fun and fast-paced. Unfortunately, the learning curve hits a spike at higher levels and could get frustrating if one isn't used to these Japanese games. All I have left to say is: rent it, try it out, and if you like it, buy it. Support these small releases (well, small outside of Japan, anyway). We need these games to save us from the waves of Super Awesome War Shooter #35 that seem to be flooding the market, or at least to show developers that they're not the only thing we want.

Fefi's Score: Robo-boners everywhere
'Fair' Score: 7/10

Look at this pimping piece of metal. Don't you want to pilot it?

I'm back bitches! or Fefi's Blazblue: Continuum Shift Extend Review

"What the fuck is a 'Rebel' and why are there more than one of them?" - fellow writer Loz upon seeing me play this game the first time.

Gah! The colors!

Ah, fighting games. Along with FPS's you have become the next cash-cow genre for game developers.

With your constant patches, updates, and new, mostly unnecessary characters, you make sure that you'll throw out three different disc versions of the same game and charge us an arm for every single one of them. Alas, I am not here to rant about the evils of contemporary game developers, I am here to review one of the many ways the clever bastards suck money out of my wallet. And holy fuck they managed to make me feel good about it.

For the uninitiated, Blazblue is the spiritual successor to the Guilty Gear franchise, which was developed by Arc System Works and enjoyed it's fair share of popularity in the fighting game scene as the more obscure alternative to your Street Fighters and MVCs. The games, both BB and GG, are animated in a trademark crisp, clean anime style that made other sprites look lazy in comparison, with the notable exception of the Street Fighter Alpha series, which were on par with them. And of course, the action is/was almost as fast-paced as the Marvel vs Capcom franchise. Sadly, Guilty Gear ended its run (though I hear rumors of a new game) a few years back, leaving many fans sad and heartbroken. Then along came Blazblue and people went apeshit. Mostly because they hated it. Of course, a few revisions later, the addition of around 6 new characters and four different console revisions of the sequel, the fandom calmed down and here we are now. My review will cover pretty much everything from the first game to this latest revision, since the changes are minor, anyway.

My first true 'fighting games' love.

So, as per usual, my standard criteria apply for this game: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, and Story

Graphics: This being the latest, and hopefully final revision of the second entry in the series, I had hoped for the sprites to be as sharp as they could be, however, it seems that they toned down the graphics quality a bit on the sprites to allow for no lag during the very graphically intense combat. However, the rendered backgrounds are looking their best and do a good job of providing a lot of distraction for spectators should they tire of watching the players duke it out (seriously, every background has at least 7 different things going on at the same time). Still, I would have preferred no pixels on my sprites, but anything for the sake of smooth gameplay. Graphics: 8/10

Tell me it's not beautiful and I will smear crap on your door.

Sound: Daisuke Ishiwatari is back on soundtrack duty and instead of going for Guilty Gear's fast and loose style, which itself was his tribute to the classic rock and metal bands he's so fond of, he's taken a more character-centric approach to the tracks in the game. Seeing as this game's characters personalities are actually fleshed out in-game, their respective tracks are meant to complement them and once you get a feel for each character's motivations, you can see that Ishiwatari-san has done a good job at composing, once again. Certainly, there are still electric guitars and aggressive drums running rampant in the music, but he's added violins and organs where appropriate and given each track a coherent structure with each instrument having it's place in the track and not just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. 

As a side note, not sure if he took on this load again for this series, but I believe that when he wrote GG's soundtrack, he played most of the instruments himself. He might never write a rock classic, but I have a great deal of respect for this man's composition ability, at least for fighting games. Sound: 8/10

Gameplay: This is where the game really shines, as well it should, since it's a damn fighting game. The action is very fast-paced, placing somewhere right between MVC and SF. It's fast enough to make fights look flashy, even if it's just button-mashing, but not so fast that you'll lose sight of your character every time you're launched in the air. As for fighting mechanics, the first game did away with the old punch/kick/slash/heavy slash system of Guilty Gear and instead turned it into the three upper buttons being used for low to heavy attacks and the X button used for a 'Drive' attack that is unique to each character, making every character a very different experience (this was before MVC had the wonderful idea of using a similar layout, and possibly around the same time as Tatsunoko vs. Capcom). Some of these 'Drives' are merely combo aides, while others serve to hinder your opponent's mobility and others are additional attacks with status effects such as freezing, electrocution, etc. The game also has the more technical staples of fighters such as cancels and special guards, but that's not something the layman needs to be aware of. 

Almost forgot to mention the new characters (read: DLC that is now finally included with the game). As the latest additions to the roster, we have the squirrel-girl Makoto Nanaya, who plays an aggressive close-range game, and might have been, in fact, inspired by Marvel's own Squirrel Girl character. Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, a badass-grandpa butler who turns into a werewolf and has somewhat slow, if devastating combos and played an important part in the in-game history. Platinum the Trinity, probably my least favorite of the newcomers, whose character design is inspired by the 'magical girl' anime genre (Sailor Moon would be the best example I can give the non-anime fans) and has many nonsensical and cutesy attacks designed to keep the opponent guessing. And finally, Relius Clover, a mad scientist who uses a mechanical puppet made from his wife to do most of the fighting for him. A very technical fighter, and trickier opponent. All of these characters, save for Makoto, were a big part of past events in the story, and their newly-added story paths give a lot of insight into these 'legendary' warriors' personalities.

Final note on the gameplay, the rounds last about as long as an even match in Tekken or even Street Fighter, which is to say, it might actually run you anywhere from 40-99 seconds per round if the skill difference isn't monumental, or if no special characters are being used. All thanks to refined damage buffering, which won't allow you to kill someone in two combos, thus ensuring everyone gets a fair chance at a comeback. Gameplay: 8/10

Makoto, seen here about to engage in some magnificent wardrobe malfunction.

Valkenhayn. Probably about to prepare tea.

Platinum. Just, fuck.

Relius Clover and Fluctus Redactum: Ignis, AKA, his wife.

Story: This may come off as a surprise, but this game actually has  a detailed story mode, and you have no need for supplementary materials to find out things about a particular character. All the story elements are touched upon either through a character's path, or in little extra segments that are non-canonical where the characters themselves take a break from the fighting to explain every little aspect of the Blazblue world, from history, to social structure, etc.

I will say this much, however, the story is mostly character-driven, since the plot is a convoluted mess involving an infinite time loop and a lot of magical techno-babble, but it works, if you have the patience for it. I have played this game since the first one and I have seen the characters grow from trite anime stereotypes, to somewhat-respectable characters with motivations and very human flaws. Of course, it was still made in Japan, for Japanese animation enthusiasts, so don't expect a Pulitzer-winning piece of literature here. Still, if you've always wondered what would it feel like to play through a fighting game that didn't just say "You've entered a tournament to decide the world's strongest warrior, here's some people that you must now fight" (not that there's anything wrong with that), then I recommend you give this game a shot. Bottom line is, the world has a very extensive mythology ready to be perused by the player should they wish it, and that's more than most other fighters can say. Story: 6/10

Final Thoughts: I love this game. I love Guilty Gear. I love it when my characters are more than just mere caricatures or stereotypes. But above all, I love having a good button-mashing fest with my buddies. I think the reason why these games (BB and GG) weren't more recognized is because the characters aren't as wacky (which is horseshit, since these characters are the very definition of bizarre) or just don't fall into an immediately recognizable fighter type (like chick-with-the-huge-boobs, or Asian #1, or Bruce Lee clone, or guy who does that Hadoken-type thingy), or just aren't famous and there's no motivation for you to use that character. For example, MVC has some of the most recognizable characters today duking it out for the heck of it. Shit, who wouldn't want to see Ryu and Wolverine kick each other's asses? Or Megaman and Iron Man? And it's actually easier to get good at than most other fighters! My point is, the style appeals more to the anime crowd, but underneath all that is a fighting game that should be standing shoulder to shoulder with MVC and SF, but isn't. And that makes me sad.

Fefi Score: 9/10

Honest Score: 8/10 (for a fighting game, anyway) 

I leave you with Litchi Faye Ling, another playable character and token pair of tits.

L.A. Noire... Rockstar Style

L.A. Noire (XBOX 360)

Having already told you all about my love of detective novels, tv shows and movies, I recently finished playing L.A. Noire. From the moment you start playing video games (I started back in the early nineties) you look for realism in the characters and the world around you. You understood as you played the games that with the technology of those days it was impossible to make characters that looked identical to their human counterparts. You still praised the developers for trying their hardest. With this game, Team Bondi and publisher Rockstar Games have finally done what we all thought was impossible. Anyways, on with the review.

Graphics

This is one of the most important aspects of the game. Now, I've always been of the philosophy that gameplay should always come first and that a game doesn't necessarily have to be beautiful in order to be good. When you try to make a game as this one, where the developer wants the player to be so completely immersed in the game, it must do its best to make the characters and the world around the main characters as believable as possible. The technology used in this game is far superior to much of what is out there. The characters in the game look exactly like the actors that portray them (except Elsa Lichtmann who kinda looked weird sometimes). Cole Phelps and Jack Kelso look exactly like the actors that portray them (Aaron Staton and Gil McKinney, respectively).

Fringe's John Noble as villain Leland Monroe.

As you can see from the pictures and from what everyone is saying, the faces look amazing and they do in order to make a key part of the gameplay work. Everything else also looks good. The city, as big a character as Phelps or Kelso, also looks amazing. There are landmarks all over the city to find and while I have never been to Los Angeles, from what I have seen in the movies and shows, it looks the part. I especially love the feeling you get from the graphics. It has it in the name of the game and the feeling of 'noir' is helped immensely by the look and feel of the characters and the city.

The cars in the game also add to the noir feel. And with 95 of them, the streets are full of old school cars.

I had no idea it was possible, but I just read somewhere that there is an option to play the game in black and white and that would probably enhance the feeling of watching something akin to The Maltese Falcon.

A+

Story

The story revolves around Cole Phelps. A Unites States Marine Liutenant who fought in the Pacific theater and is now returning to work in the Los Angeles Police Department. The stories that are told about the LAPD are of corruption and unrest in the populace of Los Angeles. This one is a little harder to describe, because there are different smaller sub plots dealing with serial murderers and drugs on the streets. What can be said is that these stories are told in three main ways. Each case could be a self contained story or it could be part of something bigger within that "desk" (I'll explain this soon). In the second way, parts of the story are revealed are newspapers you find around crime scenes or places of interest. Once a newspaper is found, you will get a clip that will explain a little more of the plot. The problem with this is that while you may be just dealing with self contained cases, they are giving you pieces of a jigsaw puzzle without you knowing much of what is going on. The third way has you watching flashbacks of Phelps' days in the war. At first you don't really get it, but it eventually begins to unravel a bit.

The characters in these flashbacks will eventually have some effect on the story in general

I have to say that I thought the self contained stories were interesting but the story as a whole was lacking. For example, the whole Phelps and Elsa Lichtmann (a singer) affair thing was sort of bleh.

C+

Gameplay

What about the meat and bones of the game? The gameplay is also divided into different parts. I describe it as Investigation, Interrogation, and All the Action in Between. With this concept, you go through the different desks and the different cases. You go from a simple patrolman to Homicide, Ad-Vice, Arson, etc.

Investigation would be the first phase of the gameplay. After you are given the basic information of the case, you go to the crime scene and look for clues. You check the body, the blood, the car and everything else that you can find that will help you solve the case. It's an interesting aspect of the game that I thought was pretty well done. I suggest taking out the vibration when you are near a clue in order to make it more believable.

After you investigate the crime scene and find the clues, the next big part of the game unfolds. This is also the most interesting and innovative aspect of the game. The interrogations are where the visual aspect of the game either shines or crashes. Once you begin interrogating a suspect or a witness, you will get different strings of conversations. After asking them about something, the person will answer you. This is where you have to decide whether that person is telling the truth or lying. The facial expressions aren't really hard to miss (which really irks me) so it isn't hard to tell when a person is lying or telling the truth. The developers added another option and this is mostly where you will have problems. It's hard deciding between Doubt and Lie and what differentiates them is that you have to give evidence (which you found at the crime scene or through other interrogations) when you think someone is lying. I think this needs a little bit of tweaking before it can become an important piece gameplay design.

Heroes' Greg Grunberg is a suspect in the murder of his wife.

All the action in between is pretty self explanatory. You get to chase suspects across roofs and movie sets, you shoot bad guys in stand alone side quests, there are car chases, you can explore the city and find landmarks among other things. I especially liked chases where the suspect grabs an innocent bystander and you must kill the guy before he kills the bystander. This being a Rockstar game, I expected a little bit more open endedness when it came to exploration, and while you can explore, it is always in the middle of a case and that threw me off. When I'm on a case I want to work on a case. Maybe having some time off for Cole between cases would have helped (this is just me though...). You eventually get to use another character but there really is no difference between the two in terms of the gameplay.

There is something that really irks me about the driving around. Unlike other Rockstar games, where you can basically kill the people you see running around (because you are usually a criminal) in this one, you are a detective and can't run people over. This means that you drag the standing bystander for a little bit and some text pops up telling you that you shouldn't be harming civilians or whatever. Truth is, this really looks awful and hurts the game. Maybe they should find another way to punish players who harm civilians instead of some text on screen.

Anyways, rant over, this is an interesting first attempt at this kind of gameplay and I would definitely give it a second shot in a sequel or something.

B+

Music and Sounds

The music in the game goes along perfectly with the era and the immersion of the player in the game. Whether it be the songs that Elsa Lichtmann sings in the club or the music while you search for clues or hear in the different establishments, the music is fantastic. I absolutely love the main theme music and most of the music in the game just fits perfectly. There are actually two soundtracks for this game. The game score (which is pretty awesome) and another album with songs of the era featuring artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Evelyn Knight, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, among others. Both are worth a look. All the game sounds are well done, the shots, the cars crashing, and everything in between.

A+

Love this theme music.


The Real Tuesday Weld featuring Claudia Brücken

Conclusion

In the end, Team Bondi and Rockstar made a game with fantastic atmosphere, fantastic music, amazing visuals and gameplay that while innovative, needs some tweaking. I have to admit that I really liked playing through the game and would definitely get a sequel, should there ever be one. Give it a shot. You can probably find it used for less than twenty bucks.

7.5 out of 10

Batman: Arkham City - The New Standard

Believe it or not, I was one of the few people who didn't totally love Arkham Asylum. I thought it was repetitive, flawed, and the writing just led the player in the wrong directions.

Nothing feels worse than seeing others praise something that you feel let down by. Especially when you voice your complaints and the people who loved it still agree with you.

I told them all that I thought Killer Croc was a huge waste of time and buildup. I kept telling them that the bosses were a huge failure, to the point where a great villain like Bane got treated like an enemy that becomes normal two hours later in the game. And then they bullshit their way into a final battle with the Joker that uses every gaming shortcut in the book.

Lets just eliminate everything that makes him an interesting character.

The one thing Asylum did well was that it made you feel like Batman every once in a while. And for those brief windows of gameplay, it felt pretty awesome. I keep saying, if you compare Arkham Asylum to other comic book games, of course it's superior. But as a game, it just falls short of the acclaim it was receiving at the time.

It's been three years, and Arkham City is now officially a game of the year candidate, and I have no problem with that whatsoever; because this game is amazing. Rocksteady Studios and Paul Dini have crafted the Batman universe and placed it in your hands to explore.

Asylum was a free roaming game. You were allowed to backtrack wherever you wanted almost at any time, but it wasn't nearly big enough to be considered a 'sandbox' game. City, on the other hand, is pretty huge in comparison, and it gives you enough liberty and side quests to keep you busy for weeks.

You can always tell when a sandbox game is good around three in the morning. You know, you're about to go to sleep and you tell yourself 'five more minutes' and I'll turn off for the night. Suddenly the sun is coming in through your window and you realize that one sidequest just killed your last three and a half hours of sleep. And Arkham City has given me enough sleepless nights to be considered one of the best sandbox games I've ever played.

The fighting in Asylum was something I did like, at first. It can get quite repetitive; the key word there is can, because it doesn't have to. Not much has changed for the sequel, if you find one thing that works and you keep doing it you will get bored. But the game gives you enough options to spice up the combat, and I encourage you to do so; I mean, you're The God Damned Batman (I had to say it once), you're supposed to kick petty thug ass with style, and it's very satisfying to do so.

The boss battles are much improved. I won't spoil which ones. Because that would be mean. Let me just say that the game has enough surprises in it to keep you invested even after the story is over. If a character is mentioned more than once during the game, odds are he's in there somewhere. You should expect the unexpected.

The story is just flat out brilliant. I can't say enough good things about it. Paul Dini worked enough obscurity and detail into this to make even the most hardcore Bat-fans giddy. There are so many intricate details in this world that you will  be constantly asking yourself when something is an easter egg, a thing yet to come in game, or just him pointing out things to expect in the sequel. And yes, there will be a sequel, unless there's a whole part of the game I haven't found yet (a guy can only hope).

I'm not going to review the story. I already told you it's spectacular, and you just need to experience it for yourself. If you really need to know, go read it. But I can't urge you enough to play through it, every Batman fan should. If you're not much of a gamer, just play it in the easy setting, it's not a difficult game. You just need to go through this.

I will say that part of what makes it so great is the voices. Vereran Bat-voice Kevin Conroy returns, and again does a great job. But without a doubt the showstealer, as always, is Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill as the Joker. He just gets extra creepy at times. And as the story escalates the relation between Joker and Batman he just gets outright terrifying (make sure and sit through the credits if you don't believe me).

If I had to nitpick at something I would say that the inside environments aren't nearly as big or intricate as they were in the first game. Batman is constantly stuffed into small areas for sneaking around, whereas you were constantly climbing giant elevator shafts in the Asylum. I kinda liked that, and I could have seen at least one giant elevator shaft puzzle. But it's really just me trying to find something wrong.

Of course, the other big thing that AC changes is the fact that you not only get to play as The Dark Knight; Catwoman joins him, with her own sections of the story as downloadable content, and they add perfectly to the story. Unlike the Joker DLC from the first, she controls differently to the Bat, yet oddly similar. Her gadgets are different, her methods of movement are different, and she seems to be slightly quicker.

And she just makes me feel... sexy.

There's also Robin and Nightwing DLC in the upcoming months, but unfortunately they'll only be playable in challenge maps. It would be great if they got their own in story segments, but I guess I might be asking for too much. I can only hope that they're brought in for the sequel.

This is officially the best time to be a Batman fan. Between the Nolan films, and the Rocksteady games it's hard not to be. I was asked the other day which one of the two universes I prefer, and It may shock many, but I can't pick against the games. The world is too huge to even compare. I really do think Dini has found the secret formula to writing comic book games. Marvel needs to fess up and get with the standards if they want to stay afloat, because Spider-Man: Edge Of Time doesn't stand the slightest chance. 

I've been saying for months that this will be the best month in the history of gaming, I just didn't expect Arkham City to be this big a part of it. I can't express how overjoyed I am that this game is this good. I will go as far as to call this an experience, more than a video game. 

More than anything, it just gives me huge expectations for the third. Let me drive the Batmobile. Please.

9/10

E3 Recap Part 3 - Do we even care about Microsoft?

Makes you want to turn 360... you know the rest, and it's still funny.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Chiko, wasn't E3 like two weeks ago?" And yes, it was. But in all seriousness, Microsoft wasted it's time there so it just took me a week or so just to think up something to write about them.

If there's one thing that all three companies proved this year is the importance of first party titles. Nintendo has always been ahead of the pack, establishing generation defining franchises like Mario, Zelda and a metric shitload of other games from the start. Sony has somehow established itself as well, with Uncharted leading the pack of a number of smaller yet still great titles.

Here lies Microsoft's problem. Now that Mass Effect is pulled what I'm calling a 'reverse Final Fantasy' and is playing for both teams, the Xbox 360 is really only left with two big first party titles: Halo, and Gears of War. With the GoW franchise about to close down it's trilogy (even though we all know it's gonna keep going), and Halo starting to re-hash, they should know they're in trouble.

So, how do they solve this problem? Well, they start their press conference with Modern Warfare 3, a game that's going to be on every single console under the sun. Followed mere moments later by Battlefield 3, another game that will be on every competing console. I'm not doubting that in the over saturated FPS market today these two titles are the obvious kings, but you can't base your big moment on things other companies have.

Not only am I saying that they should have based their conference on soon to be released GoW3 and the newly announced Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved remake; I'm also flat out saying that Microsoft by far has the weakest first party lineup, and it shows.

So, how did they attempt (and fail) to balance this all out. If you guessed Kinnect, you are correct (and probably disappointed). MS is finally throwing some weight behind their motion system, unfortunately it's mostly dead weight. There are a lot of games you would never play, some you will play for a couple of hours and get tired of them, and then there's Dance Central, which is also available for the PS3 and the Wii (I sense a pattern here).

To sum it all up. Microsoft fell (way) short of the competition. Even the Konami video had more punch in it that the Microsoft conference. It left gamers wanting to say the least. I do believe that both the 360 and the PS3 still have ways to grow as consoles, but unless MS starts to expand it's exclusive library towards a hardcore audience instead of marketing to six year old's with Kinect they're just swimming in circles. For a console that touted itself as a machine for dedicated gamers, it sure seems to have folded quick after seeing the Wii's success.

One more thing... If you're biggest competition just dropped the ball right before the biggest gaming event of the year, and you have little to show... I would poke the soft spot... With a cattle prod.