Since I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ll be live blogging MTV’s Xbox Next Generation infomercial special. Looks like Kyle, Kotaku, and Joystiq will be doing so as well.
I’m not really sold on the Xbox 360 just yet. The whole MTV special just stinks of piles of Microsoft money being thrown around trying to get the ever popular 18-39 audience. I’m the list of “stars” that will be there don’t do it for me, either. The fact that Maurice Clarett is there almost prevents me from watching it all together (I’m an Ohio State fan, what can I say?). I’ll reserve judgement until after the show, but I can’t shake this feeling of deja vu.
On a side note, I’d like to see Xbox Live numbers between 9:30 – 10:00 pm EST.
Update: Okay, here we are, 9:30 and it’s go time:
Lets get the hype and hyperbole going right away! The Next Xbox will “Literally change the face of entertainment”. Phew, they start piling it on thick right way.
(Kotaku has some nice high-res images up already. Again, I’m not feeling the new design. I keep getting this nagging feeling that Microsoft is making a big mistake releasing this so early. More on that later.)
9:31 pm – Alright, so unrecognizable girl brought it out and yep, it looks just like we’ve known for a while now – ugly white and standing upright. Blech.
9:35 pm – “What do you think of the new Xbox 360?” (Elijah Wood)
“I’m looking forward to getting a free one. Hah ha!” (Li’l John? Some dude with a chalice)
9:39 pm – Alrighty then, they’ve shown the Xbox 360/Samsung commercial during the same break. The first time I saw that I thought it said “Microsoft and Samus” Heh. Madden, NFSU:MW and TW 2006 clips – are they real or simply “possible” gameplay. We’ll see. Need for Speed looked hot but Madden and Tiger Woods looked wierd.
Now we’re gonna pimp the Xbox. I thought this was about the new one.
Wireless was just confirmed – and a RING OF LIGHT. Whoa. That is hawt. Those face plates are embarassing.
The Live Marketplace – another bad idea. After watching that demonstration I had the image of MS taking money out of my pocket without me even knowing it was happening.
9:50 – Some more games – Gears of War looked good as did Qauke 4. The other brief games didn’t look interesting. So now it’s Perfect Dark time. But first let’s listen to some Gaming Pros. Zyos just called it the “Xbox 2”. I guess he didn’t get that memo. Now they’re talking about Perfect Dark Zero. 50 players at once sounds very, very tasty. Fully destructible environments. We’ll see about that. It’s been promised before. Ms. PMSgamer likes to swear a lot. That’s so gamer.
Watching the deathmatch, the controllers look small. Too small?
“Xbox 360 is gonna be amazing.” – Elijah Wood.
10:03 pm – That was over sooner than I thought it would be. A couple observations –
1.) Xbox 360 is supposed to usher in the HD era. But as Bill at DQ points out, why not broadcast the show in HD? There wouldn’t be a better way to convince us that it is, indeed, the HD era. I’m not convinced yet. I also noted that they really didn’t play up the HD aspect of the 360. Not sure why, but I didn’t notice any mentions.
2.) Even though it was still MTV, the production value was well done. While I asked Spike TV for two hours they stole from me last year, MTV kept it short and relatively sweet. Spike TV could take some advice from MTV how to host a Video Game show. I didn’t notice any gratuitous cleavage shots (except during the deathmatch which was too bad) or any celebrities trying to act like gamers. Well played, MTV.
Well, that was actually anti-climactic. I’m still interested in the next generation of consoles, including the Xbox. Things looked great. But like I said earlier, there’s still that nagging feeling that I can’t shake. With the marketplace, the ugly design (with a ring of light!), and the “HD era” things feel gimmicky. I know Microsoft knows what they’re doing, so I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Update #2: Here are some of the other bloggers talking about the Xbox 360 – Damned Machines, SmashBOT, Video Games Ombudsman, Dubious Quality, Joystiq, Nomad Gamer, Listen Up, Sports Gamer, Arena of Ideas, Also Coin Operated, and others, I’m sure. The consesus seems to be MTV sucks, the Xbox 360 didn’t impress, and everyone will still be buying one. Mission Accomplished.