E3 2010: How Microsoft Failed To Cater To Casual Gamers

Welcome to the first day of Game Rant's E3 2010 coverage. The first big event of the show, Microsoft's press conference, is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM Pacific Time. No doubt there will be a ton of information on the newly named Kinect . But what else? Will we see the rumored Xbox 360 Slim ? Any new news on Halo: Reach or Gears of War 3 ? And what surprises are in st


Set soon after the events of Fable Tips|Https://Fablechronicle.Com/ 3 , The Journey puts players in control of a new hero who has just come upon Theresa; the blind fortuneteller featured prominently in the Fable series. Tasked with bringing Theresa to the Spire, our hero will have to venture through an Albion that will feel somewhat famil


Demonstrated by Molyneux -- a gamer who loves to sit back and relax on the couch -- players will eventually be able to say something like, "Move you old hag," and their horse will begin trotting off. It’s a simple concept, but one that adds to the immersion of the experie


Now, for the first time in just under 10 years, fans of the original game are being given the chance to returns the wilds of Albion, (the Xbox to Xbox 360 emulation is plagued with performance issues) via the Fable Anniversary edition. Announced back in June of this year, the project, which sees the game receiving a full HD makeover , audio re-master and optional gameplay upgrade has now also received a firm release date — February 4, 2014, throughout North America and just three days later in Eur


Developed by Lionhead Studios —then known as Big Blue Box — the Peter Molyneux-headed title hyped itself as only a Peter Molyneux title could, with vast, speculative suggestions, promises and ideas. Players were told of how a single acorn, planted during the game's early youth sections would sprout into a mighty oak by title's end. That particular feature, and many more like it never made the cut, but their loss didn't stop Fable from delivering an otherwise engaging and enjoyable experie


COMMERCIAL IMAGE In this photograph taken by AP Images for Xbox, Microsoft unveiled Kinect for Xbox 360 at the World Premiere Experience imagined by Cirque du Soleil on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in Los Angeles. Kinect makes you the controller; when you move your Avatar moves. (Casey Rodgers/AP Images for X


Leading up to E3, the Game Rant team put together a pair of lists of our most anticipated confirmed games E3 2011 and our most anticipated rumored games . Several of the rumored games did end up being showcased at the annual Los Angeles event, but were our hopes and anticipation justif


Oftentimes, the other concern, when discussing ported games, is the controls. Lionhead claimed that this was their number one priority in building the PC version of the game. They completely reconfigured the control system for the PC - taking advantage of key things like the mouse wheel (which is used to switch between magic, guns, and swords, similar to how it is used in shooters to switch weapons). The game controls well, and even for a native Xbox player I found it easy to pick up and play. Of course, the game also supports gamepads, and using the 360 controller offered a equivalent experience to playing on the X


Now, Fable 3 might not be anywhere close to Crysis 2 , but the PC version does have a massive graphical overhaul - when compared to the Xbox 360 version. Aside from offering a greater resolution, the PC version also supports 3D. Many might argue that 3D is an unnecessary gimmick - but there's no denying it's a very pretty one. While the term, "eye-popping" might be overused - the 3D in the PC version literally makes the game's graphics pop, which adds an extra layer of icing to the c


One significant difference between the horse in The Journey and the dog in previous Fables is the inclusion of Kinect . Though dogs are largely considered to be fairly smart animals, its intelligence pales in comparison to that of the horse. By voicing a certain command during each tug of the reins, your horse will eventually develop a connection between progressing forward and that specific comm


It's a source of controversy whenever a game developer favors a console over the PC (many would say that Crytek shackled Crysis 2 on the PC for this reason). In some ways it makes sense to be critical - as gamers usually put down astronomical amounts of cash for the latest, most powerful, hardware for their gaming machines. As a result, they rightly want to see it used prope


The nominations were decided by all 11 of the Game Rant staff in attendance for E3 and are based upon our previews, demos and hands-on experiences with all of the available titles at the event this y


There was one new IP shown that got our attention as gamers for a brief moment, Codename: KINGDOMS , with no game-play or true promotion. This was quickly watered down for those of us at home who saw those covering the event immediately drawing comparisons between this and the God of War franchise. Eventually they revealed the Xbox 360 S (a.k.a. Slim) which did little to entice owners of functioning Xbox 360s. Another thing that worked against MS was the decision to demo Call of Duty: Black Ops , a multi-platform game for a longer period of time than most of their other showcases. Yes, there was talk of some timed exclusivity for the DLC (wouldn't be MS without some) but this too was little to parade over since this deal has already been standard with bestseller Modern Warfare 2 . All things considered, the Microsoft Press Conference was almost hard to watch. I had thought ahead of time that MS could show many strong new IPs and win E3 2010, but boy was I wr