Microsoft kicked off the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on Monday with an intense presentation of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the next installment in the hit game franchise. Want to know how intense? Check out this video in the Xbox newsroom on the Microsoft News Center.
In addition to Call of Duty, Microsoft announced new game titles from blockbuster franchises like Halo and Gears of War. The company also unveiled a flood of new Kinect games (Star Wars!) and entertainment experiences, including voice search with Bing on Xbox and Kinect. The new voice search capability will enable people to use their voice to tell their Xbox what entertainment content they are looking for, giving them faster access to the ever-expanding universe of entertainment available right in their living room.
Take a look at the short video below that shows the voice search with Bing on Xbox to see what I mean:
Microsoft also announced plans to expand live television programming on Xbox to more providers in the United States and around the world during the upcoming year. Consumers will enjoy news, sports and their favorite local channels, all just a voice command away on their Xbox. The company also revealed that Netflix, Hulu+ and ESPN will be joined by UFC and YouTube on Xbox LIVE.
As one can expect, Microsoft’s many announcements were covered by the news media. Here are a few highlights:
Xbox Factor – Microsoft woos TV deals. “Microsoft is closer to turning Xbox into the everything box,” Marc Graser and Chris Morris reported in this Monday piece in Variety. “Sticking with a strategy to promote the Xbox 360 console as more than just a videogame player, Microsoft used its pre-E3 presser on Monday to reveal that the device will start offering live TV in the U.S. and integrate YouTube and search engine Bing as part of a relaunch this fall.”
Kinect-ing with hardcore gamers. Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times published stories about some of the new titles coming to the massively popular Kinect, including Kinect: Star Wars (for those who always dreamed of using the Force like Obi Wan and Luke), Mass Effect 3, Ghost Recon Future Soldier and Madden NFL.
BBC interviews IEB chief Don Mattrick. On Monday, the BBC aired an interview with Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Check out this video, which features highlights from Microsoft’s E3 presentation and Mattrick talking about the future of Xbox 360 and Kinect and new partnerships with Ubisoft and Disney.
Kinect inspires a wave of innovation. “Microsoft’s Kinect motion controller has sparked a robotics and 3D revolution, inspiring innovations that allow vacuum cleaners to be controlled with a hand gesture and surgeons to flick through medical scans without touching them in the operating theatre,” the Financial Times’ Chris Nuttall reported Monday. Read the rest of the story to find out how the Kinect is so much more than a gaming device.
Posted by Jeff Meisner
Editor, The Official Microsoft Blog