E3 2012: Microsoft Press Conference Replay

As we told you earlier, Microsoft kicked off their E3 festivities with what could be considered a fairly standard and unsurprising Press Conference. As expected, they announced the anticipated console exclusive, Halo 4. Upping the ante from last year, this E3 brought gameplay footage of Halo 4 to the audience with a first look at the new enemies and weapons as well as some familiar faces from past Halos. Microsoft would follow with footage of the new Splinter Cell: Black List which uses enhanced Kinect controls.

Following on the Kinect bandwagon, EA debuted footage of the latest Fifa and Madden franchises. In Fifa, players will be able to make coaching decisions and their reactions will be read by the Kinect and penalties may even be awarded based on poor sportsmanship. In Madden, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana demonstrated the game’s new Kinect enabled play calling features.

After the Fable: The Journey trailer, Microsoft Studios brought out studio head Phil Spencer who introduced the trailer for the new Gears of War: Judgment, staring Baird, and then the latest racing experience with Forza Horizon.

After these huge announcements, the conference turned towards new new dashboard features including new sports packages and XBox Music. Nike+ was announced with full Kinect integration as well. One of the coolest new pieces of technology came from the announcement of XBox SmartGlass. (Check out Joe’s full coverage on the Flickcast of these topics here)

After an awkward announcement of Internet Explorer coming to XBox, Microsoft brought back the focus to games. The rebirth of Tomb Raider was shown with new gameplay with a much grittier and mature look (and no, not referring to a near naked heroine) than ever before. Three XBox exclusive trailers were revealed with Ascend: New Gods, LocoCycle and Matter.

In a surprising move, Capcom made their way to the stage with gameplay from Resident Evil 6. As this series is usually most identifiable with its PlayStation origins, this was a big win for Microsoft to get this on their stage. Following that, Kinect powered Wrecketeer was introduced. Bringing the crowd back up, the trailer was shown for South Park: The Stick of Truth with an added appearances from the show’s creators. In an unexpected move, recording artist Usher came out to reveal Dance Central 3 which features his own choreography.

But none of the celebrity cameos or cool technology could satisfy the appetite of all the gamers watching as Microsoft closed on the biggest franchise in gaming today with an extended look at the gameplay of Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Take a look below at the full press conference and note below it the breakdown of highlights if you want to skip to certain sections.

Highlights:

0:15 – Halo 4 Trailer

3:00 – Halo 4 Gameplay

9:30 – Splinter Cell: Black List Gameplay

17:30 – Fifa 13 wtih Kinect support

19:15 – Joe Montana demonstrates Kinect features on Madden 13

21:40 – Fable: The Journey Trailer

24:15 – Gears of War: Judgment Trailer

25:00 – Forza Horizon Trailer

27:00 – Dashboard Improvements

36:00 – Nike+

41:15 – XBox SmartGlass Introduced

52:00 – Tomb Raider Gameplay

58:30 – Ascend: New Gods Trailer

59:50 – LocoCycle Trailer

1:00:40 – Matter Trailer

1:02:00 – Resident Evil 6 Gameplay

1:07:00 – Wrecketeer Gameplay

1:09:20 – South Park: The Stick of Truth Trailer

1:13:15 – Dance Central 3 Reveal with Performance from Usher

1:20:00 – Call of Duty: Black Ops II Gameplay