Welcome to the UFO Gamers E3 coverage.  We'll be watching all the big press conferences and bringing you the details and commentary in a way that only us here at UFO Gamers can.  We hope you enjoy the coverage and we welcome your comments - you know where to click!

 

Next up was the first look at some gameplay within the much-anticipated new Tomb Raider game.  We saw a 21-year-old Lara Croft, captured and bound upside-down in a sea-washed cave, surrounded by fire in a scene vaguely reminiscent of the wampa cave bit from The Empire Strikes Back.  Lara talks a great deal more than she ever has and seems to be lacking in the confidence we are familiar with, as she squeezes through crevices and tries to make her way out of the crumbling tunnels, away from her captor (who seem to be 'trying to help') and out into daylight.  Two things about this demo left an unpleasant taste in my mouth: highlighting puzzle elements in the environment, and quick time events.  To me, these are parts of the newer TR regime and serve to dumb the game down for those who didn't play the tougher-than-your-usual early games, however, I must say that the environments look amazing, graphically, it was awesome and it was lovely to see Lara's ponytail back in business. 

With these two triple-A titles delicately teased, the rest of the conference showed us forthcoming games that are all alike in one key aspect: they are enhanced by, or revolve around, Kinect.  First up, EA Sports displayed some sporting titles that are Kinect-based.  Tiger Woods PGA, NFL, FIFA and one more to be revealed at a later date.  They all use Kinect for voice control, so let's hope your accent isn't too strong.

Bioware made their way onto the stage (not all of them) to show us some of Mass Effect 3.  Commander Shepard is back for another space odyssey that looks at least as good as the previous game, but this time we have Kinect enhancements such as dialogue choices made using your own voice, and the ability to issue team commands during combat.  To look at, the demo seemed to be more of the same, which will, of course, get the thumbs-up for long-time fans of the franchise, though the third in the trilogy boasts a whole new story, allowing for newcomers to get in on the action without having to wade through, say, an interactive comic that tells you what happened in the previous game.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a first-person shooter that relies heavily on Kinect to allow you to aim your weapon and shoot with gestures, which itself looked pretty awkward.  Not only that, but there is some frankly astounding weapon customisation features where your gestures can take apart a weapon, swap a component or two and put it back together again instantly, giving you around 20,000,000 possible combinations for your weapon.  It's pretty lucky that they're all compatible, in my opinion.  There's something to be said for standardisation.  We didn't get to see any real in-game play, but what was shown did illicit a big round of applause from the assembled audience.

It was announced that all future Tom Clancy titles would feature Kinect compatibility.

Okay, so a couple of years ago, we had the New Xbox Experience.  Well, they've done it again, this time to work with - you guessed it - Kinect.  There are some pretty smart features on its way to the Xbox 360 + Kinect, including voice control that turns your console into a complete media centre, allowing you to ask politely for your music, movies or TV shows, games and even interfacing with Microsoft's own 'intelligent' search engine, BING.  "Xbox, home" takes you home; "Xbox, music" takes you to music; "Xbox, BING, Harry Potter" takes you to the BING screen and searches for Garry Trotter.  You say it, Xbox finds something sounds a bit like it.

During the UFC demo, I went for a piss.

When I came back, the demo of the upcoming Gears of War 3 was on, being played by "rapper and actor" Ice T.  GOW3 seems to be more of more of the same, big old monsters, huge set pieces and so much testosterone that the air around Fenix is toxic.  The game does not appear to have anything to do with Kinect, presumably so as not to exclude some of the fans.  The game looked great, though, graphically pleasing, and a guaranteed loud, messy, hecting pop'n'stop fest.  Not my cup of Earl Grey, but I understand it has a few people in its fanbase, not least of which is constantly-exasperated gamer, Dara O'Briain, who famously got pissed off with being 'denied content' by games, on account that he's not very good.

Ryse shows us Rome (and the effect of dyslexia during video game title focus meetings) during its fall in an atmospheric and epic Kinect-fuelled slash'em-up where one man appears to stand against an army.  That might be worth keeping an eye on.

Fans of the Halo franchise get a fan-wank with Halo Anniversary.  The first games, remade and remastered for HD play, with Xbox Live functionality and a co-op campaign.  The multiplayer element is made all the sweeter by the inclusion of the most popular maps, also remastered for you to run around in and frag until your fragger falls off.  Fragtastic.  Frag.

Forza Motorsports 4 is sheeny, shiny with beautiful landscapes, realistic gameplay and some truly stunning graphics.  Enhanced with Kinect (of course) and up to sixteen player online gaming.

Peter Molyneux took the stage to talk about the much-anticipated Fable: The Journey.  We all love a bit of Zoë Wanamaker and it appears that our prescient companion is in a spot of bother, a bit of a pickle, something of a situation.  Molyneux announced that they've found a way to bring you so much closer to the Fable experience, and that way is ...you guessed it, Kinect!  A very attractive young man called Dmitri demoed the game and showed us controlling the reins on a carriage, casting spells with gestures and doing quite some nifty things in spellcasting.  Still, I didn't quite see how you moved your character with Kinect.  It all seemed a bit... automated, which surely removes the player from the game, making it some kind of ride rather than a game.  But still, Albion's end is come (seemingly in the form of the smoke monster off of LOST) and you'll be a hero sometime in 2012.

Minecraft (with Kinect) is coming to Xbox Live.  That is all.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures is a game for irritating children who bug their parents constantly about wanting to go to Disneyland.  This way, they can, but without the flights, fuel and extortionate hotel prices, by 'going' in their own living room.  Irritating children across the globe and wander down Main Street, meet their favourite Disney characters and be as irritating as they like, until they're all irritated out.  This is an Xbox 360 exclusive, much to the disappointment of irritating child PS3 owners.

More Kinect craziness comes in the form of LucasArts cop-out Kinect Star Wars that puts you in the shoes of some Jedi or other, during scenes from, and based-on, the movies.  You can swing your imaginary lightsabre at battle droids, but evidently, you can control where your character moves.  This, to me, is so plainly silly that its silliness can be seen from the moon.  Who wants to go through a game waving their arms, looking like a prick, and not being able to control your actual character's movements?  If we wanted an on-rail arm-flail-a-thon, we'd buy Dead Space Extraction on the Wii.  This graphically uninspiring game will let you compete in pod races, shoot things and use the Force.  Well, woot.

Tim Schafer, one of everyone's favourite game-type-people took the stage to talk about a kids' game that looks nothing short of awesome.  If you're a kid.  Sesame Street: Once upon a Monster is another slave to Kinect, but seems to really get to where it needs to be for the children.  Adults who play alongside their spawn must be prepare to act like pricks, but I'm sure that once you get into it, you'll have a whale of a time with Elmo and the Cookie Monster, helping some of the firm favourites from the TV show out.  Graphically, I was impressed because it seemed that despite the fact that children's games are often bright, bold and uncomplicated, Once upon a Monster seemed happier to create a lushness to its visuals and take advantage of what the console still has to offer.  Parents beware, you'll be needing to buy this.

More Kinect fun comes in the form of Kinect Fun Labs, out today for everyone on Xbox Live.  Impressive technology allows you to scan yourself into to Kinect and have it make you an avatar based on your very own self.  Not only that, but you can use finger tracking to unleash your creativity and make 3D images, and also scan any object you like to create a 3D representation of it within Kinect.  Which would be utterly amazing if it weren't so pointless.

Kinect Sports: Season 2 brings you skiing, tennis, American football, golf, darts and baseball in a style you'd expect.  Your avatars set in cartoony Wii Sports settings, playing competitive games with the computer or a friend.  Great for parties, but again, you will look like a prick.  In fact, my notes for when the two guys were on stage playing American football together says "prick, prick, prick."  That says it all.  This'll be out Christmas 2011.

Again, I'm thrown by the evident inability to control your player's motion, the direction of such and what-have-you.  This is a key element to most gaming genres and Kinect seems to be eliminating it.  Frankly, I don't trust it.  Not because it's witchcraft, but because by 'bringing you closer to the game' it seems to be taking away fundamental control.

Dance Central 2 is a game you won't catch me playing, unless I've died and someone has reanimated my corpse by magical or mechanical means.  It'll give you 100+ songs from the outset and uses Kinect for multiplayer goodness.  It'll be great for parties, but please, don't ask me to play.  It simply won't happen.

And finally, the creme de la creme, la piece de resistance, the icing on the cake and the very cherry on top comes in the form of the announcement that not only is HALO 4 on its way, but that this title marks the beginning of a new trilogy.  Our new staff member, Mycoldman must have filled his underwear with milky love-piss at this announcement, such a fan is he.  My notes simply say, "fuck everything else, this is massive."  And it is.