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


The Journey evoked the past the franchise is sorely in need of honoring. The hiring of Needham could presage the concepts it uses to do so uniquely. Whether or not Fable 4 would find success with such a model, well, that's another matter entirely. But with Microsoft anxious to preview its exclusive launch line-up for the next-gen Xbox both at its May 21 press conference and, doubtless, E3 2013 , it might be long before we find


But if anything, The Journey did offer the series room to breath after its three main installments between 2005 and 2010. Creator Peter Molyneux has already promised that Fable 4 would come to fruition at some point in the foreseeable future, and a pair of job listings from Lionhead Studios suggests that a major series overhaul -- perhaps even a full reboot -- is underway for Fablelegendary.Com the next generat


It's hard to say that the Fable franchise was left on the best footing by 2012's Fable: The Journey . Released last October, punctuating the Peter Molyneux era at Lionhead Studios , the game's reception was mixed at best, with many reviews like ours highlighting some demonstrable Kinect-based gameplay flaws despite an intriguing storytelling prem


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


"It is with mixed emotions that I made the decision to leave Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, the company that I co-founded in 1997, at the conclusion of development of Fable: The Journey [...] I remain extremely passionate and proud of the people, products and experiences that we created, from B lack & White to Fable to our pioneering work with Milo and Kate for the Kinect platform. However, I felt the time was right to pursue a new independent ventu


Given the new 22 Cans venture, it's unclear how involved Molyneux will actually be as a "creative consultant" and it's hard not to speculate that title is more of a PR move than an actual indication that the designer will be very involved in the completion of the project. The "creative consultant" position is becoming a go-to move for developers lately, as major figure-heads leave fan-favoite studios in the midst of oft-delayed projects, since the situation is especially reminiscent of the recent Fumito Ueda/Team Ico change-


**Fable Anniversary ** will be released on February 4, 2014 in North America and February 7, 2014 throughout Europe. The game is currently exclusive to the Xbox 360 platform. Launch Day bonus content is available for a limited time o


PC users are also given all the add-ons included with the Limited Collector's Edition of the console title - which amounts to a new area, a quest with a new sword, outfit, and the boxer dog breed. For those that have pre-purchased from Steam, there will be 5 exclusive tattoo sets as well as 4 legendary weapons made available to your H


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


The industry's current infatuation with motion control gaming is openly seen as a clever (or not so clever) ploy to divert the attention of the "casual" gamer from Nintendo’s very successful Wii console. It has been common knowledge for some time now that both Sony and MS are developing their own approach to motion control gaming, the Move and Kinect respectively. But to take the world's largest annual industry platform, at which many of gaming's biggest showcases have occurred, and focus on this single, controversial piece of hardware as the centerpiece has left many fans, myself included, shaking their fist in the air and wondering what the heck happe


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