E3: Microsoft Press Conference

Microsoft had its press conference today, here are some of the highlights:

Halo 4



Not much actual content to talk about from that trailer.  The "fourth" Halo game will be the start of a new trilogy, which means we can expect the Halo series to continue until Microsoft goes bankrupt or hell freezes over (hell freezing over is the more likely of the two).  Does anyone else think the relationship between the Chief and Cortana is a little weird?  Expect Halo 4 to hit shelves in late 2012.

Halo: Combat Evolved Remake



On November 15th, 2001 Halo: Combat Evolved was released, my social life still hasn't recovered. The original Halo is one of the most important/ best games of all time, without it the Xbox 360 probably wouldn't exist, I would have had to interact with real people in middle school, and the world would be a sadder place.  I have a feeling many people won't want to pay for a remake, especially when this particular remake will be extremely faithful to the original.  In general I would agree, but Combat Evolved isn't just any game.  Look for the remake starting on November 15th, 2011, the ten year anniversary of the original's release.

Mass Effect 3



No big announcement here, everyone has known about Mass Effect 3 for a while but oodles (yes, I say oodles) of new content was released at E3.  Most of the new content involved using the Kinect but Shepard is getting a knife and I thought the above trailer was pretty cool.  Looks like the Reapers have finally made it to Earth in order to exterminate all life.  I'm not sure why they are so big on exterminating everything other than, "it's what they've always done."  Mass Effect 3 will be released on March 6th, 2012.

Tomb Raider


I've never played any Tomb Raider game, the Playstation 2 was my first Sony console and by that point the series had already deteriorated considerably.  However, the series reboot actually looks pretty cool.  There isn't any gameplay, but making Lara Croft a badass instead of a gimmick with huge boobs is definitely a step in the right direction.