The E3 Experience and Waiting 4 Milo - Editorials

More Randomness from the Internet (M.R.I.) Aaron gets all melancholy about attending E3 through virtual means, the long-term impact of Microsoft's Natal and Milo, and why Left 4 Dead 2 is already in the running for Game of the Year 2009. And it's not even out yet!

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M.R.I. #12

The E3 Experience and Waiting 4 Milo

E3 from Home

I actually missed E3 – not being there to experience the sights, the sounds, and the smells (and that’s just my hotel room) has made this week just a little melancholy for me. Strangely enough I don’t feel out of the loop at all. I tuned in for the press conferences of the Big Three, caught some quick cuts of EA’s presser, and a snippet of James Cameron at Ubisoft’s event; I’ve watched dozens of trailers and gameplay videos of games just announced or releasing in Q4; I’ve even interviewed a Microsoft executive. And all from the comfort of home: no hassles with air travel or hotel, feeling bloated from too many appetizers, wrestling with a three-day hangover, riding the subway from the hotel to the convention center, Los Angeles air, and transit ticket machines that won’t recognize dollar coins even though that’s the only kind of change it spits out.

But I think what I missed is that shared experience of E3. Being in a convention hall bumping in old friends and acquaintances, being in a packed theater seeing a

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new game being revealed – that energy, that shared geekdom that cuts across culture and language… that’s the part of E3 I missed.

Upon Microsoft’s E3

Some will remember Microsoft’s E3 press conference for the appearance of a couple of Beatles, the reveal of “Natal” and Milo with a brief intro from Spielberg, or possibly the games that were

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showcased like Crackdown 2, Alan Wake, and Halo 3 ODST. I’m probably in the latter camp – Left 4 Dead 2? Out this November? My trigger finger is already twitching! – but Natal and Milo were enough of a surprise that I asked Craig Flannagan, Xbox Canada’s Platform Group Manager, about both.

“It’s about broadening the audience by removing the barrier of a controller and creating an inviting experience,” Flannagan said of Natal, which was demonstrated on stage during the press conference with some enthusiastic flailing and paint-throwing.

The technology was, I think, better showcased with the Peter Molyneux’s Milo, an AI character that interacted with a human user in a very natural way. The demonstration was very focused and narrow but “to show the interaction that could happen” as Flannagan noted, it’s a technology that could easily be expanded.

Rather than the 360 dashboard, I’m imagining some kind of space where an interactive AI character can be given instructions. If your 360 is streaming content from your PC, why couldn’t you walk into the room and just tell your own Milo to play “Stairway to Heaven.”

“Sure thing,” Milo chirps, “Kind of a depressing song. Are you feeling okay?”

“Play the song, dammit,” I sputter in a whiskey-fuelled rage.

Kidding aside, why not? Extend that interaction or have Milo wired to screens throughout the house and it’s capabilities extended to access to lighting and online purchases, suddenly you’re ordering a pizza, adjusting the heat, and asking for the current headlines to be read aloud by Milo. One day I fully expect to be able to walk into a room and say, “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” And have the appliances kick in a produce a cup of Picard’s favorite beverage.

Of course, none of the above is related to games. Fortunately, and as Flannagan rightly points out, the traditional support for the hardcore, controller-using gaming audience is not waning by any means. Forza 3, Halo: Reach, Modern Warfare 2, and Splinter Cell Conviction among others back this up, even with the additional features of “instant play” HD movies, and Twitter and Facebook support that will surely be used extensively by the casual crowd.

Left 4 Dead 2

I haven’t been this excited about a game in a long time. Fallout 3 was up there in terms of anticipation, but the trailer that revealed Left 4 Dead 2 elicited a response I haven’t had a lot lately when it comes to games: pure excitement. I don’t want to know more about Left 4 Dead 2, I want to be playing it right now – a minute-long, non-gameplay trailer was enough to completely sell me on this game.

I’ll be in Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo this year – for the GFW Radio Reunion – and I’m so hoping that Valve will bring it to the event so I can play it. If there’s an hour-long line-up, I’ll wait. Two hours, I’ll wait. Whatever, I desperately want to play it. Too bad I’m not at E3, where it’s playable.

Oh, melancholy…

- Aaron Simmer

(June 5, 2008)