I won’t lie to you—when I first heard we were touring the “Microsoft Surface” area last Thursday, I assumed “Surface” meant…well, you know, surface! Like a tour of the campus. A surface tour. I know, it doesn’t make sense.
+10 blonde.
Thankfully I did some research before we arrived Thursday evening and I had come to the conclusion that we would be checking out a futuristic alienesque thingamabob. That you touch. Like…a giant iPad.
(Tara’s notes: But… it’s better than an iPad! It can actually see what you’re doing! Which means you can have awesome tags and codes on things that will make cool stuff happen. Here. Just take a look at the video.)
Seriously, gadgetry isn’t my thing. But by the time I left Microsoft that night, I had conceived a hundred different ways to sneak a Microsoft Surface unit in Tara’s car and into my apartment. Right now they are available for corporate use only, but MY hope for the near future is to see them in homes across this fantastic nation. A good starting point would be my living room. Just saying.
(Tara’s notes: Get ready to fight me for it, Britt. I’m serious.)
Sure, Surface easily proves its worth with corporatey-bullshit, but I was looking at Surface with one specific angle…gaming. The potential is there—and so are the ideas. I’m not sure what I can or can’t talk about, but if Surface becomes mainstream (and a few thousand dollars cheaper), I could see it possibly opening up a new branch of gaming. Nothing will ever replace a controller (sorry, Kinect) but the idea of four people playing on the same 40″ touch screen, interacting with and even FACING each other is just awesome. Think about it—how much FUN would it be to play Tower Defense on that thing while drunk with friends?!
I’d say it’s safe to expect that casual games will be the first to hit Surface, but I wouldn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of “hardcore” gaming experiences on the platform…OOH! Maybe Bioware will develop a “Control the Normandy” Mass Effect mini-game exclusively for Surface. You could play as Joker and dodge Reapers and shit.
(Tara’s notes: And don’t forget DnD! There was an AWESOME demo of that at PAX East last year. Think about this: Having a dynamic moving landscape for your characters. Putting your miniature down on the surface, and having your player’s stats and options show up. AWESOME. This is the FUTURE, guys!)
(Kristina’s notes: I wanna play too guys! I liked the ponies. You know, the ponies? Okay fine, I’ll stop trolling your posts.)
Tomorrow, Kinect hits shelves. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited.
But, excited how?
When I think of setting up Kinect in my room and twisting and contorting my body around like a madman, it’s exciting, but it’s definitely not the same feeling I would get if I were to, let’s say, receive an advanced copy of a highly anticipated title.
Like, some of the things Kinect can do sounds cool, and I’ve dinked around with it a few times to know it’s fun enough. But at the same time I know it’s not going to deliver that deep and immersive videogame experience I want and crave when gaming on a console with an actual controller (my body will never replace a dpad and ten buttons. I don’t care what you say Microsoft) but it will deliver an, uh, “amusing” party experience (I mean, come on, have you seen me dance?) and will ultimately give me the chance to play with a baby Tiger named Skittles.
As a gamer, and as someone infatuated with this industry, I can’t help but be intrigued by whatever hardware or peripheral, no matter how gimmicky, is pumped out (sorry, Ubisoft— but your Wii drawing tablet doesn’t do it for me) and I’m probably a sucker because of it. In fact, I know I am but that doesn’t deter from the fact that I’m going to buy Kinect and Dance Central during my lunch break tomorrow.
So, I’m curious as to what your thoughts are and where Kinect stands on your priority list. Let me know!
Duck Hunt’s getting old, and you can’t seem to keep Frogger alive. What’s next? How about popping this Halo cartridge into your Atari?
Ed Fries created “Halo 2600″ for the Atari 2600 as a part of the Classic Gaming Expo this weekend. Only 100 copies were made, but lucky us, we can play online as well!
Check the game out here: It’s simple to play, but you’re not gonna get too much done until you find your gun. Good luck!
First things first, Happy President’s Day! This day means so much to me! Being a person who works on holidays, I can finally find easy parking and get to work with no Seattle traffic. Amazing! What a joyus day! (What fore-fathers? Abe & George, who?)
Now back to the important stuff, Microsoft displayed and announced the Windows Phone 7 Series, a phone that has been long awaited by Microsoft/Window’s fans since the iPhone’s release 3 years ago. If you havent checked it out or watched the video yet, click here!
Feeling like I now live in the stone age with my touchscreen-less, no internet, scotch-tape enhanced, Blackberry Pearl that I purchased over 5 years ago, I feel like its finally time to step out of my comfort zone and consider a new phone. But now for the real question, which direction do I go? The Apple iPhone? Google’s Nexus 1? And now that the Windows Phone 7 Series is thrown into the mix, (-P.S. what kind of name is that?) this is a big decision to make!
Being someone who is definitely in between the Apple vs. Microsoft war, simple decisions have become extremely complicated with all the choices & conflicting limitations from both sides. Which products will work with this & that, who has what and which one works better, it’s a constant battle that must be settled with one solution: GIMMIE ONE!
Now here is something that sparkled my eye about the Windows Phone 7 Series. It will have Xbox Live. (Its going to have touchscreen! It’s going to have Windows! And it’s going to have XBOX LIVE! BIYAAAAAAAAAH! -Howard Dean) “But theres already a bajillion different games for mobile devices and some phones can already connect to XBL through certain applications!” So what does this really mean? Here’s what Microsoft’s said:
“Games—This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.”
I’m excited to see what the Windows Phone 7 Series has in store. I might not wait til the 2010 holiday season to purchase a new phone, but at least I’m happy to be looking forward to one! What do you guys think about the Windows Phone 7 Series?
Starting April 15, 2010 Microsoft is discontinuing Xbox Live for the regular Xbox. I can’t remember the last time I went on Live on my regular Xbox but still, just knowing that I can’t kind of makes me sad. :(
