Join Addicted-Gamers after the jump as we pick apart Microsoft’s Press Conference as it unravels.

Good morning to those reading in America and a cordial afternoon to those  across the pond.

We may not see the bottom of an avatar’s shoe or a giant enemy crab but there are bound to be surprises in abundance today. We’ll take a short intermission whilst I sync up my time to Pacific…

Refresh this page every 3-5 minutes for regular updates

 

9:18 AM: After yesterday’s Nintendo pre-E3 conference, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft come out all guns blazing or are a little more reserved. I’m hoping for an improvement over last year’s Kinect-heavy conference.

 

9:23 AM: Halo 4, Fable: The Journey and Kinect-related shenanigans are guaranteed today. The big question is: will we see the Xbox 720?

 

9:25 AM: If a new console is announced, I hope they rebrand it. Xbox 720 just signifies going round and round in circles. It needs to be punchy, snappy and catchy. Reboots are catching on so how about ‘The Xbox’ or ‘Xbox 3D?’

 

9:27 AM: Of course, I’m joking. Now get your snacks and drinks ready as we’re a mere three minutes away from the Microsoft Conference.

 

9:30 AM: It’s showtime! Well, not yet, but it’s all very green.

 

9:32 AM: The Halo 4 live action trailer kicks things off. A lot of exploding, an ominous voiceover and a few shots of Master Chief in the game engine to top it off.

 

9:35 AM: Halo 4 gameplay on screen now. The Covenant are back but there seems to be something… strange about the planet Master Chief is inhabiting. There’s also an orange skeleton thing. We’re not in Kansas anymore…

 

9:37 AM: That is my last Wizard of Oz reference ever. Master Chief shows off his new Arkham Asylum detective mode and we get a quick trailer full of shouting and hinting at the Forerunners.

 

9:38 AM: But how many have you sold in Japan, Dom? I’m watching this on my Xbox, by the way. It’s like some sort of meta Xbox-Inception.

 

9:41 AM: This is guesswork but I’m fairly certain that’s Sam Fisher laying the smackdown on nameless terrorists. Yep, Splinter Cell: Blacklist announced. Conviction was a great game but the war section was terrible. Let’s hope it doesn’t focus too much on that.

 

9:44 AM: Am I the only one who would find it hilarious if Sam Fisher was killed during the demo and they had to restart?

 

9:45 AM: Sonar is in this year, huh? I’m also a little concerned that many games try and tell stories about wars in the Middle East. It’s still going to be awesome and Slick- with a capital S. 2013 release date for that one, might be a little crowded by GTA V though.

 

9:48 AM: FIFA better with Kinect? You may need to sort out the fundamentals of the game first. Remember to LISTEN FOR THE COMMANDS!!! It’s completely pointless to call out substitutions because it takes 0.5 seconds longer to pause the game. The swearing was funny, though, and very clever. I swear on FIFA. A lot. A hell of a lot. I need help.

 

9:51 AM: It’s Joe Montana! Um, I’m guessing he’s a QB. At the risk of sounding ignorant- he scored a great slam dunk Super3Pointer at last week’s World Super Bowl Mania.

 

9:53 AM: Fable: The Journey looks interesting. But where is Peter Molyneux? Ah, yes, he left. No more outrageous lying then. Wait a minute… he just called Fable a ‘big franchise’.

 

9:56 AM: Forza: Horizon and Gears of War: Judgement now being shown. Not groundbreaking stuff but they both look pretty. Horizon, in particular, looks special. Turn 10 have got the market on lockdown when it comes to the racing genre. A development studio at the top of their game.

 

9:58 AM: Now we get information that no one cares about. Ooooh Bing Voice? I know it’s neccessary to appeal to a wider market but let’s hope this doesn’t drag on.

 

10:00 AM: Me encanta Xbox Live porque es muy divertido y juego videojuegos con mi familia todo dia. Vamos!

 

10:02 AM: My Spanish is terrible. Microsoft are bringing in a lot of great deals. While this is mainly aimed at an American audience it is still big news for the NBA to come to the Xbox. It does seem to suggest that the next generation may be a few years off if deals like this are being flaunted now rather than as a future partnership.

 

10:09 AM: Want to get fit? Then go to a gym. If you want to get sweaty and frustrated in a cramped room then get Nike+ Kinect Training.

 

10:14 AM: Xbox SmartGlass promises a complete web of connectivity over all of your technology. Hey, consumer, I know you’re watching on TV but here are pointless facts to divert you! Here’s a sponsored advert! Here’s what happened on last week’s episode!

 

10:16 AM: I want SmartGlass to tell me how many kids the soldier I just killed had and how much benefit his family will be given by the government.

 

10:21 AM: I’m trying not to explode into a foul-mouthed tirade about how boring this conference is. But now there’s Internet Explorer on Xbox. About four years behind the Wii and PS3 for browsers and they still have better browsers. Yay.

 

10:23 AM: It’s Unchar– Tomb Raider, folks! It looks very shiny and bloody awesome. Just what I was looking forward to.

 

10: 29 AM: A little technical hitch there. We’re back with 3 new IPs.

 

10:32 AM: I hope no kids are watching this. Resident Evil 6 is as gruesome as ever and we’re finally getting a HD Resi game set in a city.

 

10:36 AM: Resi 6 looks a lot more action-oriented this time out. That explosion was a little OTT though.

 

10:40 AM: Angry Birds HD! Oh wait, it’s a cheap Kinect rip-off.

 

10: 42 AM: This South Park game may not turn out well but it’ll sure as hell be funny. It’s a shame there was no gameplay.

 

10:45 AM: “Hey, do you remember that time when Usher started dancing at E3?” Keep this one in the scrapbook for worst E3 moment.

 

10:48 AM: He’s still dancing. OK, now he’s finished. He gets the biggest ovation of the night, presumably because people want him to go away.

 

10:50 AM: Now we’re on to Usher puns. Basically Microsoft are really pushing the all-encompassing aspect of Xbox this year. At least they’re building up to something big. Xbox 720? GTA V? Timesplitters 3? Nope. Black Ops II. For the love of…

 

10:54 AM: I don’t want to be presumptuous but this looks just like Modern Warfare 3, which in turn looked like Black Ops and so on and so forth. X-Ray snipers that can shoot through walls? Let’s hope that will be omitted from multiplayer.

 

10:56 AM: We’re five minutes away from the end of the conference and we’ve had no real surprises and we end it with some filler Call of Duty. It may be popular to ‘hate’ on Call of Duty but this doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing. Where are the shock announcements? E3 may be becoming a shadow of its former self. Over to you Nintendo and Sony…

 

11:00 AM: The highlights? Most definitely Halo 4, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Tomb Raider. All three hint at at least some future for games on Xbox but its influence is starting to wane with casual features taking over. Even then, two of those games are cross-platform. Halo 4, on your head be it.

 

11:02 AM: As Porky Pig once said, that’s all folks. It was certainly underwhelming but there is still potential there. Many will deride the SmartGlass feature but it certainly shows the potential of the next generation. Talking of the next generation, it seems that the new Xbox may be a bit further away than we expected with the inclusion of sports on 360.

 

Thanks for joining me over the past two hours; remember to keep checking Addicted-Gamers for all of your E3 news, rumours and analysis.