Microsoft Press Conference Highlights! [E3 2012]

 

Alright so Microsoft had their humble little press conference this morning and the following quiet announcements whispered by...oh wait did I say humble and quiet? I mean a loud and bombastic explosion of game videos and new stuff, and yes, unfortunately they are still trying to push the Kinect on us.  Does anyone really like it?  Anyway, hit the jump and I'll fill you in on all the news.

DC Heroes Will Duke It Out In Netherrealm Studios' Injustice

Yeah, you heard me right, Netherrealm Studios (the guys behind that last Mortal Kombat game that was surprisingly really good) is making a fighting game with all the big names from DC Comics.  So far it seems like a pretty rad cast of characters-- Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Harley Quinn, hell even Solomon Grundy is in there.  I'll bet that's not all we see, either.  I'm sure they will reveal more as time goes by (I mean, no Green Lantern? Really?).  It's a shame though that they chose the grimdark and gritty approach to the character design though; I guess my dream of a Smash Bros. style Superfriends themed game will never come true.  Hit the jump for the trailer, courtsey of ol' Gamespot.  Unfortunately, it's not going to see release until 2013, but it will be on all three consoles, the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U.

Minecraft Xbox 360 Edition (360) [Review]

Everybody knows Minecraft by now, it's become a legend in and of itself in the world of video games.  Created by Markus "Notch" Persson, it's the original indie success story.  A simple sandbox creation game that goes on to sell half a bazillion copies and damn near revolutionize the whole game industry.  Before now, the Minecraft experience was limited to the PC (and to a lesser extent, phones) or those terrible knockoff mining games that continuously sit firmly on top of the Xbox Indie Games top seller list.  Now though, 4J Studios have ported Mojang's classic over to Xbox 360-- but is anything lost in translation?

South Park RPG Now Subtitled "The Stick of Truth" (Plus New Screens!)

Yup, the new South Park game from Obsidian Entertainment (Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: KOTOR II) now has a proper title other than South Park: The Game (which didn't make any sense because there's been South Park games since the 90s).  The details as to why it's called "The Stick of Truth" still remain a mystery, no details on the titular stick were given.  There's some new screenshots though which look exactly like the show-- I mean totally identical.  When this game comes out, people won't be able to tell if you're watching the show or playing this game!  It's a pretty cool effect and something no other cartoon to video game has ever matched the source material so perfectly.  It's slated to release sometime later in 2012.

Kinect for Skyrim Lets You Dragon Shout At Your TV

[caption id="attachment_1550" align="aligncenter" width="638" caption="Imagine he is doing this directly into a Kinect."][/caption]

Warm up those vocal chords, because The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is getting Kinect support!  With it you'll of course be able to dragon shout just by shouting for real (and freaking out your neighbors, no doubt ably, in the process) but also command your allies, loot stuff, organize menus, and setup hotkey commands.  You can even use voice commands to quick save and quick load the game!  It all seems really cool, and being a game about shouting at dragons, I'm surprised they didn't do this a lot sooner!  The best part is that it's all free too, and coming out this month!  Technically you don't have to shout, but if you aren't yelling FUS ROH DAH at your TV you're doing it wrong.  Cross the jump for a video from the game's developer Bethesda Softworks showing off the voice recognition by clicking "read more" or by using the dragon shout JUMP SLIEN NUS.