First day of E3 festivities, and...

I am not quite sure what to think after I saw the end of the Microsoft conference. On one hand the Kinect came off looking like a crappy PS2 Eye Toy all over again, but on the other hand some of the voice command was OK. There was not a single 'new' game that I could get excited about, and even Gears of War 3 looks like more of the same (but still a day one purchase for me). Fable 3 is also a purchase, but I knew that going into it.

No, it was not the games that surprised me, it was the ESPN announcement, for no extra charge! I do not even pay for cable right now, so if this is really what it sounded like (and I am leaving room to be let down by blackouts of local sports, please I hope this doesn't happen) then I will be in heaven. In an age where live sports was the only reason I wished I had cable/dish, Microsoft may have my solution. I would have never guessed this going into it, especially with how much they rape you for sports on the iPhone/PC/etc, that is why I seriously doubt that most of the content will be free, and fear many games will be 80 Microsoft points, etc.

The one game announcement that does have me pumped for the holiday is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, especially considering it is being made by Criterion. I did not care at all for last year's Shift, but this fall I should be done with Blur, and unless Sony actually gets off their ass and finishes Gran Turismo 5 this new NFS may turn out to be my racing game of choice for the holidays.