The Xbox Playday – trying out what’s new for Xbox at Gamescom 11
So dawn on Monday saw a rare glimpse of the Englishes. Bleary eyed and a bit sweary, we piled into the car to sit in the seventh circle of hell (the M25) and swear a bit more whilst getting later and later for our flight. We were setting off bright and early to head for Cologne for one of the biggest gamer conventions of the year: Gamescom 2011. Everyone who is anyone is there in the gaming world (a lot of them sporting really bizarre haircuts), showing off their newest stuff to the journalists, film crews and hard-core gamers. As a family, we’re proud Xbox Ambassadors – we take our role very seriously (well, me and English Dad do, the kids just think they’ve died and gone to heaven) and have been involved in Xbox’s Play Smart Play Safe campaign to protect children online and promote safer gaming – something very dear to my heart.
Joining us on this amazing trip were fellow bloggers lovely NotSupermum, my long-time buddy Liz from TheMumBlog, Novelists (and bloggers) Caroline Smailes and DJ Kirkby and their families and lovely PR (and blogger!) Kerry.
Tuesday was Xbox’s PlayDay. This is a great event held in a ‘secret location’ (for ‘secret’ read it takes 40 minutes in a taxi to get there, and even then, they drop you at the wrong place) where Xbox show off everything that’s new and fabulous. Because there’s just SOOO much stuff, I’ve done you a little mosaic. Click on the little pics to enlarge:
What we loved:
Forza Motorsport 4 (out 14 October 2011)
The boys adored this. Check out the new Hockenheim Ring and the new 2012 BMW M5 – clever Kinect stuff going on there too.
Gears of War 3 (out 20 September 2011) 18+
English Dad was found playing this most of the day. Apparently it’s even better (if that’s possible) than the already multi-million selling current game.
Kinectimals Now with Bears (out 11 October 2011)
I just love Kinectimals. I played this one with the new panda and it’s just absolutely adorable. It’s going to be available on Xbox Live on Windows phones too, so you’ll be able to take your Kinectimal with you wherever you go!
This will appeal to all those Disney princesses out there – a virtual Disneyland where you can soar above the clouds like Tinkerbell. Absolutely amazing animation – a really good looking game.
Kinect Sports Season 2 (out 25 October 2011)
More of this tomorrow, but highly recommended. The tennis is just amazing, and the darts is really good fun too. Sadly, I didn’t get to play Martina Hingis, who was showing off her skills on the Kinect Sports Season 2 stand, but apparently she was mega competitive and even managed to beat the developer!
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (out 15th November 2011)
This is, apparently ‘AWESOME!’ although I didn’t have a go. There’s remastered classic maps like Beaver Creek and Damnation. (No, I don’t know what this means, but it’s awesome).
Exclusively on Xbox, The Mad Professor gave this a thorough testing and declared it even better than FIFA 11. High praise indeed.
Kinect Sesame Street: Once upon a Monster
What’s not to love about getting to interact with Cookie Monster? Absolutely great use of Kinect this one. And seriously cute.
The Gunstringer (out September 13 2011) 12+
Brilliantly fun Kinect shoot ‘em up (I think this is the first shooter-type game I’ve seen on Kinect) – it’s bundled with Fruit Ninja, which is the best fun ever. Really great graphics and great fun to watch even when you’re not actually playing. Hunt it down.
And our absolute favourite?
Has to be:
Kinect Dance Central 2 ( out 21 October 2011)
Absolutely brilliant. We adored this (as you can see by the photos) and the dance off between English Dad and Not Supermum was one of the best things I’ve ever watched – competitive or what! The music on this new version is killer as well. Here’s the teens showing you how it’s done:
And here’s English Dad vs Not Supermum:
And seriously, could English Dad look any cooler?
Not sure why he had sunglasses on inside, but guess it doesn’t matter when you’re on Dance Central eh?! x