Microsoft Announces Halo 4, TV For Xbox Live, Kinect Star Wars 157
Today Microsoft held their E3 press conference, announcing a number of major new games and services for the Xbox 360 platform. Halo 4 was briefly revealed, and is currently planned for a holiday 2012 launch. In addition, the original Halo is getting an HD remake. Smash indie hit Minecraft will be coming to the 360 this winter, with support for Kinect. In fact, there is a huge push from many game-makers to bring Kinect integration to the next level — from a new Fable game where you can use your hands to cast spells, to EA Sports titles, to Kinect Star Wars. Topping it off is an update to Xbox Live which will bring live TV to the console (including DVR functions), controllable by voice through Kinect. YouTube and voice search through Bing are coming as well. The update is planned for this fall. Those interested can catch a video of the press conference, which includes all the relevant game trailers, at G4TV.
Getting old. (Score:3, Informative)
Either that or you're just getting older. Generally it is safe to assume it is yourself changing and becoming bored with games rather than games becoming boring. Same with music or movies. Not sure how old you are but when I was younger, I could become engrossed by the stupidest, most trivial of video games. Some (most) of those Atari/Coleco/etc games were really pretty shitty if you think about it, and they're even worse if you try to go back and play them now. And how about that Atari joystick? Terrible controller with a single button. But damn if I didn't sit in front of them for hours at a time, trying to jump the pixilated stick figure of an avatar over chasms and shit. Hell, just how many 2D side scrolling action games WERE there back in the day?
Also, there's the fact that we tend to forget all the shitty stuff from the past and just remember the highlights. Take any five year stretch and you could pick out a dozen really cool games and that's all you'll remember. 10 years from now you (or your kids) wll be able to do the same thing about the games now. GTAIV is just one of your picks.
What's odd is that you would even expect to like a majority of games out there. I mean, on one hand you claim that developers pander to focus groups for mass appeal but then you expect a game that "takes risks" to be good. You obviously have very specific tastes so you should expect the majority of games to not appeal to you. But you know what? Those blockbuster games make money because other peopel like them. If the games were the problem, they wouldn't be selling.