After revealing Kinect on Sunday, Microsoft got to work on Monday showing the public why they should buy it. How did they do? Join us as we go over the briefing and deliver judgement.

To kick things off we got a look at the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops. The demonstration was pretty impressive. The visuals and audio were both fantastic and the gameplay seemed as gripping as ever. I especially enjoyed the helicopter combat. Microsoft then went on to announce that the Xbox 360 will receive all Call of Duty DLC before their competitors making the 360 the system of choice for CoD fanatics.

Next, Hideo Kojima took to the stage and welcomed one of his colleagues who gave us our first look at Metal Gear Solid: Rising. This MGS title looks a bit different from the previous games in the series. During the demo, Raiden ran around with a katana and sliced up everything from enemy soldiers to watermelons. The game is going to make use of Kinect allowing players to act out the cutting actions in the game.

Once the audience calmed down after the Metal Gear trailer, Microsoft stated that ALL titles from here on out would be 360 exclusive. Then they announced a new partner: Crytek. Crytek is now working on an Xbox 360 exclusive title. Nothing was really shown about the game, but it did look rather Conan-esque with large, gladiator type characters wielding swords and other medieval weaponry. The title at the end of the trailer was Codename: Kingdoms. We’re assuming the real title will be revealed at a later date.

Microsoft did a good job of focusing on their hot properties early in the press conference. In addition to the games mentioned above, we also got to see a live demonstration of Gears of War 3 which looks absolutely amazing. Another Xbox favorite that we got to see is Fable 3. Peter Molyneux came out on stage to introduce a new trailer for the game and dropped some pretty big news: Fable 3 will be available this October! Fable 2 stands out as one of the greatest titles available on the 360 and I am incredibly excited to play the new game. I wasn’t expecting Fable 3 to hit for another year or two so this was definitely a nice surprise.

As if that weren’t enough we got our first glimpse at the Halo: Reach campaign and wow! That game is looking incredible! The trailer showed Noble team storming a beach, not unlike The Silent Cartographer stage in the original game. I actually got goosebumps as I watched the squad fight their way to a docked space shuttle, board it and take off. I think this is the first time I’ve seen an FPS where you man a shuttle and take off NASA-style. It then showed off some pretty slick looking space combat. Halo: Reach is looking like it will be everything a Halo fan could want in a game.

After introducing their solid, “hardcore” games, Microsoft switched gears and showed off more titles for Kinect. Most of these games were the casual, Wii clones we were expecting. Kinect Sports is a collection of minigames and very similar to Wii Sports though it does include different games such as soccer and volleyball. Then there was Dance Central which is pretty much the ultimate realization of what DDR, In the Groove, Pump it Up and all the other dance games could have hoped to be. Kinectimals was then displayed in what was undoubtedly the most adorable E3 demonstration of all time. A little girl came on stage and played with a virtual tiger named Skittles, which actually looked stunningly detailed. After doing some tricks with the tiger, the girl sent him off to fetch a toy. While he was gone, she hid herself from view. When Skittles returned, the poor little guy couldn’t find the girl and became very sad. It is the cutest thing you can do with software. The girl then came back and played jump rope with the tiger. By the end of this demonstration, I was sold on both Kinect and Kinectimals.

Kinectimals is super cute!

Some of the most impressive Kinect demonstrations involved the dashboard interactions. Now, to sign into an account, you simply stand in front of the camera and wave. Kinect will recognize you and sign in the appropriate profile. You can then simply speak the application you want to use or use your hands to select menu items. There was a pretty slick video chat demo which showed that the Kinect camera will actually move and follow you as you move around your living room. They also showed off some sweet commands while playing movies. It was just like the movie Minority Report as you can scrub through movies using your hands to drag the film to new positions on the timeline. It gets better though; the voice commands for the Xbox seem to work really well. The Microsoft engineers have done what so many others have failed to do correctly. To stop a movie, you just say “Xbox, stop.” By prefacing commands with “Xbox” the team has found a way around a big potential problem: general conversation affecting the experience.

Microsoft didn’t totally ignore their hardcore crowd though; they showed off a great looking Star Wars title that will utilize Kinect. In it, you will be able to have lightsaber duals and use special Force powers to take down the Empire’s drones. The character’s walking animation looked great in the video. I think that is one thing Kinect will greatly improve; because it uses real motion tracking, animation for characters in games becomes much more fluid and natural looking.

Another great demo for hardcore fans came from Turn 10, the team behind Forza. They showed off a racing game where you use your hands to steer the car and can look around corners and turns by moving your head. One of the cooler things they showed was the ability to walk up to cars and look at them just as you would in real life. As you lean in for a closer look, the game zooms in on the car. You can even open the door and sit inside. By selecting certain hot spots on the vehicle you can view detailed information about the car.

Kinect definitely took the majority of the spotlight at Microsoft’s conference, but it is just one part of the company’s overall strategy. Xbox LIVE has been a huge success for Microsoft and they are constantly seeking ways to expand its functionality. Today we found out the next great feature for XBL: ESPN. Microsoft has signed ESPN Sports to an exclusive contract to provide over 3500 sporting events and on demand content for the Xbox 360. This content is also interactive. For instance, you can use a controller or Kinect to say which team you’re rooting for in a match up. The game then shows the result of the poll so you know where you stand. The best part? It costs nothing for LIVE subscribers.

The new 360 is sexin’

Microsoft finished the conference by announcing a new Xbox 360 SKU. The new 360 is a sleek, shiny black with chrome accents, built in Wi-Fi, a 250 GB harddrive that can be swapped out with other standard drives and some new ports on the back including a standard optical port. Basically, it looks and functions similarly to a first generation PS3. The good news is this new 360 will cost no more than a current model and is available RIGHT NOW!

Overall this was a great conference for Microsoft. They showed off a bit of something for everyone and demonstrated why the Xbox is the ultimate entertainment device. They had plenty of hardcore games for gamers, sports content for the guys and casual games that take advantage of Kinect’s unique abilities and appeal to a wider audience. They also announced some surprising release date information including dates for Fable 3, the new Xbox 360 and Kinect which is due out this November. Oddly, they didn’t announce a price for Kinect. Gamestop currently has it listed at $149.99, but as Nerdum’s own Paul Cummins pointed out, Microsoft may simply be waiting to see what kind of price Sony puts on the Move. They can then adjust accordingly in order to remain competitive; a smart move if it turns out to be true.

I do feel that MS left the door open for Sony, their main competition. While the conference was good, it didn’t really have any major surprise game announcements that we didn’t know about. They also didn’t hit on any XBLA titles or the Summer of Arcade. That said, a lot of gamers on the net have been complaining about Kinect, but they seem to have forgotten that Microsoft’s focus for Kinect is the casual market and in that respect, I think Kinect could be a big success for the company. Also, it is important to point out that Microsoft did not totally neglect gaming’s inner circle with Kinect either. We saw Star Wars, Forza and Metal Gear all take advantage of Kinect; those are some great franchises that gamers know and love.

Love it or hate it, the technology behind Kinect is amazing. Either way, Microsoft has shown that they will continue to innovate in the gaming space and got the week off to a great start. I can’t wait to see what Sony and Nintendo have to offer!