I will be brutally honest and predict that no matter what Sony will unveil Tuesday morning, Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 and the awkwardly named Kinect add-on is the video game technology to beat in 2011 and beyond. There is always a chance that you will have to eat your words when you make such a bold statement, but there is no doubt that Kinect looks great, that it has a solid foundation for launch, that it has massive funding, a compelling strategy and lots of scaling room. Microsoft got it absolutely right this time.

Note: If you are passionate about the Playstation, you may already be thinking about ways how to crucify me in the comments below simply because you don’t like the headline. Before you go on a verbal crusade, take the effort to read through the entire article and post a reasonable contribution, if you have something to add. I do not actively monitor the comments, but remember that we at CTech have a zero tolerance for foul language. Please respect the opinion of others.

For as long as I can remember, and that is quite a bit in this industry, Microsoft has never managed to get it right the first time it took a shot at a new market. And while there have been plenty of products that made you wonder if Microsoft sabotages itself, we know several successful products that worked very well at the third or fourth try. The Xbox is such a product that has been continuously improved and you could watch Microsoft over the past years moving the console in different directions to find the most promising market. Compared to Sony, it has been much more nimble to react to the casual gaming segment that has been opened up by Nintendo, it has found interesting ways to enable new applications besides gaming, all while keeping its hardcore gamers happy.

Kinect, alias Project Natal, has taken a rough beating over the past days. There was doubt whether it can deliver on the promise, there was doubt if the launch titles would be good enough and even now we read stories with titles that tell us the failure of Kinect. I especially love this one: Kinect: This Is How Not To Do It Sony

Keynote, Kinect, Xbox 360: A Perfect Introduction. The ‘One more thing’ moment.

Of course, that story refers to the product introduction at E3 yesterday. In Randy Jackson’s words, you could easily say that the on-stage performance of Microsoft was pitchy in the beginning and Simon Cowell may have added that it was “forgettable”initially. It took Microsoft 34 minutes to get to the main topic – Kinect. That was too long. Corporate vice president Phil Spencer should be self conscious enough that there are more talented speakers to entertain a crowd at E3. While perfectly rehearsed, he seemed nervous and uncomfortable on stage. There was a lot at stake for Microsoft and someone with more speaking talent could have delivered more.

Keynotes are often a matter of taste, but in its core, the Microsoft was a masterpiece with a clear message, changing elements to focus your attention and just a few, negligible boring elements. If you followed the individual speeches, you may have noticed subtle messaging to describe Kinect that were designed for your sub consciousness to easily understand and remember what Kinect really is. Phrases along the lines of “It’s here. And it’s real.” Or “simple, natural, effortless” were the red herring of the presentation. The natural element of Kinect was repeated over and over again, in various ways – 32 times, according to my count. The strategic vocabulary of such presentations does not get much better and it was apparent how much time and effort was spent on this event. Microsoft clearly redeemed itself for the rather strange Cirque du Soleil performance the day before.

Microsoft could have shortened some of its demos a bit, especially the next installments of Halo and Gears of War. Nearly 5 minutes of game play in a keynote is too long.

If you did not know why there was this useless white Xbox 360 in the middle of the stage during the entire presentation, you found out at the very end when Microsoft tried to rip off Apple’s one more thing trademark portion of a keynote. It was a bit clumsy, but, hey, it worked. Plus, Microsoft played Oprah and gave every attendee of the conference a free Xbox 360. Talk about smart bribery.

Read on the next page: Kinect is not about games

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