My latest reporting travels take me to an XCN event, apparently the 2nd in the series, named The Gathering 2011. To the non-insider of the Xbox or XCN group The Gathering 2011 might sound like an annual cult meeting, and that could be one way of describing it, just minus the the sinister connotations and hooded cloaks.
This event rounded up all the popular XCN site/organisation staff members and send them to one place, the Wokefield Park Hotel in Reading. This sizeable mansion had the unlucky job of holding a mass of mainly city dwelling journalists who like to play loud, modern electronic equipment such as computer games. It was an unsuited match for the setting, but an invitation for two days of gaming related activity in what is simply just a ‘nice’ place to be I (and many others) just couldn’t turn it down.
The event wasn’t just a big excuse to play the latest Xbox games however, it involved plentiful developer insights into the upcoming late games of 2011 and the upcoming 2012 big hitters. I got to witness gameplay presentations of Halo: Anniversary, Mass Effect 3, Hitman: Absolution, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Max Payne 3, Tomb Raider and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, just to name a few. You might be a little disappointed to know I only got my hands dirty with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Halo: Anniversary (most of the other unreleased titles just weren’t at a public playable state as of yet) but the majority of them were played by their developers.
Halo Anniversary in all its glory.
I like to cover as many details of the most exciting games from these events, but due to sheer volume I had prioritise the late hitters, thankfully they happen to be the most interesting of the lot. Gameplay previews of the brightened dark noire Max Payne 3, the reincarnated return of the revived Tomb Raider, and the long awaited Hitman: Absolution will be present at msxbox-world, make sure you check out my second hand thoughts on those games.
I apologise in advance for any pre-judgements, but at least you’ll get an idea for the game’s general directions. My preview’s preview; these guys have been playing some modern games. 
