Bringing in the start of the Xbox Conference at this years’ E3 was confirmation of the rumoured Xbox One S - a smaller console with integrated power supply, 4K video capabilities, HDR, up to 2TB hard drive and at a price points starting at $299. It was a quick an effective introduction to the conference which then introduced Phil Spencer. He only spent a brief time on stage before we delved into what was game after game for the most part. This was what I wanted from Microsoft, a briefing about games, looking at games. And that’s exactly what I got. Let’s take a look at what they covered.
Gears of War 4
Microsoft’s big AAA title opened proceedings, and was the first of many to bring up ‘Play Anywhere’ - a new Microsoft venture which lets you buy a game once, and play across both Xbox and Windows 10. It shares save files across both platforms, so you can stop playing on one, and pick up straight away on another. The gameplay showed co-op play and some fantastic visuals, with big setpieces, new weapons, destructible environments, traps and new weapons. It still looks very much like Gears which is what the fans will want, and it looks very polished already. Whether the story itself will be as strong as previous entries into the series is yet to be seen.
The gameplay section was followed up by the reveal of a Gears of War themed Xbox Elite Controller, and a Killer Instinct section which showed General Raam being introduced to the popular fighting game.
Forza Horizon 3
Forza hits the Microsoft stage again, surprising absolutely no one. This time it hits Australia, taking place across roads, forests, beaches and deserts. It looks absolutely gorgeous aswell, and the range of cars looks great. There is also cross play between PC and X1.
ReCore
Up next was a fresh look at ReCore, introducing the different gaming mechanics and characters in the game. There seems to be a lot of potential in this game, and appears to have platforming elements in its action adventure gameplay. I don’t think that this will be a huge game for Microsoft, but I expect it to attract a broad range of people to play the game. It could be the first of a new franchise, and seems to be the sort of game that will have a strong niche following.
Final Fantasy 15
This was the first of two games I was surprised to see on a Microsoft stage at E3. Final Fantasy has never done anything for me, and isn’t a game that I’d be interested in buying. But they showed some gameplay in the level ‘The Trial of the Titan’ which showed a battle with an enormous enemy. Check out the video
The Division DLC
A brief trailer for the first paid DLC for the Division – Underground. This will be available first on Xbox One on June 28th and will provide randomly generated missions
The conference diverted away from games a bit next. Battlefield 1 popped up as it is first playable on EA Access on Xbox One on October 13th. Followed be the same trailer we saw in the EA Play event. After this Mike Ybarra took to the stage to tell us all about the improvements coming to the Xbox and Xbox Live. Starting with there being more Xbox Live servers being added, and followed it up with the long awaited addition of Background Music. Next were some community additions to Xbox Live – Clubs which will allow people to join a ‘club’ of like minded people through Xbox Live, Looking for Group will help you find gamers to play co-operatively across all games on Xbox. And finally Xbox Arena will support tournaments across multiple games.
Minecraft stayed around a bit too much for my liking, but they announced new dedicated servers, cross play ability to handheld aswell and PC and Xbox One, and new textures and add-ons.
Microsoft also revealed a new customisable Xbox Wireless Controller. You can pick colours of buttons, triggers, body, analogue sticks, and order it to be made as your own personal unique controller. I love this idea, and hope the price point in the UK will be fair for the service.
ID@Xbox
Always fun to see what’s going on with the ID@Xbox games. They showed off the usual big montage, talked about new games coming to the Xbox Preview Program, mentioned that Ark would be Play Anywhere (which is quite surprising as it was on PC first) and revealed that Limbo will be free for all Xbox Live Gold members. This is to coincide with the release of the new game from those guys – Inside, due out of June 29th, which has been hyped up big style.
We Happy Few
Technically this was part of the ID@Xbox section, but it had much more time than anything else. I love the way this looks, getting strong Bioshock style vibes from it. It’s a game that made the viewer feel uncomfortable viewing, which was great. It seems quite clear that this is narrative driven game, with choices to be made which will drive the story forward. I was surprised to see it coming to the Preview Program, and it’ll be interesting to see what content actually appears in the preview form.
Gwent – The Witcher Card Game
This was expected to be shown at E3, I wasn’t expecting it at the Microsoft conference though. Gwent was the immensely popular card game in The Witcher 3 which is now being released as a standalone game, complete with its own campaign and PVP.
Tekken 7
This was the second game that I was surprised to see at a Microsoft conference. One of the most successful fighting franchises of all time, and historically linked with a Sony console. We were shown a cinematic short followed by in game fighting, and revealed that Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will be free on Xbox Live from today
Dead Rising 4
This was another leak before the conference. It would have almost certainly had much more impact re-introducing Frank West to the franchise and almost a reboot of the original. Lots of crazy weapons to kill loads and loads of zombies. It’s easier just to watch the video.
Scalebound
This was a game that Microsoft was putting a lot of weight behind at one point, but I feel they have slowed down their hype train on it. I’m not convinced it was received as well as they were hoping last year, and personally this isn’t the sort of game for me. Last time we saw it, it looked like a Devil May Cry game in a brighter setting, with dragons, an annoying protagonist and RPG elements. This co-op trailer hasn’t done much to convince me that this will be as successful as they were originally hoping.
Sea of Thieves
The next big game from Rare has been talked about a lot within the community since its reveal last year. There hasn’t been anything seen since then so this was a good time to see what the game was actually about. The video looked fun, with teams of 3 taking to ships for a battle on the sea. It looked fun, but didn’t actually give any real indication on what you’ll be actually doing in the game other than using anchors and sails. Which I’m sure will be cool for the first few times, but will get tiring doing it every time you get on a ship. I’m still feeling optimistic about the game; I just don’t think this was the best choice of demo to choose at this stage.
State of Decay 2
I enjoyed the first State of Decay, but technical issues and some gameplay clunkiness kept it from really hooking me. So I welcome a sequel, and look forward to being able to play this co-operatively with others online, something which was missing from the first.
Halo Wars 2
This looked like it was going to be the big end to the conference. Loved the first Halo Wars, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Creative Assembly bring to the table. There is a beta out now which is already downloaded on my Xbox, but judging by the trailer, the battles are on a bigger scale to last time, which is very exciting.
Project Scorpio
This was actually the big end. Phil Spencer came out to tease the future of Xbox – a new console, sticking to the Xbox One family, but the most powerful console ever. We were thrown a load of numbers and give the following video. Exciting times for the Xbox brand.