by John Philip Jennings
Microsoft’s presence at E3 is always an excitable affair, bringing forward what is often the best of the games industry for the coming months. When I covered the E3 conference last year, I was surprised and excited at the reveals that Microsoft had in store, this year however I feel something was lacking about Microsoft's Press Conference; maybe it was the missing Call of Duty campaign footage that usually debuts, or perhaps the lack of exciting exclusive titles that actually made me interested. Regardless, here’s what Microsoft had to offer.
Microsoft’s presence at E3 is always an excitable affair, bringing forward what is often the best of the games industry for the coming months. When I covered the E3 conference last year, I was surprised and excited at the reveals that Microsoft had in store, this year however I feel something was lacking about Microsoft's Press Conference; maybe it was the missing Call of Duty campaign footage that usually debuts, or perhaps the lack of exciting exclusive titles that actually made me interested. Regardless, here’s what Microsoft had to offer.
Starting of with Halo 5: Guardians gameplay footage; built from the ground up for the Xbox One and featuring two Spartan squads that you can take control of during the new campaign. One squad led by Spartan 117, the Master Chief, and the other by Spartan Locke, a character we've only recently become acquainted with if you watched Halo: Nightfall, included with copies of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The gameplay footage shown explored a campaign mission, in which Spartan Locke was tasked with tracking down the Master Chief, who apparently has gone AWOL; for those of you interested in learning how the master chief could go from humanity's saviour to bad guy, then I would highly recommend listening to the podcast Hunt The Truth, which gives the listener some backstory to the events of the upcoming game.
Also revealed was a new game mode called War Zone. From what we could gather, it seemed to be a big team battle mode, with a third faction of bots, throwing waves of bad guys that both teams have to fight to kill.
Also revealed was a new game mode called War Zone. From what we could gather, it seemed to be a big team battle mode, with a third faction of bots, throwing waves of bad guys that both teams have to fight to kill.
Next up on Microsoft's slate of reveals was a game called ReCore, an exclusive first party game from the makers of Metroid Prime and Keiji Inafune, the mind behind Mega Man, in which you play as the last human on earth, roaming around with robotic companions.
Phil Spencer, returned to the stage to discuss the continued feedback Microsoft receive and how they are always listening to the fans before announcing the surprising return of a frequently requested feature; Xbox One Backward Compatibility. Coming soon and starting with around 100 games, you'll be able to play Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One, and if you have a digital Xbox 360 title, you'll eventually be able to download those titles to your Xbox one. What's more, if you own a disc based 360 game that is available to download, all you have to do is insert the disc into the Xbox one and you'll be promoted to download the digital version for free.
Phil Spencer, returned to the stage to discuss the continued feedback Microsoft receive and how they are always listening to the fans before announcing the surprising return of a frequently requested feature; Xbox One Backward Compatibility. Coming soon and starting with around 100 games, you'll be able to play Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One, and if you have a digital Xbox 360 title, you'll eventually be able to download those titles to your Xbox one. What's more, if you own a disc based 360 game that is available to download, all you have to do is insert the disc into the Xbox one and you'll be promoted to download the digital version for free.
Fallout 4 was mentioned again, and it was revealed that if you buy it for Xbox One, you'll get Fallout 3 for free as a backward compatibility download. Furthermore, it was revealed that Fallout 4 mods would be available on Xbox One, those mods though would have to be certified mods with no other IP property's added to the game, so no being able to run around the virtual Boston with a lightsaber for example.
EA Access was talked about, and more games will be added to the ever growing library of EA content to play, including Titanfall and Dragon Age Inquisition. On a small note, EA access is going to be free for one week starting today, to try and convince other people to sign up for the ‘great value-for-money’ service.
EA Access was talked about, and more games will be added to the ever growing library of EA content to play, including Titanfall and Dragon Age Inquisition. On a small note, EA access is going to be free for one week starting today, to try and convince other people to sign up for the ‘great value-for-money’ service.
To nobody’s great surprise, Forza Motorsport 6 is coming sooner than expected. It Is the most technically advanced game Turn 10 studios have built, featuring a bigger map and vastly improved graphics. The ford motor car company seem to have a big involvement in terms of sponsorship of the company's cars appearing in game, which will be arriving for players on September 15th this year.
Next up, more info on the highly anticipated Tom Clancy's The Division as a sullen voice warns "There won't be any hope for tomorrow if we don't fight for today". This game will be the next chapter in the Tom Clancy family giving players an action RPG with the whole of post-apocalyptic New York as your playground. Xbox One players will get access to an exclusive beta in December, so expect to hear more on that in the coming months. Also from Tom Clancy, October 13th sees the launch of Rainbow Six Siege, featuring destructible environments and Rainbow Six Vegas 1&2 for FREE.
Next up, more info on the highly anticipated Tom Clancy's The Division as a sullen voice warns "There won't be any hope for tomorrow if we don't fight for today". This game will be the next chapter in the Tom Clancy family giving players an action RPG with the whole of post-apocalyptic New York as your playground. Xbox One players will get access to an exclusive beta in December, so expect to hear more on that in the coming months. Also from Tom Clancy, October 13th sees the launch of Rainbow Six Siege, featuring destructible environments and Rainbow Six Vegas 1&2 for FREE.
Another new feature arriving on Xbox One soon is Xbox Game Preview, similar to early access on steam. New games will be released on Xbox in a similar vein to how steam early access works, they'll be trials for some of these games and then you can decide if you want to buy the game in its current playable state.
More and more gameplay footage continued to flow, including Rise of the Tomb Raider, the demo showing Lara searching for a lost city in snowy mountains, this time with a companion in tow. Lara sees the ruins she seeks from a distance, however an avalanche forces Lara to make a daring escape, delaying her quest. I for one enjoyed the first game and look forward to being able to play this on November 10th 2015, but I'm one hundred percent sure another game is going to get in the way (I'm looking at you Fallout 4).
More and more gameplay footage continued to flow, including Rise of the Tomb Raider, the demo showing Lara searching for a lost city in snowy mountains, this time with a companion in tow. Lara sees the ruins she seeks from a distance, however an avalanche forces Lara to make a daring escape, delaying her quest. I for one enjoyed the first game and look forward to being able to play this on November 10th 2015, but I'm one hundred percent sure another game is going to get in the way (I'm looking at you Fallout 4).
Rare Replay was another announcement that peaked my interest, a collection of 30 hit classics from rare over the years from Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark, Kameo and Battle Toads to name a few. More games from Rare's archive of games are on this list, however don't expect to see titles such as Goldeneye or Donkey Kong Country as those title are still tied down to the respective companies. This game will feature ten thousand gamer score, for all you gamerscore completionists to earn.
Fable Legends was mentioned once again, and for those that might have missed the news, this game will be a free to play title, that you can cross play with someone playing on a Windows 10 PC.
Fable Legends was mentioned once again, and for those that might have missed the news, this game will be a free to play title, that you can cross play with someone playing on a Windows 10 PC.
Xbox One games will also be playable via Valve's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
How this will affect Microsoft's HoloLens, a similar device, is yet to be determined. That headset is powered by windows 10. A new version of Minecraft designed for the HoloLens was shown, it showed the user being able to show the 3D world of Minecraft on a coffee table from which the user could then see the contents buried underneath the world.
Very near to the end of this presentation, Gears of War 4 was announced for holiday 2016 release, with a short demo but little information was given as to where the game will be set. And finally, bringing Microsoft's E3 conference to a close, it was announced that Quantum Break, Scalebound, Crackdown and other new exclusives will be shown at this year’s GamesCon.
One things for sure, I personally found this years conference wasn't that interesting to watch; there were a few games that piqued my interest, but a lot of them didn't interest me in the slightest.
How this will affect Microsoft's HoloLens, a similar device, is yet to be determined. That headset is powered by windows 10. A new version of Minecraft designed for the HoloLens was shown, it showed the user being able to show the 3D world of Minecraft on a coffee table from which the user could then see the contents buried underneath the world.
Very near to the end of this presentation, Gears of War 4 was announced for holiday 2016 release, with a short demo but little information was given as to where the game will be set. And finally, bringing Microsoft's E3 conference to a close, it was announced that Quantum Break, Scalebound, Crackdown and other new exclusives will be shown at this year’s GamesCon.
One things for sure, I personally found this years conference wasn't that interesting to watch; there were a few games that piqued my interest, but a lot of them didn't interest me in the slightest.
Moving forward...
There isn't a whole lot to surprise us about Microsoft but there is some pleasant news about Rare and some interesting developments as they move forward with VR.
What are you highlights from the Microsoft conference? Let us know in the comments below!
What are you highlights from the Microsoft conference? Let us know in the comments below!
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