MS's conference starts off with a montage showing a brief history of the Xbox legacy and its games. Then a video plays which obviously is the official unveil for Xbox Scorpio. Its all meant to supplement the buzz of 4K "Ultra HD" gaming, so there's depictions of popular games like Gears and Forza. Finally, the images of Scorpio are shown, and it looks so boring. Not too dissimilar to the old Xbox One.
Phil Spencer comes out on stage wearing an awesome Player (1) shirt. I'm addicted to buying shirts, so I need to go find this shirt. He talks about the history of Xbox a bit, and then announces the official name of Scorpio, which is the Xbox One X with a release date of November 7th.
An engineer comes out to talk about the power of Xbox to rattle off specs of power. He also says it's 100 percent BC with Xbox One, along with enhanced performance for all Xbox One games. Also, there's a technique called Super Sampling which is supposed to make games look even better on a 1080p TV, but... I still play on a 720p... Might be time to buy a new TV... It has a liquid cooled vapor chamber, which means this thing's going to generate a lot of heat. Oh, and wow, he says it's the smallest Xbox ever made. That's a surprise.
The first game trailer is shown, showing some impressive environments. Rocky mountains, deserts, and now, tarmac. This is a driving game. My first guess is Forza. So far, it looks pretty damn impressive, especially in the rain. Seems like attention to physics and detail have even been paid to the raindrops as they travel up the windshield. Yup, it's Forza 7. Dan Greenawalt comes out to talk more about the game. He talks about a world reveal of a new super car, making its first appearance at E3. It sounds like a new Porsche. It's the 2018 Porsche 911 GT2RS. Pretty cool concept to debut a flagship car at a gaming convention.
A couple people come out to demonstrate the game. God, it looks pretty. I've never been much of a Forza person, but I kinda want to get an Xbox One X, a 4K TV and this game just to experience how pretty it actually is. And holy shit, over 700 cars!? Wow... The game releases October 3rd.
Phil Spencer again. He says he'll debut 42 new games, 22 of which will be exclusive to the Xbox platforms. He rolls out another trailer.
It looks like an apocalyptic world set in a freezing winter. The game is first person, already looking stunning. The player is wandering around a building, and then is attacked by a creature. There's a lot of details in this game, and I just noticed the player's breath on the inside of their helmet, which temporarily shatters when hit. They're topside now, looking out over a city. A downed helicopter is shown, a map is brought up, and the player must be looking for some kind of reference point. They pull out a crossbrow on guard for another attack. He sniped a creature, recovered the bolt and reloaded. A giant bear creature is now chasing him. He's jumped to a zipline to get away from it, narrowly dodging being run over by a train, which he then boards. Ah, it's a new Metro game called Exodus. I got to be honest, that game looks great!
A new video plays, showing a temple, a sphinx and other Egyptian pieces, which I'm sure this is the new Assassin's Creed. Yep, it is. Hooded figures, mention of a brotherhood. Assassin's Creed: Origins. I'm so hyped!
Jean Guesdon of Ubisoft comes out to talk about it. It sounds like because this game is 3000 years in the past, the gameplay is going to be completely reinvented. Another video plays, showing the game running on in-game graphics in 4K. Gameplay footage is now being shown. Right off the bat, it's recognizable as an Assassin's Creed game. Wandering people, layouts of buildings and trees. The new main character has an eagle he uses to scan the area to look for his next target. Climbing looks familiar. Stealth maneuvering. Ooh, he just shot a guard in midair. It's so weird, though, seeing this eagle being used as a drone. Having it hover to target guards just doesn't seem right. Ubisoft took a year off Assassin's Creed, so this one had better be great!
Brendan Greene comes out to speak of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. I've heard of Playerunknown, but never experienced it. A video plays for the game. To be honest, I'm not really impressed by it. Doesn't seem to be that graphically impressive.
Another video begins to play, showing an FPS that seems to have some primitive graphics. Seems like a squad game, and they're fighting waves of enemies. It's called Deep Rock: Galactic. Doesn't look interesting at all to me.
Yet another video starts to play, and I think this one's for Days Gone. I almost forgot about this game. Nope, it's actually State of Decay 2. And wow, there are zombies everywhere. Kinda reminds me of a serious Dead Rising. Seems like there will be some serious decision making in this game. Some enemies look like they came right out Left 4 Dead.
New trailer plays. Shows a guy warming his hands, he hears a noise, grabs an ax, is ambushed, then a very annoying announcer comes out to start commentating on the game as gameplay is now being shown. The Darwin Project. Doesn't look interesting at all to me.
Now, we have some Minecraft stuff, of which I really don't care about. Never played Minecraft. Probably never will. Phil Spencer comes out to talk about how he was blown away with Minecraft in 4K. Does that franchise really benefit from 4K? He introduces a new game.
Right off the bat, I recognize it as Dragonball. And it is, a Dragonball fighting game. It certainly looks pretty. It has a team tagging system apparently. Cool for Dragonball fans.
A trailer for another game begins to roll. It looks like some kind of ancient war game with armies training in different settings. Then the battles begin with lots of attacks going on. Axe wielders, archers, mages. Giant enemies. This looks pretty interesting. It's called Black Desert, and it's an MMORPG. Oh well, off my radar. I don't play those anymore.
Another trailer begins. This looks to be in some kind of futuristic Asian city. It's called The Last Night. I really don't know what to expect from this one.
The next trailer begins and has a cartoon aesthetic. A boy is running, scenery and outfits constantly changing, and he's playing a guitar. Still running, scenery still changing and then it takes on some kind of psychedelic vibe. The Artful Escape is what it's called. Could be interesting.
Yet another trailer. A dude with a cool set of armor is running around killing enemies, kinda reminds me of a lighter shade of Dark Souls. It's called CodeVein. Ok, that looks awesome.
Phil Spencer out again. He's now about to show off Sea of Thieves. If I remember right, this was announced last year, and it was multiplayer only, so I have no interest in it. I have to be honest, it does look fun, but honestly, if it's multiplayer only, I just don't want to play it. The thing I dislike about multiplayer only games is that become unplayable when time moves on and no one plays them anymore.
A new trailer rolls showing some kind of future game called Tacoma... and I know nothing about it. More like a teaser.
Another trailer shows a cartoon fox chasing a butterfly. Then a flower pops up to attack him, but he defends himself, and then jumps into a book. The world then shows gameplay and it looks like a platformer. I am getting a weird a Mario vibe from it. I almost thought it was a Rare game at first. Super Lucky's Tale is what it's called. It looks like a lot of fun, actually. Reminiscent of 3D platformers of old. November 7th is the release date.
Ooh, the next trailer is for a black and white game done in the old style cartoon films. It's Cuphead! I forgot all about it! Oh man, it looks so pretty! And 9/29 is the release date.
Next game shows Terry Crews with a futuristic gun. This must be Crackdown 3 from the sound of it. Yep, "Welcome to the agency!" I loved Crackdown but was really disappointed in the second because it took place in the same city and was practically just a rehash. This looks fun so far, full of bright colors exploding among dark settings. Just, PLEASE be a major improvement over 2!
A montage begins playing. I'm not going to bother typing up all the game names. They're just moving too quickly. I will say the variety of games that's being shown is very diverse.
Phil Spencer again, talking about a program called ID@Xbox to help bring more games to their platforms by working with many different teams. He's going to introduce a new game now.
It's called Aurorall or something? It looks like an adventure game, kind of like a cartoonish Dark Souls game. It looks interesting. Oh, the title is actually called Ashen.
A Square Enix trailer now unfolds. Shows a girl smoking. There's a black bird, then it jumps around to show a concert, a car crash, some kind of gang confrontation. The girl's named Rachel. An anarchy sign. Ahh, it's a new Life is Strange game.
The VP Michael Deplatter from Monolith Studios comes out, then footage of the new Shadow of War game is shown. Man, it looks so pretty!. Sadly, Xbox will not be the platform I'm getting it on. Two orcs are fighting. Obviously, the bigger orc won. Now, the player is being shown, and Michael is talking about the new Nemesis system. Now the player is battling more orcs and using all sorts of powers until he's able to take control of the orc. Heh, there's some funny writing in this game as well. Hopefully, the quality stays consistent. Sounds like the game will be much larger than the first. He dominated another orc and is now ready to assault a fortress and overthrow the overlord. It looks pretty great.
Another trailer is shown, while also having a pianist playing music on a piano on stage. This game kinda reminds me a little of Ori and the Blind Forest. It has that beautiful aesthetic to it, full of wonderful nature. Already, I want it. I love those styles of games. And now, there's an owl. And here comes a little creature made of light to comfort its sadness. Oh please be an an Ori sequel. And it is! The Will of the Wisps! That right there is the highlight of the conference for me! I can't wait for this! Again, I LOVED Ori!
Spencer again, this time giving us stats of Xbox One's BC compatibility. He announces that the Xbox One will now play original Xbox games. Cool... but I don't really care about BC until it can play ALL the older games. I know that's a large request, I'm aware of the hard work that goes into each one, but again, I just want to know that whatever old Xbox game that I own can be played on Xbox One. Did... he just say that the updates for Xbox One X games will be free? Well... I'm sure as hell expecting them to be free...
EA president comes out to talk about the new Bioware game they teased last night. Yada yada... get on with it. Jon Warner comes out to show off Anthem on the Xbox One X. The player walks around a market place until they get to these armored suits, they get inside and then walk out of the hanger. The exosuits are called Javelins. OOOH they can fly! Now, the game just keeps getting more beautiful. Now there's a monster encounter, they choose to ignore it and fly off again, now they're in the water. There's a skirmish with some creatures and they're off exploring again. It sounds like this is a multiplayer game as well. I am loving the weapons. I got to say, I am not loving the chatter. It's disrupting the immersion. Now, there's a big storm around a portal they jump into. I think I'll keep an eye on this game.
The show closes with another montage.
So, EA's conference bored me to tears. MS's conference I had trouble keeping up with. So many games were being shown in rapid fire succession, one after the other. Aside from EA's bit, the pacing of the conference was fantastic. Nothing bloated or flashy or stuff like that. Just games. And to be honest, I think this is one one of MS's best showings in recent years.
I haven't played a racing game in a long time, and I'm actually in the mood for a good race, so I think it was coincidence that MS chose to lead off their conference by showing Forza 7. Man, it just looks so beautiful. It honestly has me thinking of buying a 4K TV and an Xbox One X to experience. Speaking of XBOX, I just want to say that I don't like the name that well. Xbox One X... X...box...One...X... Well if anything, that just cements the fact that MS has no plans of marketing this as Xbox One's successor, which I thought they would do with the Scorpio name. Also, the system is being released on November 7th, at 500 dollars, and I wasn't surprised about the price. Not sure yet if I'm going to get one....
Other games that stood out to me are CodeVein and Ashen because they remind me of Dark Souls. Then, there's Super Lucky's Tale, which I really want to play because I don't think I've played a 3D platformer on an Xbox platform since Conker. And then, there's Ori: The Will of the Wisps. I cannot wait to play that game. Most anticipated game in the conference!
Overall rating: B
No comments:
Post a Comment