The Highs and Lows of Microsoft's E3 2016

Click through the images here for all the highlights, biggest games, and areas of improvement for Microsoft at E3 2016. You can also read through our complete list of the biggest stories from Microsoft's press conference right here.

Microsoft ended its E3 briefing by confirming earlier reports and announcing Project Scorpio. Set to release in 2017, the new system will feature 8 cores, 320Gb memory bandwidth, and six teraflops of performance that will allow for true fully uncompressed 4K gaming. This suggests it will not simply be upscaled 2160p.

Microsoft also unveiled that Project Scorpio would be backwards compatible with both the Xbox One and Xbox One S, and you’ll be able to use the same peripherals and controllers with the console as well.

The Xbox Play Anywhere program will allow games to be purchased once and then played across Xbox One and PC at no extra cost. The announcement was made during Microsoft's E3 press conference, when The Coalition's Rod Fergusson appeared on stage to announce Gears of War 4 will be on PC and support Xbox Play Anywhere.

Confirmed Xbox Play Anywhere games include Dead Rising 4, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 3, Scalebound, State of Decay, and Halo Wars 2.

Confirming earlier rumors, Microsoft kicked off its E3 briefing by announcing a slimmed-down Xbox One. It's called the Xbox One S, and it will come in three different versions: 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. Also included is a streamlined controller that has new features and a more tactile grip. The console, which so far has only been confirmed to come in a white version, arrives in August.

Another big announcement from Microsoft at E3 this year was some new Xbox Live features. The first of these features is Clubs on Xbox Live, which allows players to create "communities and meet people you can go back to." With Clubs, Microsoft wants to connect people "that love the same things you do."

The next feature is Looking for Group, which helps players find "other gamers with a shared goal in mind." This means that if you're looking for someone to run an Incursion in The Division or build a giant castle in Minecraft, Looking for Group will help.

Finally announced is Arena, a new tournament platform on Xbox Live. According to Microsoft's Mike Ybarra, Arena is "the easiest way to discover register and compete in one place." Players can either compete solo or with friends.

It was a leaky E3 for Microsoft. Someone reportedly obtained the trailers from Microsoft's showcase and slowly released the details in the days leading up to the show. Basically all of Microsoft's major announcements leaked, including the existence of the Xbox One S and Xbox Scorpio, making the briefing more of a show where Microsoft confirmed things instead of announcing them. A Microsoft executive later said, "it sucks" when leaks happen.

Microsoft showed off a stunning new CG trailer for Halo Wars 2 and we learned some more about the game's story, timeline, and characters. But Microsoft also confirmed that the game won't be out this fall as was previously announced. It's now coming in February 2017. A blow to Microsoft's holiday 2016 lineup, indeed.

It may have been leaked ahead of time, but the full trailer for Dead Rising 4 at Microsoft's E3 show was pretty great. The video used the famous holiday song, "Jingle Bell Rock," over footage of Frank West laying waste to zombies--and it was awesome.

Forza Horizon 3 had one of the better announcement trailers we've seen recently (you can re-watch it here). Set in the sprawling expanse of the Australian outback, Forza Horizon 3 is looking to build upon the solid foundation of the first two games and go further. The early results look promising.

Rare's Sea of Thieves was announced at E3 2015, but this year we finally got a closer look at it. We learned Sea of Thieves will offer players a swashbuckling adventure. There will be ship upgrades, seafaring voyages, treasure hunts, and reputation progression. We also learned at E3 that Sea of Thieves is not an MMO and it won't be free.

Platinum Games' Hideki Kamiya was at Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference to show off more gameplay of their upcoming Xbox One/Windows 10 exclusive, Scalebound. This latest demo not only featured the studio's largest boss, but also the game's co-op gameplay. Not only is it 4-player co-op, but since each player has their own dragon. You'll need all the help you can get because this boss is a giant crustacean that's a cross between a crab and a scorpion.