It's Day 1 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Microsoft gets the opportunity to start off strong with the first press conference of the show. There's been plenty of build up and anticipation for what Microsoft will show off at E3 since their reveal of the Xbox One over 2 weeks ago, and I've been hoping for plenty of news about those games that people have been clamoring for. As far as first impressions go, it definitely was a lackluster affair and not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. Let's dive into the nitty gritty and sift through some the mess that is the Microsoft press conference then. Let's start off with the announcement that a new model of the Xbox 360 is being released as of today that's based off the Xbox One design. They really got that modern cable box look of the Xbox One down, but no announcement of a price change to go with it makes me think that if you haven't gotten an Xbox already, you're not gonna get rush out to get this one either Now if you know anything about the gaming industry, you understand that games are what sells a console and the next generation is no different. Microsoft started off reminding everyone of some of the 360 titles still set to release soon like Dark Souls 2 as a way to keep people interested in the current gen still, but the real meat of the games were on the Xbox One. Right away, I'm gonna have to just mention the Metal Gear Solid 5 : Phantom Pain trailer even though it's not an Xbox exclusive. I've been a Metal Gear fan since the Playstation era so needless to say, I was really excited to see some actual gameplay of Kojima's next blockbuster. The game looks visually stunning running off the new FOX engine with some impressive lighting and weather effects shown through out the trailer while all being done within an open world. The usual Kojima theatrics are there that people have grown to love, highlighting a few corny dialogue, Bond-esque music and storytelling that looks as outrageous as any other Metal Gear Solid title. If only they would give us a release date for it already. If you know anything about Microsoft and the Xbox then you know that there's always something that involves Halo around the corner, and this conference wasn't any different. A short teaser featuring the beloved Master Chief was shown off during the conference and more hype involving their announced live-action series involving Steven Spielberg. With that awe inspiring news aside, I'm gonna get into what I was really interested in, the new games. Let's start with Ryse, a third-person action title that was originally suppose to be released as a Kinect only title but they apparently decided to let you use a controller now. I couldn't possibly imagine how painstakingly awkward this game would have turned out as Kinect only. It's best to stick to what work sometimes. From the gameplay trailer they released, Ryse is definitely looking for a strong cinematic approach to their gameplay. It might not look very innovative for a next gen title, but the visuals and cinematography of the first moments of the trailer left an impression on me. It looked like a world that I wanted to dive into and experience. Hopefully they'll polish up the gameplay a bit and keep the combat interesting throughout the game cause I'm really hoping this one becomes a real solid release title. New IPs are usually the highlight of these conferences since new things are shiny and makes me want them for no apparent reason, and Microsoft showed off a few that really shined bright in my eyes. Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive from Insomniac Games that shows no gameplay at all, but I can't help but want it all over my body. It's a short one minute trailer that shows off characters with a Team Fortress 2-styled charm bashing and shooting the heads off of pink zombie-like monsters while they jumped, sprinted, and traversed in flashy fashion through a colorful downtown setting. It has a vibrant visual art style that's bright, colorful and makes the world feel like a playground. If anything, you can definitely say that it looks fun. Check out the trailer to see what I mean. Project Spark! looks like really interesting as a Build-Your-Own-Game kind of thing going on there. It shows off tons of features that lets you control and implant different mechanics into objects to affect how they react in the world. It looks like hours of fun can be had just experimenting with the features they were able to show off, so I would love to see more about that one. There were also more titles like Dead Rising 3, Quantum Break, and Forza 5 but those didn't really show off enough for me to get too excited about them yet. I would mention Titanfall more but it's not an exclusive so I'm not gonna limit to talking about it here. Microsoft was able to show off more games like they promised this time around, but there really wasn't enough to get me excited about their next gen console yet. Many of the games they showcased weren't even exclusives, so it doesn't really help push gamers to pick the Xbox One over anything else really. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what Sony has up their sleeves. E3 Excitement: Microsoft Press Conference
by PandaKF on Comments
It's Day 1 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Microsoft gets the opportunity to start off strong with the first press conference of the show. There's been plenty of build up and anticipation for what Microsoft will show off at E3 since their reveal of the Xbox One over 2 weeks ago, and I've been hoping for plenty of news about those games that people have been clamoring for. As far as first impressions go, it definitely was a lackluster affair and not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. Let's dive into the nitty gritty and sift through some the mess that is the Microsoft press conference then. Let's start off with the announcement that a new model of the Xbox 360 is being released as of today that's based off the Xbox One design. They really got that modern cable box look of the Xbox One down, but no announcement of a price change to go with it makes me think that if you haven't gotten an Xbox already, you're not gonna get rush out to get this one either Now if you know anything about the gaming industry, you understand that games are what sells a console and the next generation is no different. Microsoft started off reminding everyone of some of the 360 titles still set to release soon like Dark Souls 2 as a way to keep people interested in the current gen still, but the real meat of the games were on the Xbox One. Right away, I'm gonna have to just mention the Metal Gear Solid 5 : Phantom Pain trailer even though it's not an Xbox exclusive. I've been a Metal Gear fan since the Playstation era so needless to say, I was really excited to see some actual gameplay of Kojima's next blockbuster. The game looks visually stunning running off the new FOX engine with some impressive lighting and weather effects shown through out the trailer while all being done within an open world. The usual Kojima theatrics are there that people have grown to love, highlighting a few corny dialogue, Bond-esque music and storytelling that looks as outrageous as any other Metal Gear Solid title. If only they would give us a release date for it already. If you know anything about Microsoft and the Xbox then you know that there's always something that involves Halo around the corner, and this conference wasn't any different. A short teaser featuring the beloved Master Chief was shown off during the conference and more hype involving their announced live-action series involving Steven Spielberg. With that awe inspiring news aside, I'm gonna get into what I was really interested in, the new games. Let's start with Ryse, a third-person action title that was originally suppose to be released as a Kinect only title but they apparently decided to let you use a controller now. I couldn't possibly imagine how painstakingly awkward this game would have turned out as Kinect only. It's best to stick to what work sometimes. From the gameplay trailer they released, Ryse is definitely looking for a strong cinematic approach to their gameplay. It might not look very innovative for a next gen title, but the visuals and cinematography of the first moments of the trailer left an impression on me. It looked like a world that I wanted to dive into and experience. Hopefully they'll polish up the gameplay a bit and keep the combat interesting throughout the game cause I'm really hoping this one becomes a real solid release title. New IPs are usually the highlight of these conferences since new things are shiny and makes me want them for no apparent reason, and Microsoft showed off a few that really shined bright in my eyes. Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive from Insomniac Games that shows no gameplay at all, but I can't help but want it all over my body. It's a short one minute trailer that shows off characters with a Team Fortress 2-styled charm bashing and shooting the heads off of pink zombie-like monsters while they jumped, sprinted, and traversed in flashy fashion through a colorful downtown setting. It has a vibrant visual art style that's bright, colorful and makes the world feel like a playground. If anything, you can definitely say that it looks fun. Check out the trailer to see what I mean. Project Spark! looks like really interesting as a Build-Your-Own-Game kind of thing going on there. It shows off tons of features that lets you control and implant different mechanics into objects to affect how they react in the world. It looks like hours of fun can be had just experimenting with the features they were able to show off, so I would love to see more about that one. There were also more titles like Dead Rising 3, Quantum Break, and Forza 5 but those didn't really show off enough for me to get too excited about them yet. I would mention Titanfall more but it's not an exclusive so I'm not gonna limit to talking about it here. Microsoft was able to show off more games like they promised this time around, but there really wasn't enough to get me excited about their next gen console yet. Many of the games they showcased weren't even exclusives, so it doesn't really help push gamers to pick the Xbox One over anything else really. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what Sony has up their sleeves.