Hello everyone!

Well, it's the first time in a long time when I'm not mentioning anything Japanese in a blog post so I figured going back to English in my intro would work better. :P So anyway, the gaming world was shown the next Xbox, Xbox One, a couple of days ago. The reveal was met with extreme criticizm with many gamers saying Microsoft was finished. The primary concern was the lack of excluisve games or rather, any games aside from the obvious ones like the sports games. Microsoft seemed to focus their entire conference on multimedia while shoving games off to the side. While I initially hoped aboard the hate bandwagon since it was a disapppointing conference to say the least, I later took a more neutral stance. While more and more unsettling news about the Xbox One continues to pour in (codes attached to games so they can't be shared, not backwards-compatible, etc) I see many people looking to Sony for their next-gen fix. Heck, I even saw a change of heart in some gamers that has me speechless; they're looking to Nintendo now as well. While I like the fact that Nintendo has caught the eyes of some gamers, in kind of happened in the wrong way. While I would love to speak doom and gloom for Microsoft, there's a couple of things to keep in mind.

With E3 just around the corner, it wouldn't really make sense for Microsoft to suddenly shove all the games out at the reveal. If they did that, what would they show at E3? This is why I knew it would have been better for Microsoft just to unveil the console at E3 instead of making the reveal so close to E3. But Microsoft can do whatever it pleases. In this way at least, they got all the stuff gamers don't care about (TV, sports etc.) out of the way so that they could focus on the games at E3 which they've had trouble doing for years.

Microsoft did announce 15 exclusive games for the Xbox One, 8 of which will be new IPs. We already know about Quantic Break so that leaves another 7. Microsoft also said they're bringing back a "historic" Rare IP. Rare's IP has been laying dormant since the 360's beginning when we were given the lackluster Perfect Dark Zero and the horrendous Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Those two games are the only reason I'm not any more excited for a Rare IP return. Still, Rare is a legendary game company that made my days playing on the N64 tons of fun. Anything Rare would be great, but if it's Conker... it will be hard to for me to restrain my excitement.

So, with that stuff being said, there are a few things I would like to see from Microsoft at E3...

- announce a couple of these new IP games (Gamers need a real reason to pick up Xbox One over PS4 or Wii U)

- show Rare's game (preferrably with gameplay as well)

- Halo 5 (unlikely but it would be great)

- price and release date (hopefully the price is reasonable and the release date doesn't conflict too much with PS4)

- clarify more of the questions gamers have (this could be done beforehand as well)

...and some things to avoid.

- repeat what they showed at the reveal (We got the message already)

- focus too much time on Kinect... or any features we don't really care about (I swear if 10+ minutes is focused on Kinect or TV again... I'm going to lose it!)

- create some stupid scenario involving rappers, pop stars, or anything that's not a standard press conference (those things are beyond cheesy)

And with that, I've gotten my thoughts out. Microsoft isn't finished yet. Just as I say with the naysayers of the Wii U, it's not over until it's over (or in this case even begins).

I'm going to be heading out of town this weekend to attend an anime convention so I'll likely fall behind with gaming news. Well, it's not really out of town but far enough away that I'll be staying overnight at a hotel. Not to mention, I'm going with friends so it should be a fun time. I'll see you guys when I get back!

See you later!