Microsoft’s display this year just wasn’t as exciting as last year’s offering for me if I’m honest, my prediction of the HoloLens being showed off was completely wrong, though they did introduce two new consoles being brought to stores, something which I’m sure is quite the dream for Xbox fans.
The latest updates for Xbox Live introduces Cortana to the console, something that I can’t say I really understand as part of a games console, I mean I very rarely feel the need to use it on my laptop never mind in the middle of a gaming sesh. If they integrate it well, then it could work, say for example if you could ask Cortana for help in the middle of that damned difficult boss battle, but less so if it then takes you out of the immersion of the game to slowly load up the answer in a web browser. Another update means that you can now play music in the background when playing games (much like Spotify on PS4) which is definitely a great feature. They’re also introducing clubs, which if you have a PS4 is the same kind of thing as communities. You can find a club based on the games you play, including new people to play with and help you get those bloody online achievements.
Minecraft was then featured in a hugely awkward presentation, showing off the new cross-compatibility between Windows 10 and the Xbox One. With many new games releases, they will come with cross-buy as standard, so if you buy the game on Xbox One, you’ll also get a copy for Windows 10 and vice versa. This is a bit of a weird one for me, with console and PC gamers well known for their constant bickering over who is the superior race. Now you can have the best of both worlds, meaning you’re no longer limited to playing with just your friends who happen to own an Xbox, this works on paper, hopefully the technology behind it won’t let it down. The Minecraft demo in particular showed one world, where an Xbox One, a Windows 10 PC and a rare sighting of the HoloLens headset all combined in one session.
This was achieved in Minecraft Realms in ‘The Friendly Update’, a new feature to the game currently available on mobile and Windows 10 and expected to hit consoles next year. These worlds are part of a subscription service, where you create a unique world which is constantly online, and so your friends can pop on when you’re not there to join in. This sounds great, but I can only imagine that there will be many occasions where you log in to find your prized land dominated by 100ft tall phallic objects… Oh the possibilities.
Another game which showed off the cross-compatibility of Xbox One and Windows 10, was the new Forza Horizon 3, which actually looked beautiful. Players could join in with the action whenever they like and jump straight into the world, joining in with races or just speeding down roads through some beautiful countryside.
Microsoft also showed off some shiny new Xbox One remotes. Featured were some game specific controllers, for example the Gears of War 4 Elite Controller, where not only the aesthetic fits in with the game with the colours and damage effects, but the d-pad is specially designed with which weapons correspond with the buttons. This, I can imagine, would be great to newbies to the game and franchise, sadly the £159.99 price tag on the remote might just put them off a little. Also revealed was the Design Lab, where you can now design your own remote. The site for this is now live, where you can choose the colours, custom designs and even engrave lettering (Gamer Tags?) for quite the modest price of $90 with engraving… Orders are expected to be shipped out towards early September, you can check out what I would order if I had an Xbox One here.
Tekken 7 was then announced as coming to Xbox One in early 2017, to be honest I didn’t even realise this game was still a thing, I remember button bashing my way through it on Playstation 1. Ahhh memories. CD Projekt RED, the developers behind the ever popular Witcher series (another game I’ve been meaning to pick up) then made quite the crowd pleaser of an announcement with their new standalone game – Gwent. Based on the popular card game which features in The Witcher 3, Gwent is going to be a free-to-play download on consoles and PC with in-app purchases. This seems to be quite a popular announcement amongst fans of the franchise, so I’m expecting this one to take off quite well.
Microsoft then went on to show quite a few of the independent titles and studios that they’re supporting as part of ID@Xbox over the next 12 months. This included titles such as Stardew Valley, a time based RPG which so far is available on PC, Figment which looks like an absolutely beautiful title with bright, wacky characters and Yooka-Laylee published by Wakefield’s very own Team 17, created by Playtonic Games, the same masterminds behind Banjo-Kazooie, hopefully set to bring classic gaming back to consoles. These titles were shown amongst a busy showreel of upcoming indies, all of which looked rather interesting and definitely a few which I’ll be keeping an eye on for updates as the year goes by.
The next presentation by Microsoft was quite a subdued and dark affair – We Happy Few. The presentation featured a sole gamer showing gameplay on the big screen with no introduction, which certainly added to the unsettling topic of the game. We Happy Few appears to be based around the idea of ‘Joy’ a pill which inhabitants of a secluded centre take to be happy. With the masked characters and the grim realisation of the piñata at the end of the clip, this certainly looks like it’s going to be an interesting, unique but altogether creepy game with a psychological edge, quite excited to see how the gameplay develops a little later on.
Another highlight for myself was the upcoming title Sea of thieves by Rare, an Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive where players take to the ocean as pirates. Players are encouraged to play the game as they like, and were soon shown pirates exploring the seas, traversing undiscovered islands and of course, getting drunk on rum and ale. Rare have made it quite obvious that they don’t want to place too many restrictions on those headed to the sea so they can be the pirates they always dreamed of being. I can’t say that I ever had dreams of life on a boat, but I find it promising when a studio doesn’t try to control the gameplay, instead giving this power to the gamer.
Now for the announcement that many were expecting but didn’t know how much we’d hear. Microsoft had already announced the Xbox One S earlier in the show, which is basically the slim, leaner version of the Xbox One which also supports 4K, and is due to be released this year. This was overshadowed however, by the announcement of their new beast of a console headed to stores in 2017. Project Scorpio (as it’s currently known) sounds as though it’s going to be the console of every Xbox fan’s dream. The display at E3 was showing off the specs of their new console which apparently comes with 6 terro-flops (I didn’t think that they were real things, but apparently they are and they’re pretty impressive) and again, 4K support. Supposedly, it’s going to be the most powerful console ever made, but from what I’ve seen, if you don’t have a 4K television then you’re not going to reap the benefits from this, as otherwise it remains the same of the Xbox One.
So, to summarise, Microsoft is bringing 2 new consoles to the mix and plenty of interesting new games to keep an eye on. I was a little surprised to not see more about the HoloLens, but maybe that will come a little later in the year. Games wise, We Happy Few is probably the one which caught my eye the most, and Sea of Thieves coming a close second. I felt the presentation lacked a little enthusiasm, and took itself all a little too seriously, quite the opposite of the gaming industry.
Want to judge for yourself? Have I overlooked some titles? You can watch the whole stream here, anything on there that you think I have missed?
Engamed 