Xbox Press Conference Recap – E3 2017
The overall production value of the Xbox conference was stunning. While the shows put on by the big games publishers are fun to watch, it sure is hard to outshine Microsoft. This was obviously an event that Microsoft spent a ton of time and money getting ready for.
First up was the official reveal of the much talked about new console: the Xbox One X. Really, it seems like for the first time in ages, anything on anyone’s wish list for a console has actually made it into the final product. It will be the most powerful console ever made. It will run games in native UHD. It will support high dynamic range, modern sound formats such as Dolby Atmos, and play UHD blu-ray discs. It is 100% compatible with anything that will play on the other Xbox One systems . . . and, somehow, it will have a smaller form factor. There is no downside for the consumer. Its a bold move. The gamble is that this will appear to core gamers, while the lower price of the “fine for most people” Xbox Box One S will satiate the masses.
The Forza 7 announcement was pretty impressive. After all, that Porsche 911 GT2 RS sure looked pretty sweet. The new Egyptian setting for Assassin’s Creed looked beautiful, but does it look beautiful enough to get people to play? I feel like the Desmond story was always what held the games together and once that was completely botched, the formula of “pick a new city/time period and assassinate evil templars” just seems like you’re playing the same game over and over.
There was a very brief teaser for Cuphead which looks like it could be a lot of fun. More Minecraft news/updates were discussed. There is a shared world pirate game titled Sea of Thieves which in my humble opinion looked very underwhelming. Terry Crews made an appearance in the trailer for Crackdown 3. This was a genius move because everyone loves Terry Crews and while the actual game looks decent, Terry Crews definitely upped the interest.
A sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest was shown, titled Ori and the Will of the Wisps which looks fantastic. Expansion of backwards compatibility to include original Xbox games was announced but most details were said to come out later.
The sow finished by showing Anthem, the new IP in development by Bioware. Unfortunately the game is already trending online as Destiny clone, I think a bit unfairly. Now, keep in mind, I remain skeptical – but, there was probably more meaningful dialogue in the short trailer they showed for Anthem than in all of Destiny. Also keep in mind from a combat standpoint, it honestly reminds me more of Mass Effect than Destiny. So yes, it sounds like it will be a “shared-world shooter” type game. And yes, Destiny was the first major game to fit that title. In my mind it seems like the same thing as calling Starcraft a Dune 2 clone. Time will tell I guess – I can’t imagine the game will see release for a couple more years.
There was no mention of kinect. No mention of television tie-ins. No mention of original television programming. Just games. A ton of other games were given brief snippets of time. While at first thought it seems the idea is to give everyone of taste of something they might like, the real idea is probably to convey to everyone that this is a system/ecosystem that can be everything to everyone. I think they did a pretty good job.