Introduction
Although XBOX did not have a keynote that was as impressive as Playstation, there are a few points that I thought were worth to mention.
XBOX Scorpio
XBOX One S (XBOX Slim) - XBOX Scorpio It was announced at E3 that a skinner looking version of the Xbox will be launched named the One S. The One S will be 40% smaller and will be able to play 4K HD. Unfortunately, not many people have those monitors or TV's, so it may be a waste on this generation. This was not news as the information had leaked the previous week. Everyone knew that it was coming. In addition, the XBOX Scorpio (picture above) which was also leaked, was announced. This had a release date of 2017, so it is still a little way off. but it would be the most powerful machine of this generation so far. My worry is that by the time it gets released it will fall short of the power of the PC's. I believe that the powerful Scorpio will be part of a bigger announcement in the future in relation with VR. I believe it is prepping a machine that would be able to play the Oculus Rift which we already know is a power whore.
Microsoft Games on Steam
In between all of the noise of the E3 floor, Microsoft announced that they would also sell their games on Steam, which is awesome news. Finally Microsoft listened to their fanbase and games will be available on the platform. In the same family of announcement, Microsoft also announced cross platform play between XBOX and the PC. I believe this is the third or fourth time pushing this idea. Hopfully this one will be the one that sticks.
State of Decay 2
State of Decay which is a Zombie, 3rd person point of view and open world kind of game was announced. The first installment was praised by both critics and players alike, so this was a nice announcement. The game looks beautiful and could be fun. I would assume the first game would be free one day on Games for Gold right before this one gets released. That is only speculation on my part.
Titanfall II
This is one game that I am personally looking forward to. I did like the first one, but it was missing a single player mode. They have corrected that in this one as it will have a campaign mode. As I mentioned in Part 1 of my E3 review, I had commended God of War for focusing on the the campaign and not incorporating multiplayer. For Titanfall, I believe that the campaign mode will be added to shut us up, but the bread ad butter will be the multiplayer. I hope that I am wrong, but history dictates that I will be right.
Halo Wars 2
So this is the one game that XBOX players have been anticipating. Halo Wars was a pretty successful RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game. They announced a BETA version was ready to be played right at E3 with another BETA release that will include a few more modes. This game does not interest me personally, but I know many Halo fans will love this game.
Gears of War 4
If you are a fan of the trilogy, then you probably went all giddy when they announced this heavy hitter game. Gears of War has been a great franchise on both XBOX 360 and XBOX One through backwards compatibility. This game will sell well no matter how good or bad this game is. I am personally psyched to get this game when it will come out on October 11th, 2016.
Honorable Mentions
The announcements below were not in my top10, but I believe could be sleeper hits in the future.
Forza Horizon 3
I know that this franchise is a popular one and it will probably sell well. The thing is that they release a new one almost every year, and the offerings can become blah. However, when looking at the trailer for this one, I was stunned by the beauty. Like Gran Turismo Sport, the visuals are absolutely stunning. As I mentioned before that I am a big fan of racing games, I think this one will be in my shopping cart very soon.
Battlefield 1
This game always sells and this one will not be any different. They are going through time and going back to World War I. Not many people are aware of that war and that is a good thing. Again the visuals are stunning and I like the battlefield games, because you can pick them up for a half hour and then you can stop. You also feel like you have progressed. Looking forward to this one.
Dishonored 2
This one will be awesome. I spent many hours playing the first one. So I expect the second installment to be just as good or even better than the first one. Wonder if this one will be cross platform in terms of saves. That would be cool if it were the case.
That was my impression of the XBOX announcements. There are not as many exclusives as Playstation, but I think the lineup is solid. I think the Playstation had more surprises and that is what made the keynote better. At this point XBOX is second to PS and I do not think that they will surpass PS this gen, so they are happy to keep their base happy. The best thing that they ever did is the Games for Gold with 2 to 3 free games a month. It is awesome!
What did you think was the big microsoft announcement? Let me know below.
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