Introduction
I said this last week on my Corporate Gamer Podcast, that I thought XBOX and MIcrosoft had the most to lose in my opinion. They needed to impress more than the others. They had a lacklustre conference last year. This was a jam packed over 90 minute presentation. I do not think that I can put everything that happened below. This will be what I thought were the big announcements. Will this be their bounce back year?
XBOX One X (formerly Project Scorpio)
So already people on twitter are already complaining about the name. To be honest, for me, it does not matter. We will get used to it in about a week or so. I understand why they did this and not call it 4K. Personally, Elite would have probably been a good one. That was floating around for a while. In the end, how is the hardware and software for this machine.
They started by going through all of the technical specs for the new XBOX One X. I guess this is ok for hardcore techie gamer. However in the end, what the average player wants to know is the price. I think that this is the the ultimate spec. This will retail at 499$ USD. This is what was expected. I know many players will flip out but I am ok with it. Let me explain.
XBOX One will have 2 main models. They will have the XBOX One S and the XBOX One X. The lower end of that is the XBOX One S which is having a price cut. So, for people that cannot afford it, they can go with this machine. As for the hardcore gamers that are looking at the best on the market, they will pay the premium for sure.
They also announced that the X will be smaller than the XBOX One S. It was hard to tell from the footage on the stream but it does look sleek mat finish. They also said that the XBOX One X is using a liquid cooling system. This is a first for consoles.
So I think that this was the most important pieces of information for the XBOX One X. The gameplay that will be shown below, looked great on the new hardware. Anthem, which was demoed for the first time looked great and also did Assassin's Creed Origins.
XBOX One X Trailer
The Video Games
One thing that XBOX has been criticized in the last year was a lack of exclusives. They made sure that you knew about all of the new games coming out for XBOX One and that many of them are exclusives. They had a total of 22 exclusives but for some of them you have to read the fine print. They showed a windowed exclusive which means that it is a timed exclusive. There were not a ton but they were still there.
One thing that I loved but that is probably just me, there will be backwards compatible games for the Original XBOX. Crimson Skies was announced but there will be others when this feature is available later this year. This is really cool for me and is a good wink to the long time fans of the machine. Will Playstation do the same tomorrow?
Forza Motorsport 7
So this beloved game is coming for another iteration to the XBOX One X. It looks very stunning. The weather affects look great. For car games, it is starting to be hard to know what is a game and what is reality. The game will also feature a car that was showed to the world for the first time on the XBOX stage. The Porshe 911 GT2 RS will be in the game and was also demoed. It looked great. I think this will be another game that will sell very well. It will be available October 3, 2017 on Xbox One and Windows 10. Coming November 7, 2017 for Xbox One X
Forza Motorsport 7 Trailer
Metro Exodus
So this was a surprise for me as I did not hear about this game at all being rumoured. However it was a pleasant surprise. The demo looked awesome and it showed in game footage. I have not played Metro in quite a few years and I welcome this new game. It looked like a darker version of the Doom game last year. May be not as fast but similar gameplay. It will be released in early 2018.
Metro Exodus Trailer
Assassin's Creed Origins
This was the first look at the rumoured Ubisoft game, Assassin's Creed Origins. It is set in Egypt and it goes back to the very beginning of the Brotherhood. The environments looks stunning as expected. I believe that it is the same team that created Blag Flag so I am hoping that the bugs will be at a minimum. I think many players were disappointed with the many bugs in Unity. Although they fixed many of the issues, it still remained as a buggy game in the minds of the players.
Assassin's Creed Origins Trailer
Player Unknown's Battleground
So this is a game that many people have been playing for the last little while. It seems to be a fan favourite. I believe that there are about 3 million people playing this game. This is one of those games that is a Windowed Exclusive. So it will probably be on Playstation 4 at some point. However there was no details about the timeframe.
Player Unknown's Battleground Trailer
State of Decay 2
So this sequel has been rumoured to be at E3 this year. I had played the first game and it was a blast. I really loved it. I think that this will continue in the same vein. It looked good. It was not earth shattering in the graphics department but it looked good. It did not look next gen.
State of Decay 2 Trailer
Sea of Thieves
Players have been waiting for something from this game and they got it today with the tentative date. So it will be released in 2018. The game looks like a treasure hunt with quests. It looks like it has a bit of humour which is nice. I know people were disappointed when they heard that it was delayed but I think that the time was well spent. I rather a game d=gets delayed so that we get a better player experience than rush it out to the market.
Sea of Thieves Trailer
Cuphead
This one was a weird one. There was not lunch footage but the game looks like it is done in the spirit of cartoons from the 1920,s. It looks really interesting but there was not much about it though.
Cuphead Trailer
Super Lucky's Tale
So this is the platformer to compete with Mario Brothers or Crash Bandicoot. It looks cute.It does look like it is fun. I can see it being enjoyable. it is more of a cartoony type of game. I guess more for the young kids.
Super Lucky's Tale Trailer
Crackdown 3
This one was a disappointment for me. I expected more from this franchise, especially with the hype surrounding it before E3. We did not see actual gameplay or very little of it. Not sure if it will be playable at E3 but the presentation was a little lack lustre.
Crackdown 3 Trailer
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
This looked like an impressive demo. You saw parts of humor and see that it builds on what its predecessor did. I think that it will be pretty popular when this comes out. Looks stunning on the XBOX One X.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Trailer
Anthem
This looks like it will be a big game on the console. I am not sure if the gameplay will live up to it but the demo did look good. It seemed like it was Destiny meets Titanfall. How can one go wrong. It was confirmed that after the conference that this game will release Fall 2018 and will be available on other platforms as well. This will include Windows PC and Playstation 4.
Anthem Trailer
Bottomline
So what do I think about this conference? I think that it was pretty strong. They came out swinging and I do not think that they missed much. People will for sure say that 499$ for the machine is a little expensive. However, for most people the XBOX ONe S will be just fine. The games will play on this console and it will be much cheaper. I am not worried for the sales for the XBOX.
The list of games was pretty impressive. Although I was disappointed with Crackdown 3, I think there were quite a few nice surprises like Super luck's Tale and Cuphead. They showed that this is a next gen console without losing all of their previous fans. I think fans of the XBOX will like that very much.
All in all I am not sure if this will move people away from Playstation. I felt like this was more geared to existing XBOX users and Microsoft saying, we will take care of you. I am sure that people will buy the new system. I am not expecting a spike in sales. The average game sees price and right now the PS4 Pro is slightly better in terms of gameplay but XBON One S is better in terms of the blu-ray player.
I think that this was a much stronger showing than last year. Now it is to Playstation to show what they got? What did you like about this XBOX Conference? What got your attention? Let me know at the coordinates below.
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