E3 2015 - Microsoft Overview

Taking the Monday morning slot, or early evening if you are of the UK persuasion, Microsoft led their E3 press conference with arguably their biggest franchise. Described as “built from the ground up” Halo 5 Guardians is a return to the franchise with a twist. Master Chief is absent and it is up to another team of Spartans to track him down.

It was the usual rigmarole of aliens, shooting, explosions and friendly banter through intercoms, the difference from other iterations being that you can command your team as you battle through levels as two different Spartans; either Master Chief, or Spartan Locke.

The big change was on the multiplayer side of things where your progress through single-player carries over to online. Maps will be four times the size of previous versions and Warzone, a new mode, will cause carnage, described as Player versus player versus everything else.

       

You can get Halo 5 Guardians on 27th October, shortly followed by the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller, a fully customisable controller allowing you to change everything from analogue sticks to their sensitivity.

From one of the biggest exclusives to a brand new one, this time helmed by Metroid Prime creator Inafune. Recore sees you take the role of a female with a robot companion. As you battle your way through the world, you may lose your friend, but they drop an ‘all-spark’ type device which you can place into a new host. Lose your robo-dog? Fear not, the giant humanoid one can help.

Phil Spencer, wearing a bright T-shirt, claimed that “gamers are at the centre of everything they do”. This statement wasn’t just marketing talk as he announced Xbox One backwards compatibility, allowing all of your Xbox 360 games onto your new system. It’s available now for preview members and will be available worldwide come Christmas.

It was the conference for diehard fans as exclusives were coming at onlookers from all angles. Forza Motorsport 6, which involved a brand new Ford GT being lowered onto stage, will be released on 15th September, and is the “most beautiful and technically advanced [they] have ever built”. Rise of The Tomb Raider had a full gameplay trailer and somewhat unfortunate release date of 10th November (that’s the same day as Fallout 4 if you were wondering). Also, the brand new Gears of War, simply called Gears 4, was also given a gameplay trailer, coming Holiday 2016. It’ll also be preceded by Gears of War Ultimate Edition, a remastering of the original, coming 25th August.

       

Microsoft have also jumped into bed with a number of third party studios, Ubisoft and Bethesda the biggest names amongst the group, but From Software’s Dark Souls III was present and received an eerie and dramatic cinematic trailer, set in another shit your pants world of monsters that want to kill you.

From Bethesda’s side, Todd Howard returned, with more Fallout 4 gameplay, this time involving the power armor as well as the news that mods made on the PC will be playable, FOR FREE, on Xbox One, while Fallout 3 will be free when you buy Fallout and again, is an exclusive offer.

Post-apocalyptic action RPG, The Division from Ubisoft, will have an exclusive beta this Christmas and sees you take the role of society’s ‘peace keepers’. And the news that both Rainbow Six games from last generation will come free with Rainbow Six Siege was music to the ears of hardcore Xbox gamers, while EA revealed that Titanfall and Dragon Age Inquisition would be heading to the vault, free for Xbox One owners this week.

EA also showed an exclusive trailer for Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 coming Spring 2016.

        

Indies were also ever present, with Microsoft’s indie project ID@Xbox showing off a reel of new indie games, claiming that over 1000 titles are in the works. Highlights included Cuphead, a 1930’s cartoon style side scroller, Beyond Eyes which sees you take the role of a blind girl as she imagines the world around her and Ion from the creator of Day Z.

Revealed just a matter of hours before the show was the Rare Replay Collection, a collection of 30 classic Rare games, which also received a trailer, with true nostalgia as Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” played. Rare also revealed their newest and “most ambitious game” via a trailer, Sea of Thieves, a pirate adventure game taking place on land and sea.

Once over, Phil Spencer returned to stage, now with an open jacket showing off his Rare T-Shirt! Cunning.

The star of the show however, and the item that received the most time was the new Windows HoloLens which was shown off with Microsoft's newest and most expensive acquisition, Mojang, and of course, that meant Minecraft.

        

Controlled via voice commands and hand gestures, the HoloLens introduces holograms into everyday environments and the demo showed how it could be used with Minecraft. In a God-like way, the HoloLens allows you to view the entire world from afar, or the smallest detail close-up, working with friends in the game to find the best mining spots, or places to build structures, “a different way to play in a world you already love” was how the team on stage described it.

There was no release date for this, but Microsoft confirmed it worked alongside your Xbox with the help of the newest operating system, Windows 10, which was the theme that ran through the entire conference.

With more exclusives confirmed for GamesCom this August, it appears Microsoft are a million miles away from the original reveal of the Xbox One. It’s all about; gamers, games and gaming!