Rate-A-Conference E3 2016: Microsoft
Microsoft’s show this year was certainly an impressive one, and seems to show a resurgent Microsoft, after years of being brow-beaten by the failure of the Xbox One. Having moved away from the dark times of years past, where the Microsoft presser focused upon television, this year showed a heavy focus upon games, and upon what their fans want. There was an impressive line-up of games presented, including Gears of War 4 (which looked more like Gears of War), ReCore, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, Inside, Dead Rising 4, State of Decay 2, Halo Wars 2 and Forza Horizon 3.
This year…seems to show a resurgent Microsoft
This is without mentioning the third party titles on show, such as Final Fantasy XV and Battlefield. The conference kept a fairly good pace, going from game to game, never really staying too long for people to get bored. Although some parts of the game demos were not great, such as the appalling Sea of Thieves Let’s Play trailer and the bizarre decision to show Final Fantasy at an Xbox conference (because JRPGs sell SO well on Xbox consoles), most of what was on show was fairly impressive.
They also highlighted new hardware that the company will be selling in the near future. The much-rumoured Xbox One S was finally announced (despite it having leaked in its entirety prior to the show), with a $299 price point, 40% smaller profile (meaning it will no longer be a terribly ugly brick) and is 4k-capable output. More interesting however, was the announcement that a new Xbox One was indeed in the works, entitled ‘Project Scorpio’. This machine, despite its name, will not be a weapon designed to destroy the world, but will instead be what Microsoft describe as the “most powerful console ever made”, and will be released in Winter 2017. Despite my misgivings about this new plan for incremental console updates, the way that Microsoft handled the reveal was very well done, with the promise that current Xbox One players will not be left behind by the new machine.
They demoed an incredibly strong line-up of games
This conference showed a newly aggressive Microsoft. After years of having to act defensively, this showed them at their very best. They demoed an incredibly strong line-up of games, with ones such as Crackdown 3 not even appearing at the show, and have a powerful machine in the works that seemingly blows the rumoured Playstation Neo out of the water. Microsoft appears to have a strong future indeed.
Game of the Conference: Gears of War 4
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