Microsoft Conference Recap

Preamble:

First things first, Platinum’s Scalebound is appearing at Gamescom, not E3, so don’t get too hyped. Same thing with Crackdown.

Gears of War collection remaster details leaked, we can expect an announcement more likely than not.

Rise of the Tomb Raider, gameplay has been promised, maybe we will see an actual tomb based puzzle this time.

Halo 5 Guardians is probably gonna be the big show here, I’d be very surprised with no gameplay demo, or campaign.

Fable legends, they’ve gotta make something of this, especially as it’s launching on Windows 10,

Mojang should be up here, hololens or not, the telltale game might appear.

Rare are supposedly working on a brand new original project, and Kotaku seems to have word of a rare classics collection being prepared. We shall see.

Plus, the news that Oculus and Xbox are linking to share controllers, so we may find some news about that.
And will we see Call of Duty and DLC timed exclusivity? I imagine we will.

Here we go then, time for Microsoft. Literally all they need to do here is show games. No TV, No gimmicks, just some cool gameplay and new IPs.

Starting with a montage of the Microsoft protagonists. Lara Croft, Marcus Fenix, Master Chief.

Bonnie Ross from 343 Industries is first up on stage, promising indies, new IPs, Exclusives, blockbusters.

Starting with Halo 5 Guardians. Master chief has gone AWOL, Spartan Locke is going after him, Nathan Fillion as a Spartan character. 4 spartan squad  all as separate characters. Invading a covenant city. Arbiter is leading the background forces to wipe out covenant.
Set pieces involving crumbling buildings and vehicles falling out of the sky.

Republic Commando like command system for controlling the squad.

Very large areas with verticality, to go with jetpacks.

Warzone, huge maps, lots of players, flying vehicles like pelicans?

World Premiere, Keiji Inafune and makers of metroid prime, Engineer girl and robot dog in desert environment, Dog sacrifices itself as an EMp, returns as a power core.
Called Recore. Exclusive, first party game. No Gameplay

Xbox one backwards compatibility confirmed. Adding hundred by christmas, digital games will appear, and retail discs will all work Digital games you already own will be added to the library

Added functionality of Xbox screenshots, broadcasting, Developers merely need to include it

Xbox preview members get a taste now, everyone else coming in fall.

Xbox one controller the Elite. wireless, coming in fall, Swappable components, completely customisable controller, for xbox one and Windows 10. This looks pretty. Like really pretty

Time for fallout 4, Todd Howard is here to show us the same gameplay demo as last night. Showcases laser weapon with very pretty particle effects.

Footage of fight with power armour and minigun vs Deathclaw. Seems like a big boss style fight

Fallout 3 included inside fallout 4 for xbox

MODS WORK ON XBOX ONE, PC mods will work on xbox one

EA Access talk from Peter Moore, All upcoming EA titles will be being released early on EA access. Titanfall joins the EA access vault, then Dragon Age Inquisition later in the summer.
EA access vault is now open for one week to all Xbox gold members

Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 announced. Adding new characters and gameplay styles. Due next spring, trailer shows superheroes style stuff plus zombies and plants in mech suits

Footage of FORD at Le Mans, to do with Forza Motorsport 6

Of course it’s gorgeous, it’s Forza. Cars look hyper realistic. 1080p 60fps, 26 destinations in game. Pre Order for bonus. September 15th release date.

Dark souls 3 being unveiled, desolate ruins, hands reaching for a crown, body rising from the grave, no gameplay.
Early 2016 release

Ubisoft and The Division, in engine trailer, but no gameplay on stage, footage shows New York in winter, We have been seeing this game since 2013 remember.
Xbox one gets the exclusive beta for The Division,

November 13th, Rainbow Six: siege.

Both rainbow six Vegas games are backwards compatible and ship with Rainbow Six siege on xbox one.

Gameplay being shown, Airplane breach, using drones and barricades,

Rappelling confirmed, one of my favorite parts of the Vegas games,

WIndows 10 and Xbox one exclusive, Animal based game called GIgantic, Multiplayer game, looks kinda like a moba, not clear exactly

So many indie games, Cuphead, Westerado, Sword Coast Legends, goat simulator, Below,

Ark survival evolved, Superhot. I missed so many of these, they went by so fast

Steve Gaynor from Fulbright, showing off Tacoma, the lunar station game survival game. On xbox one first.

Ashen, a game from aurora 44,  interesting art style, stylized characters with no faces. Plus giant skeleton fame monsters. and a space whale apparently. Shadow of the colossus vibe maybe?

Beyond Eyes. game about a blind girl seeing the world through other senses. Absolutely beautiful, you can only “see” the world you can sense.

Cuphead, 1930’s cartoon style, it looks astounding, and you play characters doing the devils bidding after losing your souls gambling

Xbox game Preview, basically Steam Early access. buy games before release. Free trial on all games in the programme, you can see if you like. Long Dark, Elite Dangerous, DayZ all in the running, with Long Dark and Elite being available today.

Dean Hall is now talking about potential of universe, working with Improbable to create a game. Space game, PC and Xbox, Ion.

Crystal Dynamics. Time for gameplay from Rise of the tomb raider

Lara in cold weather gear, Beautiful vista on a mountain range. Walking through deep snow, Climbing an Ice wall, very similar gameplay to reboot, Ruins of a city in the mountains, Climbing in a lightning storm and avalanche. Platforming like the reboot. Trying to outrun an avalanche. Lara alone and has to survive. Apparently she is taken captive at some point, actual tombs and puzzles, plus swimming sections.  November 10th.

And the rare collection, Perfect dark, conker’s bad fur day And Battletoads, Pro aim, Kameo. Viva pinata. Rare Replay. 30 games for 30 pounds. Available August 4th.

New exclusive game from Rare. Shared world adventure game. “limitless possibilities”

Gameplay in real time. Tropical theme, Pirates based. Players creating their own ship and exploring. PVP ship battles. Title is Sea of Thieves.

Windows 10 and Xbox 1 exclusive. Free to Play game, Fable legends Cross play
New relationship with valve VR. Windows 10 and valve working together for VR work.

HoloLens, being showcased. Mojang here to earn their wage. Minecon will have the Hololens to try. Minecraft for Hololens. Playing on a wall, compatibility with tablet versions.

World being displayed a hololens is projected in a table. This is actually legitimately pretty cool, Zooming in and out, seeing everything through the eyes. Console commands through speech.

Gears of War time, Gears of War ultimate edition, complete graphical overhaul, technical overhaul. Beta starts today.
Reveal of New gears of War, Slightly more proportioned characters, nighttime location, weather set pieces Body horror grossness. Hunting some sort of monster,  Gears4, holiday 2016

More new games during xbox games. Quantum Break, Scalebound, Crackdown and new first party reveals at gamescom.

Genuinely surprised at 360 games. I was under the impression that was somewhat difficult, Halo 5 looks excellent, same with tomb raider. Rare replay is fantastic, some real gems in there for very cheap, and those indie games, they just all look fantastic. That new controller is an answer to the steam controller as well, is this Microsoft committing to PC finally?

Weird though, no Call of Duty. Does this mean that exclusivity has gone?

All in all, i’m surprised. I have very little bad to say here. Microsoft did quite well.