E3 2015: Microsoft Press Conference Recap – Boldly Going Forward By Heading Backwards
In the eternal grudge match between Sony and Microsoft to have the biggest game library, Microsoft is expanding by going backwards. It’s a hard switch from their previous stance that backwards compatibility wouldn’t be possible, but at this point I’m just happy that I’ll start using my Xbox One for something. In a market currently saturated with “remasterings”, there is a kind of beauty in cutting out the middleman and just marketing old products as an “extended library”.
Oooooh fine, I might be a bit of a curmudgeon. There are a lot of awesome games on the Xbox 360 that still haven’t been remastered, and as a free option it’s hard to really bitch about. I was just a bit underwhelmed that almost every announcement came with a pairing of some old game that would come with it as a backwards compatible title. Fallout 4 will come with Fallout 3, the new Rainbow Six: Siege comes with Vegas 1 & 2, Rare is coming out with a collection of ALL of their previous games, etc. As one of those proper gamers that plays everything when it comes out and not one of those “casuals” with a “real life”, it just underwhelmed me.
Along with the backwards compatibility, Microsoft is once again attempting to woo the indie crowd with a huge focus on indie titles. Its something that they did with the Xbox 360, which brought excellent games like Limbo into the spotlight. While not exactly sold on Ion, a chemistry space building MMO from the maker of DayZ, I was very excited to see Steve Gaynor of The Fullbright Company take the stage. You can find my review of their previous title Gone Home somewhere in the depths of my author page, and learn that I gave the game a perfect score. Their next title Tacome ups the ante from a spooky deserted house to a spooky deserted space station, which are much more difficult to desert.
The Official Trailer:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BkLMgaoQcM]
Another game that earned some applause was Gears of War 4. I’m certainly not surprised that Microsoft creating another game in one of their most popular franchises, despite the story being pretty much over. While you might be want to cry “cash-in”, I’m generally happy when a game takes the story to new places and with new characters. Thought they didn’t show much, it does look like a darker, creepier game with smaller biceps and more animal enemies.
Official Trailer:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bro5YugsPDg]
One really cool bit of information released was the announcement of mod support for Fallout 4 on the Xbox One. This is a huge step forward and a shift in design mentality for a console and Microsoft. Notorious for controlling their content and updates, an open system that allows people to transfer mods from the PC version to the Xbox One version is big news. This could have massive implications for what we can expect to see from Microsoft in the future, but I have some reservations given their past.
One feature that I am on the fence about is the new “Game Preview” system, that works much like Steam Early Access. Basically, you can play games that are still in development. It works well for survival sims that require a lot of testing, and it is way easier for small developers to get a large amount of testing by using the general audience. The problem you run into with this is that you are essentially paying for an unfinished product, with no real guarantee of final product quality or timely delivery. It has had mixed results on the PC, so we shall see how it goes on the Xbox One.
Other than that, a beta for The Division was announced, and we got to see Lara Croft scale some ice in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Two games that are worth covering were Dark Souls 3 and Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, but those I’ll get into in their own articles.
There was a lot to smile about at the conference, and Rare’s new pirate mmo Sea of Thieves will likely be pretty good. Oh, there was of course Halo news, but that hasn’t been a horror game since we first saw The Flood in the level “343 Guilty Spark” in the first game. It was announced that all Oculus VR headsets will come bundled with an Xbox One controller, so the three of you out there that are getting an Oculus can rejoice.
I really just wish we had heard of more new big titles. I was impressed with the indie lineup, but I was hoping there would be more information on new IPs. We have known about Halo 5 for a while, and discovering that it is once again a space shooter where you shoot aliens in space as a Spartan is not really enough to get me out of my seat. But hey, the whole thing is online, so check it out and let me know what you thought. Maybe I’m being a stick in the mud!
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
