Microsoft started off E3 with a bang, having many huge releases for the Xbox in their E3 release conference.
After a few minor details about the Microsoft E3 unveiling were leaked late Sunday evening, the hype for Microsoft’s E3 appearance started to rise. Although many of the rumors that leaked regarded the physical appearance of the “new” Xbox gained most of the attention Sunday, the conference revealed that information officially in its conference, but Microsoft had a lot more added juicy content for the upcoming year. In case you missed it, here are some of the big releases that Microsoft kicked off the E3 week with:
1. Xbox One S
The rumors that leaked Sunday evening ended up being true regarding the new physical appearance of the Xbox One S. The new Xbox comes in an appealing shade of white that eliminates the danger of dust and fingerprint accumulation of the current black Xbox. It is also 40% slimmer making it much less of a giant paperweight and allowing it to slide into smaller nooks of your entertainment system. Other features released included HDR and 4K video support as well as larger hard drive sizes between 500 GB and 2 TB. The new system is set to release in August with a reasonable price starting at $299.
2. Play Anywhere
Along with getting a new system revamp, Xbox didn’t stop their with the hardware updates. The system also includes a new Xbox controller. Slight modifications were made physically, but what has fans raving is the new “Play Anywhere” feature. The new controller is wireless and also supports a bluetooth feature so that you can connect to your computer. On top of that, certain games you buy for your Xbox also will have an incorporated PC compatibility as well. If you buy Gears of War for your Xbox, guess what? You can play the same version on your computer through a cross-buy program Xbox revealed. PC players and Xbox players will be able to play against each other online helping bridge the gap between PC and console gaming.
3. Project Scorpio
Another new game system addition to the Xbox family, Project Scorpio will be available in the upcoming year as well. With Virtual Reality and 4K video becoming a more and more preferred way of gaming, Microsoft decided to create a system specifically for these features. Project Scorpio will be another revamped version of the Xbox One that supports 4K video and VR with a processing beast supporting up to 6 teraflops of power. Putting that in perspective, the PS4 has a 1.84 teraflop GPU and the Xbox One with 1.31 teraflops. The new system is said to compete with that of some of the best PC machines on the market.
4. Games, games, and more games.
Gears of War 4
Obviously this was the big highlight game of the Xbox revealing party. The game is said to support some cool co-op revamps and the popular Horde game mode. This is the first installment since Microsoft acquired the license from Epic Games. The gameplay was lengthy and intense, but has GoW fans drooling.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-aBdWY2us]
Sea of Thieves
A game developed by Rare, a British game developer, the game brings players to the deck of their very own pirate ship. A freeform game that puts the players in the seat of a pirate ship, the release showed some gameplay from the upcoming game.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlsN6EO2oU]
The game looks like a fun strategy game with lots of potential for some great DLCs and personalized gameplay.
Dead Rising 4
The game trailer featured a rather cheery Christmas theme to it, and looks to be yet another successful and just as enjoyable zombie-themed game as the previous Dead Rising games. Due to the confetti falling during the reveal, the game is expected to bring a lot of hype with its upcoming release.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT3cb3f5pM0]
State of Decay 2
Continuing on the zombie theme, a follow-up to the 2013 zombie survival game, State of Decay 2 is set to take place in the same Trumbull Valley as the first game with a suggested cooperative focus based on the trailer’s phrase mentioned: “Nobody survives alone.” Not a whole lot of gameplay was shown in the trailer, but it’s sure to be another great zombie game. State of Decay 2 is set to release in 2017.
Scalebound
A cooperative dragon fighting game by Platinum games, Xbox showed off some of Scalebound’s gameplay today as well. The trailer displayed some friends taking on one of the game’s bosses each of the players having a different dragon. The game looks to incorporate some great multiplayer features as well as some pretty great graphics shown in the trailer.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ZVMU_KA-M]
Recore
Personally, this was my favorite release of the day. The game was announced earlier this year, but the trailer that was showed off today looked absolutely amazing. The game looks to incorporate some strategy and action with the player playing as the main character, Joule, and her little robot companion. Players will utilize Joule’s little robot to maneuver obstacles and ideally in battle as well.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnKT9ZCGgBE]
Other notable appearances made were Gwent: The Witcher Card game and indie game We Happy Few. Gwent is said to be a standalone game based off the The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s collectible card game. We Happy Few was also a personal favorite of mine looking like a cross between a creepy 70’s movie and another personal favorite of mine, Bioshock. The trailer had me on the edge of my seat and looks like a must have for the Xbox.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efYyzPvVTKQ]
Microsoft really set the tone today with their plethora of game releases for the Xbox console and the new hardware updates. Sony’s conference is following up tonight with E3 to probably bring many more surprises to the gaming world this week. Be sure to let us know which of the Microsoft releases is your favorite down in the comments.
