E3 2014: Xbox One Keynote

Welcome to this years E3 conference. If you haven't heard, Microsoft went live earlier today to kick off the show, and good lord what a kick off. Last year Xbox Got a lot of flack for flip flopping, Kinect issues, and more related to a lot of features they talked about on the console. To be blunt Sony Kicked the collective Xbox ass all over the conference. Well this year might be a different story. For starters, Phil Spencer whipped the gaming line up into shape. It was 90 minutes of balls to the wall gaming action including, trailers, gameplay footage, and more. I'll get deep into my conference notes in a minute. First though, let me say this. Xbox opened strong this year, and whether or not you like them this is good news. When all the competition is kicking ass and taking names we all win. Later when Sony and Nintendo have their conferences (which we will cover too) we'll see how they all stack up. For now though, Microsoft has set the bar high with Xbox One. Now, lets get started.

Disclaimer: As we all know, E3 showcases what the games industry wants to be. Not necessarily how it turns out. I want everything I saw to come out exactly like it was presented, but it may not. The claims that developers and myself make about games may not be true, due to technical or budgetary limitations. 

Releasing this year: The list of games releasing this year is freaking huge and impressive. While a lot of this was expected some of it came out of nowhere.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare: This launched the event with impressive gameplay footage. The game looks amazing, with great graphics, wonderful looking mechanics, and so much more. Items like the Smart Grenade and exoskeleton will make playing this game a lot more like Titanfall in a good way. The story is impossible to tell at this point, but based on locations in what appears to be china and a huge amount of destruction taking place in a city, I would venture to say its a world war scenario.  It has content coming first to Xbox One, and I suspect some exclusive content as well.

Forza 5 and Horizons 2: Forza 5 gets the Nurbergring Today as a free add on, and the showed of Horizon 2. The next open world game in the Forza Lineup. The touted the drivatar system, and how that it was already making this game better due to it's advanced ability to test the game. With 200 cars and a true open driving simulator, they say that the multiplayer experience will be amazing and unique for a racing game. While that is yet to be seen for sure, the game looks beautiful in 1080P and 60fps. If they can keep that up for the full release, I'll be very happy to give Turn 10 some more of my money.

Evolve: We got a new trailer, and the beta release date is going to be this fall. They also announced some exclusive DLC, but didn't give to many details. I'm looking forward to this asynchronous multiplayer game, but still don't know how well it will really be.

Assassins Creed Unity: This was the first true look at the 8th (next gen) gen exclusive. The time period is revolutionary France, and the new gameplay mechanic? 4 player coop assassination missions. Oh yes, now you can finally team up with your friends to perform the awesome assassinations you always wanted to. Graphically the game looks alright, hopefully we'll get a comparison with the PS4 later today.

Sunset Overdrive: They released a new trailer and showed up some gameplay footage. This game looks insanely fun, and I love the fact that it constantly breaks the fourth wall. I expect good things from this title, and hope it really does well. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more from this title as it gets closer to it's release date.

Dragon Age Inquisitions: We got a trailer with a release date but that's about it. I was hoping to see some gameplay footage, but I suppose with an October 8 release date, they need to be finishing the game rather than showing it off.

Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 DLC Thing?: I know that's confusing, but this announcement was confusing. It's out today, so you can go check it out if you want. Basically you can play Dead Rising 3 as a lot of capcom characters and generally screw around with some friends in multiplayer. This is exclusive to XBox One, so I'm guessing that DR3 won't get this when it releases on PC later this year.

Disney Fantasia and Dance Central Spotlight: Disney Fantasia sounds awesome, but it was only teased. It seems like its going to be a game where you are a wizard who can control music and mess with dances and beats to your favorite songs. Sadly that's all we know. Dance Central Spotlight is coming to Xbox One and 360, and has a lot of new songs, and promises new songs will come to it sooner than ever.

Fable Legends: We got some gameplay on this one, and got to check out how the villain system will work. That is another asynchronous multiplayer mode where one person controls all the bad guys on the map, and can call down spells and set up traps for the heroes. It looks fun, but honestly kind of lackluster compared to a lot of the other stuff we saw.

Project Spark: We got a new trailer showcasing some of the stuff that has been created in the beta, and they teased Conker at the end. I don't know if that was just for fun, or if it's forshadowing something to come. Either way, it all looks good.

  

Halo: The Halo announcements were by far the longest and most celebrated in the show. I could easily do a whole article on them alone, but I'll do my best to compress it. First we got the Gaurdians announcement, which is the next Halo game in the series. Where we will be following Master Chief as he searches for answers to a lot of questions that were asked in the covenant wars. They also teased another character who will be chasing the Chief, and eluded to the fact that this character will make an appearance in the Halo Master Chief Collection. This is a re release of all the main Halo games (1,2,3,4) whose launches coincides with the 10 year anniversary of Halo 2.  As such, Halo 2 is receiving the full anniversary treatment with new graphics and updates. One top of that they are including every multiplayer map that has ever been in the series (over 100), and everything is open from the beginning. You can create custom playlists to rapidly play through your favorite campaign levels, multiplayer maps, and more. On top of all of this, they have announced that all games are updated to run at 1080P and 60FPS. Finally, the MC Collection comes with Halo: Nightfall. This is the Live action series they have been working on, and they said it would relate to Halo Guardians.  I am shivering with excitement over this one.

Everything from this point on will come out after this year. They didn't give very many specifics, but I suspect a lot of these games will come out in 2015. Some games had more info than others.

ID on Xbox One: The indie dev announcement was finally made, officially stating that Xbox will be giving Dev Kit Ones to indie developers, and will be making indie developing both easier and more streamlined on the one. They then went on to show of a montage of indie games that are supposed to be coming to the One next year. I do have to make note that most, if not all, of the games they showed are currently available on PC.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: We all knew that another Tomb Raider game was coming after the reboot last year. I just didn't think it would be so soon. The reveal trailer didn't really show us much we couldn't have guessed, except that Lara is undergoing some kind of therapy. Perhaps for trauma in the previous game? Whatever the case, I'm sure more details will come soon.

The Withcher 3: We got some new content and gameplay footage which looks superb. Plus the teased that the game world is massive saying that if you can see it in the distance, then you can reach it. I'm not sure that's possible on consoles, but hey if they can do it I do not want to stand in their way.

Phantom Dust: Phantom dust is being rebooted, and will be coming to Xbox One soon. Probably next year, but you never know. The whole thing was just a pre-rendered trailer, but it looks awesome. I'm a fan of the original game, and hope they do a good job with it. The same team that rebooted Killer Instinct are doing this, so I think it has a really good shot.

The Division: We got some new gameplay, and what can I say that already hasn't been said? This game looks brilliant, and I'm in love with it. The trailer said 2015, but Ubisoft is willing to push games to make them as good as they can be. I suspect we actually won't see this till 2016, but here's to hoping.

Scalebound: This new IP is an Xbox Exclusive, that looks sweet. It feels to me like someone mixed Jet Set Radio with Monster Hunter, but since we only got a trailer I won't know if that is true or not until probably next year. I suspect this will be a 2016 release.

Crackdown: All we got was an epic trailer full of over the top explosions and action. It....was....beautiful. Again, no announced release date, so probably 2016 for this one too..

That wraps it up for the Microsoft/Xbox One Keynote Presentation. As pictures and videos go up online I will add them and links to this article. Until then, sit tight. We've got the PS4 press conference coming up later tonight, and the Nintendo one in the wee hours of the morning (at least where I am). That one actually might not release until tomorrow. I'll let you know for sure in the PS4 article. Enjoy!

Check out the EA press Conference here. 

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