Microsoft’s heavily hyped E3 media briefing this year was always going to be about redemption for the put upon platform holder. With new gaffer Phil Spencer attempting to turn around the organisation’s image, the press conference was filled with phrases aimed directly at fans. “Thank you” was a statement that seemed pre-programmed into each presenter’s speech, while the firm was also eager to point out how consumers have shaped and will continue to shape the future of the brand, which is now dubbed “new Xbox”.
The conference was certainly filled with content. It opened with Sledgehammer Games’ next-gen focused first-person shooter Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and went on to show Assassin’s Creed: Unity – a series which has historically been linked to the PlayStation platform. Both releases showed well, with the latter in particular introducing a co-op dynamic which looks set to revitalize the stealth franchise’s tired formula. The manufacturer continued to push timed exclusive content hard, with Dragon Age: Inquisition, Tom Clancy’s The Division, and Evolve all receiving add-on packs first on Microsoft’s machine.
However, for all of the firm’s early bluster, the most meaningful announcements came later on. Halo: The Master Chief Collection will certainly give the Redmond-based firm an ace this Christmas, collating all of the mainline entries in Bungie and 343’s property on one gigantic Blu-ray disc. Meanwhile, as was heavily rumoured last year, Platinum Games is working on an exclusive for the Xbox One, in the form of tongue-in-cheek dragon slayer Scaleborn. Meanwhile, Panzer Dragoon director Yukio Futatsugi’s classic Xbox exclusive Phantom Dust is making a comeback, while fan favourite Crackdown will return in the future, too.
The pace of the press conference was fantastic, with announcement after announcement expertly cramming every second of the manufacturer’s 90 minute allotment – but the software seemed some way out. While the Redmond-based organisation will point to its holiday offering of Sunset Overdrive and Project Spark, its other announcements seemed pushed forward, as evidenced by the real lack of gameplay on display. The majority of its reveals employed cryptic CGI trailers, and while this will definitely still excite fans, the platform holder appeared pressured into revealing its hand in order to make up ground against the PlayStation 4.
Of course, with such a wealth of content on display, it’ll be interesting to see if Sony is able to counter at all. With the likes of Guerrilla Games and Media Molecule unlikely to be on stage, the Japanese giant may struggle to match the sheer girth of its competitor’s conference. However, while the PlayStation maker may not have as much software on hand, we still feel that there is opportunity for it to show more meaningful content. Gameplay demos for Uncharted PS4 and Project Beast would not only prove that the manufacturer has great content in the pipeline, but also that said titles are far enough along to be properly presented to the press.
Whatever happens over the course of the evening, it’s clear that Microsoft is once again prepared to battle for the gamer’s heart. But while its roster of indie titles – including Limbo developer PlayDead’s next game – and consumer re-focused mentality are all appreciated, it feels like it’s merely treading the same path that Sony walked last year. The big question is: will it be able to make up ground, or will the Japanese giant once again prove that it’s several strides ahead during its own show in a few hours?
What did you think of Microsoft’s press conference? Has it convinced you to pick up an Xbox One? What can Sony do to topple the Redmond-based firm’s show? Let us know in the comments section below.
Do you think Sony can topple Microsoft’s E3 show? (64 votes)
- Yes, I think the Japanese firm will have more content that appeals to me
- Hmm, I’m going to wait and see
- No, the Redmond firm had a wealth of content that will be difficult to top
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Comments 42
I'd flip the table for the Last Guardian!
Yes, but Sunset Overdrive totally hype the show for me, why just Xbox Insomniac, why...
stole the show no i dont thik so COD is done its the same BS every years nothing really new and exciting i do think sony will come big on games this time around just simply for all the efforts they are making for people to tune in.
I mentioned it at the E3 thread on the NLife forums. I think a lot depends on how much time is spent on TLoU remastered. Yes, TLoU is a great game, blah blah blah, I don't need to sing its praises everybody knows it was an awesome, frankly generation-defining game, so to me while it should be talked about, it shouldn't be for long. If it's a 10-15 minute drawn out thing I'm going to be a little concerned about how much Sony has to actually show off. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the show. Hopefully Ubisoft and WB will be there in force as both offer most of my favorite third party games these days and both seem to be very tight with Sony at the moment. Guessing Destiny will probably get some play. CoD: Advanced Warfare looks great but Destiny is the FPS I've been most interested in for a while now.
Microsoft's conference was great. Had this Nintendo fan actually considering getting a One in the future.
@Ryno Just curious: for which games?
The announcements didn't do much for me. Most were already leaked on NeoGAF. The best game announcement: Master Chief Collection left out one of the best Halo games, Halo Reach (no MC, I know). No Gears of War sequel (GoW 2 is still one of the best 360 exclusives). Almost no indie love (hope Sony shows some hot indies).
Gotta admit microsofts presentation was good. I have always been a playstation man but seriously considering getting an xbone too now.
I thought the conference was good not great. I adored sunset overdrive, i loved the announcement of platinium games... but overall the third party games looked better than most first party games... I wish i saw some crackdown gameplay to much CGI
@Sanquine sunset overdrive looked amazing! I did like the look of project spark and fable legends too
very easy vote.. Underwhelming M$ conference really and where was that third party killer.. easy win for Sony.. well if they want to
@N711 Exactly, I don't understand why some people were all O.O with Microsofts conference, it was pretty drab in my opinion. I don't think it will be hard at all for Sony to outshine MS this year at least. Same goes with Nintendo, I think they might just have a better showing as well. LOL
Hmmm, I enjoyed it anyway.
I didn't think the MS briefing was too good. More of the same, kissing gamer's behinds begging for redemption and all the applause was eerily shallow most of the time. I don't want to hate on MS just for the heck of it, but I switched sides from MS to Sony, which had it's reasons. Sony just has a vibe I totally dig. MS is just copying over and over again trying to fix their sinking ship. Nintendo on the other hand... we'll they'd need a lift from the bottom of the ocean already and I wish they could manage to do so. But unfortunately, like it was the case for Sony last gen, and now seems to be the case for MS and especially Nintendo: It's ALL your own faults.
I don't think Sony needs to "topple" anyone at all. I'm sure that Microsoft (and Nintendo for that matter) will provide very well for their customers and I wish them all the best. Sony will reveal some top class gaming and that's the main thing regardless of what Microsoft or anyone else has revealed. Devs are working really hard behind the scenes and anyone who says that Sony's or Microsoft's presentations are meh need to get their heads examined.
It looks like more of the same, a few more FPS games, some timed DLC and some multiplatform games. The Xbox camp really isn't my cup of tea.
@Shaolin agreed. I liked ms presentation and I class myself as a sony fanboy
Solid conference, but none of the exclusive software made me desperate to go out and buy an Xbox One. I feel like Assassin's Creed: Unity and The Witcher 3 had the best showings, and they're both coming to PS4.
Like others have said, good, but not great.
I thought most of what Microsoft showed either wasn't interesting to me, or wasn't exclusive, so I'll be fine at least. Crackdown has me a little jealous, but it's yet to be seen whether or not the new one will be any good.
@ShogunRok goes without saying that 3rd parties available on ps4 also I will pick up on ps4. Ms had a couple of interesting exclusives for me though. Was it just me or did some of the applause seem forced during the conference?
Good Lord, Sammy, you're a writing machine! As for the conference, I am certainly much more interested in the Xbox One than I was before. With that said, nothing really wowed me all that much.
@Scollurio
General reaction I've seen outside of the PS brand-based websites I visit, have been good concerning the X1 overall but because I've seen you mention it before you're definitely not 'feeling' what MS is doing these days, and I can't blame you, same thing happened with me and Nintendo back during the GC days and I'm using that to go into just a mention about Nintendo since you brought it up. While I admit I really like the Wii U and 3DS, I do have to say I feel like there's one thing people, in particular Nintendo fans don't want to admit, is that Nintendo may have caught the proverbial lightning in a bottle last gen and held onto it for a good four years but then the hype died around 2011 when Nintendo stopped delivering content and the Wii U is suffering because of it. But people need to go back to SNES, one of my top 2 favorite consoles of all time, and look at the sales numbers for that system compared to NES to see where things were going. It dropped by a fair amount. Then N64 sold even less and Gamecube dropped even further.
Wii temporarily turned things around. Nintendo was able to ride interest in motion controls, a very nice price point of $250, a brilliant 'Wii would like to play' marketing campaign, media hype, Zelda at launch, games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit that captured the imagination of 'non-gamers' and 'casuals' and a nice smattering of great, fairly consistently released first party games and the odd third party gem to huge sales. Then 2011 came, the games stopped and sales dried up as 'casuals' were moving onto iphones, ipads and the like. When Nintendo tried with Wii U to get back the 'core' gamer the offering was third party games already available on PS3 and 360 and from Nintendo itself, a second 2D Mario in the same year, just didn't cut it. There was also nothing really for the Wii Sports and Fit loving crowd that helped the Wii reach big numbers. Thing is, Nintendo has always marched to the beat of its own drum and that's probably not going to change. I don't disagree that some changes are needed in the company but as long as 3DS sells well and as long as the fanbase continues to tell them they're happy, Nintendo will continue down its current path. It has enough money that it's not a path to ruin but I think this hybrid portable/home console with a focus on on-the-go gaming is what Nintendo needs to do in the future.
Sammy, you notice the shift in the language Microsoft were using? Gone was "power of the cloud"....now it is "powered by Xbox live"? Using the word "gamers" and "gaming", "thank you"....etc.
"Best place to play" was another one i picked up on and very reminiscent of Andrew House's comment at the close of Sony's 2013 show.
A lot of it sounded like a re-hash of what Sony was saying last year.
I for one wasn't blown away. Let's see what Sony have to say in a few hours. God i'll be tired at work tomorrow!
Edit: Just read your other article Sammy! Looks like i wasnt the only one to find it interesting
@k_andersen really liked the look of sunset overdrive though
@Mrskinner I must admit, Sunset Overdrive did look promising. As did Platinum's new game. Those two were the highlights for me - I'm interested to see what Sony has up its sleeve
If Sony can't too MS lame conference then that's just bad. I'm so hyped to see what Sony and Nintendo have in store.
Scale bound looked interesting but there's a ton of games just like that coming out in the next 12 months. We didn't see any gameplay so project beast still looks a better game. That was the only exclusive game that interested me. Not impressed at all. Quite telling that from the exclusives I've not seen much if any gameplay?
Well, to each their own but to me it doesn't have to be a competition. Microsoft had a pretty dang good reveal this year exclusive-wise. Master Chief Collection, Sunset Overdrive, Killer Instinct 2, Scaleborn (it's Platinum, nuff said), Project Spark, Crackdown, Halo 5, Phantom Dust... shoot at least I've got a hefty list of exclusives to look forward to. I was afraid I was only going to end up with like 2 exclusives down the pipeline for my new system that I was actually interested in. Thank goodness they pulled through.
Now it's Sony's turn, and then Nintendo's. Keep it rolling people! I'm pre ordering games as they're announced and listed. I think I'ma be like $800-$1000 poorer after E3 concludes this week. Thankfully the games are spaced out over the next 6-18 months and won't all charge right away lol...
For me Microsoft had a good showing but they didn't wow me. There were no big bombs being dropped unless you are an Xbox fan already and love Halo. There were a few exclusives that look interesting. I think Sony has a good chance of stealing the show but we will have to wait and see what unfolds.
@get2sammyb: The biggest games that have me thinking about getting a One from this conference are Sunset Overdrive (prefer stylized games over realism), Killer Instinct (nostalgia), Crackdown (stylized over realism), Halo - Collection & 5 (nostalgia), ScaleBound (Always interested in Platinum Games).
I don't know what it is but Sunset Overdrive doesn't appeal to me. From what they showed I like Crack Down, ScaleBound, and Phantom Dust.
I was expecting to switch on my internet tonight & hear MS did something amazing but it just seems the same old Xbox stuff that doesn't get me excited 1 bit. Hopefully SONY can rock the gaming world tonight but for some reason they probably won't. PLZ SHOCK ME SONY(in a good way)
I think it's obvious that sonys going to kick their ace. they're the ones with a virtual reality set, by the way
Clearly a solid showing from MS on games. Some interesting looking exclusives shown especially ScaleBound, Crackdown and Phantom Dust, but all CGI at this point so time will tell (they would have to be at least a year away). Honestly, those are games I would probably buy if I already owned an XBO, but there was nothing that made me feel jealous (as a PS4 owner) or made me want to consider buying an XBO. They didn't blow me away. The only XBO exclusive that I am jealous for is Quantum Break. That game has huge potential if they get it right.
Well, I'm a sucker for Halo, so: damn it. Seems I will have to get an X1 eventually. Halo 1-5 in shiny will do this for me.
Also love Gears (which wasn't shown, I know) and Crackdown. Solid conference. Sony's better packing some real AAA premium stuff and not only moar Indies. I want to be impressed.
If they show off Ratchet & Clank, Jak, Sly or Fallout 4 then they've won for me.
For me the interesting parts were the PlatinumGames announcement, as I love their games, and also the Halo Collection. Having all Halos in a single disc plus a beta of the next one for $60 sounds pretty good to me.
Not really interested in Sunset Overdrive or Killer Instinct. I hope Sony presents games that will make me interested in their system.
uncharted, project beast, driveclub, the order, sony bend project, batman, mortal kombat, far cry and anything we don't know about yet
Microsofts conference was impressive, they showed the Xbox fans basicly what they wanted, but I wouldnt count out Sony. I think their conference is gonna be just as amazing with exclusives for the PS4, and hopefull more reason to own a Vita with some more impressive games.
I don't come here for Microsoft news
@BLGDADDY-D90 I'm totally with you on that.
Oh and I just finished watching Sony's press event and I didn't think it was too shabby at all. I felt that if you have a PlayStation that there was definitely something for everyone.
I watched the xbox conference and thought it was great. Then 8 hours later watched sony's conference - amazing. Playstation nation is gonna have such an amazing experience! Sony's conference felt fun, relaxed and most importantly confident. xbox showed revealed a few new announcents like tomb raider, cod advance warfare, sunset drive and master chief's collection - pretty cool. But man did Sony feed us gamers well - there was like uncharted 4, little big planet 4, let it die (suda 51), dead island 2, grim fandango remake, grand theft auto 5 running on ps4, bloodborne, batman arkham knight gameplay, mortal kombat x gameplay, no man's land, and a few indie titles. In fact so many i can't remember. Fav E3 ever imo. Next gen is truly here!
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