Phil Spencer started the Microsoft Presser with a friendly greeting to his competitors as he discussed the next gen as the “best experience yet”. In a not too surprising numbers free discussion he then moved the conversation into the games we will see this year and next for their flagship console.
First up was “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” from Activision and Sledgehammer games. A few extra features included are the selective grenades, gorgeous facial mapping and intense combat. The huge machines marching through the city definitely gave a futuristic feel to the title. Gameplay trailer below:
Next up we had Dan Greenawalt announcing the Nurburgring track hitting Xbox Live today for current players of the game. He also briefly mentioned that Forza: Horizon 2 is headed out this fall, with real-time dynamic weather, day and night settings and multi-player drivatar. Shortly after the HD fancy cars began driving by to the dramatic techno musics.
Next we were treated to a gameplay preview of Evolve, yet again showing that the creators of “Left for Dead” are hell bent on making the 4 VS 1 experience flawless. Evolve is going to be legendary, seriously, legendary.
Viewers were then treated to a multi-player demonstration of “Assassin’s Creed Unity”. Taking place during the French Revolution, you and your team of Assassin’s can work together through Xbox Live to achieve your murderous intent. You can see the game play demo, below:
As if Microsoft wasn’t pushing the hype engine hard enough, they then rolled straight into “Dragon Age: Inquisition”. This demo further introduced us to the world and story that has been pumping up since last year. BioWare looks to show that they are bringing their “A” game to next gen. You can catch the preview below:
Insomniac Games hit the stage aiming to steal the show, and took some pretty impressive shots. Showing the cartoony and sassy “Sunset Overdrive” blends “Jet Set Radio” style grinding with 3rd person shooting. When energy drinks have turned the town’s people into terrifying zombies, a plot, that I need not remind you was the basis for “Devil May Cry.” You and only you can save them with your zany antics. This looks incredibly fun and the 8-player chaos mode brings a new dimension to slaughtering masses of monsters. Trailer below:
If you’re looking for a show stealer, you need not look much further than the new DLC for Dead Rising 3 available today. “Super Ultra Dead Rising 3: Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX+ Alpha” is available for gamers today, featuring cosplay from many of Capcom’s heavy hitting series. You can check out the trailer that was shown, right below:
Next Harmonix unveiled Dance Central: Spotlight which will be packed with chart topping hits and reveal new tracks faster than ever before. They also briefly discussed Fantasia: Music Evolved, which is coming soon. Reveal below:
Fable Legends was then shown off to the crowd, with discussion of beta hitting this fall. The game will now include a new “villain mode” which gives you a “Dungeon Keeper” style interface, where you lay traps, minions, and obstacles to stop the heroes from reaching their goal. This game has been in development by Lionhead for quite some time and has some huge shoes to fill.
Trailer:
Project Spark was then given more detail with a new interactive trailer. This demo shows just how far you can push the boundaries within Spark. Most notable announcement from this portion was the inclusion of Conker as a usable character. With any luck we’ll also be given access to the slew of baddies from his games, so that my world of Teddies and Poo Demons can be complete. Spark trailer below:
Cd Projekt Red stepped up to show more detail from the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt; which looks to be a heavy hitting next gen game. With the popularity of the Witcher series and the intensity of the trailers leading up to today, the tone being set makes March 2015 seem forever away. You can catch more information on the game below:
Next was one of my favorite announcements of the day so far. Rise of the Tomb Raider, shows Lara Croft trying to cope with the events of the first title while she obviously spends time exploring the world around her. This new look at Lara Croft has me incredibly pumped to see what Square-Enix and Crystal Dynamics have in store. The first game is one of the most underrated titles of last year, and this new one looks to be a blockbuster in the making.
Ubisoft then took the stage to treat us to a gameplay demo from “The Division” which has been delayed into next year. Touting a 3rd person perspective and a team dynamic reminiscent of Ghost Recon this definitely looks to be the new direction of Ubisoft shooters. You can catch the gameplay video below:
Platinum Games took the stage to show their new IP Scalebound, which looks to be a very heavy blend of DMC and RPG. Your dragon rider can armor up to battle massive beasts ruling the world.
The discussion was moved to a beautiful looking title “Ori and the Blind Forest” which looks incredibly beautiful, but is shrouded in quite a bit of mystery. This then moved into a montage of the slew of indie titles hitting the Xbox One this year and hopefully next as well. Along with the montage the trailer for every indie game was also released to the Xbox YouTube channel. This announcement could not prepare us for what was next.
The penultimate announcement for the conference was the “Halo: Master Chief Collection” that is releasing on November 11, 2014. This collection includes every map made in multi-player for Halo, Halo2, Halo 3, and Halo 4, along with, the coinciding games. Halo 2 will also be receiving the anniversary treatment with a visual facelift and all games will run on their own engine and have dedicated servers provided by Microsoft. For those of us that cracked out for years on Halo 2 this is an incredible opportunity to use the Xbox One to relive those moments. Along with this announcement Microsoft also revealed that the Halo 5: Guardians beta will be available in December, and will be available to everyone purchasing the collection. This final announcement was pretty huge. While not a lot of Halo 5 has been shown and still wasn’t shown in this conference the “Master Chief: Collection” is sure to bring the hype train that we’ve been looking for.
The final announcement was definitely a shocker as Microsoft revealed a new Crackdown coming to Xbox One. The visual aspect looks the same as the previous, as well as the over the top action. This game puts you back at fighting gangs as a member of the agency. You can catch the announcement below:
Be sure to sound off folks, what was your favorite part of this conference?