Microsoft’s E3 presentation is under way, and I’ll be bringing the highlights and recap right here. This post will be live-updating continuously so keep checking back, as I’ll be embedding gameplay trailers and footage shown off during the event as they become available, as well as updating announcements as they happen. The first half of the recap is going to be live-blog style straight from my smartphone, so bear with me if the sentence structure isn’t eloquent. After the event, I’ll be back here to recap all the important stuff. Here’s everything going on so far:
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain gameplay demo kicks off the presentation
- Huge Expansive Open World
- Multiple Vehicle Types (tanks/jeeps)
- Still a focus on stealth
- “Realistic passage of time”
- New CQC abilities
- New characters Eli (young boy), Skull Face, Quiet (sniper), Code Talker
Don Mattrick and Hideo Kojima take the stage to thank Kojima for bringing MGSV to the event.
13 exclusives will be shown today
Yusuf Mehdi talks Xbox 360
360 redesign, available today
Xbox Live improvements
July 1st gold members will get two free game downloads to keep
The first two are : Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3
Hundreds of new games still coming to Xbox 360 over the next couple years
3 new games on 360: World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition (F2P for gold members coming this summer), Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, FromSoftware’s Dark Souls II.
Phil Spencer introduces Xbox One titles:
Ryse: Son of Rome trailer/gameplay demo
- QTE finishers, some killing multiple opponents
- Heading up a beach toward a tower that must be destroyed
- Squad-based commands: bring comrades together to form a wall of shields, capturing a catapult
Killer Instinct is an exclusive Xbox One title
Ted Price from Insomniac to deliver a new franchise: Sunset Overdrive
- Stylized open-world shooter. Debut trailer is shown.
- Daily content updates, powered by the Cloud.
Turn Ten Studios shows off Forza Motorsports 5 trailer
- New particle effects add unparalleled layer of texture and lighting. The next step in realism.
- The cloud will adapt to your learning style. “The end of AI” means adaptive intelligence that learns “how you drive the car.” Opponents will be friends and family-adapted AI that play using their specific driving styles even when they’re not online; powered by the cloud.
- Launch Title for Xbox One
Phil Harrison
discussing indie game commitment
“Genre-defining games” are coming to Xbox One: such as Minecraft (new trailer.)
Introduces a new game titled Below with announcement trailer.
Quantum Break is discussed. Remedy wants to combine great gaming and television. Choices in the game create a personalized TV show that impact the way you play the game.
- “A new type of Storytelling”
- “The ultimate Remedy experience”
- Real-time gameplay demo using in-game engine shown. Focuses on time-stopping agents asking for a doctor’s help solving a mystery
Episodic murder mystery from Microsoft Game Studios coming called D4. No other info provided yet.
“Project Spark” is a new game-building tool kit. Uses Kinect to create textures and render objects. Smartglass integration adds intuitive touch-based control for easy, direct object manipulation.
- Community-created content can be brought in instantaneously.
- “Infinite number of ways to play, build, and share”
- Plays across Xbox One and Windows 8
Marc Whitten to show off Xbox Live and Xbox One console features
Ryse Smartglass functionality includes: setting up and launching multiplayer, purchasing DLC, a “timeline” which shows real-time stat comparisons with friends (leaderboards, achievements, even shared gameplay videos uploaded are accessible.)
Xbox One can jump between games on the fly. Ryse jumped into Killer Instinct once the player was invited to a game.
“Smart Match” better connects players based on skill level
Upload Studio on Xbox One is an editor for the Game DVR to facilitate sharing gameplay footage.
Partnership with Twitch to allow live-streaming games.
Instantly broadcast footage, plus Kinect to allow voice-over commentary.
No more Microsoft Points, Xbox One is using real currency.
One Xbox Live account per household will allow everyone to play online.
Crimson Dragon coming exclusively to Xbox One (from the makers of Panzer Dragoon.) Debut trailer shown.
Capcom’s Josh Bridge and Mike Jones take the stage to show off an open-world zombie game. They reveal Dead Rising 3.
- Nick Ramos is the new protagonist.
- Takes place 3 days after a massive zombie outbreak.
- New trailer with gameplay footage shown.
- Components scavenged can augment/upgrade weapons on the fly. No need for a workbench.
- Hundreds of zombies can be onscreen at once.
- Environment is highly interactable.
- “The world is filled with hundreds of weapons.”
- “Driving is a critical part of exploration. But zombies are still a threat.”
- Ramos can call in artillery support to deal with huge hordes of zombies.
- Available this Holiday exclusively on Xbox One.
John Mamais of CD Project Red shows off The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Xbox One.
- It is completely open-world.
- “Easily over 100 hours of gameplay.”
- Quick switching of spells can be done using Kinect (optional.)
- Smartglass can manage inventory.
- Gameplay footage shown.
- Multi-region open world means vast traversal segments.
EA and DICE’s Patrick Soderland comes on stage to show off Battlefield 4: Second Assault gameplay running at 60 fps.
Phil Spencer returns to announce Below, an arcade title focused on exploration.
http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/vp1905/battlefield-4-e3-2013-gameplay–stream-
Moves on to discussing “The next platform-defining Icon.”
Black Tusk is working on a brand new AAA title for Xbox One. Trailer shown but no title was revealed
A new Halo from 343 Industries introduced with a trailer.
- It is running at 60fps
- Not specifically called Halo 5 (possibly a side-story?)
- Halo is coming to multiple screens with a TV series as well as Spartan Assault for mobile platforms.
Spencer: Xbox One is $499 and coming in November
Final exclusive title shown off to close the event.
Titanfall from Respawn Entertainment
- Game trailer shown featuring gameplay.
- There are jetpacks (’nuff said.)
- It’s an FPS that also has Mech combat.
- Vince Zampella of Respawn comes onstage to share that Titanfall will utilize the cloud to create new gameplay experiences.
- Real-time gameplay demo shows off in-game engine.
- Releasing Spring 2014.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Alright, the presentation just ended and there’s not a whole lot to go through. The major highlights are the console’s price point and a handful of the game announcements. I think we all knew that Killer Instinct was the Rare title that Microsoft had been teasing for the past few weeks, and everyone expected Forza Motorsports 5, Titanfall and Battlefield 4 to make appearances. Lionhead was curiously absent, making no mention of either the Fable Anniversary HD title that’s coming out later this year, or any next-gen projects they are working on.
Microsoft made claims of strong indie game support on stage, and introduced a number of arcade titles such as Below and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, but didn’t offer any details on policy updates. They also didn’t address the used game and always-on requirements of the system at all.
I personally think that $499 is too high a price point for the console, which we can finally officially confirm is releasing this November. Whether or not folks respond negatively to the price point depends on where the PS4 plans on coming in at, but for now it seems Michael Pachter’s predictions are proving false.
This page will update continuously throughout the day as more Microsoft news is announced and trailers become available, so stay tuned. To keep up with my live-tweeting as news happens, make sure you to follow me on Twitter @GamingsNirvana, or add +VinnyParisi to your circles.