The entire time I was watching Microsoft’s E3 conference, I kept looking up. I imagined the sword of Damocles dangling over my head, in the form of a product unveiling. At the end of the conference, the sword finally fell. Up to that point, Microsoft’s conference was pretty decent. After the unveiling, all I wanted was to scream. Oh, and remove that sword from my brain.
I’ll get to my rant about the unveiling later. First, I’ll talk about the rest of the conference, which had some very good moments.
My favorite of Microsoft’s announcements is Xbox Play Anywhere. When you buy an Xbox Play Anywhere digital title, you can play it on both the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. All progress, achievements, and add-ons are available on both platforms. I personally love the ability to play my games on console or PC and not lose anything in the process. There are twelve titles that are currently tabbed for Xbox Play Anywhere once released: Gears of War 4, Forza Horizons 3, ReCore, Sea of Thieves, Halo Wars 2, Scalebound, Killer Instinct Season 3, State of Decay 2, Ark: Survival Evolved, CUPHEAD!!!!!!! (not actually written like that, but I want that game sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad), We Happy Few, and Crackdown 3.
The only caveat with Xbox Play Anywhere is that it applies to digital titles only. As someone who prefers physical media to digital purchases, it sucks that I can’t at least get a digital download code when I buy the disc physically. Hopefully, Microsoft will look into this in the future.
Their exclusive title lineup is pretty decent. All the Xbox Play Anywhere titles are console exclusive to the Xbox One. While heavy hitters like Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizons 3 are obvious plusses, titles like ReCore and We Happy Few are great-looking titles that help round out the Xbox One library nicely.
And then there’s CUPHEAD!!!!!!!
(Okay, I won’t write it like that anymore. You get the point.)
Cuphead was spotlighted along with other indie titles like Inside, The Witcher: Gwent, Outlast II, Deliver Us the Moon, Slime Rancher, and many more as part of Microsoft’s ID@Xbox indie program. It’s great to see Microsoft continue to visibly support independent games, especially when Sony, long a supporter of indie games through PSN, did not make mention of indie games during its own E3 conference.
Microsoft also talked up more support for Minecraft. As a recovering addict to the game, it’s simultaneously great to see their continuing support for the game and terrifying to think that I may lose more long periods of time to the game. Minecraft is getting dedicated servers, iOS achievements integration, crazy new texture packs, and Oculus Rift support. Good stuff all around!
Xbox One’s dashboard is getting additions as well. Microsoft will be adding Clubs – groups that are similar to PSN’s Communities – as well as a Looking For Group mechanic that will allow players to find others to play specific games or finish difficult sections of specific games. Biggest of all is the announcement of Arena, a tournament platform being added to Xbox One that allows players to set up tournaments themselves for games. Developers and publishers can also set up sanctioned tournaments for prizes, and EA has already announced that it will be holding tournaments using Arena for some of its sports titles, like FIFA 17. For competitive gamers, that is great.
On the hardware front, Microsoft announced custom Xbox controllers from Xbox Design Lab. You can go on their website and create an Xbox one controller with custom colors for the front back and shell, d-pad, bumpers and triggers, thumbsticks, and buttons. You can even engrave a custom message on it. That’s pretty cool and not terribly expensive.
Of course, the biggest hardware announcements Microsoft made regarded the console itself. There were two console announcements. The first announcement was made at the beginning of the conference: the Xbox One S, a slimmer version of their console. The S, similar in function to the original fat console but with the addition of extra HDR color capabilities for 4K televisions, is a good option for new buyers and for people who do not like the original’s VCR design and want a sleeker-looking console. The second was announced at the very end and was for…
Oh, boy. Here we go. Strap on, kiddies, this ride is about to get rough.
Remember the sword of Damocles I referred to earlier? Well, it had the name Project Scorpio etched on its blade.
Project Scorpio, of course, is Microsoft’s mid-generation attempt at making a console that can handle 4K gaming. This console is their response to Sony’s Project Neo, a similar mid-generation console recently confirmed by Sony after a month of rumors but not shown at E3. Both upgraded consoles are hoping to narrow the technological gap between the eighth console generation and current PCs.
And they’re both bullshit. They will NOT deliver on 4K gaming. They will NOT narrow the gap with PC. The only possible reason these consoles can have for existing is simple: for bleeding-edge gamers to get somewhat better visuals out of a console, for VR gamers to have a smooth experience, and for developers to have some extra horsepower to make their games with.
I can’t get into this in more detail here; I will have to delve deeper into the bullshit in a separate article dedicated to it. For now, I will say that this official reveal, combined with Sony’s confirmation of theirs, means that both companies finally admit that their consoles are not powerful enough and want us to pay for a do-over.
Despite, the unfortunate piercing of my skull with a hypothetical sword, I did like a lot of what Microsoft showed. Their commitment to pushing gaming on the PC means players will have options when playing their games. And the games Microsoft is pushing look real good. The future looks good for the platform…at least, the near-term future does.
Thanks, Microsoft, for making me loathe my astrological sign!
