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E3 2018: Microsoft Briefing

Microsoft came right out and said something like "We have 50 games, 18 this, x of that" and they meant it. The briefing was almost all games all the time. They acted more like Sony -- I'll give them that.

Here are my notes on each game from the briefing. My overall thoughts at the end.

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  • Halo Infinite - So there's a Halo game coming. That's all they told us. Is this Halo 6 or something else? There's rampant speculation of this being an open-world Halo or Destiny 2 clone, and then there is of course the BR crowd getting their hopes up.
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    Ori and the Will of the Wisps - Fun looking platformer. I never played the first Ori game but I'll give this one a shot.
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Looks like a Samurai Dark Souls. I'm not super hyped for this one since I don't love the brutal fighting games. 
  • Fallout 76 - We still have no idea what this is going to be other than a game that looks a little too much like Fallout 4 for me to care.
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    The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - Weird and vague, feels-goody. Not really excited.
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    Crackdown 3 - This game has been in the past three E3's. Still looks last-gen. Such a skip.
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    Metro: Exodus - We saw this last year. I'm over the 'world gone to crap' aesthetic.
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    Kingdom Hearts 3 - WOAH! They got Hikaru back for music -- that was great. I'm all over this. Take my money. I'm ready. I'm still going to get it on PS4 though.
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    Sea of Thieves - Cursed Sails and The Forsaken Shores and more places to play. That's pretty cool! I'll try that all out. Better not be paid DLC.
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    Forza Horizon 4 - Cars. I can't believe they spotlighted this game with so much time. Do people love this stuff? As Graev would say, "Car and sports games are the vegetables of the game world."

Microsoft Studio Acquisitions

Microsoft acquiring Undead Labs, Playground, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games. WHO IS CHEERING? Who are you? Though half the audience was wearing their Fanfest t-shirts, so I guess it was the plants.

  • We Happy Few - Nope. Nope. Nope.
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    PUBG - Graev said it best, "When did they rename FFA to Battle Royale and act like it's something new?"
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    Tales of Vesperia - Graev likes the weeaboo stuff. I just can't.
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    The Division 2 - I thought the first one was a huge letdown. I have no faith in a second.
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    Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Interesting enough that I'll play it. Graev is really trying to get me to play the first one that came out in 2016'ish. I found it in my Steam library somehow, though I swear I never bought it.
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    Session - People were suuuuper disappointed that EA didn't show Skate 4. People were all like "woooo Skate 4!" then it showed the title was "Session," and people don't know wtf is going on. I don't get hyped for Skateboard games anymore.
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    Black Desert Online - Asian grinder MMO now available on consoles. Skipping that one.
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    Devil May Cry 5 - Demons, destruction, katanas, guy who looks like a Twitch streamer. I've never been a fan of the series, but I know so many people love it. I liked the #NotMyDevil being spammed in chats. I assume this isn't what people wanted?
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    Cuphead - Have it on PC already but never played it. We wish it had online multiplayer.
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    Tunic - It's a Fox bebe with a sward! Looks like Zelda made into a unity game, but I'll look into it. I like the cute graphics.
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    Jump Force - One Piece and Naruto and Dragon Ball.... Please don't be a fighting game, please don't be a fighting game....
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    Dying Light 2 - Why can't we get a future that looks bright? Where's the Federation? Why is it always this world has gone to crap aesthetic? On that note, Graev and I just bought Dyling Light 1 on Steam for $20 + all its DLC and we're playing it together for the first time. Great timing!
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    BattleToads - awww why not show gameplay? Just words on a screen. 🙁
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    Just Cause 17  4 - My problem with Just Cause games is that they feel like "mess around" games that I can't take seriously because they don't take themselves seriously. This results in an experience that feels cheap and shallow.
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    Gears Pop - Hahahahahaha haaaaaaa #NotMyGears movement already freaking out.
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    Gears of War Tactics - XCom meets GoW. Interesting.
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    Gears 5 - The #NotMyGears movement calmed down. I'm really confused by what's going on here. Who died? Going to have to do some reading up.
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    Cyberpunk - Fun way to show the game to have it take over and hack the ending of the briefing.  But once again, it's more of 'the world has gone to crap' story.

Overall Thoughts

No Age of Empires?

No Fable?

Sony Wins.

Kidding! But not really! There were so many games shown, but not lots of exclusives. I'm over the entire "the world has gone to crap" story gimmick and aesthetic and I would like the Fantasy setting to come back. I like Xbox Game Pass and think the value is 100% there. 

Overall Rating: OKAY

  • My overall rating was definitely: Great, but I am a lot more excited than you seem to be, haha.

    I’m excited for Halo: Infinite, I like the knowledge of them adding more to Sea of Thieves, and the Gears 5 took the cake for me. As much as I loved Gears 4, continuing with the story is something that is very much attractive to me. I’m not upset about the Pop! addition, maybe it could be fun? Gears Tactics seems right up my alley.

    A lot of the Xbox conference got me all happy inside and I’m excited to see what Sony comes up with as well. Being a person that doesn’t own either consoles I tend to get excited about the prospect of these games rather than any chance of me owning them. The idea that people get more of what they want is always something that makes me happy and it seems Microsoft is tailoring to that for their fans.

    • I see it in terms of exclusives. Here’s what was exclusive to Microsoft:
      – Halo Infinite
      – Gears 5
      – Session
      – Forza
      – Crackdown 3
      – Vesperia
      – Ori

      Which ones are Xbox One exclusives and not on PC?
      – Tales of Vesperia

      😛

      Judging the hardware, that’s quite an indictment. Thankfully for Microsoft, PC and Microsoft are slowly becoming synonymous.

      **EDIT**
      I just checked Namco’s website and Tales of Vesperia will be PS4 as well despite Microsoft labeling it exclusive. That means (unless I completely missed something) that NO GAMES shown were Xbox exclusives. Holy cow.