Xbox One, All About The Exclusives
Starting off Bonnie Ross of 343 Industries wastes no time to get into the near-term future of the Xbox One. Demonstrating Halo 5 Guardians letting loose a group of players showing off real-time gameplay flaunting the new environments, foes, and of course weapons. Even asking “Master Chief, friend or foe?” Right off the bat you become aware Master Chief has departed without permission and you are tasked with tracking him down. (We do see that a grunt does attempt to run away and yells “I regret everything!” Foreshadowing?). Not letting that be all that is in store for fans Josh Holmes, Exec. Producer from 343 Industries, announces maps 4X the size of the current offerings and the upscaled multiplayer called Warzone.
We are started off with not one, but 2 exclusives as unveiled for us is a reel of the upcoming new IP, Recore, which features open deserts and robotic sidekicks and foes along side the heroine in this action shooter due out in the spring of 2016.
Phil Spencer appears and to great applause reveals plans to make the Xbox One backwards compatible to play original Xbox and 360 games. Mike Ybarra takes over and reveals players will be able to insert the retail discs and then download the game to their hard drive. With games already ready as of yet, and hundreds more to come. This may be part of the reason for the 1TB HDD offering that is going on sale as the whole game will have to be on the drive.
Next up was the Xbox One Elite Controller, allowing interchangeable parts and custom mapping of joysticks and d-pad sensitivity and the ability to have set hair triggers on one side, both, of neither.
Todd Howard, game director for Fallout 4, even makes and appearance reveals more details and exhibits some Fallout 4 gameplay. Revealing that mods made on the PC version will be transferable to the Xbox One for free, and there will be an application to use the Pipboy interface on your smartphone.
In this gameplay footage we see a new weapon right off the bat. called the laser musket. I suspect this will take the place of the ubiquitous Hunting Rifle from Fallout 3. Just to whet gamers’ appetites a bit more, a powersuit that is usable by the player is demonstrated and even faces off against a Deathclaw.
EA Takes The Stage
Peter Moore, COO of EA, takes the stage and tells of EA Access. A paid service that allows exclusive early access to play games before official releases. Even revealing exciting details of EA biggest titles in what is called the EA Vault that can be played at any time. Announcing this will now going to include Titanfall, and adding Drangon Age: Inquisition and all subscribers will receive 10% EA titles in the Xbox Store.
Not to be out done. Peter even reveals Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2. In the world premier trailer we see over the top action as Danger Zone blares in the background to really set the tone.
Immediately we shift tone in the greatness of motorsports heritage at Le Mans. Reminders of Fords dominance at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and the next 3, the legend that is the Ford GT 40. In the middle of the arena (quite literally) we see it’s newest creation to come from the underground. Forza 6 is here. 50 years since this demonstration will be the year of the GT 40 again. In this reveal we see a plethora of halo cars, dream machines that stir mans’ soul to a quiver. 26 tracks from all over the globe, Dan Greenwalt even announces this is the most ambitious project yet for Forza, even including claims of 1080P and 60 FPS. (Windows 10 and DirectX12 will be out by the time of launch and surely helps reach these goals that are coming more and more standard in the industry)
Henry Ford III and Dan Greenawalt introducing Forza 6 and showing off the new Ford GT!
Right into the world premier of Dark Souls 3 then to Tom Clany’s: The Divison we go. The premise being a weaponized virus that caused a collapse of the modern world. Out comes Laurent Detoc, President of Ubisoft Americas, This action RPG set in New York will be open to Xbox One players first in an open beta in December. Also, unveiling that along side the release of Rainbow Six: Siege launch in October, the backwards compatibility update will allow players to engage in the older versions, Vegas and Vegas 2. In case that wasn’t enough, they will be offered with Rainbow Six: Siege at the time of release October 13, 2015.
Indies Abound
Breaking away from the biggest titles in the industry, we see some indie developments including Gigantic – a cel-shaded fantasy fighter MOBA. Cuphead, Rise and Shine, Phantasmal: City of Darkness, The Solus Project, Westerado, Sword Coast: Legends, Outward: The Adventure Life Sim, Goat Simulator: MMore Goatz Edition, Game 4, Below, Ark Survival Evolved, Recruits, SuperHot all demonstrate Microsoft’s dedication to small independent developers that create unique and creative worlds for players to enjoy through the program called ID@Xbox.
Chris Charla who leads this initiative speaks of the success already seen in the program and allows one of the developers to talk about their creation. Steve Gaynor at FullBright tells us about Tacoma. In another world we are in a confined space and have to figure out what has happened to our crew onboard.
Keeping with this indie theme we are introduced to Auroura44 Studios and their creation Ashen. Which leaves so much up to the player. Who will you ally with? Who will you try to destroy?
In Aurora44’s Ashen you can’t choose all of your friends
Next, tiger & squid presents Beyond Eyes. This unique take on the most for granted senses. Vision. Our protagonist is blind and has to find other ways to take in the environment.
Cuphead, set in a 1930’s animated show style, scrolling platformer, will be available on Windows 10 and Xbox One will be on sale in 1936(plus 80 years).
Day Z also is now available on Xbox One Early Access to help continue it’s development.
Laura Croft Is Back
Back to big name titles again, this time Laura Croft is here for Rise Of The Tomb Raider. We are introduced to Laura inside of a cave high in the mountains and she proceeds to climb an insanely dangerous cliff face to allow her partner to climb up as well. However, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Ice and rocks falling,as well as an avalanche puts our heroine and the players through their paces before you can even have time to take in the scenery. In the following footage we see numerous other settings that you must run, jump, and dodge your way in and around; this leads us to the last cut scene in which she seems to have found the lost city of gold, El Dorado. On November 10th the world will see.
Got Classics?
Rare has announced that they will be offering 30 classic games all for just one price, only on Xbox One. This is set to include their biggest hits Banjo Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Pro-Am, Sabre Wolf, Blast Corps, and the notoriously difficult BattleToads.
As well they have premiered a new offering, a self-described fantasical adventure game including naval combat during golden age of piracy called Sea of Thieves.
Where Is The Future Of Gaming?
Again another exclusive for Windows 10 and Xbox One we have the next iteration of Fable revealed, Legends. In case fans weren’t ready enough, we are now informed of a partnership between Xbox and Oculus Rift. Allowing streaming to the VR headset through a Windows 10 PC. Even compatibility with Microsoft’s own HoloLens.
This was the highly impressive demo of Microsoft’s Hololens technology live on stage during the briefing.
For demonstration we are introduced Brand Director for Mojang Lydia Winter and a member of the team from Microsoft Studios, to see MineCraft for HoloLens. In what can really only be described as a mind-blowing display of technology we see before us a Minecraft world appears… On a table on stage (using a special camera to display what the HoloLens sees). With no lack of drama we see a table covered in sand blocks. Then it all falls away to reveal the world being played on in it’s entirety(albeit with some scrolling done by hand) and real time. Also, don’t be afraid to poke your head in to see inside of buildings. With voice commands also available and demonstrated, it begs the question – What bounds are there?
Of course this technology is still very young and does have some hurdles before it hits the market. The most notable item being the narrow FOV (field of vision). However Microsoft does seem to have the ability and definitely money to fix whatever issues will inevitably arise from a piece of technology as advanced as this.
Gears of War 4 & Ultimate Edition
10 years ago at E3 Gears of War was announced. Now we have it all over again, remastered, rebuilt, and with new content. Yet, again we see another dev claiming all 1080P with 60 FPS in multiplayer mode.
In a preview we see our hero slowly going through ruins with a partner, with a storm brewing we hear a very ominous screech and some creature running along the rooftops. As structures crumble and the earth beneath their feet fall away they flee as fast as they can to safety. Once inside they stumble upon the nest. As they continue along they discover that the whole sanctuary has been taken over by the creatures. Finally, they come face to face with the monster. Enormous and ghastly more and more appear. Two of the three are dispatched relatively quickly in typical fashion. Shotgun to face and the underlying chainsaw. As tantalizing as this may be, we are in for a wait. Holiday of 2016 to be more precise.
The Solid State Gamer 