E3 2017 - Microsoft

14 June 2017

Microsoft was second this year, moving forward to Sunday at 2pm LA time, primarily to reveal Project Scorpio before the other conferences were held. A smart move on the whole. Now, a long time before E3 I predicted that the real name of Scorpio would be the Xbox One X. I can't remember exactly when, but it was at least a month beforehand. I tweeted the following at 9:48pm BST to back me up. A good 12 minutes before the conference started...

And lo and behold, head of Xbox Phil Spencer revealed on stage that Project Scorpio was to be called the Xbox One X. I was so happy I shouted out loud. It just makes sense and I don't understand why other gaming media outlets didn't predict this. The console was not part of a new generation, it was already announced that it would play all existing Xbox One games, just with increased performance. It was always going to be part of the Xbox One family, therefore it had to be Xbox One-something. As we already have the 'S', why not the 'X'? This seemed to be the only viable letter I could think of, and keeps the name as short as possible.

It's picked up a fair amount of hate on Twitter, including people saying it's confusing to say and it's almost a palindrome, but I think it works. People will get used to it, and I can see Microsoft using this naming convention for the considerable future.

As for some specific detail around the console, it will be the most powerful ever, including a futuristic-sounding "liquid-cooled vapour chamber". It launches on 7th November, and most surprisingly, it's smaller than the Xbox One S! If the 'S' did stand for Slim that's no longer the case. The price wasn't revealed along with this inital info. Phil Spencer only confirmed the price much later in the conference (without shouting about it) of $499. Definitely a 'premium' console.

Moving on from the new console, it was time for some games. Forza Motorsport 7 was officially announced, alongside a brand new car - the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Microsoft have a history of revealing cars at E3 now, with the Ford GT unveiled at their 2015 conference.

A new horror-survival game was also revealed with Metro Exodus. A super scary trailer with some freakish beasts and a post-apocalyptic world, Fallout-esque, kept me guessing what game this was.

Next up was the first official reveal of Assassin's Creed Origins. It's amazing how much of this game leaked before E3. Even t-shirts with the hero character were posted online. But regardless, the initial launch trailer was great. I love the golden yellow colours of Egypt, and it teases a giant cobra boss fight.

Then there was a full gameplay trailer (posted below) showing some familiar AC combat but with some notable changes. Eagle vision is now effectively a real eagle... And there's no mini map in the corner of the screen, only the top icon bar. It also seems to be borrowing a complete inventory system from Destiny. Not a complaint as I think it will work well.

Microsoft then announced that the PC smash hit Player Unknown's Battlegrounds would be coming to Xbox as a console "launch exclusive". It's funny how often that term was used throughout their conference. State of Decay 2 was shown off with a new gorey trailer, which very much looks like the Xbox exclusive equivalent to Days Gone on PS4.

Minecraft also made an appearance, where it was announced that it was receiving 4K support. Does a pixelated game like Minecraft really need 4K support??

Sea of Thieves was then shown off further with an extended gameplay demo. This game still only looks fun when played in co-op. An old-school platformer was announced with Super Lucky's Tale. Xbox have a major lack of games like this, so this was pleasing to see.

And then Cuphead was finally given a release date! Which delighted so many people in my Twitter feed.

Crackdown 3 was next with a strange trailer. Minimal gameplay and yet a release date of 7th November. Coincidentally the same date as the Xbox One X. But if I had to guess, this game is the biggest candidate for a delay. We've seen so much more gameplay of Sea of Thieves for example and that is releasing in Spring 2018.

Then we saw a further look at Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. A game that has already been delayed by two months to October. Some of the character dialogue in this demo really did not seem right though...

Then it was back to Phil Spencer with a very nice announcement for long-time Xbox fans. Original Xbox games are being added to their backwards compatibility program. I'm not sure exactly how this works, whether you do need the original game discs? But this went down very well with the crowd. It can also be confusing if you say it like this...

Lastly from Microsoft was the new IP from BioWare, Anthem, as promised at the end of the teaser at EA's show. This was a fully fledged six minute gameplay demo, which hooked me the moment the female character/soldier jumped from the platform and went into Ironman mode. The jetpack flying looks awesome, including the ability to dive underwater. The world looks amazing with huge creatures roaming around, and the character abilities look super cool too. Overwatch fans, check out the McCree Dead Eye ultimate at 5:09.

Anthem is apparently a shared world shooter, so this appears to be EA's version of Destiny. There are other similarities too with the other player's character levels, and loot is clearly being pushed as an incentive for exploring and/or missions. This was the best gameplay demo from Xbox for me, and I'm certainly excited to see more. A 2018 release window does seem ambitious but hopefully BioWare stay on course.