E3 2017: Microsoft and the Power of X


Kicking off the second day of E3 press conferences were our old pals at Microsoft, who probably had their best showcase in quite a few years. After a short sizzle reel that teased some of their upcoming announcements and featured an obligatory Master Chief appearance, Xbox division head Phil Spencer took to the stage to introduce Project Scorpio and give it an official name: the somewhat underwhelming Xbox One X. Still, it is interesting that the acronym the new name forms is XBOX, it does make me miss the days of more creative console names, like Dreamcast or Genesis. When did console names become so damn practical and bland, anyway? Even Nintendo 64 sounds better than this pedestrian crap.

But I digress. Spencer and lead engineer Kareem Choudhry detailed the technical specifications of the Xbone X, and I have to say, I'm impressed. It truly is a beast of a console, and if I were a rich person, I'd run out and buy an 80" 4K TV, a Dolby Atmos sound system, and throw in a Porsche 911 GTX MTV FBI CBS NCIS Mixer Beam Infinity 9000 just for the hell of it. 


Seriously, though, the system specs sound incredible, the machine is backwards compatible with our Xbox One games and peripherals (I mean, it damn well better be!), and it'll even play original (or, I'm sorry, "OG") Xbox games like Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge! Thanks, Xbox engineers! I sure am glad I kept all those old games and didn't trade them back in to Gamestop for $5.34 of store credit. 

If I'm sounding a bit snarky right now, don't mind me. Just trying not to buy into the hype--OMG, did you see that Cuphead has a release date now?!?!? Holy shit, check out Ori and the Will of the Wisps! It looks GORGEOUS, and the composer is, like, right there playing the piano! Ooh! Look! There's a game about dwarves in space mining asteroids and fighting off alien spiders??? And look at all those indie games coming out the wazoo!! What the actual fuck is going on, Microsoft?

Okay, so I have to admit, games like The Last Night (mmm, neon cyberpunk world design *drools*), Ori, Cuphead, and The Black Desert got me all hot and bothered here, and the promise of a new Metro game (subtitled "Exodus") is cool, but the conference did have a few moments of... let's call it oddness? I mean, the shoutcaster dude during the Darwin Project demo was annoying as hell, and the Forza 7 and State of Decay 2 presentations seemed to go on for hours, but the promise of Minecraft in 4K with user-created skins had me positively snoring. Sorry, but sheesh. Minecraft ain't my thing to begin with, and porting it over to yet MORE platforms with greater visual fidelity--especially considering the fact that visual fidelity doesn't really matter one iota in Minecraft--is either a harbinger of the apocalypse or just a ballsy on M$'s part. Whatevs, because here comes Crackdown 3.


So Terry Crews filmed a manic introduction to the Crackdown trailer, and I have to admit, I'm a little bit frightened. The man is a maniac, but he is super-cool and a stone cold badass. Speaking of which, C3 certainly looks to bring destructible environments to a new high. We shall see where things go for the game. 

Apart from that, MS also had their action-adventure bases covered with a new Assassin's Creed game, which tells the origin story of the brotherhood of Assassins and gives you an eagle companion who can mark targets and landmarks for the player; Rare's online multiplayer-focused pirate simulator, Sea of Thieves; and the game featuring the most cockney accents ever recorded anywhere in history, Middle Earth: Shadow of War. I actually think that all three of these games look solid. The new AC has a unique setting, especially for that series, while SoT has the cooperative adventuring stuff down pat. ME: Shadow of War just looks awesome, with players able to turn orcs against their evil masters and utilize their armies in battle. I need to go back and play Shadow of Mordor now, damn it.

In the end, I have to say that Microsoft saved the best for last with their Anthem gameplay reveal at the end of the show. I was cautiously optimistic after seeing the short teaser trailer at EA's conference yesterday, but seeing this demo/video captured my attention. The fake dev chatter was something they stole out of Ubisoft's playbook, and I honestly could have lived without it, but it didn't destroy the mood. Personally, I think Anthem is the game that Mass Effect: Andromeda should have been. It looks great and seems to have an interesting (if a bit derivative) story. All in all, it looks like the game that could deliver on what Andromeda and Destiny both promised, but never quite fulfilled. Color me intrigued.


And that, friends, is that. To sum up, some solid games were shown, some shiny new tech announced, and a few awkward moments, but nothing too drastic. It wasn't an overwhelming victory for MS, but it was a damn good show nonetheless. Much better than what Bethesda had to offer, I'm sorry to say.

Thanks for reading!

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