Microsoft E3 Press Conference: An Interesting Lineup of Exclusives, But Still No Words on the Console Itself?

This post is actually not going to be as in depth as my other posts, because I actually watched this press conference while I was at a friend's house. Therefore, I did not take notes and I might have forgotten some of the games that they showcased, but with all honesty this is how I can describe Microsoft's conference in comparison to the others. That's right, Microsoft's E3 press conference was pretty forgettable, offering some interesting new IP's but little else. The other conferences show off some indie games, and I think this one did as well; however, relative to those other conferences, there were few games shown that weren't from either a big third-party developer or from Microsoft Studios. No doubt, this is probably attributed to Microsoft's bizarre choice to restrict indie developers from self-publishing. Most notable, however, was Microsoft's refusal to address anything about the Xbox One as a gaming console in itself.

The conference began with a look at Metal Gear Solid Five, beginning with a really long cutscene that MGS4 was notorious for. I don't know a whole lot about the Metal Gear series, and I thought this game took place before MGS4 because Snake looks younger. Snake also has this demon horn growing out of his head, and near the end they start talking about demons and such. I wasn't too sure of what was going on, but the gameplay itself looks true to what I've experienced from the little I've played of MGS4. Snake is seen hiding from enemies while horseback, by using a Native American technique of hiding behind the horse's side that faces away from the enemy. Snake is seen sneaking through towns in the desert... that's all I really got. Also, they said that Metal Gear Solid 5 is now an "open world."

Also, what's with the name? "The Phantom Pain." That has to be one of the most retarded titles I've ever heard, I mean, is Snake an amputee now?

Before getting into the Xbox One, Microsoft wanted to show that they still "supported" the Xbox 360. Those who own Gold Membership will, for next couple to few months, receive two free games available for download. This sounds exciting at first, but then they reveal their first two downloadable titles: Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed 2. Does Microsoft think they're Nintendo now? While these relatively old games might be considered classics to several in the future (I know Halo 3 will be one for me), these re-releases are pointless. These aren't games to get excited for, especially if you are one of the many people who already own it for that console. What made Nintendo's ambassador programs so successful was not that they re-released titles that already existed for their Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, it was because they re-released classics from the NES, GameBoy Advance, and so on. Microsoft also said they were "re-releasing" a slew of other games, like Final Fantasy XIII, but I am not sure if this is part of the monthly two-game freebies. If this is something else entirely, this is also another failure of a decision. How are you going to re-release games that are still widely available in the market? Now, if they were to re-release classics from the original Xbox console, then maybe this would be something to be excited for.

With the Xbox 360 out of the way (as they probably would've put it), Microsoft jumped right into the Xbox One, with the promise that this conference was "all about the games." What Microsoft fails to realize with this stupid phrase is that E3 is already supposed to be all about the games. So anyway, they go ahead and proceed to discuss the games that they plan to release for the Xbox One, along with several exclusive titles. One such title announced as a game called Ryse, where you play as a Roman general(?) and lead a group soldiers to battle. In the demo, the game looked like a "300 meets Gears of War," as one of my friends put it. It looked alright until the cringeworthy quicktime events, where the player had all the time in the world to execute an, well, execution with the press of a button and enter a cinematic killing move, in which the player has no control beyond that single press of a button.

Things get a little worse from here. Next on the Microsoft press conference was the showcase of Forza 5: Yet Another Racing Game. The spokesman comes up with a car from the game and everything, and even talks about the car a bit. What does this have to do with the game? Well, after that, we get down into some gameplay videos. The spokesman mainly discusses graphics (go figure, what else is there to talk about), and also one slightly interesting mechanic about the game. Forza 5 will use Microsoft's Cloud service to analyze how players drive their vehicles in the game, and then that will be used as AI for non-player vehicles. Then they talk about the graphics and how great they are, but nobody should really care about the graphics unless it is integral to the game's art design. In the case of Forza 5, do you really think art design is a big part of the game? What's also stupid is they show what are essentially meaningless technical demos, showing stills of a car and explaining how "state of the art" the graphics are when the truth is that in the actual gameplay, the framerate reduces the visuals, so it all depends on how the game runs. If graphics have to be a selling point for a game, then that game is a failure. Graphics these days is just another standard that shouldn't be worth mentioning unless there is something actually notable about them.

Aside from these things, the press conference continues and seems pretty okay for a while. They show off several games that look interesting, one of which caught my eye was that stylized Sunset something game. They showed off Dead Rising 3 and Killer Instinct as Xbox One exclusives, which pissed my friends and I off, but in truth it is a good thing for Microsoft because they need all the good exclusives they can get. As they showed off Killer Instinct, they decided to show the console's ability to screen record and livestream your gameplay. They also said they were doing away with Microsoft points for real money, further blurring the line between console and PC. While the Microsoft point thing might be good, you can't give a console all the features of an actual computer. PC's are always going to be better than consoles, so when selling a console you have to ask, what will the gamer have (or even not have) on a console that he won't on a PC? You also have to take into account what exclusives are being made for your console. This is where Sony and Nintendo are seriously dominating Microsoft on, but I'll return to that in future posts concerning them.

A whole slew of other games were shown, most of which I remember thinking nicely of, but honestly I cannot remember much of them. I remember one game they showed called Project Spark, which really integrates the Smartglass to design worlds, towns, objects, and so on. What I didn't understand about the game was that you were supposed to design enemy wave battles against towns you build. How does that make any sense, what is the point in creating monsters to attack your own town? The game looks nice, though, but I had to laugh at the pathetic framerate issues that gave rise during the goblin waves.

Following Project Spark were the notables. First, they gave a taste of Battlefield 4 by showing the single-player campaign. However, when they tried to start the game, the game froze, or something, and so for a good five to ten minutes, we were looking at the title of the game. Finally they got it working, but what was there to really see? If you've played one of the Call of Duty single player campaigns, you've played them all, and this can apply to Battlefield 4, especially since it seems that Battlefield 4 is just a souped up version of Battlefield 3. That's all these games are, really, unless you actually switch things up and set them in Vietnam or in the future.

The next thing I remember seeing was the trailer for Halo 5. What, Halo 5 already? I thought Halo 4 just came out last year! We see a robed man traversing a desert, pretty much for most of the trailer. Then, something rises out of the sand, which turns out to be this giant robot. The robed man looks up and... it's Master Chief! He's holding some dog tags I had no idea what they were. I have yet to play through Halo 4's campaign, so clearly I am probably missing a lot of information here. Sadly, my experience with the Halo storyline will end with Halo 4 sine I am not planning on buying an Xbox One, so that'll be something I'll have to live with.

That's pretty much the whole Microsoft press conference. They had one last "surprise" game to close with, which was really just a new IP that I doubt anybody new of before or really cared that much for. It's a game called Titanfall, which seemed nice to me, it's like a mix of Halo and Battlefield....

Actually, I realize I just described Planetside 2. Though really, I'd consider Planetside 2 more of a Star Wars Battlefront and Battlefield. Titanfall has the whole body armor suit thing, plus the core elements of a Battlefield first person shooter, but the twist here is A) you can control giant mecha soldiers, and B) the game's story mode is also the competitive multiplayer mode. That sounded really interesting to me, but then they said it was an Xbox One exclusive. However, as we will see in the upcoming EA press conference post, it is actually not an Xbox One exclusive (though it still is exclusive to Microsoft).

So overall, I had no real opinion of the Microsoft press conference because I simply couldn't care that much for the titles that were announced, even including the exclusives. What I wanted to see was Microsoft striking back at the air of mystery around the console's ability to play another person's game, around the company's policy on used games, around the console's claim of always requiring to be online. However, Microsoft failed to seize this opportunity to discuss how the Xbox One is a gaming console at its core. And as a result, Sony swept in and tore Microsoft apart in their press conference, but more on that later.

I am truly sorry for Xbox fans. While I disliked the Xbox 360, I cannot fail to acknowledge how it revolutionized online console gaming, with Xbox Live and the slew of features it came with. Now, Microsoft has taken that and used it as an effort to just grab all of your money. While I and many gamers can treat this as Christmas in advance, I cannot help but feel awful for the Xbox fans who were massively screwed over by Microsoft.

Also, the Xbox One will be $499. Ain't nobody got cash for that!

Update: It turns out, there was even some dialogue during the Killer Instinct demo that offended many people, whom interpreted the dialogue as sexist rape jokes. I'm not sure what to make of it, mainly because the dialogue between people playing these demos is always nonsense, but here's some of the conversation that transpired between the two.

"I can't even block correctly, and you're too fast," she says.

"Here we go. Just let it happen. It'll be over soon," he says.

"You have a fight stick," she says.

"Wow, you like those," he says.

"No, I don't like this," she says.