Microsoft will be coming to E3 this year with something to prove. The only good thing to come out of last year’s absolute disaster of an Xbox One reveal is that everyone suddenly forgot how ordinary their previous years of showings have also been.
With Phil Spencer now at the Xbox helm, Microsoft now have a real chance to have a spectacular show, some would say that all Microsoft need to do to have a better than last year is to simply show up.
I want to see Microsoft take a chance, I want them to interact with the crowd and show that they have learnt from other, less than stellar showings at E3 and I want them to talk with the conference attendees not at them. I would like to see Microsoft move away from their hardcore “bro” image and embrace new genres. It is time for Microsoft to take a chance and attract a more diverse segment of the market.
When it comes to games, I want to see more of Sunset Overdrive from Insomniac Games. This looks like one of the first games for the Xbox One that is breaking away from the grey scale games that tend to be flooding the new generation of gaming.
I would like to see a new generation of the Fable series that opens up the franchise and allows deeper RPG exploration.
A reboot of Halo 2 would be a perfect filler until Halo 5: Guardians eventuates and, well, the showing of anything Halo will be more than welcome.
I really don’t want to see Microsoft get up and say how much they have learnt in the last year about what gamers want and how they are truly listening. We all know they are going to say these things, we all know it is going to be cringe-worthy and we all know that nobody wants to sit through it. Still, it will happen.
I also would like to see the end of Microsoft doing anything they can do to obtain timed-exclusive content for various franchises. This doesn’t benefit any gamers whatsoever, so please just stop it. And please Microsoft, please no phoned-in Kinect presentations. Please!
Microsoft at this stage is trying to play catch up to PlayStation. They have dumped the Kinect to level the playing field in purchase price for consoles. Recently I recall hearing something about Xbox One will soon be able to “share” similar to the PlayStation 4. I believe that these small feature changes can sway a few fence sitters in terms of consoles. The real truth is that their success is pivotal on the games set to come. Xbox needs more console sellers like Titanfall to stand a chance against the punishing Sony seems to be giving them.
Expect to see more on Insomniac Games’ Sunset Overdrive, an exclusive that looks to be absolutely chaotic (in a good way). I can only hope that a few series returns rear their heads. Gears of War was one of the 360’s strongest franchises and I see absolutely no reason why it won’t come to the Xbox One, E3 would be the time to do it. Recently announced Halo 5 will no doubt take a huge chunk of time explaining why a Spartan suit is being protected by a poncho among other details, guessing at a late 2015 release for the next Halo. In keeping with the tone of catch up, I am going to take a very, very wild stab in that dark that Microsoft will hint at their version of a virtual reality interface, to compete with Project Morpheus and Oculus Rift. This will come in closing time, with a final announcement for a completely new IP to Xbox to leave viewers craving more.
Like I said Microsoft are playing catch up, so they are keeping their cards very close to their chest until E3, which is an excellent idea.
