Microsoft E3 Press Conference Highlights

Published June 11, 2013
Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director, Turn 10 Studios, gives Rick Malambri a hands on tutorial of Forza Motorsport 5 at Xbox Showcase at E3 2013 at the Vibiana in Los Angeles on Monday, June 10, 2013. — AP Photo
Dan Greenawalt, Creative Director, Turn 10 Studios, gives Rick Malambri a hands on tutorial of Forza Motorsport 5 at Xbox Showcase at E3 2013 at the Vibiana in Los Angeles on Monday, June 10, 2013. — AP Photo
Lisa Malambri experiences her first hands-on time with Ryse: Son of Rome at Xbox Showcase at E3 2013 at the Vibiana in Los Angeles on Monday, June 10, 2013. — AP Photo
Lisa Malambri experiences her first hands-on time with Ryse: Son of Rome at Xbox Showcase at E3 2013 at the Vibiana in Los Angeles on Monday, June 10, 2013. — AP Photo

The Microsoft E3 Press Conference Highlights:

Microsoft had promised that they would deliver the games at E3 videogame conference in Los Angeles after a more than disappointing XboxOne (XBone) announcement. The press conference was full of games, and although some were exciting, there were some more of the same.

The Conference started with the next installment of Metal Gear Solid. 'Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain' and boy did it look gorgeous. Vast open worlds with new levels of stealth. Can hardly wait for this one, coming soon to the Xbox One

Before jumping onto the new console, Microsoft showed a redesigned Xbox360 and it looks more like the upcoming XBone. Picking up a cue from Sony, Xbox Live is being revamped allowing 2 free games a month for Gold Members.

The famous World of Tanks, the MMO is coming to the Xbox360. And it will be out this summer.

The last games showed for the 360 were 'Max: Curse of the Brotherhood', a good looking game. The other one was Dark Souls II, a highly anticipated action game.

The conference shifted to the XBone, and the first game announced was 'Ryse: Son of Rome'. The game was first announced for Kinect, but is now making its way on the XBone as an exclusive. The game looked great and like something coming out of the movie 300.

Gamers had been asking for it and Killer Instinct was also announced for XBone as an exclusive, although only a short snippet was shown.

After Killer Instinct, a shocking news came for all PS owners. The previously exclusive Sony developers(Resistance series, Ratchet and Clank Series) Insomniac announced an exclusive game for the XBone. Its called 'Sunset Overdrive' and is a stylized shooter based in an open world environment.

Time for 'Forza Motorsport 5' to take over the stage and it did with a real McLaren on stage. Focus on drivers not being AI(artificial Intelligence) anymore but now more like humans.

'Minecraft' is announced for the XBone. Highlights that XBone will focus on indie developers (likely to counter the positive response Sony has gotten due to support for Indie developers on the PS4)

'Quantum Break' is announced next. Choices made in the game will create a personalized television show for each player, emulating those choices. The game is looking solid.

Next up 'D4' is announced. It is an episodic murder mystery from the famed developer Swery 65. It sports cell shaded aesthetics and I cant tell how the game is until we get to see more

One of the most exciting games that was shown today was shown next. Its called 'Project Spark'. Its Kinect based and looks and plays like a mix of Minecraft and Little Big planet. Also has SmartGlass integration.

Next Microsoft announces a deal with 'Twitch' where videos can be uploaded using Upload Studio. Also they announced that Microsoft points are being removed and now will deal in real currency. Finally!!!

The 360 had Dead Rising as an exclusive and now the XBone has 'Dead Rising 3'. Although it looks great, but it seems that Dead Rising has taken a serious turn, and in that turn it has lost its wacky charm. But the game does look good overall. More like Resident Evil rather than Dead Rising.

The next installment of the acclaimed series The Witcher , 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' is announced for next gen consoles. As is with The Witcher games, it looks gorgeous and promises more than 100 hours of gameplay.

'Battlefield 4' is shown next and as expected it looks great and showed some explosive gameplay. Unfortunately during the first demo there was no sound and it had to be started all over again.

Teasers are shown for Halo 5 and Below . Halo was completely CG but got everyone excited.

'Crimson Dragon' was also announced, a game by the acclaimed developer behing Panzer Dragoon.

Before closing, Microsoft announced Titanfall. This is from the creators of Modern Warfare 1 and 2. The developers had a fallout with their parent company, Activision and they made their own studio called Respawn Studios. As expected the gameplay looks great with a focus on titans during heavy fights.

Last but not the least, XBoxOne will be released in Novermber 2013, with a price of US $499, €499 and £429 . The price points will play a very important role in the success of the console and in my opinion its priced a bit on the higher side.

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