Xbox Conference Recap - E3 2016

Microsoft are first up on what was traditionally the first day of E3. Phil Spencer starts the show off by introducing the Xbox One S, a smaller version of the console. With that, it’s on to games, as Gears co-creator Rod Fergusson comes on to talk about Gears of War 4, dropping news that the game will be playable on both Xbox and PC as part of the new “Xbox Play Anywhere” program, and that if you buy the game on Xbox, it will also be playable on PC at no extra charge. The game will also feature co-op cross play between systems. He then brings on Laura Bailey to help show off some co-op gameplay.

The mission takes place during a sort of sand/electrical storm that is blowing debris around, and even bodies of dead foes. Occasionally a big piece of debris will smash into some enemies though these moments appear to be scripted. The rest of the demo is comprised of more traditional Gears gameplay as the soldiers hide in cover and fight swarm. At one point, one of the players uses a gun that shoots saw blades. The storm eventually intensifies, producing lightning which the players must dodge as they run for a building. The demo ends with the group arriving at a building as a huge beast smashes down the door and comes outside. Gears of War 4 will be out on October 11th.

Killer Instinct community manager Rukari Austin comes on next. He announces that General Raam from Gears of War will be added to the game as a new character, and that he can be played for free this week. This trailer announcement transitions into another trailer for a Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive, and after some scenery shots, it becomes evident it will be a new Forza game as we get a shot of Lamborghini. We also get some shots of off-road driving, indicating a new focus for the series; its Forza Horizon 3. The game will take place in Australia, and a gameplay demo starts with one driver in a BMW, one in an off-road buggy, one in an off-road truck, and one in a Lamborghini. Two players are on Xbox One, and two are on PC.

The gameplay shows a good variety of racing scenarios as two players race along streets while the others drive through dirt and sand. The game will feature the largest car roster in Forza Horizon history, and will have four-player co-op. Players can join each other seamlessly and across platforms. The four demo players join the same session and start racing along a beach. This ends the segment, and a trailer for another Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive starts playing.

The trailer is for the game ReCore, which was announced at last year’s E3. The trailer introduces a few different robot types that will help you along the way, and indicates that there will be a good deal of platforming in the game. After this trailer, it’s on to Final Fantasy XV for a first-time Xbox One demo. The demo sees the player taking on a giant titan, dodging his huge fists and slashing at it when possible. Eventually, the player manages to freeze the giant's arm and shatter it. The game will be released on September 30th.

The next trailer is for The Division, revealing the first major expansion for the game which will appear fist on Xbox One. The expansion will feature randomly generated missions in the game world's underground tunnels. DICE General Manager Patrick Bach is on next to talk about Battlefield 1. After an intro to the game that contains no new information, Patrick announces that Xbox One players will get to play the game early with EA Access, starting October 13th. The trailer we saw at the EA conference yesterday then plays again.

Next on is Mike Ybarra from Xbox to talk about Xbox Live. After talking about backwards compatibility and cross-platform play, Mike announces that background music and Cortana will be coming to Xbox. In addition, Clubs will be added that let you create communities for specific games. A new ‘looking for group’ system will also be added that lets players group up more easily for multiplayer games. Finally, Arena on Xbox Live will let players register and compete in competitions or tournaments for any game. Arena will also support EA Sports games in the coming years.

Representatives from the Minecraft team take the stage next. They announce the ability of players to play with each other on different platforms, as well as new dedicated servers that allow players to play in a world accessed from different platforms. Even VR platforms like Gear VR will be included in this. They also announce texture packs for Windows 10 and pocket editions of the game. Add-ons will also be available, with an example of the standard enemies being turned into aliens.

After this, a trailer plays for new customizable Xbox One controllers, with a variety of colours and even ability to add your gamer tag. Following this, a trailer for a new game from the team who made Limbo depicting a rather gloomy looking office full of gloomy looking people. The game will be titled “Inside.” Director of ID@Xbox Chris Charla comes on to announce that Limbo will be made available on Xbox One starting now. He then introduces a video showing a variety of independent games that are on their way to the platform, with clips from Outlast 2, Cup Head, Stardew Valley and many others. He announces that those who bought Ark: Survival Evolve on Xbox One will also be able to play it on PC this fall without any extra cost.

Guillaume Provost comes on next to show off a new game coming to Xbox Preview program. The gameplay trailer shows a man at a desk using a device to look at newspapers, one of which triggers some kind of flashback. The player resists taking some kind of medication and eventually the player starts walking around the rest of their office, everything being narrated as if by the thoughts of the character. It looks to be a sort of dystopian future setting, perhaps best compared to A Clockwork Orange in style. The game is titled We Happy Few and will be available on Xbox Game Preview on July 26th.

Next up, a trailer from CD Projekt Red for a new game. It looks to be a standalone version of Gwent, the card game that began life inside of The Witcher 3. It will be called Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and will feature cross-platform play and a singleplayer campaign in addition to multiplayer. The visuals have been redesigned and new mechanics added. There will be four factions to choose from, each with their own play style. New cards can be won and crafted. There will be an Xbox and Windows 10 exclusive beta coming this September.

Next up, a trailer from Bandai Namco that depicts two men fighting. Must be a fighting game. And so it is: Tekken 7. The game director comes on to announce it is coming to Xbox One, and the game will include new story mode that transitions between cinematics and gameplay seamlessly. The game will be available in early 2017.

Another trailer for an Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive plays next. It looks to be for a new Christmas-themed Dead Rising as zombie destruction with Christmas music and Christmas themed weaponry take up the bulk of the trailer as fake snow falls into the audience. Indeed, it is Dead Rising 4.

Shannon Loftis comes on from Microsoft Studios next and introduces Hideki Kamiya to talk about Scalebound. He introduces a gameplay segment which is a co-op boss fight against a huge crab-like beast that periodically ducks under water as the players fly around on dragon creatures, blasting the boss with flames. Eventually they get off the flying beasts and start fighting it on foot by targeting the weak points, with the player character quipping all-the-while, and putting on punk-blasting headphones for the final stage. Scalebound will be out in 2017, and now coming to PC.

This leads into another Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive trailer, this time for the pirate-themed Rare game Sea of Thieves which depicts a variety of time frozen scenes from the game. Craig Duncan from Rare comes on to talk about it. The multiplayer game will let you and your friends explore the world in search of treasure. Next, we get a world premiere of the gameplay. The groups of players are shown prepping ships for the sea, sailing around and eventually engaging in ship combat. The slightly cell shaded visuals look good; the water in particular is impressive. One ship springs leaks and starts to sink as the crew bails out.

After this, yet another Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive trailer starts playing, showing a muscle car driving down a road, smashing into the occasional zombie. It looks to be a new State of Decay, confirmed at the end of the trailer. Without pause, another trailer for the above platforms begins; it looks to be Halo related. It’s a CGI trailer for Halo Wars 2. 343 Industries’ Dan Ayoub comes on to talk about it. The game will feature a new faction, the Banished. The game is being developed with help from Creative Assembly and will be out on February 21, 2017. The game will also feature cross-platform play and will have a week-long beta this week on Xbox One. Gameplay is shown next, though without the UI, it just looks like fairly standard RTS gameplay.

Phil Spencer returns after this to recap the announcements and introduce something new, and it looks to be a new console targeted at 4k resolution gaming. Games developed for the new device will still work on the original Xbox One console. The new box is currently titled Project Scorpio and is branded as the “most powerful console ever” with six teraflops of GPU power. Phil reiterates that all upcoming games and accessories will also work on Xbox One, and will be coming holiday 2017.

With that announcement, the lengthy conference comes to close.