Xbox Conference Recap - E3 2017

Curtains up on what might be the highest-stake conference of E3 2017, and immediately a video starts playing showing different resolutions through the years with the screen finally filling up as a big ‘4K’ symbol flashes. From there another clip starts playing, an animation of hardware pieces coming together then a stylized rendering of various characters from Xbox IPs, leading up to the unveiling of the new Xbox console which for the time remains nameless. Xbox Head Phil Spencer takes the stage as the crowd chants his name for opening remarks. He unveils the name of the new machine, the Xbox One X. It will launch on November 7th worldwide. Phil then introduces Kareem Choudhry, lead Xbox engineer for further information.

He lists Power, Compatibility and Craftsmanship as priorities, and claims the console will provide true 4k with HDR, Dolby Atmos sound and UHD Bluray support. From the get-go, all Xbox One accessories and games will work with the X, but with enhanced visual fidelity, faster loading and anisotropic filtering. For non-4k users, supersampling will be used to down sample from 4k to 1080p for a visual benefit. The CPU uses 16nm technology with 7 billion transistors and a 384 bit memory bus, allegedly the most powerful CPU ever to be put in a console. It uses a liquid-cooled vapor chamber for cooling and a new power management system made just for the console. It will also be the smallest Xbox console to date.

From there it’s on to a world premier for a Microsoft and Xbox Exclusive game. A trailer shows realistic looking desert environments. We then see a man walk into a car, so presumably a new Forza Motorsport. Lots of clips of fast vehicles blazing along tracks later, and indeed it is confirmed to be Forza Motorsport 7. Dan Greenawalt from the Forza team takes the stage next to talk more about it. He announces that a supercar will makes its debut, and a panel spins around to show a new Porsche, the 2018 911 GT2 RS. We then get to see the car in action in the new game running on the new Xbox One X.

Two professional racers will be controlling the car in different scenarios. The game runs at 4k 60fps and looks impressive indeed with the first race taking place in the baking heat of the desert, while the second is in the middle of a downpour. There will be dynamic puddles during rainfall, and weather can change during a race. Dan claims it will have over 700 cars and be the most technically advanced racing game ever made, concluding the segment.

Phil returns to confirm the game ships on October 3rd. He then says there will be 42 games shown on the stage today, 22 of which will have console exclusivity to Xbox One. Next, he brings on 4A games to show off something new. A trailer runs, showing a ruined, frozen city, a familiar sight to anyone who has played a Metro game. The next clip shows someone walking around in first person with a gun and it does look to be another Metro title. The player walks around a tunnel burning spider webs, and eventually runs into a mutant beginning a combat sequence. Eventually the player makes it outside and is greeted with a vista of forest-flanked mountains and ruined buildings, and proceeds to start exploring the area, eventually getting into a fight with a heavier beast that he takes on with explosive crossbow bolts. The player escapes via zip-line, then hops onto a train that is going past. This concludes the trailer, the game being called Metro: Exodus, coming in 2018.

Another trailer rolls right after, this time depicting ancient Egypt and slaves building monuments. It turns out to be the new Assassins Creed, with a voiceover indicating it might be a sort of origin story for the Assassins. From Ubisoft, Jean Guesdon takes the stage to confirm the game will be called Assassins Creed: Origins. It will also be the story of a single man, a sort of Egyptian Sheriff whose struggles against the darker forces of Ancient Egypt lead to the creation of the order. The game will have RPG elements and a large world, and will run on 4K on the Xbox One X. He introduces a gameplay clip that starts with a falcon flying over different environments ranging from deserts to massive cities.

The actual gameplay begins, showing the protagonist riding a horse through the town of Siwa. He takes control of the falcon which lets him fly over and spot enemies, a bit like the UAV in Ghost Recon: Wildlands. He finds his target and moves in, climbing into the compound that houses his target, then leaps into the air to make a mid-air bow shot on a guard in slow motion. After stealthily taking out a few more guards and picking up a new bow, the player openly attacks his target and nearby guards, ending with a bow-shot the player seems able to control taking out his target, ending the trailer. The game will be releasing on October 27, 2017.

Phil comes back on for a segment about PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS, a currently PC exclusive Battle Royale game in early access that has already sold over three million copies. The game will be coming to Xbox later in the year. A trailer plays showing players fighting in a hallway, followed by a few short clips of different encounters across the map. It ends with a player sneaking up on someone with a frying pan and hitting them on the head.

This leads into another trailer for another new game, with a cell-shaded art style showing a group moving through a cavern, mining and fighting various insectoid-enemies, dubbed Deep Rock: Galactic. Without delay, another trailer begins showing a variety of abandoned locations, presumably State of Decay 2 as zombies fill the screen. It shows a group of survivors fighting off the horde with firearms, getting into a truck and escaping, then taking on a new member they encounter on the road. It looks to have settlement-building mechanics of the first one and appears to have a few stronger zombie types, with one picking up and ripping apart a player.

Another trailer begins for an Xbox One X launch exclusive, with a sort of Claymation art-style. Shoutcaster Jethro Tull appears on stage suddenly and starts commentating, it looks to be a sort of third person multiplayer battle game as more fighting taking place on screen. The game is called The Darwin Project. The next clip looks to be Minecraft related, showing a bunch of players in multiplayer with brand director Lydia Winters taking the stage to talk about it. She announces that Minecraft players across mobile, VR, Windows 10 and consoles will soon be able to player together. There will be community run servers added to the game along with support for custom textures, and a 4k update is coming as well. Finally, a trailer plays for an enhanced graphics pack that is coming to the game, the Super Duper, Graphics Pack! coming later this year.

Phil is back, plugging the Xbox store, then introducing three new games. The first one looks to be Dragon Ball Z related, showing characters from this universe fighting, a fighting game called Dragon Ball Z Fighter Z. The next title on deck looks to have realistic visuals as a camera pans over landscapes, eventually showing some fantasy locations and characters. It looks like an action game with some Japanese sensibilities as we see a variety of combat scenarios involving some huge enemies, and it turns out to be for Black Desert Online, an MMO currently on PC that is evidently coming to Xbox as well.

Next up, a game from Odd Tales studios with unique and colorful pixelated 3D visuals. It is called The Last Night and that is all the info we get. Another trailer starts for another highly stylized game that shows a guy platforming and electric-guitaring his way through a level, The Artful Escape. Next up, another trailer for what looks to be an action game dubbed CodeVein. Finally we get a break from the trailer onslaught as Phil returns to the stage to introduce some gameplay from the upcoming Rare game Sea of Thieves.

The clip starts with a crew on a pirate ship, hoisting sails and looking out at an impressive sunset. A couple of players dive into the water to explore a sunken ship. They start moving cannon balls and treasure from the underwater wreck back to theirs when they run into a shark, who they seek refuge from on their ship as a storm rumbles in the distance. The next clip shows the crew exploring a jungle island when they run into some skeletons who they take out with pistols. They proceed into a cave following some riddles and eventually unearth some treasure. The group run into some skeletons, but the main player has his hands full with treasure and must rely on his team mates to protect him, as he escapes back to the ship. On escaping the island, the run into a storm and another pirate ship, with a battle ensuing. The primary player fires himself out of a cannon onto the enemy ship and fighting their crew who is composed of other players, marking the end of the lengthy gameplay segment.

A trailer from Fullbright for their upcoming game Tacoma plays next as we see holographic figures moving around a space station, it will be coming on August 2nd. A world premiere is up next from developer Playful, a colorful 2.5D platformer appears to involve a fox going after a lot of coins and interacting with bizarre creatures called Super Lucky’s Tale. The next trailer rolls, this one for Cuphead, previously announced side-scrolling action platformer with a classic cartoon art style that will be coming on September 29th.

The next trailer begins with voice acting from Terry Crews for what must be Crackdown 3. The video shows footage of chaotic combat in a large city with players jumping high into the air, firing rockets and throwing cars. The game will be coming out on November 7th for Windows and Xbox One. The next trailer quickly runs through a bunch of games that will be on the Xbox One X in 4k in quick succession including Dark and Light, Strange Brigade, Hello Neighbor, Shift and Conan Exiles.

Phil is back, saying these are all part of the ID@Xbox program. Next up is a game from Aurora 44, with a distinct almost water-color art style that shows two characters fighting giant spiders and some other nasty looking creatures, one of which is absolutely gigantic; the game is called Ashen. Another world premiere next, showing a girl smoking on a couch, looking to be a Life is Strange sequel from the art style and characters. Indeed, it is dubbed Life is Strange: Before the Storm, a new three-episode series coming this year.

Michael de Plater from Monolith is on next to talk about Shadow of War. A trailer plays showing some environments from the game, some rude orcs having a discussion and then facing off with one tearing the head from the other. The hero watches from above, then jumps in to kill the rest. The game will have nemesis fortresses and will let you build armies from dominated orcs. Eventually the player faces off against the winner of the previous orc-fight, eventually ‘dominating’ the orc with some ability and recruiting the orc for their own uses. The new recruit tells the player about a two-headed troll in a fortress he should kill. The player gets ambushed by one of the nemesis orcs after this and recruits that orc as well on route to the fortress assault. From here, the player selects the followers they want to use in this battle, then it begins as the trailer ends as does the segment.

Another world premier is next, set to live piano music. From the gorgeous stylized visuals it looks to be a sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, and so it is, dubbed Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Phil is back to talk about Xbox Backward Compatibility, saying there are 385 Xbox 360 titles in the library. The program is getting expanded to include original Xbox games, including Crimson Skies. The games will look and play better on the newer consoles as well, with the program launching later in the year. He then announces that many first-party Xbox One games such as Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 will be getting 4k updates later in the year. Final Fantasy XV, Resident Evil 7 and Rocket league along with many other games will also be getting 4k updates. He then announces that the Xbox One X will be $499 USD at launch.

To close the show, we get another look at the new BioWare title Anthem announced at yesterday’s EA Play conference. Patrick Soderlund from EA takes the stage to talk about it. The game will have a large open world and will be enjoyed with friends, meaning multiplayer must be a big part of it. Now we get some gameplay with Jon Warner from BioWare coming on to introduce it. The gameplay clip starts with the player in a crowded market with a huge robotic machine walking overhead. The player starts conversing with a middle aged man in the market, notably without any dialogue options. You and your friends will be freelancers in this game who ‘explore the unknown and protect humanity.’

The clip will show two players going on such an adventure. The players will have exo-suits dubbed Javelins that give them super-human abilities, with one player’s suit looking much heavier and bulkier than the others. They jet-pack down from the starting point through a lush forest, before landing and running into a huge alien fighting some smaller ones. They jetpack on, going underwater and re-emerging into a firefight before continuing. The player with the heavier suit uses a mortar to start engaging with another group of enemies, while the second uses a sort of auto-lock on rocket launcher. Eventually a storm rolls in which the players opt to fly through, which marks the end of the gameplay segment. Anthem will be coming in 2018, and so ends Microsoft’s E3 2017 conference.