Here is a breakdown and my thoughts of the Microsoft Press Conference. I have bolded the segments I thought was important. For games that are Xbox One Console Launch Exclusive, I abbreviated as XOCLE and Windows 10 & Xbox Exclusive as WXE.
34:24- Start of Conference
35:26- Reveal of the Xbox One X (Project Scorpio)
37:33- Phil Spencer (Head of Xbox) comes on stage. Talks about the Xbox One X. Coming out November 7, 2017.
39:50- Kareem Choudhry comes on stage to talk about the hardware architecture of the Xbox One X, most powerful console and the smallest Xbox ever.
44:31- Forza Motorsport 7 Reveal Trailer
46:14- Creative Director Dan Greenawalt comes on stage to talk about the game. Reveals the newest model Porsche (At a video game conference?… okay)
48:17- Shows the Porsche in-game with two professional driver presenters.
51:11- Forza Motorsport 7 coming October 3, 2017. Phil comes back on stage saying they are going to reveal 42 games on stage… oh boy.
53:13- World Premiere of Metro Exodus running on Xbox One X (YES!!)
58:09- World Premiere of Assassin’s Creed Origins. Looks great. Can’t wait to play it.
1:00:02- Creative Director Jean Guesdon comes on stage to talk about the game.
1:01:52- Assassin’s Creed Origins gameplay trailer. Available October 27, 2017
1:07:08- Phil is back on talking about Mixer, Xbox’s new game streaming service.
1:07:46- Brendan Greene, Creative Director of PlayerUknown’s Battleground, comes on stage talking about bringing the game to Xbox exclusively later this year.
1:08:53- PlayerUnkown’s Battleground trailer for Xbox One.
1:10:48- Deep Rock Galactic reveal trailer. XOCLE.
1:11:56- State of Decay 2 trailer. A zombie survival game which relies on resource management. I enjoyed the first one. WXE. Coming Spring 2018.
1:16:41- The Darwin Project Reveal Trailer, multiplayer arena shooter XOCLE.
1:18:45- Minecraft Trailer revealing community marketplace and cross play between all platforms (Mobile devices, PC, and consoles).
1:19:50- Lydia Winters, Mojang Brand Director, comes on stage to talk about the update for Minecraft. Free 4K update for Fall 2017.. Just what I always wanted for Minecraft.
1:21:16- Graphics and 4k update trailer for Minecraft..
1:22:20- Phil back on.
1:23:27- World Premiere of Dragon Ball Fighter Z.
1:24:58- Black Desert Reveal Trailer. High fantasy MMORPG. XOCLE. Coming Early 2018.
1:27:00- The Last Night Reveal Trailer. Looks like a Sci-fi Noir 2d sidescroller. XOCLE.
1:28:24- The Artful Escape Reveal Trailer… not sure what it’s suppose to be.. But there’s a cartoon guy with an electric guitar. I’m in. XOCLE.
1:29:42- CodeVein Trailer. A gothic vampire action rpg. Coming 2018.
1:30:42- Phil back on.
1:31:19- Rare’s Sea of Thieves Gameplay Trailer. A multiplayer pirate adventure. You can team up with your friends as you explore uncharted waters and fight against other pirate crews. Coming early 2018. WXE.
1:40:03- Tacoma E3 Trailer. Interactive story-driven adventure set in a space station. Coming August 2, 2017. XOCLE.
1:40:43- World Premiere of Super Lucky’s Tale, a 2d (semi-3d?) sidescroller. Coming November 7, 2017. Xbox One Console Exclusive (so not Windows 10)… interesting.
1:43:27- Cuphead trailer. 2d side scroller capturing the old cartoon style. Finally coming September 29, 2017. Xbox One Console Exclusive.
1:44:19- Crackdown 3 reveal trailer with Terry Crews. Gotta love that guy. It’s a sandbox, open world, 3rd person shooter where you are a super enhanced cop. Awesome. WXE. Coming November 7, 2017.
1:46:55- Sizzle Reel of ID@Xbox games. Basically some small indie games.
1:48:44- Phil back on stage.
1:49:42- Ashen E3 Trailer. Looks like a Co-op hack and slash adventure. Has a very grim setting but I love the art style. XOCLE.
1:51:31- World Premiere of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, the prequel to Life is Strange. Episode 1 of 3 coming August 31, 2017.
1:53:18- Michael De Plater comes on stage, VP of creative for Monolith. Gameplay reveal for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to Shadow of Mordor. Includes some details on the updated army and nemesis system. Available October 10, 2017.
2:00:24- World premiere of Ori and the Willow of the Wisps, the sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest. WXE. Phil back on stage
2:03:58- Original Xbox backwards compatibility announced for the Xbox One featuring Crimson Skies. Launches later this year.
2:05:15- 4k updates for free for the following games: Gear of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct, Halo Wars 2, and Minecraft.
2:07:20- Reveal price of Xbox One X…… $499.
2:08:04- Patrick Soderlund, Executive VP of EA, comes on stage. Gives an awe-inspiring speech about new IP…
2:09:39- John Warner, Game Director for Anthem from Bioware, comes on stage narrating the gameplay of Anthem running on an Xbox One X. Multiplayer 3rd person shooter… Looks rad.
2:16:27- Close-out trailer.
2:17:55- End of Conference.
The Xbox E3 Briefing was an okay conference to me. It showed a lot of games covering all genres, had the reveal of the Xbox One X, and announced original xbox backwards compatibility. However, they abuse the meaning of “exclusive”. There are Windows 10 and Xbox One Exclusives which is strictly for those platforms. There are also Xbox One Console Launch Exclusives which is just a long phrase to mean timed exclusives. While they revealed a ton of games on stage, they are still sorely lacking in 1st party games compared to Sony. I will be back to give a breakdown of Bethesda’s conference as well as the rest of them (Sony, Nintendo, and Ubisoft).
