E3 2015 is upon us, and Microsoft was the first big console maker out of the gates with their press conference. Overall, their showing was solid, if somewhat low-key. They delivered the expected stuff, Halo, Gears of War, Fable, Rise of the Tomb Raider and announced a small handful of new exclusives, but they didn’t really present any mind-blowing new games. Arguably more interesting was some of the new tech and features coming to the Xbox One.
We’ve already covered some stuff from the conference in stand-alone, breaking stories, but you can catch up with all the important moments right here…
– The Xbox One will be getting backwards compatibility with the Xbox 360. There will be some caveats and restrictions of course. You can read up on Xbox One backwards compatibility right here.
– Microsoft showed off both the co-op campaign and new competitive multiplayer modes for Halo 5: Guardians, both of which look frantic and pretty fun. You can check out footage from Halo 5 here.
– Microsoft announced Recore, a slick-looking new franchise from the co-creator of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune and Armature Studios, a company mostly made up of former Metroid Prime developers. The game has plenty of style going for it, and a clever premise in which you can implant an AI in various different robot bodies.
– Bethesda hit the stage to show off a little more Fallout 4. The game looked cool (check it out below) but the real news was that you’ll be able to transfer PC mods to the Xbox One, which is actually a pretty ground-breaking thing. It was heavily implied this is an Xbox-exclusive feature.
– There’s going to be another Forza game, because of course there is. There’s never not a new Forza game on the horizon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBbXxfZYTAA
– Dark Souls III was announced. You can check out the trailer here.
– Ubisoft’s somewhat troubled open-world online shooter The Division resurfaced, and surprise surprise, it doesn’t look as nice as it did when it was first unveiled. Oh, Ubisoft. Xbox One is getting an exclusive beta this December, so the game isn’t coming out until early 2016 (if we’re lucky).
– A new trailer for the Xbox One-exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider. The game looks very much like the last Tomb Raider, except now there’s actual tombs and everything’s snowy. I hope the next Tomb Raider sequel takes us to Lava Land and, uh, a world where everything’s made of cookies and desserts and stuff. Yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-if1QhnhMY
– Microsoft is taking a crack at reviving Rare. A new retro compilation called Rare Replay is coming, and they’re working on a new original IP called Sea of Thieves. We covered the news in more detail here.
– Microsoft is partnering with Valve for Valve VR, because everybody needs a virtual reality headset, even if virtually (heh) no gamers actually use them. They also demoed HoloLens, which projects holograms into the real world around you. It looks pretty cool, so you should probably check out the demo.
– A new trailer for Fable Legends, which is looking even more busy and detailed than it was last year.
– Gears of War 4 was officially announced. There has been rumors of a remake of the original game, but apparently we’ll be getting a full sequel. The first trailer was surprisingly moody, and featured a main character without a do-rag or a soul patch. Maybe you just have to upgrade your character enough to get those. I hope. The game will be coming out holiday 2016.
And that’s all she wrote. Again, not a blow-away show, but if you’re into Microsoft and its various brands, then you have a pretty solid line-up of stuff headed your way. I’m not sure if Microsoft’s showing will convince any non-fans to make the switch, but it probably satisfied hardcore Xbox fanatics.