We were promised a show and by golly was it a show we got! Xbox took to the stage at E3 2015 amid plenty of hype. But what would they show…and more importantly, would it be things we actually wanted?
As expected, 343 Industries kicked off the show with gameplay footage of Halo 5: Guardians, prior to the big dog himself, Phil Spencer, taking to the stage in his customary gear; albeit with a zipped jacket hiding a secret tee beneath. After promising ‘the greatest lineup of games in Xbox history’ things were set for us to get peeking at the games on offer.
But old Phil had a surprise for us…backwards compatibility…with Xbox 360 games running natively on Xbox One. They said it couldn’t be done, but done is what it is and checking out Mass Effect running on Xbox One is a joy to behold.
With an Xbox One Elite controller (with its precision controllers, remapping and swappable components) receiving a huge welcome, all things Xbox were going great guns. Surely the games would deliver?
Over the course of the next hour or so, we saw video world premieres of Recore (Xbox One exclusive), Dark Souls III, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Tom Clancy’s The Division (again!), whilst Win 10 and Xbox One exclusive, Gigantic, beckoned us to meet our guardian and choose our hero. EA promised new games in the Vault and a sequel to the rather brilliant Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, whilst Bethesda are kindly allowing us to use PC mods in Fallout 4. Yeh, thanks Bethesda.
A whole host of ID@Xbox titles swiftly followed with Chris Charla being accompanied by friends in order to hype the likes of Ashen, Tacoma and Beyond Eyes just a little more. But it was the announcement of the Game Preview Program that drew instant comparisons to Steam Early Access, ensuring that half finished titles would be available to Xbox One owners to play should they so wish. Elite Dangerous and DayZ additions are most welcomed but surely we’d like to be playing the full game first?
And then it was time for RARE to take to the stage, bringing with them another world premiere in the form of Sea of Thieves and the announcement of the Rare Replay Pack, containing 30 games from years gone by, all available in one big package on Xbox One. Oh, and bringing with it a huge 10,000 Gamerscore. Not bad for a discounted price!
With Kudo Tsunodo hitting the lights for a little chat regarding Oculus and HoloLens, the real highlight of the show finally hit home when Lydia Winters from Mojang stepped things up a bit, showing off Minecraft played through HoloLens. If there is one thing that is going to be absolutely stunning, there is no doubt about it that this is the one!
A brief glimpse of Gears 4 and the Gears of War Ultimate Edition (haven’t they heard of backwards compatibility 🙂 – and Phil was back on stage, this time showing the world his RARE Replay shirt that was so well hidden first time round.
He’s a tease ain’t he!