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2017 Microsoft E3 Conference [Over]

What shirt should Phil Spencer wear today?


Results are only viewable after voting.
7/10.

They showed a lot of games, but considering they are trying to sell me a $499 console, the lack of actual exclusive games (especially first party wise) was a huge deal breaker. Also, I am not against indies, but it felt like half of the games they were showing were indies and low-mid budget games. Why would a buy a top-hardware console to play these games? The only game that actually felt like "wow, this is the monster upgrade they keep talking about" was Anthem. But that shit is (if we are lucky) a Q4 2018 game. And it is multiplatform. And by that time PS5 rumours will be everywhere.

I think Xbox One X is not going to turn the wheel as Microsoft hoped it would. I am not seeing any market for it right now tbh. Especially at $499.

Unfortunately I'm starting to agree. It's too expensive, launches way too late, fucking november?!?!?! Halo 5 getting no XoX support, BF1 ain't on the enhanced list either.

At 499$, give me a fucking elite controller at the very least. And these games, where the hell are the AAA exclusives? Not fucking ONE! What a terrible conference. This is easily the worst conference I've ever seen them do, they have nothing. They have a new amazing console coming out, and the only games I'm excited to play on it are the ones I already own. Ridiculous and embarassing
 

ahdurian

Member
so is there a list of all the games they announced and which ones are actual Exclusives, and which are "Console Launch Exclusives"?
 
May have missed it but I'm still wondering what's going on with Recore. Never finished it and that tank character robot trailer was quite a while ago!
 
It wasn't a bad conference at all IMO. It had a lot of games, some really interesting indie ones, and exciting ones like Anthem, but it failed to convince me that I need to buy an Xbox One or an Xbox One X to play them.

Yep despite a pretty good conference nothing made me want to put down money into buying an Xbox. Especially when you announce a new box to boot. MS failed big time there. I need compelling content I can only buy for that system. Not multiplatform games I can buy on my PS4. They did a good job of highlighting those though lol.
 

sam12

Member
I feel like MS has given up on Xbox one and are just buying time by going for 3rd party power. You would think PS3 would have taught them something but some people never learn. Also Phil very excited about all the Japanese games coming from that trip you took. Bravo!
 

Scoops

Banned
Here's my take on the conference:

- First off, really hope the gaming press and fans go after Microsoft for their use of the word "exclusive." You can't call a game exclusive if it's really just a timed exclusive.

- The XOX is an impressive piece of hardware, no doubt about it.

- Said piece of hardware comes with a high price. I think the price is fair for what the hardware is but it's going to be a niche machine for a year or two until there's price drops. It's not 4k console gaming for everyone, it's 4k console gaming if you're really well off.

- Microsoft failed to fix their number one issue: rebuilding their first party studios.

- Tying into the point above, I'm not seeing enough exclusives to warrant a Xbox purchase over a PS4. Or enough to warrant owning both.

- The games they showed were ok, but there were few "wow" moments for me. Considering the hardware that was introduced, there should've been more of them. No where did I see any innovative gameplay, like we saw with the jail break game from EA's conference.

- Microsoft is too reliant on shooters and sports games still.

- Games like Crackdown, Rare's pirate game and several indies that were highlighted just looked like bad games, plain and simple. Not sure why they're even bothering with those anymore.

- That said there were some bright spots: I'm firmly back "in" on Assassin's Creed. Metro looked strong. Tacoma looked interesting as did a few other indies.

- I never think you should have a multiplat as your grand finale. Anthem looked good but it'll be on PS4, and I'm concerned the gameplay will be sort of a "been there, done that."

Conference was a 5/10 for me.
 
So assassins creed is a loot game now. Not really excited about the direction of the AAA gaming industry. Less and less games that are for me.

Best thing from the conference was The Last Night. Been following that game for a while now but I had no idea it looked as good as it does.

Also good to see another Metro Game.


^^^ yeah I thought it was weird how they called pretty much everything an "exclusive" when though on the screen it just said that it was launching on Xbox consoles first.
 

Wamb0wneD

Member
So how many of y'all are sticking to PS4 or getting a PS4 or Switch instead of Xbox.

Got a Switch since launch and got a PS4 last friday. And after that conference where 90% of the stuff shown is either also on PS4 or on PC I see no reason to get this console.
 

urge26

Member
Team bad conference, but frankly the expectation level was already low. Xbox One X still looks like a beast, I'll buy it alone for Destiny 2. Anthem looked amazing, but I need more details on the game. Crackdown trailer and no gameplay demo shows the confidence they have in the game is low. Sony will blow things out tomorrow, at least I have that to look forward to.
 
I had low expectations going in to this presser and thought in a pessimistic manner that it might be all that MS bring is Forza, Crackdown, and SOT but in 4K!... but there was this damned cancerous thought in the back of my mind that maybe, just maybe they'd surprise me and pull something out of their ass.. I just didn't expect that to also be Crackdown. They managed to make one of their few premier first party titles look like a B tier early access game from 2010 on "the most powerful console of all time!" Now I wish they'd put it back in their ass. This is what they shovel out when trying to convince people to spend $500 on an iterative console. What a joke.

The only positive thing I can say about this conference is that presumably sometime next year I'll get to play Ninja Gaiden Black upscaled on my Xbox One (no X).

Other than that, the future of Xbox is looking mighty bleak in my eyes. The One X is undoubtedly DOA, what is MS going to do to the Xbox division after another failure like that?
 

10101

Gold Member
It was alright games wise imo. Some interesting stuff, but nothing I'll be running out to buy an Xbox X for though as I was mostly interested in the 3rd party offerings which I'll pick up elsewhere.

My favourite bit was the Porsche reveal thou...

"World exclusive first look at a new vehicle"

Ohhh

"No one outside of Porsche has laid eyes on this beast"

Mmmm pulse rising!!

"Ta da!"

It's a fucking 911, same as every other 911 in the past 10+ years zzzzz lol

Also, was it me or did Phil almost look embarrassed when he mentioned the $499 price? He seemed to quickly hurry through that bit almost saying it under his breath.

Overall I'd say it was 7/10 for me.
 

Ponn

Banned
Microsofts fight is no longer about having the biggest and best exclusives.

It's about having an ecosystem they can keep people inside.

Xbox BC and Game Pass is about that. Also, if you look for the details in this keynote, they were pushing the Windows/Xbox Stores more than ever before.

That ecosystem means shit without content though. I'm sure they were thinking the same thing with Windows Store. I agree that it at least seems that may be their approach for right now, especially because i've felt they assumed their user base before. I ended up being a mostly Xbox 360 player last gen but there came a sharp point where it seemed like they completely forgot about my demographic (RPG, JRPG, japanese games, strategy, etc) and they seemed to just assume I was going to stick with them and suddenly become a Halo lover or something. I had no problems jumping ship for just a couple years over to PS3. An ecosystem isn't very appealing if there isn't anything coming out at all that interests me. I'm not going to drop a subscription fee to play a bunch of old games I already played.

If they want to really compete they will have to diversify their library and fill some gaping holes. I honestly can't say it would be worth their while though. Maybe its best for them to double down on their current demographics as long as its financially viable for them. As a gamer my needs are being met by other consoles so its fine by me, the question is really for them if they need me and i'm not offended if they don't think so.
 

Electret

Member
Ultimately a weak and disappointing showing from MS.

With all the insider smoke about Xbox's budget being cut back and an increased emphasis on GaaS, I set my expectations low. One AAA exclusive surprise, I told myself. Maybe a AA exclusive surprise on top of that, like a resurrection of a classic Rare IP.

Nope. Not a single damn AAA exclusive surprise. Is their first party in that bad of a state that they can't drop a single bomb? It was time for MS to do something to quell the concerns about their dwindling exclusive situation and to capture some mindshare, and they completely dropped the ball.

And the creative license with which they used the word 'exclusive'. My goodness. 22 'exclusives'. C'mon.

There were other issues and unanswered questions. Where's the 4K patch for Halo 5? What was up with the awful showing of Crackdown and the lack of a demo of all-out destruction?

As someone who's followed SoT closely, I thought it had a really bad showing. Nothing that showed substantive, new gameplay. More loot fetch questing. No release date.

And the $499 price. This is going to be a niche product outside of its launch window.

OG Xbox was nice but hardly enough to offset the above.

Ultimately pretty bad stuff. Some AAA exclusive bombs would've have really done wonders.

What's actually going with Microsoft for them to be struggling this much to put out first party IPs?

Sony gets criticised for perhaps a few premature announcements, fair enough, but at least I know the games are coming, I know they have enough first party studios and partners working on games that are releasing at a steady pace, thereby justifying my PS4 Pro purchase.

Now, I know that just because Microsoft is a massive company that they won't necessarily give the division a blank cheque to fund games, but the past few conferences have me questioning how much they are willing to fund. From what I understand, Xbox struggled to be profitable for some years, but I thought that was in the past. So why is Microsoft so lacking in their first party output, and why is it that they continue to insist on maintaining such a small number of first party studios?

There's been much insider rumbling about their first party situation. The gist is that their budget has been cut back and they're under a directive to make GaaS focused games. Still, I didn't think the situation was this bad. I mean, what's the end game here? Their tentpoles are not going to last forever. It's time to make some investments and take some risks. Their conservatism could be the very thing that bits them in the ass.
 
Here's my take on the conference:

- First off, really hope the gaming press and fans go after Microsoft for their use of the word "exclusive." You can't call a game exclusive if it's really just a timed exclusive.

- The XOX is an impressive piece of hardware, no doubt about it.

- Said piece of hardware comes with a high price. I think the price is fair for what the hardware is but it's going to be a niche machine for a year or two until there's price drops. It's not 4k console gaming for everyone, it's 4k console gaming if you're really well off.

- Microsoft failed to fix their number one issue: rebuilding their first party studios.

- Tying into the point above, I'm not seeing enough exclusives to warrant a Xbox purchase over a PS4. Or enough to warrant owning both.

- The games they showed were ok, but there were few "wow" moments for me. Considering the hardware that was introduced, there should've been more of them. No where did I see any innovative gameplay, like we saw with the jail break game from EA's conference.

- Microsoft is too reliant on shooters and sports games still.

- Games like Crackdown, Rare's pirate game and several indies that were highlighted just looked like bad games, plain and simple. Not sure why they're even bothering with those anymore.

- That said there were some bright spots: I'm firmly back "in" on Assassin's Creed. Metro looked strong. Tacoma looked interesting as did a few other indies.

- I never think you should have a multiplat as your grand finale. Anthem looked good but it'll be on PS4, and I'm concerned the gameplay will be sort of a "been there, done that."

Conference was a 5/10 for me.
Very well said. I completely agree.
Really mediocre conference that failed to reassure an Xbox One owner about the future. Microsoft needs to invest in First Party studios. You can't rely on a third party like BioWare to showcase the power of your console.
 
Anthem looked amazing, it showed the potential of Scorpio very well. Overall enjoyed the conference, wish they talked more about the One X.
 

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
So you're telling me the public st large after viewing this and gets all the info, will drop down $499.99 for games that 80% shown are coming to PS4 (the competition), 95% to PC (with Play Anywhere) and think the selling point for all of it was Sea of Thieves, Forza Enhanced and Indies

The first few who most likely buy this are the diehards. That's a given, good upgrade for the price if your connected to that ecosystem.
Most things XB1X does with 4K and HDR will almost be matched by PS4Pro when it comes to third party

All I'm saying is MS gave this generation to Sony and almost next generation too

Holidays 2018 will be 1 year for XB1X, by then Sony rumblings of PS5 might be introduced, if 2019 PS5 release how can MS come out with a new console within 2 years and not piss off their player base.
They would have to bring over everything from XB1X and guessing XB1 BC and be cheap enough to compete against Sony who at least by then would be 3+ years since Pro release

MS has really put itself in a bind.

Also gonna be hilarious to see YouTube videos of people creating $499.99 Gaming PC's to compete against XB1X just like they did with PS4Pro
Crazy thing is at least one thing those machines with more "horsepower" can't do is play Exclusive Sony titles but can play almost the whole XB1 catalog, so MS literally is boned on that front too
 
Here's my take on the conference:

I didn't even think about that. The game that has me the most excited was from EA. Wut?!

A Way Out had me really surprised and excited for the possibilities. Nothing from MS did that for me.

I'm definitely going to buy games they showed but they were all just typical games. I was excited for this conference and next step for them too.
 

schaft0620

Member
If you had told me before the show that MS would have 42 games on stage I would have freaked out. Not a lot here to digest, not a lot to convince me to spend $500 on a new console.
 

Memento

Member
Oh yeah, I also found it really shitty how they kept a narrator saying "EXCLUSIVE" for every game they showed us. There was the "console launch exclusive" text in the screen, but they always had a voice over before the trailers saying the word "exclusive". Really shitty.
 
Here's my take on the conference:

- First off, really hope the gaming press and fans go after Microsoft for their use of the word "exclusive." You can't call a game exclusive if it's really just a timed exclusive.

- The XOX is an impressive piece of hardware, no doubt about it.

- Said piece of hardware comes with a high price. I think the price is fair for what the hardware is but it's going to be a niche machine for a year or two until there's price drops. It's not 4k console gaming for everyone, it's 4k console gaming if you're really well off.

- Microsoft failed to fix their number one issue: rebuilding their first party studios.

- Tying into the point above, I'm not seeing enough exclusives to warrant a Xbox purchase over a PS4. Or enough to warrant owning both.

- The games they showed were ok, but there were few "wow" moments for me. Considering the hardware that was introduced, there should've been more of them. No where did I see any innovative gameplay, like we saw with the jail break game from EA's conference.

- Microsoft is too reliant on shooters and sports games still.

- Games like Crackdown, Rare's pirate game and several indies that were highlighted just looked like bad games, plain and simple. Not sure why they're even bothering with those anymore.

- That said there were some bright spots: I'm firmly back "in" on Assassin's Creed. Metro looked strong. Tacoma looked interesting as did a few other indies.

- I never think you should have a multiplat as your grand finale. Anthem looked good but it'll be on PS4, and I'm concerned the gameplay will be sort of a "been there, done that."

Conference was a 5/10 for me.

Couldn't agree more
 

Billfisto

Member
It's 2017 and we can get a friggin' Bubsy sequel, but Microsoft can't round up the pocket change to have a decent developer make a downloadable Battletoads?

Not even a Killer Instinct character reveal?

When Cuphead came up I was thinking we'd get an "and It's available right now!", but nope. Cuphead in four months and absolutely nothing now.

I knew they had absolutely nothing when Minecraft came up again, and there was basically no new news for even Minecraft.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Wait...they had their E3 showing today??! Good God almighty they must've had a weak showing, as I couldn't even tell. Take a good look at that front page of GAF, because it's going to be a world of difference when Sony and Nintendo have their presentations.
 
There's been much insider rumbling about their first party situation. The gist is that their budget has been cut back and they're under a directive to make GaaS focused games. Still, I didn't think the situation was this bad. I mean, what's the end game here? Their tentpoles are not going to last forever. It's time to make some investments and take some risks. Their conservatism could be the very thing that bits them in the ass.

If that the case, well, then I guess I'm glad I sold my XB1. I don't have a problem with GaaS, but I have no intention of supporting such narrow vision.

It's such an odd choice as well. GaaS will surely work much better for multiplatform publishers?

You are absolutely right. Microsoft needs to reinvent itself, now more than ever.

Forza is holding strong, but Halo and Gears of War aren't the powerhouses they once were, and they've even killed off Fable now.

It's so frustrating being an Xbox fan, even when you're no longer on the platform and still want it to do well. This was the year Microsoft really needed to improve and show something.

All I hope now is that Xbox fans stop being in denial about it. I raised the issue in the pre-E3 thread and got dogpiled for it. Granted, given the choice, as I said in the thread, I would love to have turned out to be complete wrong about it, but that isn't the case.

Microsoft is in dire straits. I hope they feel the pressure and correct themselves.
 
If that the case, well, then I guess I'm glad I sold my XB1. I don't have a problem with GaaS, but I have no intention of supporting such narrow vision.

It's such an odd choice as well. GaaS will surely work much better for multiplatform publishers?

You are absolutely right. Microsoft needs to reinvent itself, now more than ever.

Forza is holding strong, but Halo and Gears of War aren't the powerhouses they once were, and they've even killed off Fable now.

It's so frustrating being an Xbox fan, even when you're no longer on the platform and still want it to do well. This was the year Microsoft really needed to improve and show something.

All I hope now is that Xbox fans stop being in denial about it. I raised the issue in the pre-E3 thread and got dogpiled for it. Granted, given the choice, as I said in the thread, I would love to have turned out to be complete wrong about it, but that isn't the case.

Microsoft is in dire straits. I hope they feel the pressure and correct themselves.

It is frustrating, I just vote with my wallet though, which I believe is the best way to show approval or disapproval. Today really put me off Phil Spencer.
 
I feel like Microsoft is in a worse place than it's been in a minute. At least they had a AAA exclusive or two in the past. This was just sad.

It might be more so because I actually had high expectations for them for once, but even without that, that was just poor.
 
Wait...they had their E3 showing today??! Good God almighty they must've had a weak showing, as I couldn't even tell. Take a good look at that front page of GAF, because it's going to be a world of difference when Sony and Nintendo have their presentations.
Speaking of which.. I wasn't able to find this or the EA thread during the conferences, I guess they are being stickied but pretty sure didn't appear on mobile gaf, unless my brain was confusing them for an advert.
 

blakep267

Member
Unfortunately I'm starting to agree. It's too expensive, launches way too late, fucking november?!?!?! Halo 5 getting no XoX support, BF1 ain't on the enhanced list either.

At 499$, give me a fucking elite controller at the very least. And these games, where the hell are the AAA exclusives? Not fucking ONE! What a terrible conference. This is easily the worst conference I've ever seen them do, they have nothing. They have a new amazing console coming out, and the only games I'm excited to play on it are the ones I already own. Ridiculous and embarassing
so you'd buy an Xbox one x but not play any multiplats on it. Only exclusives
 

vonStirlitz

Unconfirmed Member
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It wasn't a bad conference at all IMO. It had a lot of games, some really interesting indie ones, and exciting ones like Anthem, but it failed to convince me that I need to buy an Xbox One or an Xbox One X to play them.

i agree i'm not sold on the x1x they done a terrible job considering i was really hyped for it
 

element

Member
Microsoft missed, big time. Overall the presser was boring and lifeless. The crowd applause felt forced or not interested on anything that was to be impactful.

I think the 40+ games was actually a huge mistake. If they wanted to show a lot, have a well-polished montage at the start of the presser, but it started to drag and felt extremely disconnected. I personally would rather have them show 8 games that are 'reasons to buy an Xbox One X' the day it comes out. Wow me, but nothing did that.

MS still continue to undervalue their history and IPs. One moment that actually appears to get some real emotion was the OG Xbox BC and mentioning Crimson Skies. You can see people love that IP. Just make a new one.

Games like Cuphead and Crackdown are cool, but MS has teased those for FAR too long. Just give me a release date and be done with it.

Forza is GREAT, but Forza is not an opener.

It was just a rough presser. Long. Boring at times. Disjointed. Confusing. I was hoping MS would knock it out of the park, but they struck out on 3 straight pitches.

Grade: C.

I think the xbox team must be under heavy budget control. Told to make a success with limited resources. Hence few exclusives, few new projects in the pipeline, and a new console at cost.

Alternatively, they are just managing the portfolio rather than investing further in it, to preserve the brand and maintain its existing audience, to make it sellable to private equity.
IMO the problem is MS as a company isn't structured for creativity. Most developers have a period where they can split into small teams to build a prototype for what they could make next. At MS once a game is done you roll right onto something else. You either work at a franchise studio like 343, The Coalition or Turn10 and work on a franchise or you work in publishing and just move from project to project in a support role. 343, The Coalition and Turn10 will always make Halo and Forza. They just aren't setup like a Naughty Dog of "We are done with Uncharted...What do we do next?" and have that be a blank slate with the ability to figure out what to make next.

The best MS can do right now is to partner with developers, but that is becoming more and more difficult to find developers not already in deals. Acquisition isn't ideal as they always seem to go wrong and close.
 
I'm going to have to go back and watch some of the trailers again because there were some games that I'm interested in playing but I would have expected this show for Gamescom. State of Decay was particularly disappointing because I was hoping that they would give a big, beefy demo. Instead we get a trailer.

I'm not going to say it was the worst MS pressed ever as I have lived through the Kinect years. I'm extremely surprised that they didn't announce one AAA MGS game other than Forza.
 

BTM

Member
Feeling a little deflated honestly. Some good games were shown and the XBX is a beast but overall it was a little underwhelming. Always going to be happy with more Sea of Thieves but 1st party stuff was really really thin. Let's just hope Microsoft are actually working on improving their 1st party offerings for the upcoming years.
 

Anfony O

Member
The console price did not upset me. I mean it is premium hardware in the end. Jesus those games though, Anthem was the only game worth mentioning. I feel as if we have been seeing the same footage over the past 3 E3's, as if there is absolutely nothing new to offer. It's clear that they still are not willing to take any risks in terms of software. It's a shame, but thankfully, I came in this E3 expecting just this. It's been happening for the past 3 years, and frankly, I think this will continue for a while it seems to be the management's philosiphy. Ah well, I guess we will have to wait for new a team for real change.
 
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