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2017 Microsoft E3 Conference [Over]

What shirt should Phil Spencer wear today?

Results are only viewable after voting.
0

0racle

Member
I think my days with Xbox consoles are finished.

I will just buy their games on PC and have them run better. I'm glad I can support the company​ in that way and it's a smart business model contrary to what people think om how it's damaging to their Xbox brand.

Put it this way. I would not buy a console to play anything they have shown over the past few years, but now they can get my money from play anywhere titles.
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
Tookay said:
I'll get a couple of positives out of the way:

+ I appreciate MS' commitment to BC and services.
+ I appreciate how they mostly showed gameplay.

But that's about as much as I can muster up.

- The Xbox One X is a system without a cause. There is no exclusive to justify its existence or its price.
- In general, for the last 5-6 years, it has become increasingly hard to care about investing in MS' ecosystem, when they are this bereft of first party game studios and talent. I don't feel like they are in this for the long haul. Even the One X feels like a last ditch effort to gather some attention towards a dying effort.
- The pacing of their shows are legitimately terrible and the games they choose for extended looks are often baffling. I don't know why Sea of Thieves needed something quite that long when most of what they showed was boring.
- The apparent downgrade to Crackdown 3 is disappointing. MS deserves a ton of shit for selling the power of the cloud and then backing down from that promise.
- Anthem looked fantastic visually, so at least they knew how to end it, though I'm skeptical if the final game is going to look that good.
- That "console launch exclusive" phraseology was shady.

All in all, MS feels like a company in retreat. They're firing what little arsenal they have, but it isn't enough.
Click to expand...
This would be my writeup after skimming through the entire conference. Just didn't grab my attention besides the Minecraft things where everyone is playing together.
 
P

Poster#1

Member
It's clear to me now they only want a platform to sell you third party games aka Service platform. I'm having a hard time to justify an Xbox when PlayStation have exclusives and third party games.
 
rokkerkory

rokkerkory

Member
After a night's sleep I am going to give the conference overall 6/10.

Highs:
- X1X design, power, features... it's really a high end powerful box we all wanted and hoped for. Smallest Xbox ever too.
- Ori... need I say more
- OG Xbox BC... dopeness!
- Lots of games (lucky's tail) and 3rd party games will be best on X1X, games with 4k patch incoming
- Great pacing and start of the conference was strong

Lows:
- $500, yeah I know it's a premium product and likely a fair price I but won't pay for it until it's $400 or $450 with a really great game or two.
- End of the conference fell flat for me, they need a 1st party AAA game teaser or something rather than end if with a 3rd party game
- Crackdown needed an on stage demo
- Sea of Thieves while not my cup of tea, demo was just too long

Overall, MS showed the power of the beast that is X1X, games like FM7 and Anthem were just like WOW. However they missed their opportunity to really drive excitement for non-xbox gamers and needed a 1st party AAA game or two to show off the console. I wanted more and just felt weird afterwards. I think all this would have gone away if they said $400-450 and shown a new IP.
 
IAmAnAgnostic

IAmAnAgnostic

Member
Well, all I can really comment on is whether or not the conference made me want to buy an Xbox.

And the answer is no, not really. And as far as new exclusive announcements go, very little new. Sea of Thieves is still coming, Crackdown 3 is still coming, another Forza of course and an Ori sequel. I'd only be interested in Ori 2, but it isn't enough.
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
wapplew said:
E3 is not be all and end all, plenty of time and opportunities for MS to make a case for Xbox one X again.
Gamescom is coming, they can tease what coming later half of 2018 with mind blowing Halo 6 trailer etc or they could host special hands on and showcase event.
They can also add games bundle or elite controller to sweeten the deal, they can do trade in program or even cut the price before launch.
If anything Phil Spencer good at, it's his quick reaction and execution.
Click to expand...
Seems like a lot of wishful thinking on your part, and really, the thread has an underwhelming tone generally about the conference because that's what the this thread is about MS E3 conference. Not about the future and what Phil can do to make fans happier.

Honestly man, I see now when you make fan boyish remarks you aren't trolling. You're defending super hard here, when to me its fruitless. It was just a weak conference. Nintendo had the same thing (again going by GAF standards) and is breaking sales records. It's ok if people are underwhelmed though, it's E3 week, and this is mostly knee-jerk reactions.
 
B

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
I liked the conference for what it was.

It was a MC of 75/100. (For reference: EA was 40/100 and Sony's last year was 90/100)

Negatives out of the way:
Intro + Forza non-game stuff was too long and boring
More exclusivity terminology and also highlighting how you have console exclusive launches and getting massive applause
I didn't go I HAVE TO PLAY THIS to any game
That esports segment

Positives:
After the intro it was games games games, good pacing after it got going
ID@Xbox very nice montage, lots of cool games being shown
Generally they had a nice line-up of games shown that all seemed interesting
No game so early in development that it's just a CG trailer

Anthem has incredible visuals and environmental art. Also it has my preferred POV (Third person) compared to Destiny
 
P

Power Shot

Member
My wife and I watched it. Not bad, but definitely better than last year's show.

Our main issue was that there were too many announcement trailers, so for a ton of games we literally had no idea how they would play, which was very frustrating. We thought Sea of Thieves was fun, but we trusted absolutely none of the 'gameplay' footage. I even doubted the Forza footage, because I saw the camera angle shift to showcase a car crash (I'm unfamiliar with Forza's gameplay and wasn't sure).

Didn't care one bit about the Xbone X. It's far too expensive for marginal improvements. Saving the price for the end was cowardly. Rhetorically, I suppose it was meant to showcase that what I saw would be worth 500, but it absolutely wasn't.
 
B

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Power Shot said:
Our main issue was that there were too many announcement trailers, so for a ton of games we literally had no idea how they would play, which was very frustrating. We thought Sea of Thieves was fun, but we trusted absolutely none of the 'gameplay' footage.
Click to expand...
I think Metro seems like the biggest offender. I doubt you will be able to recreate that playthrough at home. It seems very scripted and didn't look systemic.

I can see how Sea of Thieves may be looked at as a concept piece but that to me looked very much like gameplay. It's just people running around and doing a small mission and also overacting at the enemies. Seems inspired by Minecraft where you're just fucking around in a world.
 
A

Agnostic Priest

Member
Thare are 2 paths moving forward:

1) they are pulling an early ps4 and relying on third party to carry the weight until a bunch of new games are ready to be announced.

2) they are relying on third party to carry the weight while their standard IPs release.

I hope for the first, but I generally play co-op third party games so I'm happy with the One X.
 
intheinbetween

intheinbetween

Member
Agnostic Priest said:
Thare are 2 paths moving forward:

1) they are pulling an early ps4 and relying on third party to carry the weight until a bunch of new games are ready to be announced.

2) they are relying on third party to carry the weight while their standard IPs release.

I hope for the first, but I generally play co-op third party games so I'm happy with the One X.
Click to expand...

my bet is the first option too, as Spencer said they learnt their lesson and won't be announcing games way ahead of its release date, so I understand why they didn't show anything which won't be coming for a year long time
 
P

Podge293

Member
Why are people shocked that MS don't have a X1X exclusive game? The message they've always had is that it'll play on the original Xbox one but better on the new Xbox one.

Yeah the price is a high price point but they've always had the message that it's a premium console at a premium price. Yesterday confirmed their statements.

Wasn't a fan of the whole forza thing but it seems that's what MS kinda always do with forza
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
Agnostic Priest said:
Thare are 2 paths moving forward:

1) they are pulling an early ps4 and relying on third party to carry the weight until a bunch of new games are ready to be announced.

2) they are relying on third party to carry the weight while their standard IPs release.

I hope for the first, but I generally play co-op third party games so I'm happy with the One X.
Click to expand...

There's a few problems with this approach. There's no guarantee people will still care about the IP they've been relying on so hard this generation, in the next gen. You can already see that in the amount of mindshare that games like Gears, Forza, and Halo can barely manage to string together. The fact that they may go an entire gen without establishing a brand new, big first party IP is kind of crazy.

Secondly, unless a new studio has been quietly built below the radar, I just don't know where the next big cool thing is going to come from. They've burned so many bridges as a publishing house with all of the closures and cancellations, that I'm not sure who would even come to the table that's a major player and would garner hype and confidence.
 
B

BananasWithGuns

Member
Yeah, seems like Microsoft got let off the hook a bit for their first party situation. It's fortunate for them but they really need to start bolstering their portfolio.
 
H

Hatefilled Vengeance

Member
Yeah, I feel way better about the MS conference now. That Sony show was pretty awful. Still wish MS would've announced something though. Even just more content for Killer Instinct or ReCore 2 would've went a long way for me.
 
M

Mauddib

Banned
BananasWithGuns said:
Yeah, seems like Microsoft got let off the hook a bit for their first party situation. It's fortunate for them but they really need to start bolstering their portfolio.
Click to expand...

Man honestly I'm so sick and tired of being dicked around by Spencer. He keeps talking about how he understands how important it is to invest in First Party and after the shitty reception he gets after his E3 showing he says the same shit about wanting to invest in First Party. But they don't. They've been so fucking disappointing in that regards.

He just needs to be honest with his fanbase and explain what his vision for the console is instead of constantly letting the fanbase down. His vision clearly has no room for First Party expansion, yet he keeps harping on about wanting to do just that. It's gotten to the point of insanity.
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
Yup. MS look better now in some ways but and this is a big fucking but:

MS needed something like God of War or Spider Man to showcase their monster console.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
CalamityPixel said:
God damn after the Sony conference the MS one seems much better.

It's not been a good E3 so far. Save ne Ninty.
Click to expand...

Nothing has changed for me. The MS conference was a good showcase for games but it did not achieve the goal on selling me on a X or even a S. With $399 they could have gained a lot of momentum against Sony with their conference, though. Sony did a better job of selling VR today than MS did with the X yesterday.
 
R

RedRum

Banned
I'd say the conferences were pretty even, but I'll give the edge to MS only because MS had more release dates for big titles, LoL.
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Mauddib said:
Man honestly I'm so sick and tired of being dicked around by Spencer. He keeps talking about how he understands how important it is to invest in First Party and after the shitty reception he gets after his E3 showing he says the same shit about wanting to invest in First Party. But they don't. They've been so fucking disappointing in that regards.

He just needs to be honest with his fanbase and explain what his vision for the console is instead of constantly letting the fanbase down. His vision clearly has no room for First Party expansion, yet he keeps harping on about wanting to do just that. It's gotten to the point of insanity.
Click to expand...

Dude... not sure if you've been noticing but the industry is dying.

Games are now megaprojects and investing in first party isn't throwing $5 million and popping up a potential game of the year 6 months later.

Now it's throwing $50-100 million at something and having it be made in 3-4 years being focus grouped into hell.

Sony's games were pretty much all very expensive B games, mechanically speaking. We're valuing graphics at the expense of gameplay. No risks are being taken.

The entire industry needs to take a step back.
 
L

Lom1lo

Member
Hado said:
Seems kinda crazy since everybody thought Sony would definitely win after MS conference ended. Now people are not so sure anymore lmao.
Click to expand...
Nah sony won easily but the ms conference does look a bit better now. Got lucky that Sony didnt announce something new besides the sotc Remake.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
DopeyFish said:
Dude... not sure if you've been noticing but the industry is dying.

Games are now megaprojects and investing in first party isn't throwing $5 million and popping up a potential game of the year 6 months later.

Now it's throwing $50-100 million at something and having it be made in 3-4 years being focus grouped into hell.

Sony's games were pretty much all very expensive B games, mechanically speaking. We're valuing graphics at the expense of gameplay. No risks are being taken.

The entire industry needs to take a step back.
Click to expand...

WTF is an "A game (mechanically speaking)"?
 
B

BananasWithGuns

Member
Mauddib said:
Man honestly I'm so sick and tired of being dicked around by Spencer. He keeps talking about how he understands how important it is to invest in First Party and after the shitty reception he gets after his E3 showing he says the same shit about wanting to invest in First Party. But they don't. They've been so fucking disappointing in that regards.

He just needs to be honest with his fanbase and explain what his vision for the console is instead of constantly letting the fanbase down. His vision clearly has no room for First Party expansion, yet he keeps harping on about wanting to do just that. It's gotten to the point of insanity.
Click to expand...

I'm willing to give it more time. He took over in 2014 and reshuffled first party in 2016. If they have next to nothing to show in 2018 and 2019 outside of Halo and Gears then I think the situation is definitely hopeless at that point.
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
kadotsu said:
WTF is an "A game (mechanically speaking)"?
Click to expand...

Well, if you were to strip away all graphics and all awe, can the mechanics of your game stand as a top tier game? Is the game fun without the experience or does it depend on the experience? Probably not. A lot of these things are like interactive movies.

I'm constantly reminded of this one thread on GAF when this guy from Bethesda asked everyone to make a one sheet (which is how you initially propose a game). Everyone immediately offered descriptions of game mechanics. The dude didn't want mechanics, he wanted story. He wanted setting. Something to sell. This is what is wrong with the industry.

Indie and multiplayer games are the only things keeping everything from becoming completely sterile.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
DopeyFish said:
Well, if you were to strip away all graphics and all awe, can the mechanics of your game stand as a top tier game? Is the game fun without the experience or does it depend on the experience? Probably not. A lot of these things are like interactive movies.

I'm constantly reminded of this one thread on GAF when this guy from Bethesda asked everyone to make a one sheet (which is how you initially propose a game). Everyone immediately offered descriptions of game mechanics. The dude didn't want mechanics, he wanted story. He wanted setting. Something to sell. This is what is wrong with the industry.

Indie and multiplayer games are the only things keeping everything from becoming completely sterile.
Click to expand...

If you strip away enough from any game it will become flat and mediocre. Strip the style from Ashen and you have a C-Grade carbon copy of early Souls game. PUBG is just a minor refinement of H1Z1: King of the Kill. 99% of MP are just "shitty" combat arenas with some bars to fill.

All of what I said is of course bullshit because a game is more than a fucking GDD and the sum of its parts. In the same way your truisms about indie/mp games being the true diverse part of the industry is BS. Indie games follow trends (rogue, narrative adventure etc.) just as much as AAA does (ubigame).
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
kadotsu said:
If you strip away enough from any game it will become flat and mediocre. Strip the style from Ashen and you have a C-Grade carbon copy of early Souls game. PUBG is just a minor refinement of H1Z1: King of the Kill. 99% of MP are just "shitty" combat arenas with some bars to fill.

All of what I said is of course bullshit because a game is more than a fucking GDD and the sum of its parts. In the same way your truisms about indie/mp games being the true diverse part of the industry is BS. Indie games follow trends (rogue, narrative adventure etc.) just as much as AAA does (ubigame).
Click to expand...

Strip away the graphics from counter-strike and you still have a great game.

Strip away the graphics from geometry wars, you still have a great game.

I could name a lot of games where they'd survive. But... a lot of games being announced these days have pretty lousy mechanics. You'd have a difficult time disputing this.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
DopeyFish said:
Strip away the graphics from counter-strike and you still have a great game.

Strip away the graphics from geometry wars, you still have a great game.

I could name a lot of games where they'd survive. But... a lot of games being announced these days have pretty lousy mechanics. You'd have a difficult time disputing this.
Click to expand...

Make Horizon a PS1 game and you still have excellent Monster Hunts.
Make P5 a NES game and you still have a great turn based system with a nice life simulation layer.

Many games survive the stripping away easily because that argument is complete bullshit.
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
kadotsu said:
Make Horizon a PS1 game and you still have excellent Monster Hunts.
Make P5 a NES game and you still have a great turn based system with a nice life simulation layer.

Many games survive the stripping away easily because that argument is complete bullshit.
Click to expand...

Horizon isn't a good game.

Never played P5 so can't comment.

Bleh. Now people defend the garbage we're given.
 
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