The last couple of years have been a quiet success for Microsoft and their little black box. A slew of reasonable releases and an improved dashboard for the Xbox One have put it in a much stronger position than many predicted possible shortly after its launch.
To build on the goodwill generated over the last year, Phil Spencer and co need another strong showing like they did in 2014. However, since the cancellation of Scalebound, there have been rumblings that all is not well at Microsoft HQ.
With that in mind, let’s look at the various aces hiding up Big Spence’s sleeve:
Crackdown 3
The original Crackdown was that rare beast that combined tech-demo levels of graphical and computational swagger with a solid concept that was tremendously well executed. The second one had zombie monster things in for some reason but it was still great fun. Crackdown 3 aims to return to the original formula as the official website promises:
“Stop crime as a super-powered Agent of justice in Crackdown 3’s hyper-powered sandbox of mayhem and destruction. Explore the heights of a futuristic city, race through the streets in a transforming vehicle, and use your powerful abilities to stop a ruthless criminal empire. Developed by original creator Dave Jones, Crackdown 3 delivers cooperative mayhem and an all-new multiplayer mode where destruction is your ultimate weapon powered by Microsoft Cloud.”
All sounds fairly promising till the bit about clouds.
Project Scorpio
Undoubtedly, the majority of Microsoft’s conference will be devoted to their new souped-up uber console. Designed to mix it with high end PCs, the Scorpio is a curious animal with many left wondering who the target audience is? Microsoft released the technical specs recently to much fawning but you can chat teraflops and 4K resolutions till you’re blue in the face; new tech lives or dies by how it’s presented.
Microsoft need to show this thing kicking all those high-end guts into gear to pull of something customers haven’t seen before or the Scorpio will be met with that most damning of tradeshow reactions; meh. I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll try and use VR to this end but VR is notoriously difficult to present with. Unless you’re the guy with the goofy goggles on, the impact is lost. The being said Microsoft did a good job of showing Hololens working with Minecraft a few years ago that wowed the crowd, so I expect them to go down this route again. Speaking of Minecraft…
Minecraft
Microsoft spent all of the money acquiring the rights to this insanely popular title and they are going to squeeze that stone for every drop of proverbial water. The latest trickle was a classroom edition of Minecraft so I expect this to feature heavily.
Windows 10
Despite launching a console to directly compete with high-end PCs, Microsoft never miss an opportunity to talk about how Windows 10 and gaming is the best coupling since bacon and eggs. The last big drop was ‘Play Anywhere’ a system that allowed you to purchase one copy of a game and it would work on both your Xbox One and your Windows 10 PC. At a Windows event recently, Microsoft showed off how Windows 10 can facilitate streaming, the new face of social gaming, so expect to see more of this.
New IP
Given the relative success of a handful of new IPS last year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft launch a new flagship franchise at their conference. The optimist in me would love to see a response to Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn; something with a bit of flair and originality. In all likelihood, however, it will be about burly space marines shooting baddies in the face.
Sea of Thieves
Sailing under the radar a little with only the odd update here and there from the development team at Rare, Sea of Thieves still looks extremely promising. Designed as a multiplayer pirate simulator, Sea of Thieves looks like it could be a tremendous amount of fun if the core mechanics can deliver on the games undoubtedly joyous premise.
Tomb Raider
Microsoft already confirmed that there would be no room for a Halo FPS or Gears of War announcement at E3 this year which I found a little extraordinary. It would be incredibly bold of them not to at least have one of those two primed and ready to go for when the crowd’s enthusiasm for whichever indie developer they’ve trotted out begins to palpably wain. The assumption I’ve made is that this means Tomb Raider, specifically ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ which was accidentally leaked last year.
Surprise – ReCore 2
You know they will. Microsoft can’t help themselves.
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