Xbox E3 2013 Conference Run-down

(This will be updated as trailers and screens become available.)
Look for the BOLD for video game title announcements.

Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain
• New cinematic trailer with gameplay
• Open world MGS
• Various modes of stealth
• Various modes of transportation (including a horse!)
• One of the locations it takes place in is Afghanistan
• Context-sensitive Close Quarter Combat
• And a new cast of characters, including the villainous Ghost Face

Kojima comes on stage (briefly) to discuss Metal Gear.

Yusuf Mehdi for the Xbox 360 news

Redesigned 360 model to fit with the Xbox One design, available in US today!
• Xbox LIVE Gold members receive two free games every month from July 2013 until One’s release (starting with Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3)

World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition revealed with trailer.
• Team-based 15-on-15 multiplayer
• Adapted and tailored for 360
• Free-to-play with Gold membership this Summer

Yusuf Mehdi for two new upcoming titles for 360

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
• Physics-based platformer
• You “draw” things like water and vines to help (method of input not explained)

Dark Souls 2

Xbox One time!

Ryse: Son of Rome trailered
• Gameplay!
• Third-person action game (used to be a first-person Kinect title)
• Rome’s version of the beaches of Normandy
• Very cinematic, a la Call of Duty
• Violent, bloody melee combat
• Quick-time executions
• You and your soldiers form into a phalanx to block incoming archery fire. Looks cool, but it’s probably context-sensitive
• Oop, an “In Interest of Time” skip
• Some poor guy just got “This is Sparta!” kicked off a tower.
• You can call in archery fire from your own side
• Lots of limbs flying…
• LOTS of warriors on screen at once

Cevat Yerli comes on-stage to discuss Ryse.
• Uses the CryEngine
• Xbox One-exclusive launch title

Killer Instinct, exclusive for Xbox One

Ted Price to discuss an Insomniac Games exclusive for Xbox One

Sunset Overdrive
• Open-world game (“living-world game”) uses cloud to change game daily
• Trailer
• Very stylized
• Multiplayer
• Looks off-the-wall fun (if the trailer is anything to go off of)

Forza Motorsport 5
• One of only two-in-the-world cazrs appears on-stage
• “Signals the beginning of a new era”
• More than polycount and resolution
• Trying to make the world as real as possible
• True innovation using the always-on connection and cloud
• A “learning agent” to replace traditional AI
• Called “drivatar”
• Played on-stage
• Your Drivatar learns your driving style, racing against other players online in their games without your input or theirs
• New trailer shown using all in-game footage

No one has been more supportive of indie developers than Microsoft (I don’t know about that…)

Lots of taglines and market-speak. …More games!

Minecraft: Xbox One Edition

Sam Lake from Remedy talking about Quantum Break
• A live-action show tied into the game
• Real-time gameplay footage time
• Protagonist was a part of a failed science experiment
• Had a “Is this real people or gameplay?” moment. Nice!

D4 revealed
• Episodic murder mystery
• Neat comic-book style graphics

Dave McCarthy for Microsoft Game Studios to reveal Project Spark, for Xbox One and Windows 8
• Make your own games
• Voice commands, SmartGlass
• You build the world, events, towns, item and character behaviors, enemies
• Shows off what other people have made using the engine

Marc Whitten to discuss the Xbox architecture and LIVE
• Next-gen SmartGlass features shown off using Ryse, including starting a game, buying add-ons, and even viewing DVR content friends have made
• SmartMatch lets a game’s multiplayer be queued up while playing another game and let’s you switch seamlessly when your match is ready
• Killer Instinct match!
• Games are automatically recorded using the DVR and edited and uploaded using the new Upload Studio.
• Using Twitch, you can live-stream games and live-chat with viewers

No more MSP

Gold benefits shared with Family

Crimson Dragon for Xbox One
• …Sound issues
• The spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon
• Was originally announced as a Xbox 360 Kinect title (a demo was even released in Japan, which I tried out)

Dead Rising 3
• Open-world zombie game with no load times and massive amounts of zombies
• You play as Nick Ramos in Los Perdidos, California
• Still can grab anything and everything as a weapon
• You can use SmartGlass to help, including calling in artillery fire
• Exclusively for Xbox One this holiday

John Mamais for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• 100s of hours of gameplay
• Voice commands to help during gameplay
• Can use SmartGlass to handle inventory and leveling up
• First-time gameplay footage
• Dynamic and tactical combat

DICE take the stage for Frostbite 3 and Battlefield 4
• Uncut gameplay at 60 frames per second
• …Technical difficulties
• Ok, there we go
• Lots of destruction and scripted events
• Reminds me of the Black Ops gameplay demo from years back…
• The first map pack will be released on Xbox One first

Below announced

Halo (Xbox One) trailered; coming in 2014
• Not titled “5” yet

Prices revealed and a Nov 2013 release
• US: $499.99
• UK: £429.99

Titanfall, Respawn’s first game, revealed as an Xbox One exclusive
• Looks like futuristic Call of Duty with mechs (in other words, awesome)