E3 2016: Microsoft – What to expect!?

It’s that time of the year, time to get excited about video games a little more than usual, yes E3 approaches and with it comes the flurry and fanfare of fan boys dribbling with anticipation for the next big thing to be announced. I am like you – also dribbling with anticipation, the difference is, is my beard soaks up most of the dribble so you can’t see it, but I…uhh, I digress… Let’s get back on track shall we!

What am I hoping for/expecting to see at this year’s Microsoft E3 press conference.

There has been a lot of talk of new consoles coming along and it’s still a little unclear whether this is actually going to happen, but I think it will. I’m not entirely sure what it’s going to be, but I would put a small amount of money on it being a new ‘upgraded’ version of the Xbox One, something a little more powerful and maybe even a little smaller. Honestly I’m not really looking forward to this though. I think to release a new, better console so soon after the ‘Next Gen’ kicked off is a bit of a dick move – same goes for you Sony, and I can’t see me buying in to  it unless it’s a really, really good deal.

Sea of Thieves is a game I’m quietly looking forward too and I expect to see a little bit more of the Xbox One (console) exclusive during Microsoft talk. The open world, multiplayer, pirate adventure game sounds very intriguing and hopefully we will get a good look at some gameplay and potentially get to hear a release date too.

A lot of details for the game are still unknown and it would be good to get a clearer understanding of what we actually do in this game. Right now, it kind of sounds a bit like Rust, but with quests and stuff. The idea of sailing around with my buddies on a pirate ship searching for treasure sounds awesome!

ReCore – The first trailer shown off last year for ReCore looked really good, but it’s been silent ever since. E3 this year would be a good time for us to hear a bit more and maybe see some actual gameplay for it too. Like Sea of Thieves, we don’t really know much about the game and I really want to know more.

I’m not even 100% sure what kind of game it is, I’m guessing it will be an action adventure style game, with puzzles to solve throughout. Actually I kind of think it might be a little bit like a Tomb Raider game, but in a fantasy world – which I’m all for by the way.

Gears of War 4. There is no way this conference is going to go by without some mention of this game. I fully expect to see some more campaign gameplay shown off with a solid release date announced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3f8VgQ_dqk

This iteration introduces us to an entirely new cast of characters, including Fenix junior. But with such big shoes – both figuratively and literally, to fill, it will take something special to top the original Gears cast. I seriously hope they do though.

Last year’s E3 left us with a nice little teaser for Halo Wars 2 and I’ve no doubt that it will be popping up once again. Again, I’d imagine we shall see some gameplay from it too.

Halo Wars seems to be a bit of a cult hit, it never really felt like it sold that well, but people do seem to love it – me included. Also the Xbox One is crying out for some more RTS style games. The RTS genre doesn’t always seem to work all that well on consoles mainly because it just suits mouse and keyboard, but the original Halo Wars did a really good job of making it work, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the new game can bring to the new console.

Personally I feel like the new Halo Wars game could move away from a the more traditional format of RTS games and become something of a grand strategy game. I would love to see players able to travel to new worlds to create, develop and defend new cities or colonies.

Moving away from games for a second, there is doubt that we will be hearing more about the universal platform of Windows 10 gaming and apps. I expect to hear cross play announcements and maybe some kind of dual licencing like Quantum Break. I would also imagine that we shall be seeing more of the HoloLens.

With VR gaming kicking off and seemingly doing pretty well it would be a good chance for Microsoft to generate some more hype for the Lens. It will be interesting to see if we get an idea on pricing and what that might be. Personally VR gaming is a bit steep for me, but I am a lot more interested in it than I initially thought I would be. I can’t really see the HoloLens being cheaper than any of the VR sets, but never know!

There is still a lot of room for the ID@xobx games to be showcased and I’d imagine there will also be a new string of games announced for the Game Preview program – DayZ? We know the console port is being worked on and that .60 is being tested, so who knows… To be honest, I don’t really expect it’s going to happen, but if it did and it was announced that it was being released there and then, that would be a pretty big bomb – especailly seeing as it was meant to be hitting PS4 first. I also remember hearing that they Bohemia would be showing the game at E3… It’s very possible that they will just pop up in the PC conference, but stranger things have happened!

I’m also really hoping to see more of Below. It’s been on my radar for such a long time and now we finally know it’s going to get a release this summer, so I really, really hope we get a nailed on date.

Are we going to close on a Halo 6 announcement? I don’t think that would be too unrealistic to expect that to happen. It seems that Halo 5 managed to split opinions a bit. Some loved it, some not so much. I don’t think people were too keen on the split between Team Locke and Team Chief, people wanted more Chief. I don’t think the format will be changing too much for future Halo games, but I do see Chief taking a bigger role the deeper we go, I mean, the game is basically all about him – he’s the star! Maybe Chief and Locke will work together eventually?

Whatever Halo 6 may look like, I think we will be seeing it this year.

There are a number of other games that I’m expecting to pop up like Battlefield 1, Mass Effect Andromeda etc… but I don’t really see much of a focus being put on them especially with EA having their own conference to showcase those games.

I think it’s a fair assumption to say that most of the games I’ve mentioned above will make an appearance. But surely there will be some new games announced too! But what?

What announcements are you hoping to see this year?

-Will