Microsoft took to E3 with a focus on what makes the Xbox pipeline special: games. Specifically, Microsoft showcased a whopping 42 games with more than 20 exclusive to Microsoft products.
While we certainly can’t get into every detail here, there are a few announcements that stand out, starting with the show closer: EA and BioWare’s newest IP.
Anthem sets the stage for a Destiny competitor
To say BioWare’s Anthem is anything like Destiny might be a bit far-fetched. Anthem is a third-person shooter, for starters, but it’s collaborative environment resembles Destiny in a lot of ways.
For one, it looks like humanity has evolved quite a bit, but evolution has been met with a lot of speed bumps. And players have to work together to explore caverns and defeat beasts, almost in a Destiny fire team scenario.
Little is still known about Anthem because it was really just showcased today. But it looks very promising, and if it plays anything like a BioWare-influenced Destiny, we are quite excited to get our hands on the game.
Crackdown 3 launches this fall with Terry Crews
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_9fG8hPCi0
Crackdown 3 finally has a release date: Nov. 7, 2017. The game uses cloud computing technology to make its environments much more vibrant and its destruction more impactful.
The game looks like everything you’d expect from the series, but with the advancements available in current generation consoles.
It also stars Terry Crews, which gives the arcade sandbox an arcade-worthy personality. It looks great, and we’re pretty excited to see how cloud computing can be used to make a game more immersive.
Xbox Originals are coming to Xbox One
The moment Microsoft announced that Xbox Originals were coming was kind of strange for me. I was talking to a friend about how I didn’t care too much about backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games.
The idea was that there aren’t enough games on the Xbox 360 that I have to play on Xbox One, especially because an Xbox 360 doesn’t take up a lot of space. But then they announced Xbox Originals were coming to Xbox One and I was very excited.
The Xbox changes gaming for me, and I look forward to playing Halo 2 in its original glory with friends again. It’s even more exciting that the game will be enhanced for Xbox One and Xbox One X.
Scorpio becomes Xbox One X
Project Scorpio finally has an official title: Xbox One X. While the name is kind of awkward (it almost sounds like Xbox One S), the console is fairly premium.
The hardware is unmatched by any console on the market — the CPU is liquid cooled, for one — and the design looks gorgeous. Games look great — with Microsoft demoing Forza 7 with incredible graphics and physics — and 4K is available to everybody.
Legacy titles will support Xbox One X in some capacity, whether it’s hardware-powered upscaling or developer-level software upgrades. We’re pretty pumped to get our hands on the Xbox One X when it launches on Nov. 7, 2017.
