E3 is one of The Best Parts of Being a Gamer.
E3 is the time every year when the gaming community stops and watches as the future is unveiled. Each year, publishers and developers surprise us, anger us, shock us, and make us excited for what’s ahead. Publishers always try to bring their A-game and win over the ever-skeptical gaming crowd.
While E3’s reveals are very unexpected, as last year has proven, I can still hope to make some sort of prediction as to what Microsoft will do. So I have gone into much thought about what the green giant is going to show us this year.
Hardware/Media and Entertainment
Microsoft, Ease off the TV please.
While the Xbox One has a wide range of possibilities for non-gaming usage, Microsoft knows that E3 is about the games. Microsoft will focus on media as little as possible, and will provide only the hardware coverage that is needed. Adding a horizontal split for snap, new features for upload studio, and more entertainment apps (HBO GO please) is what Microsoft would likely show.
Since they need to further justify the packed-in Kinect, Microsoft will add more voice commands, and use voice search in more apps such as YouTube. Microsoft will hopefully keep these announcements down to a minimum and give us the gaming information we have all been craving.
Games
Expect to see this spartan at one point.
Two things are very likely to happen at Microsoft’s E3 press conference: New Call of Duty gameplay, and some sort of Halo 5 coverage, whether it be another trailer or gameplay.
Showing Halo 5 gameplay would be a great way for Microsoft to start their games coverage, and following up with a trailer for Halo 2 Anniversary would further keep the good mojo going.
Microsoft will also show off some of the games from their ID@XBOX program, in order to further push their support of indie games. A full revamp of games with gold will be proclaimed, with better games on par for subscribers.
A Kinect game will be announced by Rare, who will then reveal a new Banjo-Kazooie for Xbox One. There will be a brief Sunset Overdrive gameplay demo, followed by a short Quantum Break gameplay trailer.
After all that, an onstage appearance by Phil Spencer, talking about the future of Xbox and all the things that will come ahead. To finish off the show, the auditorium will darken. Then, the ever familiar sound of a chainsaw penetrating skin and blood spurting will be heard. The Gears of War logo will appear, and the audience will break into thunderous applause.
Those are my predictions. If you have anything else to add, let me know in the comments.
Published: Apr 13, 2014 11:48 am