Monday, June 10, 2013

Microsoft's E3: The Xbox One: My Impressions

Well, that was probably the most crushingly disappointing E3 conference I have ever seen.  Don't get me wrong, the games they showed were mostly OK.  What killed this conference for me was about 30 seconds.

$499 at launch (or $499 in many other currencies).  There is only one way I would purchase one now (winning the lottery).  I would have pre-ordered one at $399.  I don't see a price drop happening until 2015 at the earliest either.  I guess that suggests that Sony's machine is probably in the same ballpark (have competing consoles ever got together and fixed launch prices?)   

For the first time in a while, maybe i'll watch the Sony conference. 

There was one game on the Xbox 360 that interested me; Max: The Curse of Brotherhood (though it will probably be a downloadable title at $20).  It is interesting that Gold (starting in July was it) will get two free downloadable games a month (Assassin's Creed 2 and Halo 3 the first month - but I have both of them).

Ok how about the games shown:
* Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain: an MGS game, not really my things (as I detest stealth).  It looked OK. 

* Ryse: Son of Rome (EXC): this was a little disappointing to me.  It looked like it was a hack and slash action game with an overabundance of timed button presses (I guess mostly finishers, blocks, etc.)

* Killer Instinct (EXC): not really interested.  i'm not sure if it is a retail title or downloadable (probable). 

Edit: apparently Killer Instinct is a free to play downloadable game (the Jago character free, the rest you have to pay for).  There were originally 11 characters in the original (and 4 more in the sequel).  I may be wrong, but I assume this is essentially a $20-25 downloadable game (with all characters not a full sized $60 game).  In other words, I believe that the characters will probably go for about $2-3 each (speculation).    

* Sunset Overdrive (EXC): the exclusive from Insomniac.  It actually looks like the most interesting shooter they showed (to me anyway).

* Forza 5 (EXC): maybe the price of the console would be reasonable by the time I actually finish all the races in Forza 4.  Ok, Forza 5 looks nice.  They added a kind of cloud drivatar thing (not the drivatar again, see Forza 1).  Apparently your drivatar can get you in game credits when you are not playing (by doing races)

* Minecraft Xbox One Edition: I've never played Minecraft.  If the price of the retail copy drops to $15 I might.  This just looks like a port from the 360 maybe it has more features, maybe it doesn't.

* Quantum Break (EXC): this game is still the most interesting Xbox One game to me. 

* D4: I would like to see more information on this game.  It seems to be a cell shaded action game of some sort. 

* Project Spark( EXC): I see this game as Kodu (indie games I think) on steroids.  You can build worlds and set up conditions.  Then people can tweak you designs online.  I have absolutely zero interest in this type of "game".

edit: Project Spark is supposed to be a free download Not disk based game for Xbox One, Windows 8 and Xbox 360.  free is good. 

* Crimson Dragon (EXC): this game has taken a while.  Basically it is a spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon Orta and seems to be a flying dragon game.

* Dead Rising 3 (EXC):  a zombie game from Capcom Vancouver.  I guess it would look a lot like the previous two if you've played them (I haven't)

* Witcher 3:  The Wild Hunt: the sequel to Witcher 2 (mature action-rpg).  It looks more open world (i'm not sure that is a good thing) and suggests over 100 hours of gameplay.  It added voice commands and SmartGlass for the Xbox One. 

* Battlefield 4: maybe this was a sign of impending doom when the video/demo they were trying to do would not load twice (the third time was the charm).  It is another FPS

*  What Lies Below: this seems to be an indie game from Capy.  I am not sure exactly what type of game this is or if it is the semi-Minecraft vein.  It looks like a downloadable title (XBLA)

* Untitled Black Tusk Game: from the very little they showed, this game could have promise.  It looks like an action game

* Halo: I think the trailer looked pretty good (a desert with a cloaked figure, who happened to be Master Chief).  This isn't coming until 2014 and maybe just be Halo 5 on the Xbox One

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