With E3 bringing about press conference season, I’m going to give you impressions and reactions to the major three press conferences happening during the event. So, to kick us off, here are reactions and impressions to the Xbox Media Briefing:
Good:
Games. Just Games.
This conference was all games. Not a single mention of Kinect, no messing about with SmartGlass or second screen interfaces, just tons and tons of games. The games that were shown were all good, most of them were expected but solid exclusives were dropped which will no doubt make everyone excited. I mean the Crackdown trailer was just a great way to finish. Scalebound, Inside and Ori and the Blind Forest all looked interesting and the things we did know about, like Halo 5: Guardians and Fable: Legends, all had a good showing. I mean, there was nothing there which really blew our socks off but everything that was shown looked really slick and made me want to buy an Xbox One. Microsoft are certainly not in a weak position anymore but if Sony pull out the big guns, they are still in trouble. And no Don Mattrick is always good.
Bad:
Too Much Teasing and the Dreaded Timed Exclusive.
That Conker tease made me livid. Too much of the second half of the show was pre-rendered teasing (which I can understand since the games are a while off) but still, I would have liked to see just a little bit of gameplay. Also, there was too much of the goddamn ‘exclusive content on Xbox’ spiel during too many of the games shown. I understand that you want to show off your exclusives but honestly, a timed exclusive deal for CoD: Advanced Warfare is not something to brag about. Focus more on the gameplay rather than swinging around the fact you got the Beta early. Also, 60 frames a second is not a selling point. It should be mandatory on most games.
Overall Rating:
Honestly, I can’t find too much to complain about for this conference. Microsoft learned from last year’s mistake of talking way too much about hardware nobody cared about, they brought the games and they kept the marketing spiel and the use of the word ‘experience’ to a minimum. I mean, the show was by no means mind-blowing, but it was a solid showing of games which displayed that Microsoft has got its head screwed on and is ready to get back into the game. Solid conference, a solid finish. Good on you Microsoft.
