Microsoft had a real good showing at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. There was plenty to see and not much in the way of anything that felt like padding. Starfield started things off, and I’m honestly interested to see how this one pans out. It’s a sci-fi styled game, so it holds a lot more pull for me than either Elder Scrolls or Fallout. It hopefully will offer the same sort of exploration as those series.
Bethesda started the show, and also ended it. After the greatest reveal from the showcase for me, Arkane’s new game Redfall got revealed. Another 2022 release, this one is pretty much Left 4 Dead but with vampires instead of zombies. I enjoyed the trailer for it, but I’m not entirely sure I can get invested with something that is exclusively co-op. Something that was a pretty great surprise was a Disney crossover in Sea of Thieves. I mean, it was kind of inevitable something like it might have happened, but now it has. Pirates of the Caribbean brings Captain Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones into the world of Sea of Thieves for a new storyline that’s sure to be a lot of fun. I’ve yet to complete one of the tall tales of the game, which is what this new storyline will be told through, but they can be completed solo, so I’ll certainly be trying a few out in preparation for this.
0 Comments
There’s no doubt in my mind that Microsoft don’t really care whether you buy a Series X or not. With xCloud set to release in September and become a part of the Game Pass Ultimate subscription, Microsoft are set on gearing Game Pass as the number one place to be for anyone interested in the Xbox ecosystem. xCloud will make that access even easier, since you’ll no longer need to buy a console to join in.
That’s not to say Microsoft aren’t interested in selling consoles, but their intent is to give people choice in where they play. And that also includes Windows 10 PCs, with xCloud currently in testing for the OS. Such means you won’t even need a gaming rig to play the wealth of games supported on Game Pass. Why would I be talking about this, though, when the article’s about the latest showing of games from Microsoft? It's all connected with Game Pass, with every game shown at the Games Showcase coming to the service at launch. That means new Rare game Everwild, Obsidian’s new game Avowed, and even third party hits such as Tetris Effect. There were plenty of games shown off, with a few new announcements shown off during the Summer Games Fest pre-show. The idea of seeing gameplay of some of the first games of the next generation is an attractive proposition, and this Inside Xbox was said to do just that. I’m… not entirely sure how much of what we saw was gameplay, but most of it was said to be in-engine. The trailers looked great, as always, but it does feel that seeing the differences between the generations can no longer be just in the graphics alone.
That is where the gameplay should have been used to showcase such differences. Showing the AI improvements, the greater worlds that can be built, the speed of getting into games, and the other improvements that moving a new generation can bring. However, we do know of a number of games that will be coming to the Series X thanks to this Inside Xbox. Largest Inside Xbox ever, eh? I can get behind that. A lot of announcements for things and trailers shown – even if there wasn’t the explosion of new reveals that some hoped for.
There were a lot of Game Pass announcements. Sixteen, in fact. I’m not going to list them all, but Supermarket Shriek looked fun, and I might try out a few of the others. Thief of Thieves is already on the service, so I can certainly see myself going for it. I admittedly haven’t been as active in trying out stuff recently, owing to a lot of Forza Horizon in the past month. I’m back again with my Xbox experiences, and this time it is all focused on the Xbox One. This is the machine that really accelerated my respect of the Xbox brand and allowed me to try a lot more of the first party lineup. However, at no point between 2013 and 2015 had I ever thought I’d be interested in getting one.
In 2013, I’d covered the Xbox One reveal conference and felt the One was unimpressive from what was shown, making note of the fact that E3 really needed to be great for them otherwise the One would be the losing console of the three – which is saying something considering we know how things turned out. I’ve said before that my Xbox history has been determined by Forza, and that is certainly true. It’s been just over six years since first joining the Xbox family, and I’ve had some great experiences over the years – with the Forza series being the starting point for both consoles. This first part will be giving my experiences from the 360, with the second giving those of the One.
When I first got my hands on the Xbox 360, I did make a first impressions post where I covered in brief about playing Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures, as well as Forza Motorsport 4. Aside from that post, the only other time I’d be mentioning Xbox would be during E3. Only recently have I started really covering some of the experiences I’ve had on Xbox. So just like I covered a year of Switch, this post is covering my experiences of gaming on Xbox. But more personal. Now then. I've just been sat for an hour watching the conference. Stepping up first was Don Mattrick to introduce us to the concept and the day. But before this was a trailer of people from Microsoft basically saying "We're changing gaming again." I beg to differ.
So Don Mattrick steps up to the stage, talks a bit about how the original Xbox came to be, introduction of Live, then the release of the Xbox 360 [X360] and an improvement of the Live services. At this precise point everyone knows what is now coming. He didn't half big it up though. I have been playing around with the Windows 8 Release Preview for some weeks now. During that time, I have also read other reviews from other websites. Most have been criticising of this new OS, but I think it is great. A new step up from the old.
Starting with the installation, it is fast and simple. Once it has loaded all the files necessary for installation, it will progress, taking roughly twenty minutes. Once it boots up again, it will ask for your colour and a PC name. Do this, and then it is to the next part of setting up an internet connection. Again, simple. |
Categories
All
|