Microsoft
Microsoft started off the festivities with their press conference, and they needed to make a splash. Last year was marred with bad planning, pandering to investors as opposed to gamers, and was finally finished with Sony making a fool out of them in their press conference. The pressure was on for them to come out swinging before being relegated to the position of secondary system for the new generation.
Chaz: Microsoft had to come out swinging and they hit every note they had to. Everything was about games this year. Not hardware, not videos or movies, just games. Between Halo, Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon 2, they showed a renewed interest in the medium, and they did everything I personally was looking for to make me feel like they wanted the system to succeed.
Chad: Thankfully, they didn’t focus on TV since people just weren’t all that interested in it last year. They really needed to show the games and talk about the future, because gamers only really care about one thing: What they can do with their controller or their body. Preferably their controller, though.
Chaz: That’s one of the reasons they just dropped the Kinect from the standard bundle; no one seemed to really care about the body thing. But everything here just seemed… well done. I saw enough for me to feel that I was watching a company that has my best interests in mind. It’s too early to tell, but they could have easily stolen the show.
Chad: I agree. They did a really good job. They didn’t blow me away, but I was very content with it.
Chaz: What didn’t blow you away, what else were you looking for?
Chad: Some of the games were just a bit too multiplayer focused for me, being more of the anti-social gamer. I would have preferred more focus on the single player with more structured campaigns without having to invite people in all the time. Forza Horizons 2 looks great, even though it has some multiplayer focus. Sunset Overdrive looks a bit too scripted for me, but hopefully I’ll be wrong. Fable Legends just looks outright bad from initial impressions.
Chaz: Ehhhh… Sunset Overdrive is Mirror’s Edge meets Tony Hawk meets Dead Rising, which is a sentence that isn’t just fun to say, but gives me some hope in the project.
FINAL GRADE
Chaz: Everything being said, I’m pretty happy. I’m going to give it an A-. There was enough here for me to feel solid about everything in play.
Chad: I’m going to give it a B. I think they did ok, but they could have done better.
Next up: Ubisoft