This year's E3 is Phil Spencer's first one as the new Head of Xbox. Microsoft had already made a few announcement prior to the conference, such as a Kinectless Xbox at $100 less.
This year, Spencer started off the show from the stage (on the floor) by telling us the entire press conference would be dedicated to games. He definitely wasn't lying!
Games Announced at Microsoft's E3 2014
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Sledge Hammer's first go at the Call of Duty franchise will be Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. A demo was shown , it began with a group of soldiers being dropped into a South Korean city in the midst of a battle. The game was filled with future weapons and crazy robots. It seems a dash has been added to be able to move around faster as well. A surprising amount of time was given to the game and Microsoft seems to still be invested in the franchise with Xbox still getting DLC first.
Announced to be released September 30th. Set in Southern Europe, the game seems to be following in the foot steps of the first one presented with a short trailer.
The game is made by Turtle Rock the people behind Left 4 Dead. They only showed a short trailer highlighting the classes and Monsters.
Assassins Creed Unity
Set during the French Revolution, it was announced you will be able to create your own brotherhood on Xbox Live, and able to play co-op online. We saw the four assassins run around Paris inciting riots and sneaking through a luscious French Palace, throwing an aristocrat into the angry mob only to be beheaded at the end!
A trailer was shown that showed a lot of different environments. The visuals looks impressive, and the release date given was October 7th. We're sure more will be revealed at the EA press conference.
Insomniac, initially known for their Sony exclusives will be releasing Sunset Overdrive only on Xbox. The trailer had a rebellious comedic attitude, and Ted Price then came out and gave a demo of the game. The main character was shown jumping around an amusement park fighting mutants with the Insomniac trade mark of crazy weapons, making the game seem like a mix of Dead Rising and Jet Set Radio.
An eight player game type was also announced, with October 28th given as the release date.
A bizarre trailer with all the past characters with all the craziness that could be imagined going on, plus a super long name that is somewhat reminiscent of Far Cry 3's Blood Dragon.
Fantasia Music Evolved & Dance Central Spotlight
The two games were only given a quick spot. Not much info other than a new Dance Central game, Dance Central Spotlight.
The classic quirkiness of the Fable series was shown in a demo as four players fought there way through a forest filed with monsters. All the heroes had unique abilities and seem to play deferentially. It was also showed some of the villain that a player is able to control, making you able to control enemies and the heroes make their way through the level - Beta coming in the Fall.
A trailer was shown as they tried to show more of the games power that allows users to create there own unique games. They introduced something called galaxies that showed a space setting. At the very end they showed us anew Conkers game would be coming only on Project Spark.
Halo The Master Chief Collection
We were shown a redone section of Halo 2 as Master chief flew through space. A spokesman from 343 came onto the stage to announce the Master Chief Collection, which includes the previous 4 Halo games (Not Reach or ODST), and it will have all of the original Multiplayer Maps included as well! Out November 11th this year, the game will include Halo NightFall, which is a a show that will lead into Halo 5.
Play dead known for Limbo have a new game coming Early 2015. It is a side scroller in a very monotone world.
Indie Games
Microsoft showed a lot of indie games including Mighty 9, Massive Chalice, Three's and a lot more all coming to Xbox One.
A Lara struggling with handling what happened in the last game was shown in a trailer.
Gameplay of the game was shown in a sequence with Geralt tracking a monster. The world looks incredible, as this one will be open world. Combat was also shown, it seems to be built of the the last game and the hunting missions are said to intersect with other quests, allowing you to follow the beast. Quickly do a quest then go back to tracking your prey, the open world concept will allow you to choose your path.
Ken Lobb announced a reboot on the Xbox Original Phantom Dust. Only a trailer was shown with the tag line " The battle for reality begins"
The first gameplay shown since last years E3. In the demo, the players walked through an abandoned underground train station. It escalated into a shootout as the players worked together fighting the enemies. Not much new was shown, they did say coming 2015.
Platinum showed a new exclusive on Xbox One. The trailer showed a character in between two giant monster as they fought. Not much else was revealed.
It's been a while since the last game and Crackdown 2 was a far cry from the greatness of the first one. It seems to be in a new city, we see different character working together to take down a building. It seems to be emphasizing destruction.
Phil Spencer ended the conference in a surprisingly humble way. He thanked gamers for letting their voices be heard and the entire show was dedicated to games. It seems that other announcements were made before the conference to get them out of the way, allowing them to only show games this year. It was a positive year for Microsoft with a lot of the games shown being out this year.
What did you think of the Microsoft Conference? Did it suprise you?
