Our calendars are marked and the time between now and E3 is shortening with every day and it really isn’t long now until gamers are treated to the biggest gaming show in the industry. Both Microsoft and Sony had strong showing last year, with Microsoft announcing surprise features such as Backwards Compatibility and a whole range of new games. With an impressive showing last year, eyes are on the Redmond team to deliver again this year and here’s 5 things that would definitely going along way in helping Microsoft getting crowned the “winner” of E3 2016.
Original Xbox Backwards Compatibility
The original Xbox was released on November 15, 2001 in North America and was Microsoft’s first foray into the gaming console market. The sixth-generation console competed with Sony’s PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube. Microsoft had created a hardcore gaming console than would then go on to challenge and even beat the dominance of Sony’s PlayStation in the next generation. While the OG Xbox’s lifespan wasn’t all that long, there were a few gems that would be worth going back to for nostalgia’s sake. Games such as Phantom Dust, Conker, Shenmue 2, MechAssault, Jade Empire, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Project Gotham Racing, Ninja Gaiden, and many more would be a real treat to revisit on the Xbox One. While not exactly a ‘must have’ feature or even indeed a system-selling feature, it sure would be nice for those who still have a backlog of OG Xbox games and wish to pop them in to their latest Xbox console.
New Console Hardware
One gripe that some people have with the Xbox One is the weaker hardware specs compared to the PS4. This issue was even more pertinent at the start of the generation when the Xbox One launched a whole $100 more expensive than the PS4 with weaker specs. This led many to gravitate towards the PS4 due to the perceived power disparity (even though in reality it isn’t all that much) but perception is everything and the PS4 has enjoyed massive success as the ‘go to’ console this generation. There’s isn’t much the Xbox One can do to make up for this disparity, while DX12 may allow developers to get slightly more out of the hardware, it still remains static; no magic sauce or Azure clouds can change that. With rumours of a PS4K/ PS4 ‘Neo’ emerging (read more here) perhaps Microsoft should follow suit and release a more powerful version of the Xbox One. Phil Spencer has recently made some fairly contradictory comments on the possibility of an upgraded version of the Xbox One so it remains to be seen whether this will come to fruition but a ‘slim’ model at the very least would help Microsoft somewhat with a kind of ‘refresh’ for the Xbox One.
Digital Trade-Ins
Digital game purchases are rapidly becoming the ‘norm’ in recent days in all mediums of entertainment and there’s a lot of benefits to partaking in the digital age but all that aside, one thing that holds people back in the inability to ‘trade in’ your purchases once you’re done with it. Physical media for instance can be traded in at your local video game store for a certain amount of cash, effectively getting some money back once you are done with a game. Digital purchases on the console front however don’t afford this luxury. However, that might be about to change. A recent survey from Microsoft asked people if they like the idea of possibly being able to trade in digital games. In the survey, it asked about trading in for 10% of the RRP price, something that dismayed people in connection with idea but Xbox marketing executive Aaron Greenberg has responded assuring people that the survey is only exploratory. However, in an ever-growing digital age I can’t help but yearn for the opportunity to trade in digital games. It just means that Microsoft and Gamestop might have to go to war first.
Exclusives
Dead Rising 4? Forza Horizon 3? Phantom Dust? Battletoads? Sunset Overdrive 2? It doesn’t matter, as long as Microsoft brings the exclusives to E3 2016. Microsoft have repeatedly stated that their focus in on games. Even Mike Ybarra who works on the Platform side gave a comment asserting this focus on games:
“We are all gamers. I’m on the platform side, but I would be encouraging us as an organization to focus on games. Games are why we are all buying these consoles to play and so you go t to have a great lineup. This holiday I think Phil has done a great job. It’s in my opinion the best holiday lineup we’ve had in Xbox One. I really feel like we have to continue to focus on creating great content and great games”.
The year has already seen the likes of the amazing Quantum Break come out from the Xbox camp and other exclusives Gears 4, Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, ReCore, Cuphead, Inside and many more slated to come out by the end of the year. However, any announcements on new exclusive games will be more than welcome and we hope that Microsoft can really shine this year with their exclusive lineup.
Surprise Us!
It’s safe to say that no one really expected Backwards Compatibility to come to the Xbox One. Although one of the most highly requested features on the Xbox feedback site, it was perceived to be too much of a handful or ‘wishful thinking’ to see it arrive on the Xbox One. However, when the announcement finally came at E3 2015 people were lifted out of their seats in applause. Since then, backwards compatibility has proved to be a fan favourite and a definite advantage for the Xbox One over the PS4. Sony was equally startled by Microsoft’s announcement. “It was surprising,” says Sony’s Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida in an interview with Eurogamer. “I didn’t think it was possible. There must be lots of engineering effort.” Aaron Greenberg has assured fans that surprises are in store for the Xbox E3 2016 show:
“We are already starting to think about it, what we are going to do there. It will ramp closer to [E3]. My team leads a lot of the planning for E3 and we are excited about it. Every year we try to make it better and this year we will bring some more surprises to the table.”
Let’s see if they can top their big E3 2015 surprise!
What are you hoping to see and what do you think Microsoft will have to announce in order to ‘win’ E3 2016? Let us know any thoughts or opinions you may have by leaving a comment below.
Hvd
only need 2
#1 xbox one slim
#2 a modular gpu upgrade thats as strong as the ps4 neo for only $200.
xbox wins
spideynut71
And where/how would this “modular gpu upgrade” connect to the X1 exactly?? And please, for your sake, don’t say via usb.
Hvd
think about it.
spideynut71
In other words, you have no f***ing idea….you’re just posting nonsense.
ShowanW
im nowhere near as tech savvy as u guys are…
can the hdmi in port be reversed engineered for this purpose???
spideynut71
LOL….no. CPU/GPU/RAM all have to be integrated into the motherboard. Even on a PC, the only way to upgrade is via the motherboard….and sometimes requires changing/upgrading the motherboard as well, depending on how old it is.
extermin8or2
That really wouldn’t work. Would be a fine way to fragment your userbase and piss alot of people off. Also even if they release an upgraded xbox the game will stillness with sony’s have to be able to run on the Base hardware limiting games anyway plus as the xbox hardware is slightlyharder to develop for and less like pc due to RAM configuration than the ps4 the scaling of graphics will be more work for devs.
Edonus
It wouldn’t really fragment anything as long as the current X1 can still play the new games and that is what they meant with foreward compatibility. Sure it may piss some people off just like the NEO would. The X1 design is not really hard to dev for, if they put more eSram in and a GPU with more resources it probably scales graphics better than the Ps4 with the whole DX12 universal app thing going.
In truth the idea of an upgrade for either console is pretty stupid. We are not going to get native 4k games….. every game made right now looks awesome whether 720p, 900p or 1080p. especially since they are scaled up from the consoles anyway. I have a 4k tv and my X1 looks awesome. I don’t know what people are expecting. Even when you compare current console games to PC. The game all play the same, same AI same models using most of the same base effects. PC can look better but it takes a whole lot and even then it only a few cosmetic things. Frame rate is also an over blown thing. 60 is better…. yes but I have never played a game that went from bad to good based on framerate or resolution…. if anyone has I would like to know this game to see it for myself.
So again I don’t know what this upgrade is all about.
I have a guess, that its actually about VR. I think Sonys machine will have more resources for PSVR and that the new X1 will be stronger and be justified by having a port and resources to run Oclus Rift. I think that is what that partnership was all about.
Protoss X
how does a GPU as powerful as the neo help when its CPU and Ram (which was already stronger) is also being upgraded.
your still gonna perform worse in every multiplat even without a better gpu the ps4 has way more ram im not even talking about the neo
Protoss X
Microsoft preferring to use DDR3 RAM as opposed to GDDR5 RAM used by Sony. This just means as shown above that system memory bandwidth is increased from 68 gb/s to 176 gb/s
almost triple as fast load times performance ram is one of the key components to being able to run many things in the background extra graphical detail and steady framerate.
What the hell was microsfoft will never know and we don’t want to plug in a gpu to match the ps4 neo that sound horrible the xbox one is big enough already with the power brick and size and weight
Cryamp
Strongly disagree. There is nothing they can do to get the the fanboys to acknowledge them as the winner. I own both a PS4 and Xbox One and barely play my XBO because I hate the direction 343 took Halo. But last year at E3, Microsoft’s show absolutely destroyed Sony’s. Sony legit showed almost nothing relevant as most of the important games were at least 2+ years away. (ex: Last Guardian). Yet all the fanboys online still said Sony won. It couldn’t have been further from the truth, objectively speaking.
Edonus
Do you play Halo 5s MP. It is easily one of the best experiences you can have in gaming. I personally love what 343 has done with Halo the stories are told better and the world is being expanded. You didn’t like Age of Ultron Cortana?
thebrit
Leaving your xbox in the dust because you didn’t like the direction of 343 is pretty bad – one game stopped you playing that console that you paid all of that money for? Hell the first month or so of drive club or some of the other top ‘WOW this game looks amazing’ games that ended up being half movie and the rest great graphics with run of the mill game play should have made your ps4 into a doorstop.
John Hill
Microsoft announced backwards compatibility and CGI trailers for a couple of titles. That’s it. They didn’t do anything.
Sony showed Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remastered, and announced several new titles. What are you talking about?
KashIsKlay
The Last Guardian still has no release date and has been in development hell, neither does Horizon, FFVII is multiplatform so ehhh
John Hill
So, we have release dates for ReCore and Scalebound all of a sudden? And how’s that Cuphead release date coming?
vishmarx
this site doesnt even try to hide its xbox bias
Based Sony
Agreed, the idea that Microsoft could be even remotely Based is laughable.
I only frequent real Based sites, ones that say the truth about the doomed Micro$oft and Nintendont and being perhaps a bit too modest to Based Sony.
vishmarx
you seem psychologically unhealthy…
Edonus
There is nothing MS can do to win E3 this gen. The media bias is too strong. The X1 will not get any game of year awards this gen and will barely be nominated. The gaming sites did something this gen they never did before. They blatantly backed Ps4 as a better product. In generations before even f they felt that way it was always hey like this one better but as a consumer the preference was a wash.
With places blatantly saying Ps4 is better and more powerful…… it doesn’t matter if the X1 releases the best racing games ever made on console or has had 2 of the best MP shooters ever to grace consoles or a great or games that have won graphics awards every year since launch against the competition. This stuff wont matter because for example IGN told you the gamer Ps4 is more powerful thus better and if they comeback and say but the Xbox One has tis thing that clearly beats it or does better….. they at that point have officially on record mislead their audience. This is why Halo 5 is one of the best selling exclusives on any console with easily the most refined MP you can own on a console with dedicated servers and tons of content….. yet has won no GOTY awards. Lost to Splatoon for FPS of the year and Spatoon doesn’t even have voice chat…. or half the content.
The X1 is were the hardcore gamers are especially if you like competitive MP but do not expect the gaming media to ever hint to this even as an opinion.
retsrzer
I have to agree, the media has really been deep throating Sony this gen.
Based Sony
Meh, there’s only one announcement they could make that would win them E3.
1) They announce they’ve sold themselves to Based Sony, free of charge.
Now that I think about it, that’s how any company can win.
KashIsKlay
Crackdown, Recore and Sea of Thieves gameplay. Introduce xbox two and allow trade in incentive to those who wants to upgrade. Drops a demo for Crackdown and Scalebound on xbox live. Give xbox gamers real exclusives, and give pc gamers real exclusives. Not all games need to be on each platform. Exclusive mech warrior/age of empires for pc. Keep crackdown, Halo, gears and scalebound exclusive to xbox.