Well, for this Gamer Geek the announcement from our friends at Xbox came in a tidal wave of emotion. tears, cheers, sweaty palms and a burst of Excitement…. and that was just me.
New game titles, the promise of ‘cross play’ over both Xbox One and Windows 10, and the ability to play anywhere at no additional cost had the E3 auditorium erupt in rapturous applause and excited whooping..
Having slaked our appetites with their impressive opener, Xbox moved on with their big guns and on marched the spokesman for ‘The Coalition’; new game designers for veteran game franchise and one of the most anticipated games this year… Gears of War 4.
Gears Of War 4
The first title to feature play anywhere capability, which means you could be on a mission at home, save, go to work, then on your lunch break log into your Xbox account and pick up where you left off; both profile and achievements saved and ready to go.
Included in this would be the original story campaign, multiplayer and the brand new Horde mode! Co-Op can now be played over both Xbox One and Windows 10, with backward and cross play compatibility.
With a new Gears comes a new story, new allies and worse, new meaner, bigger and badder nasties in the guise of ‘The Swarm’; GoW’s newest protagonist.
Where before we had the Locust horde; a new generation of Gears face off against what seems to be an unstoppable force: Juvies the humanoid foot soldiers that later evolve into Drones and Pouncers, powerful smart rodent like creatures; to name but a few.
https://youtu.be/9V-aBdWY2us
Enter James Dominic Fenix, Son of Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud, he is the new Hero character in in Gears of War 4 and the main focus behind the games story it would seem; much like is father before him in the previous titles. But, again, like his father before him, he wont be alone and is joined by fellow Gear, Delmont Walker and Outsider Kait Diaz.
From the footage we were shown the AI for your team mates has vastly improved with team mates now ‘asking for help’ when needed or telling you they are pinned down and need covering fire; which for me will be a fantastic improvement over the previous games.
Visually the graphics are stunning and the orchestral music sounds impressive; which can only improve on the atmosphere of the game itself.
Gears of War 4 will drop 11th October with it being reviewed in depth at a later date. Oh and the best news of all ……….MARCUS FENIX RETURNS!
Following on from the Gears announcement, Xbox teased it’s new wireless controller dedicated to that most imposing of Gears Weapons; the Lancer. It’s design and paint job have me already salivating!
Killer Instinct
Keeping on the Gears of War theme, A new playable character, “General RAAM” was announced for Killer Instinct!
Servers and more
Mike Ybarra, Programme Manager for Xbox One, came on next and announced. Xbox live will now have more Servers, making for faster and more reliable online gaming; backward compatibility; and new Features which include: Background Music so you can now play your own music in game; Preferred Language, so you can select the game in your own language with the flick of a switch; CORTANA comes to Xbox One and finally ‘Clubs’ which will allow players to create their own community: be it drivers, fighters or strategy gamers from around the world; included in this is the new feature ‘looking for group’ where you can put a call out for specific players.
Arena
online competition just got more competitive with Arena modes and the first game to be announced was FIFA.
Arena will mean that game titles like ‘The Division, Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty’ will now have online competitions and annual tournaments all from the comfort of your own home.
Controller design
Want a controller designed your way? Now you can with the new controller design capability. Xbox have promised “if you can design it, they can make it” any colour, any design and even have your profile handle engraved into it. No more arguing over who’s is who’s controller at home, with 8 million ways to personalise.
https://youtu.be/eClbyBrt5j8
Other titles
On top of the above we had announcements for: Scalebound, We happy Few, Minecraft add-ons, Battlefield 1 (which looks bitching), Final Fantasy 15, Halo Wars 2 and many more.
We happy few caught my eye as it was very Bioshock esq, the tale of a plucky bunch of moderately terrible people trying to escape from a lifetime of cheerful denial. Set in a drug-fuelled, retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England, you’ll have to blend in with its other inhabitants, who have their own set of not-so-normal rules. Wtih creepy characters sporting their own ‘Jokeresque’ grin and big piercing eyes, i can see We Happy Few being the new skin crawling game.
I look forward to its release
Future plans and the big Announcement:
Xbox One Live has revealed “Play your way, Without Boundaries” and the debut of the Xbox One S (Smaller, Sleeker, compact) 4k Gaming and the future of Xbox with “Project Scorpio” which teases 6 teraflops of power, HD VR gameplay across all compatibility and breathtaking playability. 2017 seems to be the year of Gameplay!
So, a lot of awesome going on in Xbox world and a lot more coming in 2017.
what are you looking forward to, what didnt you like, what would you like to see next year.. let us know in the comments below.
