E3 2013: Microsoft Press Conference Impressions

The next generation of consoles starts now.  Today is when Sony and Microsoft pull back the curtain on their new machines and next wave begins.  There are going to be tons of huge announcements and yours truly is here to follow them all.  Following each press conference, I will be writing my impressions.  I will take a look at the good, the bad and the utmost ugly for each conference then wrap it all up with a final grade at the end.  Like usual, Microsoft is first at bat.

After such a poor Xbox One reveal, Microsoft needed a home run with this press conference.  Sadly, the house that Bill Gates built got thrown out trying to round third base.  Microsoft kept their entire conference focused on the games, which was a step in the right direction.  The fault of this conference was that Microsoft focused on too many games for their allotted time.  They jumped from one game to the next with no real sense of pacing.  Case and point, the Killer Instinct reveal.  The reveal of Killer Instinct was easily a high point for this conference, but Microsoft just showed off a trailer for the game and went on to the next game instead of taking their time to let the surprise sink in and show off some actual gameplay.  Microsoft did show some gameplay later in the conference as part of their Xbox Live demo, but it felt too little too late.  Games such as Minecraft, Forza 5, Quantum Break, Dark Souls 2, Black Tusk Games' teaser and Battlefield 4 could have been cut from the conference to help properly pace the show and give more time to interesting games like Below, Crimson Dragon and Sunset Overdrive.  Another thing that plagued the Microsoft conference was a slew of technical difficulties.  The audio cut out during the Metal Gear Solid V demo and the Crimson Dragon trailer and the Battlefield 4 demo failed to start.  These mishaps felt like problems that Microsoft could have been prepared for say by doing a dress rehearsal or running back-up demos backstage if something does not work properly.  Out of the sheer number of games and announcements shown at the Microsoft conference, there were a few that caught my eyes and ears such as all the 360 announcements, Killer Instinct, Crimson Dragon, Metal Gear Solid 5 and Witcher 3.  The final reveal at the Microsoft conference was Titanfall, the long-anticipated game from Respawn Entertainment.  Revealing this game would have been a grand finale if Titanfall was not leaked just under a week ago.  Microsoft should have kept Titanfall much closer to their chest in order to avoid such a huge leak.  The leak was not the only problem with Titanfall.  Considering it is made by the same team that developed Modern Warfare 2, Titanfall pretty much looks like a futuristic Call of Duty.  Not a good comparison to have considering how tarnished the Call of Duty name is.

While I have complained quite a bit about the Microsoft Press Conference, it was an okay showing.  At one point, I personally thought they could pull off the unthinkable and give us one excellent conference.  It was not the train wreck this writer expected, but it was not the knock out performance Microsoft direly needed.

Grade:  C