Topic: All-Encompassing E3 2018 Thread

If there are any new ports announced at E3, I’m thinking it would be SM3DW.

That one is very possible, as are Skyward Sword and Super Mario Maker if you ask me.

I'd honestly like to hear more about that Tales game that's supposed to be coming, DQXI, as well as reveals of Ace Combat (was VII any good?), DOA (even if 5), and the new SoulCalibur for Switch.

I'm fine with whatever they show off from a first party perspective (already sold on Smash), but I think it'd be interesting to see Fatal Frame (a port of the U game or a new entry would be fine by me. Despite how it sold, I thought the last game looked really intriguing), or Tokyo Mirrage Sessions ported and restored to it's original vision.

It always surprises me how much hate and ridicule Microsoft is getting. Yes, they lost this generation's race from the start, but that was also because besides their own botched launch, Sony was really sneaky in removing certain features and components from their starter kit, so they could launch for a lower price and not have all these restrictions that cost Microsoft their top position.

But that's just it: nowadays, it sounds like Microsoft was always bad, and they don't have any real exclusive content, but they actually have more than enough content, and it's only this current generation in which they've under-performed. In the previous generation they were the leading platform and many of the third party games looked and ran decidedly better on the Xbox 360 than on the PS3.

As for this year's E3, I think that people are judging too quickly as well. I recently watched this video:

In any case, besides Nintendo's presentations and Treehouse (obviously), I will most definitely be watching Microsoft's presentation with much interest. And if both Nintendo and Microsoft have a strong presence at E3, then that's also good for the industry as a whole.

Competition drives excellence, after all...

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, that's about the same thing people said about the Wii U

@ThanosReXXX I don't think anyone's saying that Microsoft has always been bad. But they are certainly in a difficult position, having lost such a large share of the market to Sony, and having a shocking lack of exclusives (personally I'd say the worst of any company in 15+ years memory for me. Maybe not in numbers but in quality and diversity). I'd say their main innovations at the moment are in hardware (e.g. XBOX) and in software compatibility/distribution (Play Anywhere, backwards compatibility, Game Pass), but I really do wonder where they're going if they're lacking in new, exclusive releases. But all the more, I think this means they're one to watch at E3.

Now to watch the video!

@ThanosReXXX I'm genuinely curious, what exclusives do they have that is supposed to pull people in? Fable is more or less in stasis, Halo hasn't been getting good publicity lately (though I haven't played personally since Reach. Forza is definitely a thing still, though I don't play realistic racers. Rare's series are all on ice (They've only released Killer Instinct from their core franchises in the past 10 years). Minecraft isn't an exclusive. Then they have Gears of War and... I think that's it.

I'm sure there's a few others, but as a non-XBox gamer, I can't find a single thing on the system that interests me that I can't play elsewhere. I'll play Sea of Thieves on PC (It's the first Microsoft game that's excited me in probably close to a decade), and... I don't even know any other games they have upcoming.

So anyways, that's my personal reasons for feeling that Microsoft has completely dropped the ball when it comes to providing an engaging platform this generation. Back during the last... well... basically all the gens since NES, I wanted all the major consoles (Not including some of the more obscure ones I never heard of at the time like NeoGeo and PC Engine). This time? I literally would find an Xbox One to be a waste of space, as sad as it is to admit it. They've alway been a distant third in my want (even during the 360 craze, though that was mostly because of the RROD stuff), but now they've fallen off completely.

Yeah I don't think their exclusives have been enough to pull people in. It seems like they just flat out aren't exciting people. Forza's great as always, but beyond that? Seems like Halo and Gears have gone stagnant, Fable is in limbo, Rare's IPs are dormant, etc. There's been too many cancellations (Phantom Dust, Scalebound, etc) and the new IPs they've released aren't producing big enough hits. Sea of Thieves is the only big one that's done well, and even that has already lost a good portion of its player base. Ori and Cuphead I think are their most interesting "exclusives", but it seems most would just rather buy it on PC.

Phil Spencer has been talking about the importance of bolstering their 1st party portfolio all generation, and yet there hasn't exactly been much in the way of results. If he's truly serious, I'd wager we won't see most of this stuff until the next Xbox.

@ThanosReXXX I won't dispute 70-160 exclusives, but "big"? Where are the Zelda / Mario / God of War / Horizon / Last of Us / Uncharted - tier games? Off the top of my head, the top-tier games for Microsoft this gen have been Forza, Halo, Gears, and the odd unexpected title like Ori. Great if you like racing and shooters (although the latter isn't an really an under-represented genre), but not great for much else. Meanwhile Nintendo and Sony have AAA and AA games, many GOTY contenders, in multiple genres.

I won't deny that the XBO exclusives have appeal to some people, I just feel that they're in a bit of a slump in terms of impact and mass appeal. I own an XBox One and really quite enjoy it - I just tend to feel more excited about the backwards compatibility and making the most of the XB1 and XB360 libraries than I do the XBONE library.

But - maybe this is sticking to an old-fashioned idea that a console manufacturer (or, platform holder) needs to have high-profile exclusives to be successful. It certainly seems that Microsoft are big on re-evaluating their platforms and software captibilities, and using Xbox as a more accessible gateway into Windows gaming - it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

In response to the video - that is a bit more promising. I do hope that we get things like Fable 4 and a Rare IP.

@ThanosReXXX While there are a lot of games on that list, I think it more proved my point. As a PC / Switch gamer, there are maybe 25-30 titles on that entire list I can't already play, and that includes classic releases like Rare Replay and the ACAs. Of those, only 11 are/will be retail releases, and it looks like at least 3 of those are imports.

Switch on the other hand, after a little more than a year has 20 retail full exclusives released and 26 announced. For digital, there's 23 on XB1, and 107 full exclusive digital games on the Switch.

EDIT: BTW, I did watch the video (I have no audio atm cause broken speakers so that kind of made it more difficult). Regardless, I will admit I saw maybe one game that interested me? Whatever that one with the jetpack was?

@link3710 Those stats are really damn depressing.

Yeah, exclusives still matter a ton. Sure, stability, performance, services, all that is all well and good. It's part of the reason why the 360 still held out against the PS3 until the tail end of the generation: the 360 versions of multiplatform games generally performed better and online was much better despite requiring a subscription. See: Bayonetta 1, compare it from 360 to PS3 which is awful on the PS3.

But once those gaps closed in and the differences between the two are basically negligible (comparatively speaking) now, it all comes down to the games, and the PS4 kicked the crap out of the Xbox One's department in that aspect. You can put in more reasons like the Xbox One's horrendous launch and laughable targeting, but no one cares about that when you're a media darling like Microsoft or Sony. See: the PS3 and how that turned around even after the early years of ridicule.

Yes, the Xbox One absolutely did manage to turn itself around to provide really awesome stuff like the best style of backwards compatibility, Game Pass, and more, but that doesn't really help it out if there's still no games to play that I could just play elsewhere. Including PC, which Microsoft also has their games on too. Why bother buying an Xbox One X for beastly performance when you can just build/buy your own PC, just hook it up to your TV for the same console experience in addition to using it for business stuff, and buy the Microsoft exclusives on PC? Yes, it's gonna initially be more expensive, but long term you're gonna save quite a bit of money and gain a multi-use box to do whatever you want.

Idk, that's just my thoughts though. It is a much different environment compared to 5-10 years ago, so perhaps Microsoft is simply adapting to the market trends. I don't think so though, I see exclusives too big of a reason to buy any console. The Switch proved that really well with its first year.

@Orin41 That's fair. Though honestly for third-party games, you generally can't get better than PC. You don't need to bother with Xbox or PlayStation for that. I mentioned earlier that Xbox has the best backwards compatibility and while that's true for consoles, I forgot that PC could play pretty almost every game released since MS-DOS to today, so really PC has by far the best way of backwards compatibility if you think about it. You can play old games like RollerCoaster Tycoon along with your modern blockbusters like Monster Hunter World (soon...).

Sure shoddy ports like Arkham Knight exist, but hey.

@ThanosReXXX I'm only jesting of course. I'm certain that the Microsoft conference will be worth to watch because not only will The Last Night be there, I also expect that's the place where Cyberpunk 2077 will get revealed. Mayby Tomb Raider too, but I have yet to play the other two games. The last trailer didn't do a whole lot for me.

As for the Xbox One itself. There aren't a lot of games that interest me. I guess Sunset Overdrive is one of them, but that's about it. Microsoft seems to focus a lot on multiplayer, online-only and service-based games, which I'm not really into. There's a lot of racing games, and since I didn't even bother with GT Sport last year, I cannot see that changing on another console. The rest of the games are mostly shooters, and the same applies, I can't even remember the last time I bought a shooter, except for something like Splatoon, or something more narrative-driven like Uncharted. And they ruined Zoo Tycoon, just wanted to say that as well

I feel like this year's E3 will inevitably feel more console war-y than 2017 (which featured mostly third party announcements thanks to Sony's E3 2016 and Microsoft's whole deal). Plenty of Nintendo's games were just franchise names, so it didn't feel like they were really there. With the lethargic speed at which announced games have been coming out, this is probably the last year to announce big first party titles for release this generation. I also feel like each platform holder's headlining game isn't due out this year ('prove me wrong' I guess). To break it down:

Sony

• Last of Us II: Please don't hurt them
• Spider-Man
• Dreams
• Days Gone
• Ghost of Tsushima
• For the love of god shut up about Death Stranding

Microsoft

• Halo 6: duh
• Forza Horizon 4: Zero Dawn
• Crackdown 3: Early Access
• Metro: Exodus

Nintendo

• Metroid Prime 4 (no images)
• Smash 4 or 5 (futile cryptic marketing)
• Fire Emblem (no images)
• Yoshi: Redemption
• That No More Heroes game I guess
• Pokemon 8th Gen (no images)
• Bayonetta 3 (CGI trailer)

All three sort of have something to prove by announcing big first party titles. Sony that 2017 was just an off year, Nintendo that they have the development resources to support the Switch in meaningful ways after a year or two, and Microsoft that "we're here."

Sony will probably have a big first party title to announce along with Devil May Cry 5, but it's likely they'll only have Dreams and Spider-Man for the rest of 2018 since their announcements are more like prophecies than weather forecasts. I feel like Halo 6 and Forza Horizon Again are super predictable, but they should bring a AAA game that surprises in some way if they want to draw the larger audience's attention.

Nintendo could end up really boring if Metroid is as much of a half measure as the developer they hired, Smash is old, and Pokemon is just that. Fire Emblem, Metroid, and Pokemon were all announced well before they were ready to show last year. And the later two aren't confirmed for this year, so there's no reason to believe they would have anything big up their sleeves. Nintendo could be following Sony into the situation they put themselves in last year by announcing both God of War and Spider-Man at E3 2016. But they could just pick and font and type 'Mario Kart' or 'Animal Crossing' and coast on $60 ports until people are screaming about game droughts again.

I think that's a pretty accurate description of E3.

Death Stranding sounds so weird. The tidbits I've heard of it makes it sound like it'll be a hodgepodge of sorts.

@Haru17 Nintendo also needs to prove that the online subscription is worth buying but maybe they'll attach some game announcements to this week's reveal of the subscription instead of revealing at E3.

If nintendo brings pikmin 4 to the table, playable and ready, I'm sold. All I need is pikmin 4. It would be great to find a new switch game of luigi's mansion. With that awesome online stuff in the game too.

Last year sold me mario rabbids, so who knows what will be this years surprise