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[E3-MS] Microsoft E3 2018 Conference (RATE THE SHOW)

Rate Microsoft's E3 2018 Conference

  • A

    Votes: 157 28.5%
  • B

    Votes: 212 38.5%
  • C

    Votes: 103 18.7%
  • D

    Votes: 31 5.6%
  • F

    Votes: 23 4.2%
  • Phil Spencer pulls off the denim reasonably well

    Votes: 25 4.5%

  • Total voters
    551
  • Poll closed .

Norse

Member
A/B range. Tons of games. The fact game pass gets Ms studio games day 1 makes it a no brainer. Ori looked great, gears 5 looked great, 5 studios added, Master Chief is back as your halo main character, and more Japanese games to widen xbones portfolio.

I miss the id@xbox segment we used to get, nothing on price drops, nor specialist edition xbones, and no surprise hardware announcements.

The mentioning of engineers already working on future Xboxes makes me think maybe MS may think Sony is going to mention ps5 at their show tomorrow night.
 

Gediminas

Banned
B at best, even if you push it. 90% of games were multiplats, bought studios, anyway, which made games for them, so flashy with doom and gloom. the same halo gears forza, nothing new. what they have more for 2018? forza? bare bones again. hypocrisy flew out of Spencer's mouth again. it was so funny to listen.
 

EBE

Member
Just barely gets a B. Nice game selection but Halo was hard to get excited for knowing it's so far out and I honestly thought a lot of the trailers were pretty bad.

Forza Horizon 4 is looking fantastic though
Best game they showed by far
 
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Norse

Member
B at best, even if you push it. 90% of games were multiplats, bought studios, anyway, which made games for them, so flashy with doom and gloom. the same halo gears forza, nothing new. what they have more for 2018? forza? bare bones again. hypocrisy flew out of Spencer's mouth again. it was so funny to listen.

90% multiplats that will look and play best on Xbox. I agree with you on 2018 though. I thought Spencer did a good job as always.
 

Fbh

Member
C+.

Was fun and I was surprised that they got to announce both Shadows die Twice and DMC5 (both of which look great). Sort of makes me wonder what Sony has since those were 2 big third party announcements I though they had locked.

Exclusive wise I found it rather weak. Halo looked nice and it's cool that it's comming to PC but seems like it's still early in development since there was no gameplay or story.
The focus of the gears reveal was really weird. Is it really the sort of franchise where you focus on the emotional story ? Because pretty much everyone I know plays gears for the awesome coop campaign and fun multiplayer of which they showed almost nothing. New weapons and cool scenarios is what gets me excited about gears, not a sad scene of someone dying.

Forza and Ori looked great though and gears tactics might be fun


Most PCs aren't as powerful as the X.

And most Xboxes out there aren't an Xb1X
 
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rokkerkory

Member
C+.

Was fun and I was surprised that they got to announce both Shadows die Twice and DMC5 (both of which look great). Sort of makes me wonder what Sony has since those were 2 big third party announcements I though they had locked.

Exclusive wise I found it rather weak. Halo looked nice and it's cool that it's comming to PC but seems like it's still early in development since there was no gameplay or story.
The focus of the gears reveal was really weird. Is it really the sort of franchise where you focus on the emotional story ? Because pretty much everyone I know plays gears for the awesome coop campaign and fun multiplayer of which they showed almost nothing. New weapons and cool scenarios is what gets me excited about gears, not a sad scene of someone dying.

Forza and Ori looked great though and gears tactics might be fun

And most Xboxes out there aren't an Xb1X

Easily easier to get an X than a good gaming PC.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
It was between a B and C for me, maybe a B objectively but a C for me personally.

+ Xbox Game Pass is great value.
+ Ori 2 looked great.
+ Forza Horizon 4 looked amazing as always.
+ Buying 5 studios shows commitment to future first party games.
+ Shadows Die Twice and DMC5 were welcome surprises.
+ Gears 5 and Gears Tactics both look solid.

But

- Crackdown 3 still looked mediocre and needed a better showing to restore any lost faith in the game.
- Halo Infinite got a boring trailer and it's absence from the conference in any major way was really felt.
- Still no Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay?!
- Still no Fable or Perfect Dark teases.
- No mention at all of any VR support for Xbox.
- Still feel like we are playing the waiting game for MS to deliver great exclusives that aren't the usual sequels.

Overall it was probably a B but I was really disappointed by the lack of Halo Infinite or Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay. I wish MS would show VR some love as well and not leave it all to Sony so a C for me personally.
 

Lort

Banned
  • Forza horizon 4 is about to top the best driving game ever forza horizon 3.
  • Strong focus on narrative in games
  • Xbox game pass looks amazing with lots of indies and big names titles and all those ms first party and fastplay
  • Strong focus on long term investment in the console and first party
  • Very exciting seeing all the games coming to Xbox
  • Very cool looking skating game
  • Big variety of games on show
  • Too much to list but great show!

As always totally happy for games i play on xbox to come to other systems.. only grouches and fanboys feel differently so a little disappointing for them, but their self centered fanboy antics are irrelevant to the mainstream gaming community anyway.

Answered everything the community wanted in terms of commitment to games.
 

DryvBy

Member
This got a C from me.

While they showed some games, most of it was multiplatform. The 15 exclusives didn't seem like 15. I'm glad they showed a lot of games either way and the focus was there's but they showed a lot of stuff I didn't personally care about. Crackdown 3 looks a lot less fun even though I love Terry Crews is in it. Sea of Thieves got stage time for some odd reason. Talking about Fast Track or whatever was dumb. I wanted to see something crazy and shocking. That rumored Perfect Dark would have put it over for me to at least a B. Instead, Funko Pop and Gears Tactics.. just why?

I think the biggest game they showed was Forza Horizon 4. Halo Infinite might be good too. The other stuff exclusive on Xbox just wasn't my thing. Like who wants a new Battletoads? That series has not had a single good game and has always been a joke game.

Voting on these things are always weird. Most are just going to vote high or low based on their console preference.
 

hiphopcr

Member
They just doubled their 1st party studio lineup. And even though most showings were multiplat, they'll come out first and look and play best on X1X.

If all you did was gripe and complain throughout the entire conference I'm sorry that's what you're getting out of gaming.

But at least we all agreed that Tunic was cute af :)
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
A good show, I'm not surprised to see people scoring it low here (old habits die hard, huh) but I'm disappointed that fanboys still represent here.
 
I just find it a bit embarassing that the surprise reveal was a multiplatform game, pretty much says everything about microsoft. In terms of exclusives the press conference was pretty bad.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
The only game I'm interested is Sekiro and that is multiplatform, so still no reason to buy a xbox for me. But they managed to show a great amount of varied games, it was much better than previous years!
 

SaucyJack

Member
B for me.

Focus on games was welcome, but pacing was off and at times it got a little dull. Could probably have trimmed 20-30 mins off and had a better paced event. Balance of trailer to gameplay wasn’t great either.

Lots to be optimistic about for the future but probably not enough for right now.

And for a game that’s been shown for its 4th year in a row Crackdown looks terrible.

Most interesting games for me were all multi-platform.
 

EDMIX

Member
lolz, I gave it a D.

The biggest issue they have is this whole (Gears, Halo, Forza) combo going on like clockwork. We all stated what this would be annnnnnnnd here we are, legit with the exact outcome of what was predicted.

The event itself was great, loved seeing DMC5, Cyberpunk 2077, BFV, but this is for MICROSOFT'S performance, NOT CD Project Red or Capcom or EA etc. Of course all those games are day 1 buys for me, but that has nothing to do with Microsoft. Basically 90% of their whole press event was "look at theses 3rd party games". That filler I feel is going to cost them, it makes it seem as if this company likes to play this whole pretend angle. You can't market in a vacuum. PC exist, PS4 exist and all that did was market TO ME what games I'm going to buy on PS4....

How that helps MS is beyond me lol

MS best announcement wasn't even a game, it was them FINALLY buying some damn studios to fix their issue, but we should have seen that in 2011 or 2010 even, not 2018. Maybe they've learned and have a solid base for next gen, but they need to allow those teams to freely create AAA new IP, if they are just going to do the same thing with them that they did their other teams, I expect them to keep selling less units. So we'll have to see what they do with those teams.
 

EDMIX

Member
I just find it a bit embarassing that the surprise reveal was a multiplatform game, pretty much says everything about microsoft. In terms of exclusives the press conference was pretty bad.

Same. by the end of the event, MS basically sounded like they were confirming that they are going 3rd party 100%, to say "all devices" they didn't even just say "windows 10" etc, they stated "ALL DEVICES" and even further, MS went on to say this.

https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/microsoft-studios-switch-xbox-1202838693/

sooooooo I don't know what is happening at MS, but its sounding like PC was just the start and that they are basically releasing titles on all platforms in the future, which likely might include Nintendo, PS etc. Looks like they are serious about this whole "play anywhere" and games as a service. I don't know where this leaves XB to be honest.
 

Lort

Banned
Same. by the end of the event, MS basically sounded like they were confirming that they are going 3rd party 100%, to say "all devices" they didn't even just say "windows 10" etc, they stated "ALL DEVICES" and even further, MS went on to say this.

https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/microsoft-studios-switch-xbox-1202838693/

sooooooo I don't know what is happening at MS, but its sounding like PC was just the start and that they are basically releasing titles on all platforms in the future, which likely might include Nintendo, PS etc. Looks like they are serious about this whole "play anywhere" and games as a service. I don't know where this leaves XB to be honest.
It leaves the microsoft xbox and the microsoft windows pc as continuing to be the lead platform for almost all games. Now with UWP, xbox and pc so strongly alinged so much so i can run windows torrent apps and windows airplay servers on my xbox the mission is complete.

Microsoft has won the long game. Pc gaming is owned by microsoft directx, and their reaffirmation of commitment to xbox hardware leadership and MS first party developers just confirms that Steam and Playstation are outsiders to the behemoth that is Microsoft gaming.
 

WaterAstro

Member
It leaves the microsoft xbox and the microsoft windows pc as continuing to be the lead platform for almost all games. Now with UWP, xbox and pc so strongly alinged so much so i can run windows torrent apps and windows airplay servers on my xbox the mission is complete.

Microsoft has won the long game. Pc gaming is owned by microsoft directx, and their reaffirmation of commitment to xbox hardware leadership and MS first party developers just confirms that Steam and Playstation are outsiders to the behemoth that is Microsoft gaming.
uh are you kidding me? Steam has like millions of exclusives compared to the Windows store. Sure, most of them are crappy indie stuff, but a lot of studios aren't going to bother with the windows store.
 

Lort

Banned
uh are you kidding me? Steam has like millions of exclusives compared to the Windows store. Sure, most of them are crappy indie stuff, but a lot of studios aren't going to bother with the windows store.

Valve dosent make games or hardware its just a store and a chat api. All steam games are really just a tax on pc games for promotion inside the store front. The games run on Microsoft apis using Microsoft Directx and gpus running on drivers for Microsofts operating system.

Sure it will take a while for MS store to be selling more games than Steam but lets not kid ourselve, its super easy to sell a game outside of Steam ( with no code changes needed) but a huge amount of work to recode a game for a non Microsoft platform.

Steam tried to build its own box it failed.
 

TimFL

Member
uh are you kidding me? Steam has like millions of exclusives compared to the Windows store. Sure, most of them are crappy indie stuff, but a lot of studios aren't going to bother with the windows store.
Don‘t fall for the bait.

I rated this C cause it was mostly just a show off for 3rd parties. That doesn‘t really get me excited for the future of the XB1. Forza Horizion 4 looked really good though.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
It leaves the microsoft xbox and the microsoft windows pc as continuing to be the lead platform for almost all games. Now with UWP, xbox and pc so strongly alinged so much so i can run windows torrent apps and windows airplay servers on my xbox the mission is complete.

Microsoft has won the long game. Pc gaming is owned by microsoft directx, and their reaffirmation of commitment to xbox hardware leadership and MS first party developers just confirms that Steam and Playstation are outsiders to the behemoth that is Microsoft gaming.
I don't know what you have been smoking, but please continue, it makes you funny!
Comparing Steam to Windows store is a bit of a leap. Having an API being used is a very long distance to owning PC gaming.
On the console side things are not so amazing either, Xbox has half of the install base of the competition and is only relevant in America. Buying 4 indie studios is not going to massively change that (Playground was basically a 1st party already).
Their best bet is to plan a good return next gen, good price, good specs, worldwide launch, no more crappy tier stuff and cheaper online service with better features than Sony. Mostly the price and tier stuff, by the time xbox was released in tier 2 and 3 countries everybody already had a PS4.
 

nowhat

Member
Still no Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay?!
Hardly a fault of MS now is it?

I know most here (myself included) are really waiting for Cyberpunk, but the fact that it's been so long in development, and with the rumours circulating CDPR as a workplace (not just working conditions, but management too, and a large turnover rate), I'm starting to get a bit worried. I'm sure it'll be released at some point, but when/at what state remains to be seen.
 

Lort

Banned
I don't know what you have been smoking, but please continue, it makes you funny!
Comparing Steam to Windows store is a bit of a leap. Having an API being used is a very long distance to owning PC gaming.
On the console side things are not so amazing either, Xbox has half of the install base of the competition and is only relevant in America. Buying 4 indie studios is not going to massively change that (Playground was basically a 1st party already).
Their best bet is to plan a good return next gen, good price, good specs, worldwide launch, no more crappy tier stuff and cheaper online service with better features than Sony. Mostly the price and tier stuff, by the time xbox was released in tier 2 and 3 countries everybody already had a PS4.

I dont see you disagreeing that porting from Microsoft Windows isnt a huge task. If i wasnt 100% correct maybe the Steam box wouldnt have failed lol.. you couldnt discount any single point i made.
 

WaterAstro

Member
Valve dosent make games or hardware its just a store and a chat api. All steam games are really just a tax on pc games for promotion inside the store front. The games run on Microsoft apis using Microsoft Directx and gpus running on drivers for Microsofts operating system.

Sure it will take a while for MS store to be selling more games than Steam but lets not kid ourselve, its super easy to sell a game outside of Steam ( with no code changes needed) but a huge amount of work to recode a game for a non Microsoft platform.

Steam tried to build its own box it failed.
Lol this direct x argument is a joke.
 
lolz, I gave it a D.

The biggest issue they have is this whole (Gears, Halo, Forza) combo going on like clockwork. We all stated what this would be annnnnnnnd here we are, legit with the exact outcome of what was predicted.

The event itself was great, loved seeing DMC5, Cyberpunk 2077, BFV, but this is for MICROSOFT'S performance, NOT CD Project Red or Capcom or EA etc. Of course all those games are day 1 buys for me, but that has nothing to do with Microsoft. Basically 90% of their whole press event was "look at theses 3rd party games". That filler I feel is going to cost them, it makes it seem as if this company likes to play this whole pretend angle. You can't market in a vacuum. PC exist, PS4 exist and all that did was market TO ME what games I'm going to buy on PS4....

How that helps MS is beyond me lol

MS best announcement wasn't even a game, it was them FINALLY buying some damn studios to fix their issue, but we should have seen that in 2011 or 2010 even, not 2018. Maybe they've learned and have a solid base for next gen, but they need to allow those teams to freely create AAA new IP, if they are just going to do the same thing with them that they did their other teams, I expect them to keep selling less units. So we'll have to see what they do with those teams.

I don't get this, how is this any different from most Sony conferences when they show off "exclusives" that aren't really exclusive. You think having some sort of long list of games not even 1% of the console population will play and showing that off is somehow an interesting conference to you? Maybe in the sense of continuing this fanboy war of who has the bigger penis list contest

I watch for the games, I don't care who's game it is, and what console, if it is good it is good. This MS conference had as many AAA exclusives to show off, but that wasn't as important to me as having a conference that was interesting to watch. Shenmue 3 and FF7 weren't exclusives and now its rumored that both are making their way to the XBox, but somehow that was the "best" E3 of all time

Yes this wasn't some kind of 10/10 conference, but it was the first great one in a long time
 
This conference was easily a “B”. Excellent third party announcements (including Nier:Automata? Best dig up that ole chestnut of a thread), some great first party games, Game Pass info, and most importantly, the acquisition of a number of studios and that they’re looking at next gen already.

This whole conference was a notice that Microsoft is finally getting its s*** together. May not happen overnight, but it will happen, likely for next-gen. Something tells me we’ll see a console from Microsoft in 2019 that makes the XBO:X look tame in comparison.

Just wonder if Microsoft will look to launch their new console in 2019 as well, especially if all their exclusives can be played on (and have hooks for) it.
 

GC_DALBEN

Member
Great Conferente, i had a lot of fun, they showed a lot of good games, B+/A-. This is a good time to be a gamer, both consoles and pc have a lot of great games :) .
 

pr0guchi

Neo Member
well halo and gears are known names. but new engine on halo and a gears deep story trailer aint that bad.
both franchises still have a lot of potential. and i hope they raise the games into a new level instead of a 0815 follow-up

for me 8/10 very solid, nice press con without any surprises but MS has a plan again! and im very excited and looking forward to the future roadmap
 
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Darak

Member
It was surprising to see Chris Avellone writing for Dying Light 2. I guess in a world where the next Fallout game is an MMO and Bioware works on space marine shooters, there is little demand for his skillset.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
I don't get this, how is this any different from most Sony conferences when they show off "exclusives" that aren't really exclusive. You think having some sort of long list of games not even 1% of the console population will play and showing that off is somehow an interesting conference to you? Maybe in the sense of continuing this fanboy war of who has the bigger penis list contest

I watch for the games, I don't care who's game it is, and what console, if it is good it is good. This MS conference had as many AAA exclusives to show off, but that wasn't as important to me as having a conference that was interesting to watch. Shenmue 3 and FF7 weren't exclusives and now its rumored that both are making their way to the XBox, but somehow that was the "best" E3 of all time

Yes this wasn't some kind of 10/10 conference, but it was the first great one in a long time
I understand what he means. Platform holders conferences should be different from other publishers. They should promote mainly things that cannot be found elsewhere instead of 3rd party multiplatform games. Saying best place to play or play earlier here doesn't negate that those games can be played elsewhere. All this applies to both MS and Sony (Nintendo plays its own "game"), and that's what I usually find disappointing in their conferences, they just promote "general" stuff.
 

KingT731

Member
B. Solid showing with all of the expected staples. Only issue is annoying "exclusive" voice tag..especially when it came to the timed exclusives.
 
I understand what he means. Platform holders conferences should be different from other publishers. They should promote mainly things that cannot be found elsewhere instead of 3rd party multiplatform games. Saying best place to play or play earlier here doesn't negate that those games can be played elsewhere. All this applies to both MS and Sony (Nintendo plays its own "game"), and that's what I usually find disappointing in their conferences, they just promote "general" stuff.

But how has this been any different to how ANY E3 of the last several years, MS and Sony included, have done? We can't expect something that has never happened
 
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Ar¢tos

Member
But how has this been any different to how ANY E3 of the last several years, MS and Sony included, have done? We can't expect something that has never happened
Sadly none of them can do a conference of 1st party /exclusives only. It feels like these conferences are made for investors and shareholders, not much for the gamers.
 

NahaNago

Member
I've been thinking about it and I would have to rate it a "B+". Originally I said just "b" but they had a lot of trailers for games that folks were hyped for. The only reason I couldn't give the conference an A is not even Microsoft's fault, the AAA third party trailers that should have hyped folks were honestly really disappointing. Shadows die twice, 2077, tomb raider, and dmc5 were all awesome to see at the conference but the trailers in my opinion were just sooo bad.
 
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AlexxKidd

Member
Most PCs aren't as powerful as the X.

And most Xboxes out there aren't an Xb1X

PWNED!

Exactly. Of the 30 mil or so Xbox Ones out there how many are 1X? 1 million? MAYBE? Let's not act like the number of 1Xes can compete with the number of high end PCs out there. This false narrative of "plays best on Xbox" ASSUMES you have their $500 upgrade (no price drop announced), which the vast majority of Xbox owners did not bother to purchase.

Lol at "Most PCs aren't as powerful as the X." Well no shit, most PCs aren't bought and turned into gaming stations. A PC is a multidimensional machine that is a lot of things to a lot of people, we KNOW "most" people who own one did not go out and buy a souped up graphics card genius. Otherwise everyone in the country would be playing PUBG and the Witcher right now as having some type of personal computer is as common to American households as the television.
 
Sadly none of them can do a conference of 1st party /exclusives only. It feels like these conferences are made for investors and shareholders, not much for the gamers.

IDK man, I went in expecting nothing but games. Didn't care about exclusives, or any of that, just what games looks good for me to play, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'ts a bad conference for those who wanted to flex who has the better console, but for someone who just wants to see what new games are making returns and how they look and play, it was great.
 

Flyinmunky

Member
In terms of conference and presentation it was a C+ for me. Was Solid and had good pace.

But In terms of it getting me to buy a Xbox X it was a D

I think they now know how important Console Exclusives are but this Gen they have failed and its too late. It seems they are going to change that Next gen though. I have a feeling next gen they will nail enough console exclusives to pull me over.
 
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