Microsoft goes BIG at E3 2019
E3 2019 Has came and went. There was lots of juicy tidbits of things to come in the world of gaming. Oddly enough Playstation was no where to be seen for the most part. I would Imagine they have an ace up their sleeves for some kind of an announcement later this year. Nintendo had a few crowd pleasers to showcase including Pokemon Sword and Shield and a new Zelda. Microsoft pretty much had free range to dominate the stage this year. They did it quite well I might add. Here is a complete run down of this years Microsoft portion of Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Microsoft:
They brought out the big guns this year with the reveal of more info on the much anticipated next gen console Project Scarlet. Project scarlet will release in holiday season of 2020 along side Halo: Infinite.
The console is reported to have a custom AMD CPU based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA architecture. Claiming to be 4x more powerful than the heavy hitter XBox One X. Also it is reported to have High Bandwidth GDDR6. Boasting 8K gaming, up to 120 fps, ray tracing and variable refresh support. They are also equipping it with a newly created SSD which will also be used as Virtual Ram. Expecting a 40x performance increase over current generation. This will make insanely faster load speeds.
No real info has been given quite yet as to the cosmetic look and feel of the console. Next years E3 will most definitely be the complete reveal. Rumor is there is also going to be a lower end console releasing as well somewhere between the XBox One X and the Project Scarlett. They wanted to be able to appeal to all audiences ranging from the casual gamer on up to the extreme enthusiast.
Big titles were shown such as Cyber Punk 2077, Gears 5 and Halo Infinite. The complete list is as follows:
Halo Infinite coming fall 2020
The Outer Worlds coming October 25, 2019.
Bleeding Edge alpha starts June 27, 2019.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps coming February 11, 2020.
Minecraft Dungeons coming spring 2020.
Blair Witch coming august 30, 2019.
Cyberpunk 2077 coming April 16, 2020.
Spiritfarer coming 2020.
Battletoads no release date announced.
Legend of Wright no release date announced.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is coming to Xbox, but no release date.
Age of Empire II Definitive Edition coming fall 2019.
Wasteland 3 no release date announced.
PsychoNauts 2 no release date announced.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga coming sometime in 2020.
Dragonball Z Kakarot coming early 2020.
12 Minutes no release date announced, but it’s said to be “coming soon.”
Way to the Woods no release date announced.
Gears 5 coming September 10, 2019.
Dying Light coming spring 2020.
Forza Horizon 4 Lego Speed Champions Expansion coming June 13, 2019.
State of Decay Heartland is out now.
Phantasy Star Online 2 coming to the U.S. spring 2020.
Crossfire X coming to Xbox One in 2020.
Tales of Arise coming to Xbox Store 2020.
Borderlands 3 coming in September 13, 2019.
Elden Ring no release date announced.
Gears Pop! is only coming to mobile and will be available for pre-order “soon.”
Also a plethora of indie titles to release on gamepass day one:
Dead Static Drive
Pathologic 2
Star Renegades
Afterparty
TABS
The Good Life
Cross Code
Creature In The Well
Killer Queen Black
Riverbond
Unto the End
Blazing Chrome
Felix the Reaper
UnderMine
Supermarket Shriek
Secret Neighbor
Ikenfell
Night Call
Totem Teller
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
Microsoft also announced Game Pass for PC. The stand alone price is $9.99 USD monthly. There is also the option for $14.99 for Game Pass Ultimate. Ultimate provides Gamepass for both PC and Console as well as XBox Live Gold. Some titles allow for crossplay with friends on console such as Gears 4 and State of Decay 2 for example.
Complete list of game pass titles for PC:
ABZU
ACA NEOGEO METAL SLUG X
Antiquia Lost
ARK: Survival Evolved
Astroneer
Battle Chasers: Night War
Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
Bomber Crew
Bridge Constructor Portal
Broforce
Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons
Book of Demons
Clustertruck
Crackdown 3
Crosscode
Die for Valhalla!
Disneyland Adventures
Everspace
Fez
Football Manager 2019
Full Metal Furies
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition dla Windows 10
Gears of War 4
Gears 5
Guacamelee 2
Halo: Spartan Assault
Halo: Spartan Strike
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition
Halo Wars 2: Standard Edition
Hatoful Boyfriend
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hello Neighbor
Hollow Knight
Hotline Miami
Imperator: Rome
Into The Breach
Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition
Forza Horizon 4 standard Edition
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Metro Exodus
Mindzone
Moonlighter
MudRunner
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
Neon Chrome
Old Man’s Journey
Operencia: The Stolen Sun
Opus Mangum
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You
Oxenfree
Prey
Pony Island (Daniel Mullins Games)
ReCore
RiMe: Windows Edition
Riptide GP: Renegade
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure
Ruiner
Samorost 3
Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Edition
Shenmue I & II
Silence - The Whispered World 2
Sinner for Windows 10
Slay The Spire
Shoot n Merge 2048
Smoke and Sacrifice
Snake Pass
State of Decay 2
Stealth Inc 2
SteamWorld Dig 2
Sunset Overdrive
Super Lucky’s Tale
Superhot
Supermarket Shriek
Surviving Mars - First Colony Edition
Riverbond
Tacoma
Titan Quest Anniversary Edition
The Banner Saga
The Banner Saga 2
The Banner Saga 3
The Flame In The Flood
The Gardens Between
The Last Door: Season 2 Collector’s Edition
The Messenger
The Stillness of the Wind
The Surge
The Turing Test
Thimbleweed Park
Thumper
Tyranny Gold Edition
Valkyria Chronicles
Vampyr
Void Bastards
Wandersong
Wargroove
Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut
West Of Loathing
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
We Happy Few
Wizard of Legend
Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection
Last, I would like to talk about their new service they have been discussing as of late. Game streaming to ANY device. Set to release in limited testing this fall. Also with this service you can turn you Xbox Console into a dedicated streaming server for anywhere in your home. Although this is not a new concept it is however big news. Why you might ask? Playstation has announced a very RARE partnership with Microsoft to deploy the service for it's own consoles. Replacing their own service they already offer. Also, with portable devices like the Nintendo switch and our mobile phones the possibilities are amazing. Imagine a deal where Nintendo and Microsoft partner up. Imagine you can stream Xbox titles to your Switch and have all your Nintendo titles as well. All while on the go!
This is setting the stage for the future of gaming. A future where PC is no longer master race with the specs of machines like Project Scarlet. Especially with the support of mouse and keyboard across all XBox consoles. A future where hardware won't matter sooner than later anyways. A future where all people can crossplay across all platforms by streaming. Crossplay is beginning with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare remake. The gaming community will grow to amazing levels and be better than ever. Can't wait to see what the future holds.