Gamescom 2015 Review - Microsoft's Conference

It's that magical time of the year again guys and no it's not E3 2016 yet, it has been many weeks since E3 has pass but now it's Gamescom time. With well over 400,000 attendees at Gamescom in Cologne,Germany and with people viewing the event via livestream, things are looking pretty good for the European game convention. For a first time since conferences have been done at Gamescom Sony is not doing one; with no conference from there hardware competitors this means it's Xbox's time to shine in the spotlight. If you're a fan of Xbox then a lot of things are coming your way announcement wise at Microsoft's conference at Gaemscom 2015.

The conference starts out with an all to familiar video that started off Microsoft's conference at E3 2015, I guess they gotta get there money out of that video. The head of Xbox Germany introduces Phil Spencer to the crowd in German I might add. Phil starts off by talking about Rare Replay an impressive collection of Rare games all playable on Xbox one starting today. He goes on with a hint that this conference is preview for Xbox's 2016 line up, There was also a tease that Microsoft will put more attention on there 1st party line up, so less 3rd party deals like Rise of the Tomb Raider in the future;I'm still a little angry about that.

Quantum Break is the first thing that is showed off which includes story and gameplay elements, enemies in the game also have the same power as the protagonist;which weakens him a bit and makes his power less special in my mind. The Creative Director comes out and talks about the tie in TV show that hasn't been talked about in some time. It is revealed X-men actor(who played Iceman in the films), Shawn Ashmore will play the protagonist in the TV show. We learn that Quantum Break will be in Xbox owner's hands on April 5th, 2016. Which is good knowing an actual release date for a game that has been teased since the Xbox One's Reveal.

The new Crackdown game is showed off which is now known as Crackdown 3;they learned that putting numbers on your game means more people will buy it. The trailer shows off the destruction in the game in Single and Multiplayer modes. Crackdown does not have an official released ate but it is coming some time in 2016. Hideki Kamiya of Platinum Games introduces the debut of Scalebound's gameplay to the world. As a fan of Platinum and Japanese games in general I am little jealous of you Xbox owners. The game looks cool, there was some framereate issues I'll admit but I'm sure they will be fixed when the game comes out in Holiday 2016

The head of platform engineering at Xbox comes out and announces some interesting things for Xbox fans. Full DVR functionality is coming to Xbox One, which is a cool feature if you don't watch TV live. An accessory for the Xbox One Controller was announced, a chat pad for those Xbox owners who wants to type faster on the console. It was revealed that the Xbox 360 games and gold will be backwards compatible, so if you have those stacked up and don't want to plug in that Xbox 360 again; Your friends at Xbox have you covered. Speaking of backwards compatibility that's coming to Xbox One owners in November.

Killer Instinct Season 3 is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 owners in 2016, this season will come with a group of characters including Rash from Battle Toads. Rash's availability is limited though to people who own Killer Instinct content or if you own Rare Replay. ID@Xbox's part of the conference starts now, more then a few games are coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 through the program; actually more then 150 titles are coming to ID@Xbox. Castlevania creator, Koji Igarashi is introduced to talk about his recent Kickstarter success Bloostained. He announces a new character for the game via his whip cracking skills; keep practicing IGA you'll get there. There is also a crossplay functionality with the Xbox one and Windows 10 versions of the game.

Ron Gilbert known from his adventure games comes up to the stage and announces his new game through the program; Thimbleweed Park is coming to Xbox One and Windows 10. There has been a lot of talk about Windows 10 as a new platform for Microsoft and developers of PC games. Developers are very enthusiastic for Windows 10 and Direct X12. A DirectX 12 demo of an all to familiar tech demo from Square Enix that really shows off what Direct X12 can do. The term that has been coming a lot in the last few years 'Cross Buy' has been said a lot in the conferences and it's really being embraces by the big three console manufacturers.

The Head of Minecraft developer, Mojang comes out and talks about Minecraft Windows 10 Beta for a bit but not before announcing the developer's new game. Cobalt looks like 2D action adventure that looks crazy and fun for fans of those type of games. A Dark Souls 3 trailer that includes story and gameplay elements is showed off, it includes a release year for 2016. Homefront:The Revolution is a game that hasn't been heard positively in quite a while. The troubles that the developer faced seemed to be forgotten and has made people's excitement for the game revitalized. The game is coming in 2016 with a multiplayer beta coming exclusively to Xbox One before the game's release.

It wouldn't be a Europe Game conference without some football, EA showed off the features for FIFA 16 as well as exclusive features for Xbox. It was also announced that a FIFA 16 Xbox One Bundle is coming on September 15th. After that Halo 5:Guardians multiplayer trailer was revealed which turned into a Halo 5 esports match with pros and commentators on stage for whatever reason. People questioned if they were on a different channel on Twitch. After that match a member from 343 announced the Halo World Championship with a pool of $1,000,000. Just Cause 3 was revealed withe it's ridiculousness 'cause why not? That game comes out December 1st of this year.

Now it's Forza time to shine with the amount of real time weather simulation, also the number of puddles to show off in this game. The game is looking good for fans of the series and genre and it's coming out on September 15th. An extended demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider was revealed to remind people that this game is coming for Xbox owners the same day as Fallout 4. Developers say that the games is 3 times bigger then anything they have ever done; which is exciting for when I get my hands on it. Double arrow kills should be noted.

Just when you think it's all over over, Phil Spencer has that 'One more thing' moment with Halo. After the trailer is done it is announced that Halo Wars 2 is coming in Fall 2016. The crowd went crazy after that. Pretty crazy conference I'm gonna be honest after watching that it almost makes me want to buy an Xbox One. A lot of value coming for the rest of 2015 and the not too distance future of 2016 for Xbox fans.

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Written By Dennis Price

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