PixlBit

Okay, so I was lucky enough to catch the full Microsoft presentation this morning as well as EA and I will put my impressions down in this here blog. I might follow up with Ubisoft and Sony too in a second part.

I will try to be mostly positive and not trash everything, because I don't like reading those types of blogs.

Microsoft
The Good:
It was mostly game related. Compared to last year, MS sure came a long way and felt like a new company altogether. I could have sworn that the name 'Xbox One' wasn't mentioned at all the whole time, and the name 'Xbox' was used instead. It could be my mind playing tricks on me, because I hadn't had my morning cup of coffee yet, I could be wrong. I'm pretty sure the name 'Kinect 2.0' wasnt mentioned either nor any game play or games that support this feature. It was entirely absent. Also any mention of 'Twitch' or streaming or whatever? Recording your game and sharing?  I don't think it was mentioned. Probably because it was introduced last year and there is no need to repeat it? But I thought Kinect was needed for this? Whatever. Xbox One from last year is completely gone, instead we get XBox... 720? I don't think it's a bad thing. This was an apology for MS gamers, and only games were mentioned. No Apps. No Kinect. No Services. Well, I could be wrong. I hadn't had my coffee yet. 

Sunset Overdrive looks fun and colorful.
DLC for Dead Rising 3 was incredible. 
Halo Collection is overloaded with content, maybe too much of a good thing?
Lots of good looking 3rd party games. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare for instance. 
Platinum games exclusive looks cool, and Indies are back!

The Bad:
I don't think that MS exclusives are strong enough to win over skeptics or casuals. However, the Xbox brand is still strong enough to influence parents and loyalists that might have felt burned from last year? I don't know what it means? Polygon.com wrote an article talking about how Sony should be scared because XBox was coming after them? Really? I didn't see that at this conference. If polygon read my tweets, and who doesn't read my tweets, they would know that WiiU beat XOne in sales last month and now have to worry about Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft spent too much time on 3rd party as well. A problem because obviously these games are available on PC and PS4 as well. Based on software titles, I think MS conference will be forgotten by the end of the week. EA put on a pretty strong show as well. Also, there was no Gears or real Halo 5 footage at the show either. Maybe next year?

Verdict:
A nice change in messaging. Games! Games! Games! 

EA

The Good:
Lots of games.  Next gen/current gen versions of the usual sports titles look impressive. NHL '15 looks like a game on TV. I am interested in purchasing this when it is released and I don't really play sports games so that says a lot. They put warships into their golf game? Yes a warship! There was a brief mention of Mass Effect and a demo for Mirror's Edge as well as Dragon Age Inquistion, which is the game I am most interested in. 

The Bad:
There aren't very many new IPs or properties from EA. Aside from adding '15 to their sports franchises and sequels to Dragon Age, Mirrors Edge, and Mass Effect it seems like more of the same, but in HD. Some stand outs were The Division and Hardline-- a cops and robbers themed shooter. I am going to try and get into the free beta today on PC, and if you have a PS4 you can try and download too.  

Verdict:
Favorite franchises return in HD! Woo Hoo!