To say Microsoft showed a lot of games would be an understatement. They had 50 games, some already released but with new content, some were exclusive, and some just new. Although there was not always a lot said about these games.
Read MoreMicrosoft is out the gate as the second company to have their conference. Lets look at what all they presented, shall we?
First off was the elephant in the room, Project Scorpio, or as it is now known, Xbox One X. Would it kill them to use the code names for actual product names? I really like a lot of the code names. The system will be out on 11/7 world wide at $499. The system has a 6 tereflop GPU at 1.172 Ghz, 12 GB of RAM, and 32GB/s of bandwidth. What this basically comes down to is the system is super powerful and supports 4K in the truest sense of the word. Also the accessories and games will be backwards compatible with the the new system. They are also reporting that if you don't have a 4K TV games will look great on a 1080P TV. In order to keep the infamous red ring of death at bay they have introduced a liquid cooled vapor chamber. And the blasted thing is also pretty small. It is barely bigger then the controller.
Read MoreHalo has always been a staple of the Xbox diet. It was what launched with the original Xbox, and arguably made it the success it was. Xbox has always meant, and needed, Halo. This is why the recent announcement for Halo is so important. It continues a long standing tradition that a lot of gamers love and hold very dear. Yes, I have given Halo a hard time in the past, but I still love it. So that is why, with the announcement of "Halo 5: Guardians" and the fact that it will come on in fall of 2015 is so awesome. Sure, they did give us much concrete information. They said that "Halo 5" is a bigger effort then "Halo 4" was. They also announced that the "Halo" TV series will (you know, the one Steven Spielberg is working on) will also launch in the fall of 2015. Beyond that there is a lot of "developer speak". I very much doubt we will get to hear / see much in the way of concrete information until the E3 press conference in a few weeks. But this is still a big thing! To quote the Bonnie Ross (General Manager, 343 Industries); the "journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather then a small step."
Expect more information on the June 9th media briefing. I know I can't wait.
Netflix and Hulu have become staples in the living room. You are almost expected to have a device of some sort that can access the vast libraries of entertainment they have, and for some time the easiest way to access them were the game consoles that most of us gamers own. But there was always a downside. If you had an Xbox you had to have the gold level of Xbox Live to access the services you already paid for. Kind of lame when you consider the fact that you have never need to pay extra if you have a PlayStation 3 or 4, AppleTV, ChromeCast, or any other number of devices capable of streaming. But that is changing, all for the better.
Read MoreAnd at long last, we have the Xbox One. And here it is undressed from the packaging sent by Microsoft.
Another change in Microsoft’s policies, Microsoft has just announced that the Kinect will no longer need to be connected in order for the Xbox One to work. In a recent Ask Microsoft Anything, Xbox Corporate Vice President Marc Whitten revealed that Xbox One owners will be able to use all of the console's core functions regardless of whether the new Kinect sensor is connected. (Reported by IGN)
Looks like Microsoft has blessed us with a little early Christmas gift. Larry Hryb (Major Nelson) gave us a sneak peak at the New Xbox One, in an unboxing video. Couple of very interesting things where shown a Chat Headset in box and also a 4K Resolution ready HDMI cable.
Since E3, Microsoft and the Xbox One has been talked about a lot; not about how amazing their console was but how the power compared to the PS4 was not up to par. People have been saying that the PS4 is 50% more powerful when it comes to raw graphics. Well today gamers and put a little simile on their faces because it was announced that Microsoft, was able to increase their GPU clock speed as they get closer to launch. Let’s Talk...
Microsoft has just confirmed that Xbox One owners will be able to use their current generation headset and third party headsets with the new console; this will be possible with an adapter that Microsoft will be working on.
Microsoft has made another change in their policy, this time it has to do with Independent Developers. That is right Microsoft has just announced that they will be allowing independent developers to self-publish Xbox One games without requiring a publisher of any kind.
