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The Xbox + Bethesda 2021 E3 Showcase & Discussion Thread

How many games will they show at Xbox E3 2021?

  • 20 games

    Votes: 80 31.9%
  • 35 games

    Votes: 48 19.1%
  • 50 games

    Votes: 19 7.6%
  • 60 games (same as 2019)

    Votes: 17 6.8%
  • 85 games

    Votes: 13 5.2%
  • 100 games

    Votes: 2 0.8%
  • Over 100 games

    Votes: 72 28.7%

  • Total voters
    251
  • Poll closed .

Vae_Victis

Banned
One good thing they did is limit the amount of CGI "coming eventually, maybe" type of announcements. Those were traditionally for me one of the worst points of Microsoft conferences.

I can't really say this conference did much to convince anyone to buy an Xbox per se, but at this point I assume their goal is more to convince people to subscribe to Game Pass, and in that regard they did well.

Still a huge question mark hanging over Halo Infinite as far as I'm concerned. "Parts of it" coming this year, but no exact date to announce (even though FH5 has a date for November, and even Starfield has a date for freaking November 2022). Of the single player they showed what was either an in-engine cutscene or a highly-railroaded interactive sequence, which in itself didn't look particularly inspired or inspiring. Multiplayer was a montage that looks to me pretty much indistinguishable from Halo on Xbox One (on a technical level).
 

ZehDon

Member
you woke up early.. ok.. we didn't need to know that.
giphy.gif
 

Nubulax

Member
Nah, its only a matter of time before every somewhat sizeable studio starts their own fucking pass :D

Still I don't know the economy of GP so I don't know how it will work long-term, I like the idea as a consumer but I'm not so sure its great for games and studios, time will tell because Software as a service is here to stay..
I find it hard to believe this isnt how its going to end up eventually. In movies/tv space Netflix was one if not the only at first and now look at how many difference subscription services there are..its rediculous. Probably be some sort of Amazon Prime "Game Pass" in the future, could also see some sort of "Steam Pass" too
 

Ogbert

Member
i swear when i was on my PS5 last nite.....it was advertising the new BattleField for $70. or am i crazy. I tried to click and see if i could find a different "edition" that was cheaper. but didn't
What's even worse on the PS Store is the default advert for each new game is invariably the premium edition at ÂŁ80 plus.

Maybe we're just stung by exchange rates at the moment, but PS5 prices are off the charts in the UK. It's just too much money.
 

Woopah

Member
Great showing, lots of different genres and plenty of new IPs, only thing missing was gameplay for first party titles.

E3 back on track and I'm very pleased for Xbox owners. Hopefully the Square, Capcom and Nintendo shows are just as good.
 
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LRKD

Member
The games were mostly weak with a few really cool show offs and a few really bad ones. The presentation style itself was really good... Except the Horizon part, they went full classic e3 cringe during that part, which is a shame cuz that game looked really good. Shoulda just let the game do the talkin.

I think overall it was pretty good though, despite the lack of games, the lack of cringe made up for it lol. I feel for Microsoft they are in pretty much the same position Sony was like 5 years ago. They have plenty of big titles to show off, but they are all too far away. Unlike Sony though it seems they are trying not to show of the same games 5 years straight. Like they only mentinoed PD and Fable by name instead of showing them off again.
 
Perfect Dark and Fable are late 2023 games in my estimation, so I didn't expect them. Avowed is supposedly an Elder Scroll type next-gen RPG so 2024 is more likely. Too far away to be shown this year unfortunately.
 

kyussman

Member
Or PS5/PC.... honestly if they actually do release most if not all games on PC too..I dont know why anyone would honestly get an X over a PC tbh. Im going to be in the PS5/Switch/PC camp. Need to upgrade and build a new PC as im due for another build, have switch already, and will buy a PS5 when I can find one more available
Nah,zero interest in PC gaming.
 

Excess

Member
A Plague's Tale 2

Honestly don't recall an MS @ E3 this good.

I don't care about Halo I think it looked like shit. Will probably play the campaign but I have better reasons to stay on game pass now.

Back4Blood day one game pass is great news. Finally gonna pay Hades. STALKER2 definitely a looker and can't wait to hear more on STARFIELD.


But best of all many of the smaller games looked incredible!



1. I'm super hyped for Plague Tale Requiem, the first was so good for an AA, imagine they got the money now to sort out those janky facial animations and expand on the concept mechanically and in storytelling. Great news.





2. That fucking pixel art game "Replaced" OMG man ...





3. SOMMERVILLE is made by the former CEO of PLAYDEAD (LIMBO, INSIDE) : https://jumpship.co.uk/ so good.



Great show for those three alone.

THANKS PHIL

Legit had never even considered the original game, but that sequel trailer hit me in the feels and I'm now gonna try it on Game Pass.

RNQH1NI.png
 

THE:MILKMAN

Member
Lots of games for Game Pass with a few interesting indi games (again) but not much killer on the AAA side for my taste. FH5 did look great and it was just about the only new game shown with actual (and impressive) gameplay graphics.

The Blur style CGI trailers are really starting to grate though and they clearly understand the issue as the Outer Worlds 2 trailer showed.

I really don't think people understand how much of a draw Gamepass will be to regular gamers.

I have a PS5. Just finished Ratchet and Clank. Loved it. But it cost me ÂŁ70. And Returnal was ÂŁ70 before that. That's a year plus (easy) of Gamepass.

I have money to spare and I'm already getting bored of Sony's pricing.

At some point in the next 12-24 months, Gamepass is going to become the most compelling vehicle for playing games.

It is a fair point on value for money for sure and the Sony FP pricing (and more TP I'm seeing...) is just one of a number of reasons why I've upgraded my PC recently instead of getting console(s) and pray reasonably priced console level bang for buck GPUs come back soon. For various reasons both consoles have put me right off and after today's MS showing I doubt Sony are sweating and will probably now hold stuff back unless the pricing and other things start hit them in sales (we know it won't for the foreseeable).

Right now PC+GP+Steam seems the most logical way to go.
 

FrankieSab

Member
A good, not great, show.

What MS are doing is undeniable. Within a couple of years, she sheer volume of titles will make gamepass too compelling to pass up. I will grab a series X then.

I just think it's a pity that they do not have one absolutely cutting edge title. Stalker 2 should not the best game in your line up (although it looked ace).

Halo was especially disappointing. Series S clearly an absolute lead weight on development.
Series S a lead weight on development for Halo? Come on it's coming for Xbox One... S has the same CPU and SSD, not a Jaguar anemic CPU.
 

wipeout364

Member
Looked great, super happy with what’s coming. Amazing lineup between first party and third party. 2022 is going to be insane if all those titles hit their release dates. The crazy thing is how much variety they have in their line up.

Really Looking forward to Stalker, Starfield, Halo multiplayer, Forza Horizon 5, Outerworlds 2, Avowed. Also getting Back for Blood in gamepass is pretty amazing.
 
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everyone mentioning the games they DIDN"T show. Made me just realize something.

u take everything u saw today. Then add all the stuff announced last year.
Dare i say Xbox has much better stuff in the pipeline than playstation. If only by sheer quantity.
I can name maybe 4 upcoming playstation games. any tom dick and harry can probably name like 10 upcoming Xbox things rn
Yeah because sony already made good games on ps5 e don't shoot cgi trailer of 2025 games.
 

longdi

Banned
Yap pc + game pass + steam is great

May get a series s as a secondary console that plays 4k br and emulators. Gamepass is such a draw!
 
Red Fall looks super generic and boring. I predict the game will fail hard. What a waste of Arkane's talent.

I was disappointed to see no Hellblade 2 wtf MS?
Arkane has made nothing but good games for a decade. So u kinda have to give them the benefit of the doubt. BioWare and DICE have dropped like 3 duds in a row and ppl still get hype for them.
 

BootsLoader

Banned
Oh don't get me wrong. I too would love to see kojima new game, but this event is all about games with expected dates. Kojima first appeared on Phil shelf quite recently. Things are probably brewing behind. I mean we didn't get to see hellblade2 on UE5 either. 🤷‍♀️
Hellblade will be a great game I’m sure about that. I wanted so much to see that in their press but I guess next time. As for kojima I’m very very impressed that you are so sure about their collaboration. Let’s see how things will play out.
As for games with dates etc, the most impressive thing they showed was gamepass which is blowing and I admit it I’m a little jealous. May build a new PC or buy a Series S just for that as I want to buy a PS5 for main console gaming. Anyways, this time MS got their shit together. Now I’m waiting for Sony to blow us away (joking :p)
 
Standouts for me were Forza Horizon 5, STALKER 2, that one JRPG and arguably Halo Infinite (tho I'm still trying to figure if the stuff with him leaping around in zero-G was gameplay or in-engine stuff. The multiplayer looks better than the July 2020 stuff tho, at least from what was shown).

Does this show "move the needle" for stalwart Sony & Nintendo people to jump into the ecosystem if they haven't already? Probably not. But those among them who were entertaining a Series system and/or GamePass I think will have a lot more motivation to do so after this show.

At least we can say that Xbox has some of the other best-looking games on the market tho, or will starting next month. FS 2020 and Forza Horizon 5 are visually stunning and compete with the best I've seen from PS5 so far, easily. I'm still curious how FS will translate to console, maybe the Top Gun expansion helps give it that "story"-esque narrative hook that can pull more people in, they definitely should have dogfights in there as some type of mode, maybe something with a storyline inspired by the new movie coming up.

And again, Forza Horizon 5..that looks just straight-up amazing. Best-looking racing game until Forza Motorsport drops, easily. Visual fidelity and density is spot-on, literally only a handful of other games doing that (namely, Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West and Demon's Souls remake).

I think if you're an Xbox fan who had realistic expectations, it was at least a 9/10 show. If you're more a PS/Nintendo person who was still considering an Xbox or jumping into GamePass at some point soon, it was likely an 8/10 - 8.5/10. If you're a PS/Nintendo person who needed more convincing to jump in, it was maybe closer to a 7/10 on the high end.

For me, it was a pretty solid 8/10 - 8.5/10 kind of show; some of the middle section dragged a bit IMO but the first 30 and last 30 minutes were very strong. I'd like for a bigger push for more fighting games, JRPGs and 3rd-person narrative-driven stuff (which on that front at least we know Plague's Tale 2 is coming and looks greats), and I honestly don't think Grounded should've been in there (Sea of Thieves I can understand because of the Pirates crossover, but what did Grounded bring?), but aside of that it was a pretty solid showing.

That said, I'm still surprised we haven't gotten any new Bright Memory Infinite gameplay, it's still coming this year, right? And no "massive" 3P GamePass announcements. I mean, are they going to get any big stuff aside from Outriders and MLB The Show this year? On a technicality Farcry 6 and Battlefield 2042 are there, but only if you have GPU and it's "only" for the first 10 hours each through EA's service. Granted I like a lot of the 3P GP stuff they showed but can we really say most any of it is going to grab headlines among the mainstream? Maybe 12 Minutes due to who's involved but a lot of the rest probably won't (but like I said they still look quite fun).

We also didn't get any acquisition announcements, or confirmation on if Kojima actually is doing anything with Xbox, etc. Between those rumors and the constant leaks and pessimistic "temper expectations" stuff, I think I'm officially done listening to ANY of these "insiders" and their leaks. It's one thing to do that with upcoming console hardware, but it actually does suck away some of the fun when it starts happening with the games themselves. The way those insiders were yabbering up to the event you'd of thought we'd gotten announcements of those but nope xD!

So I think I will say, while getting confirmation on things like FS 2020 and improvements to Halo Infinite (even if some were cryptic on the single-player side) was great, plus some of the other CG trailer reveals, and gameplay for Battlefield 2042, the gameplay for STALKER 2 and Forza Horizon 5 easily make up the lionshare of my enjoyment with the show. I hope they show more of Halo Infinite's single-player campaign at an upcoming event, still need more to ascertain some things but again, things look a lot better in most respects from what was seen in 2020.

And who knows, we might get a few more Xbox/GamePass-related announcements or reveals from the Square-Enix and Capcom shows later on. I just hope they're newer games :p.
 

Warablo

Member
Red Fall looks super generic and boring. I predict the game will fail hard. What a waste of Arkane's talent.

I was disappointed to see no Hellblade 2 wtf MS?
Yeah, sick of these goofy art styles that everyone is trying to do. Just go with a grounded or realistic approach.
 

Dibils2k

Member
This did nothing for people who aren't already in the xbox ecosystem. If they have another console or PC all that gsmepass stuff they can play elsewhere or have already played. Only fresh things from Microsoft this year are Halo infinite with f2p multiplayer and a admittedly great looking Forza
if someone has a gaming PC then nothing xbox ever shows will tempt them to buy xbox so its just PS only users they need to try and tempt
 

elliot5

Member
Fucking incredible showcase. I think the only game I couldn't see myself playing was the jrpg. All the gameplay shown was awesome. The cinematics trailers were well done. 8/10, would've been higher if no leaks or something like acquisition talk. 2018 is probably better
 
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