Good evening everyone.
We are about a month out from E3 now and I am excited to see what Phil Spencer and the Xbox team have to show us.
Now there’s a lot of rumour and speculation around what we will see from Xbox at E3 plus a lot of hype and supposed “leaks” as well.
What I’d like to do would be to put to paper my hopes, dreams and expectations of what could come this E3.
Now E3 is at an early time for us but we at XBGD will be up and bringing the information to you as it happens.
Now, firstly, I’m excited for one of the main attractions of Xbox E3 and that is Scorpio. Hopefully we will find out the official name, release date, price and design of the box.
There’s a lot of talk about the Scorpio running on time or ahead of schedule lately which is not likely to change the release date. It may help Microsoft feel a bit more relaxed knowing that they are on schedule for that date and therefore willing to let us know. Obviously the earlier the better but it’s more likely to be towards the end of the year. Technically we could see it anytime, even as early as the 22nd August which is the release of the first title announced to support Scorpio (Middle Earth: Shadow of War) but I wouldn’t expect it to be this early. Maybe an October release to really hit the ground running into the prime AAA release season.
The price, well this is a massive point that could make or break the Scorpio before it’s release and everyone will be watching this very closely. The talk seems to be around the $399 to $499 (US) mark (likely $599 to $799 Aus) and I feel anything above this will cause a negative ripple effect through the media and consumer base. Not that Scorpio doesn’t already get more than it’s fair share of negativity.
Next are the games. These are in place this year to showcase the power and future potential of Scorpio and really wow the crowd. They really want and need to showcase the power of the Scorpio and this is what we would expect. It will then be down to showing us something we don’t know about as the fans need a shock or surprise to really get us all excited.
There’s no real surprises here at this stage though but hopefully there will be on the day.
What we already know:
Middle Earth: Shadow of War was announced as the first title to have Scorpio support
Minecraft’s Windows 10 edition will be coming to Scorpio in 4K
What we’re likely going to see:
Forza 7
State of Decay 2
Crackdown 3
Sea of Thieves
Big focus on ID@Xbox to show the calibre and variety of games along with the emphasis on the ease of development for Scorpio
A heap of 4K patch announcements
The hope and dreams
New IP – there’s been a little bit of talk around a new Rare title
At least a few other new titles – hopefully not sequels.
Halo 6 early footage or a Halo series along the lines of Forward Unto Dawn – maybe the rumoured Halo TV series
Possible VR/AR – not expection Hololens (even though I would like to see it) but the rumoured Fallout 4 VR would give Xbox VR a massive launch pad. This may go along with the compatibility/support for third party VR devices.
There’s so much that we don’t know about Xbox and E3 but releasing the hardware specs for Scorpio early has given Xbox more time to focus on games and that has to be a good thing. I’m now hoping for a nice few surprises from Xbox at E3 which really make everyone stand up and listen. There are many exciting times ahead for Xbox and I’m ready.
I am excited and will be watching on in anticipation.
XBGD Matt.