There was a lot of speculation of just what Microsoft would show this year at their E3 press briefing this year, what would they start with and what would they end with. Even amongst other media in line we had no idea how they would start, but we knew it would not be Call of Duty, and it wasn’t. Halo 5 Guardians kicked off the briefing and it looked impressive.

It was not just the fancy trailer that was impressive, it was the gameplay that we were treated to live, with 4 players taking control of each of the Spartans in Locke’s’ team. The demo ended with a large enemy claiming victory over the master chief and then it ended. The demo was impressive, it proved that the series still has some stories to tell, but that was then blown out of the water by the games multiplayer mode, Warzones, an all-new platform that lets 2-16 players take part is battles on maps 4 times the size of Halo 5, filled with AI combatant, the multiplayer looks incredible.

After that, we were treated to a never ending barrage of games, ReCore from Keiji Inafune and some of the people that worked on Metroid Prime, Fallout 4 got more details including that all mods mad on PC will be able to be downloaded on Xbox One, oh and that all copies of Fallout 4 on Xbox One will come with a copy of Fallout 3 for free. As just prior to this announcement, Phil Spencer announced that all, retail and digital games from Xbox 360 will, by Christmas work on Xbox One. Dark Souls 3 was announced, Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 was all announced, EA continued the love by announcing that Titanfall was joining EA Access and that in just a few months, Dragon Age Inquisition would be joining it and that this week, EA Access is free for all Xbox Live Gold Members

It was around this time that we got a nice look at the all new Ford GT as it lowered from the roof of the Galen Center into the middle of the crowd, with people losing their minds over that, but then Henry Ford III and Dan Greenwalt came out to talk about Forza 6, but the games did not stop there, We got another look at Tom Clancy’s The Division, which gets an exclusive Beta on Xbox One, we got another look at Rainbow Six Siege and it was also announced that all copies of the game on Xbox One will also get a copy of Rainbow Six Vegas and Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for free, from the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility library.

Next up was our first look at a Windows 10/Xbox One exclusive title, Gigantic, a moba inspired game that allows you to summon a creature to fight for you, I have hands on scheduled for later in the week, so look for that. It was at this point the show slowed right down, we were shown 4 ID@Xbox titles and while there is nothing wrong with them, it just seemed to drag on past the point of it needing to. The titles, Cuphead, Tacoma, Ashen and Beyond Eyes, all have taken different approaches to visuals and gameplay, which is exciting.

The show then took an even stranger turn as it was announced that Xbox One indies would be able to sign up for an early access method of creation, like steam, where players can purchase a game early and help shape its development, games like DayZ and The Long Dark are coming to this program soon. But the man behind DayZ was not done as he then announced an all-new title in Ion, a game where you do something, I honestly have no idea what you are meant to do, perhaps in time it will become clear. Then we got our first look at Rise of the Tomb Raider, where Lara and her companion were dealing with climbing a mountain before a storm came through, but as it was close already, things went nuts. 

After this we got our first look at what Rare has been cooking up and it turns out it was nothing like anyone expected, Rare Replay is packaging together 30 of Rare’s greatest hits onto one disc and could be great value.

But that it turns out was not all they were working on as we got a look at online action game where you take on the role of a pirate and work with other members of your crew to do what pirates do. Sea of Thieves is coming to Xbox One and PC next year. We were treated to another look at Fable Legends, which is free to play and anything you earn on one version will carry over to the other, same with anything you buy. Then Rod Ferguson took to the stage to announce Gears of War Ultimate Edition, a beefed up version of the original, with multiplayer confirmed to be running at 60fps, but it turns out that was just a taste of what the team up at The Coalition have been working on, because we got our first look at Gears 4.

That was it for the games, we also got a look at a brand new Xbox Elite Gaming Controller, which clocks in at a massive $149.99 US, but as its designed for only the super hard-core, most people will not think about it. We got a mention of Oculus and how each unit will come with an Xbox One controller, so people can play the games right and it was also announced that with Windows 10, you will be able to stream your Xbox One games to Windows and then view them with the Rift. A partnership with Valve VR was also announced for Windows, but that was not the end of the talk about different realities as we got a live demo of Microsoft Hololens and it running an all-new build of Minecraft and boy did it look cool.

Overall, Microsoft had a strong showing, nothing surprising or ground breaking was announced, sure we have a new game from Kenji Inafune, but we don’t even know what type of game that will be yet. Xbox 360 Backwards compatibility is huge, but most Xbox One gamers will have passed on their old collections by now. A good showing to be sure, but nothing overall exciting I am afraid.