CHARLIE NICHOLSON
F
8
ollowing in the wake
of the Bethesda conference and EA's separate event, EA Play,
Microsoft took to the
E3 stage to share some
promising information
surrounding some of its
confirmed release, and
some exciting big-reveals.
First up was Gears
of War 4. Studio Head
Rod Fergusson took
to the stag to confirm
that Gears 4 will be
releasing on 11 October 2016. It'll also
support cross-play between the console and
Windows 10, as an
exclusive to both platforms. A snippet of coop gameplay was also
shown, flaunting fluid
character movement
and hefty combat encounters, before a brief
teaser unveiled an allnew Gears of War edition of the Xbox Elite
controller. What a way
to open the show, eh?
In keeping with the
Gears of War enthusiasm, Iron Games was
next on-stage, to announce that the series'
General RAAM will be
coming to fighter Killer
Instinct as a playable
character this week.
Microsoft
chased
the warmly welcomed
Gears-themed
announcements with another co-op showcase,
this time for openworld racer Forza
Horizon 3. The demo
oversaw players whisk
about a glistening Australian
environment,
whilst a four-player
co-op campaign and
cross-platform co-op
support was confirmed
across the Xbox One
and Windows 10. It'll
also apparently see
the "largest car roster
ever seen" in Horizon,
releasing on 27th September 2016.
We saw more this
year from ReCore, a
stylised action-adventure affair with what
looks to be platforming
elements, and a cast
of interesting characters with robotic and
technological abilities.
The game launches 13
September.
A live demo of Final
Fantasy XV was next off
the mark, showing off a
fast and fluid battle system in a demo mission,
Trial of Titan. Players rocketed around
against a hulking stone
beast, using a variety
of abilities that included a nifty warp power.
Perhaps to be expected in a Final Fantasy
game, the encounter
was pretty epic.
We saw a bit more
from The Division in a
trailer for upcoming
expansion,
Underground, released on
28 June, before DICE
appeared to talk Battlefield 1. The game
releases on 21 October, but EA Access
members can play the
game a little earlier on
13 October.
Head of platform engineering Mike Ybarra
detailed some of Xbox
Live's new features,
including background
music, language selection and the addition of
Cortana to Xbox One.
He also announced
Xbox Clubs and Looking For Group functions, where players
will be able to find
players with specific skills more easily,
whilst Xbox Arena will
unleash new tournaments to accommodate
competitive players.
Minecraft
also
popped in, to announce their new
"Friendly
Update",
permitting cross-play
across a variety of