The Average Gamer

gamescom 2014: Microsoft Press Conference

gamescom_XboxBriefing14Microsoft held their gamescom press conference in Cologne earlier today. They covered a huge amount of games including exclusive titles to Xbox One, like Rise of the Tomb Raider and three new console bundles. The ability to pre-order and pre-download games is coming to Xbox One too.

FIFA 15:
FIFA ultimate team will feature legends only available to Xbox One and 360 owners. The legend player roster is growing to feature over 50 players including Roy Keane, Alan Shearer and Sir Bobby Moore. There will be a FIFA 15 console bundle including a digital copy of the game available from 25th Sep 2014.

ID@XBOX:
More of the ID@XBOX games were shown including Space Engineers where you build cool stuff in space and then blow it up. In Super Hot time only moves when you do and The Escapists from Team 17 is a top down adventure game with some cool looking pixel art. Smite from Hi-Rez Studios is a 3rd person MOBA that’s been on PC for a while and is now comng to Xbox One.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
There’s going to be a Halo channel which is your home for everything Halo. Play Halo: Master Chief Collection, watch the TV shows like Halo: Nightfall from Ridley Scott and chat with the community in partnership with Twitch. It’s launching in Nov 2014 on Xbox One and PC.

The developers 343 Industries also announced the latest Halo 2 anniversay multiplayer map will be Sanctuary. Also the ranking system in Anniversary will be skill based and feature the same levelling found in the original Halo 2 game.

Halo 5: Guardians:
The multiplayer beta will be focusing on arena-type gameplay and will run from 29th Dec 2014 to 18th Jan 2015. The loadouts will be consistent throughout each team. You’ll be able to unlock items in the beta to take through into Halo 5: Guardians.

Rise of the Tomb Raider:
Now exclusive to Xbox, Lara will be confronted to what it takes to become a hero and test her beyond human limits. Wait, what does that even mean? Disappointingly, we didn’t get to see any gameplay.

Quantum Break:
Shown in live demo for for the first time. Quantum Break is game where time is breaking down after an experiment went gone horribly wrong. You play a character called Jack who was caught in the blast of this failed experiment giving you the ability to pause time at will. There are also time stutters, whole areas where life has completely frozen. Because you are special, you can function within these stutters as normal. It looks like a mind-blowing, time-shifting version of Uncharted.

Fable Legends:
You can play the villain for the first time in a Fable game. Multiplayer beta starts from 16th Oct 2014.

Forza Horizon 2:
More than 200 cars in an open-world setting. Apparently, there will be no lobbies and no waiting times on dedicated servers. Drivatars have infested this game too. There’s a club facility and car meet to show off your car designs and they’ve added a lot of social features to the game. There are two online modes – roadtrip where you vote on where to go next, and freeroam.

Ori and the Blind Forest:
You play a character called Ori who must escape the ever-advancing flow of water, rising from the bottom of the screen. You’ve got some ninja-like skills to somersault and climb your way around the beautiful environments. The jumping mechanic looks straight out of the latest Strider game, which works really well. Ori is coming to Xbox One and PC.

Forza Motorsport 5:
From today, Rolls Royce cars will be available in Forza 5 for the first time in any driving game. There is also a special hotlap event in a Formula E Renault Spark to win a trip to the first race next year. Along with 4 other cars, they are available free.

Evolve:
Coming to Xbox One on 10th Feb 2015 with open beta from Jan 2015. The Distillery map will be playable from the first time at gamescom.

Screamride:
This is Theme Park: Murder. [only not Theme Park because branding – Ed.] Create both insane and deadly theme park rides to seemingly kill all your test subjects. Coming to 360 and Xbox One in spring 2015.

Sunset Overdrive:
New game bundle was announced with a white Xbox One console, controller and lots of extra game content. Available from 31st Oct 2014.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Following on from last night’s multiplayer unvieling a level called collapse set on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge was shown. There was a very pretty drive down a road that just kept on exploding. The drones doid look really cool and there was a pretty epic sequence as the Golden Gate bridge inexplicable fell apart as things tend to do in Call of Duty games. Explosions! Add-on content will be first on Xbox and there’s a new Xbox One limited edition bundle with 1Tb HDD, digital copy of day zero game available 3rd Nov 2014

All the trailers are available in this handy playlist. Thanks, Xbox!