E3 2018: Inside Xbox Recap – June 11, 2018
Earlier today, we kicked off our first episode of Inside Xbox live from E3, pulling back the curtain and giving more details on all of the exciting reveals coming out of our Xbox E3 Briefing yesterday, as well as a world reveal of a new survival experience from Bohemia Interactive, new gameplay footage of Outer Wilds, Phil Spencer giving more details on some of the new studios that have joined the Xbox family and much, much more. For a full recap, read on below, watch a replay of the show above, or click on each of the subheadings to go directly to that interview segment. For continued coverage of Xbox at E3 2018, tune in to Mixer.com/Xbox throughout the week.
Kicking things off was Bohemia Interactive giving us the world reveal of their new game Vigor. In this unique and more hardcore take on post-apocalyptic survival genre. Taking place in Scandinavia, players take on the role of an outlander, engaging in unique encounters, seeking shelter, gaining resources, and building up in experience to be able to fight off other players. Where other games of the genre tend to focus on shooting, Vigor describes itself as focusing much more on the survival and uncertain aspects this type of world would really be like. We’ll get a bigger look at Vigor coming this Summer to Xbox Game Preview.
Gears 5, Gears Tactics, and Gears Pop
Rod Fergusson, Studio Head at The Coalition stopped by to give us more details on the recent reveal of Gears 5 with a deeper look at some of the gameplay and experiences that are in store for players. Confirming that Kait Diaz is the main protagonist of Gears 5 and showing some of the production involved in bringing these characters to life, as well as the work involved in taking some new risks with the design of Gears of War. Namely the creation of the new PC game Gears Tactics, diving into a genre that the team at The Coaltion loves, as well as mobile in Gears Pop!. Check out the full interview with Rod in the video above.
Next up we talked with Tymon Smektala, Game Designer at Techland about some of the new combat abilities we can expect to play in Dying Light 2. Confirming that there will be a lot of action centered around elements of parkour, as well as doubling the number of moves from the previous game, players will be challenged to find ways to combine those unique skills to utilize in the environment to survive and attack other enemies. We’ll have more details to share in the coming months for Dying Light 2 here on Xbox Wire.
Major Nelson got some more details from PUBG Corp.’s Chang Han Kim giving more details on the snow level reveal, the ballistic shield, the new smaller map and other core details coming soon to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. With the game still in Xbox Game Preview on Xbox One, Chan also gave an update that the team recognizes to prioritize new content for players as well as working to stabilize the build, with two separate teams working on both of these features. Check out the full interview above and the new gameplay trailer revealed yesterday.
Ralph Fulton, Creative Director at Playground Games, stopped by to give some more information about the seasons coming to Forza Horizon 4, giving more detail in how this shared world would work, with the environment synchronized for all players to have a unique shared experience for all players. Fulton also went into detail about how, although Britain is listed as the location, the team has taken some creative freedom with the real-world locations to create a fun racing experience.
Another thing Fulton touched on about the location of Britain and how itself makes itself such a perfect location due to its climate variety. And it’s this weather that opens up a variety of events, new locations, and can be the perfect delivery mechanism to continue adding things to the game post-launch. Check out the full interview above.
Ashley Speicher, Head of Engineering of Xbox Game Pass, came by to give a quick bit of information about how Fast Start works thanks to machine learning. And this feature is not just for Xbox Game Pass. It’s a platform feature that will be available for most games in the June update that’s planned for later this month. For more details on Fast Start, watch the full interview above and stay tuned to Xbox Wire.
Andreas Morell and Lars Gustavsson from the Battlefield V talking about Operations mode and how it will take place over the course of three days in multiplayer. It’s when the fourth day comes around for this mode when things get very interesting, as there will be no respawns and limited ammo creating an incredibly tense final charge to the finish. They also took some time to detail some of the new gunplay mechanics being introduced to Battlefield V, the new player movement system (e.g. jumping out of a window, landing on the back and continuing to fire on the enemy). Also, now that all players will now have the ability to revive a downed teammate, encouraging even more players to work together. For more details on Battlefield V, check out our in-depth hands-on previews on Xbox Wire and check out the full interview above.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer came by to give us all more information about the studios Xbox has acquired, announced yesterday during the Xbox E3 Briefing, and the creative freedom these studios are looking for to create unique games soon. All the studios are currently in different places right now in terms of their new projects, mixing all of the releases in and the diversity of games the studios are working on. Spencer also took the time to talk more about Xbox’s investment in Microsoft AI coming to games as well as the streaming platform mentioned at the end of yesterday’s briefing, wanting Xbox fans to know that a great console will always be critical to how he views the Xbox brand. Check out the full interview above.
Pete Hines, SVP Global Marketing and Communications at Bethesda came by to give more details on Fallout 76 and its online-centric gameplay, giving players a new way to interact with the world’s story, lore, and quests – all core Fallout elements – now in an emergent gameplay world. It’s you being who you want to be in this world and playing a Fallout game the way you want. Hines also talked about the new DLC for Prey, the first tease of Doom Eternal, a new Wolfenstein, and Fallout 4 in Xbox Game Pass.
System Era stopped by to share new info on Astroneer which will expand upon the sandbox universe now with goals to encourage player cooperation. With new updates featuring creatures, farming, water, and more. Still, in Xbox Game Preview and in active development with a targeted release of December 2018, players are encouraged to jump in and explore the way they want. They also mentioned their new Terrain 2.0 system that will let players work on creating superstructures and digging deeper into he planet. Check out the full interview above and check out Astroneer in Xbox Game Preview today
Xbox Adaptive Controller Pre-order
We also had a brief announcement today announcing that the Xbox Adaptive Controller is now available for pre-order and will be shipping this September. For more information about the XAC, check out Xbox Wire.
Hideaki Itsuno, Director of Capcom gave some more details about DMC5 and its hero Nero, who has opened his own demon-hunting agency and comes equipped with a crazy-awesome robotic arm. You can learn more about Nero’s new combat abilities in the full interview above as well as reading our reveal article here on Xbox Wire. In closing, Itsuno wanted fans to know that he’s confident this is the game that fans of Devil May Cry will enjoy and will exceed their expectations.
Creative Director at Massive Entertainment, Julian Gerighty stopped by to give more info on the Shield Program for Tom Clancy’s The Division, allowing players to earn shields in-game for special unlocks that will carry over to The Division 2. He also went into detail on some of the unique weapons coming to the game and giving more info about some of the new enemies, new animations, the game’s setting, and more and how the team is approaching The Division 2 with an end-game first philosophy and highlighting the involvement of the community in helping make this game great. Check out the full interview above.
Mike Chapman, Design Director at Rare confirmed for us that we can look forward to being attacked by galleons crewed by skeletons. He also revealed more details about Cursed Cannonballs that give a unique status effect when on board a ship and more detail about sailing into Devil’s Roar, a geologically unstable area that spews volcanic rocks, and the instruction of rowboats in the near future. There’s a lot of little details to pick out in yesterday’s reveal trailer, so be sure to check that out as well as the rest of this interview above.
Giving a recap on some of the great games recently released to Xbox Game Pass like Fallout 4, The Division, and The Elder Scrolls Online, Communications Manager of Freejam Games Andy Griffiths shared his experience as being the first indie developer to bring his game Robocraft Infinity to the service, highlighting that it exposed their creative game to a new audience. You can check out the roundtable discussion above that also featured Studio Head of Rare Craig Duncan and Bethesda’s Pete Hines.
Finally, we got a deeper look at the unique exploration game Outer Wilds featuring a time loop in which every gaming session is only 20 minutes long, causing the solar system to reset itself. Not to mention that the entire universe you can explore is physics driven, featuring planetary gravity and that the entire space is open to explore where every planet is a unique danger you have to conquer. Learn more about this creative indie game above and check out our reveal preview here on Xbox Wire.
Thanks for tuning in for this special episode of Inside Xbox live from E3. Tune in to Mixer.com/Xbox throughout the week for even more behind-the-scenes news from E3 2018.