Microsoft's E3 press conference
Halo Master Chief Collection with Halo 5 beta! New Crackdown! Scalebound! Everything that happened.
Updated on
It's all over! There were games galore in Microsoft's rammed E3 conference, including confirmation of the Halo Master Chief Collection for Xbox One, featuring Halos 1-4 - with a remastered Halo 2 in time for its 10-year anniversary - and beta access for Halo 5. We also heard about new Crackdown, a PlatinumGames exclusive called Scalebound and loads of other stuff.
Games, games, games, as advertised, then. Read our full live text coverage below, and check out our E3 2014 guide for an overview of what else is happening at E3.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Hello everyone! The "pre-show" for Microsoft's conference starts at 5pm BST / 6pm CET, followed by the conference itself at half past. Let us know what you're expecting to see in the comments.
(As in, what you're expecting to see at the conference - we all know what we're expecting to see in the comments .)
ShiftBreaker: Goat Simulator: Kinect Edition or bust.
This is an important point.
My prediction: Phil Spencer is revealed to be Frank Spencer, and it's a slapstick romp thereafter
Wes and I are proper eager beavers. We're among the first 500 here. Our reward is standing in a holding pen in one of the Galen Center's basketball courts.
Favourite rumour so far is that Microsoft has a six month exclusive on the next Red Dead, and it's being shown here today.
kamps09: Gamespot stream window says that livestream starts in 42 minutes.
We're told it's kicking off at 9.30 our time, which is in an hour and a half.
-cerberus-: Anyone else got a bottle of scotch handy, just in case?
Got one in my hand right now, taking hearty slugs while we wait in the pen.
Wes can feel Xbox One GTA 5 in his bones. Which sounds a bit painful.
Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is already in there. He just tweeted this...
I hope the conference starts with Phil Spencer moonwalking onto the stage to the sound of this amazing title card hold music.
Our first view of the Xbox conference stage, from Watch Dogs boss Jonathan Morin. Too early for a sequel announce, surely?
Are the wristbands Microsoft is issuing - seen here modelled by GamesIndustry's Dan Pearson - purely cosmetic? Timely jolts of electricity ought to keep the energy up.
Here we go! Pre-shoooooow!
Pre-show starts with Major Nelson on the green carpet hanging out with Graeme Boyd, harassing people as they head inside. Yusuf Mehdi! Ken Lobb! Etc!
And now Dan Greenawalt from Turn 10 has turned up in some sort of expensive car. No idea what it is.
It was a Lamborghini Aventador, says Dan. Thanks Dan.
Graeme's disappeared off inside with Greenawalt, leaving Major Nelson to hobnob with Alex Rigopulos from Harmonix about Fantasia.
Alex is talking about this amazing control system they've got for Fantasia. Kinect or something?
Now they're chatting to Frank O'Connor and Bonnie Ross from 343, giving us another chance to try to figure out Frank's accent.
We're expecting more on Halo 5 and that rumoured Halo collection in the conference, obv.
And here's a quick look at something new to do with Achievements. You'll be able to use Achievements in Snap mode. It will order them based on how close you are to unlocking them, or you can pin the ones you're keen on to the top.
This stuff is coming later this year. There will also be a help button next to Achievements that sends you through to web searches on how to complete them.
Ted Price from Insomniac has just turned up in a Sunset Overdrive bus. "We've never had a bus from any of our other games."
Sounds like Ted Price will be on stage during the conference showing off the game. Perhaps we'll get a release date?
Major Nelson has some Killer Instinct news next.
It's a trailer of TJ Combo. Killer Instinct Season 2 coming fall 2014 courtesy of Iron Galaxy Studios.
Now Respawn's Abbie Heppe has joined Major Nelson to talk about Titanfall. They're showing a new mode at E3.
Next up: iOS app Threes is coming to Xbox One as part of the ID@Xbox programme.
So we're chatting to developer Asher Volmer. "It seemed like a natural fit," he says - sounds like it's going to be a Snap app that you could play while you're watching Netflix or something.
Major Nelson is kicking it over to Graeme Boyd to see the inside of the Galen Center. They've used this place for a few years. It's nice! It has decent Wi-Fi. Cool story, right?
"You're going to see so many amazing things today. You're going to see games, you're going to see games and you're going to see... games."
Aha, back to Major Nelson, who is chatting to Rod Fergusson from Black Tusk.
Black Tusk is working on a new Gears of War game, although they've only been at it for a few months so there's nothing to show yet.
We're inside, though the wi-fi is super-flakes. I can tell you it's very green! And we're sat beside one of the hyper-speakers, so I expect my ears to melt at some point.
Nice to see so many of the smaller announcements being made before the show itself. Not to detract from them - Threes is an odd fit but an obviously excellent game, and the core will surely be happy with more Killer Instinct.
Oh hey, Xbox 360 F2P game Happy Wars is coming to Xbox One and you can take content between the two. There's four-player split-screen too.
Right then, that's it for the pre-show. Time to count down to the real thing, which should begin at 5.30pm BST.
Five minutes and counting...
Here we go!
Here's Phil Spencer! "Good morning everyone and welcome to E3. It's an honour to be with you today."
He says Microsoft shares a common goal with Sony and Nintendo this week - to show that games are great.
This generation is off to a great start, he says. He says thank you to everyone who has bought an Xbox One and especially for the feedback that is helping them update the console with new features on a regular basis.
"Today we're dedicating our entire briefing to games," he says. Big round of applause.
"Our goal is to make Xbox One the best place to play games in this generation." He's going to show some of the games we already know about that are coming soon, then later on newer stuff.
First up, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Xbox owners will be the first to play all of the add-on content, says Spencer.
The demo doesn't start under water for once. We're in some sort of space helicopter or something. It's just crashed, which is a blow.
The guys inside all have fancy looking equipment and screens popping over their heads. They're busting open the door and heading out.
Looks like the space chopper's crashed halfway up a building. The guys head into the interior and spy drones in the next room. "Contact!"
They need to drop down a huge distance, but fortunately they have booster things to avoid taking fall damage. They head out into the streets, looks like Seoul, with neon ad signs cracked in half on nearby skyscrapers and paper and debris everywhere.
Oh look, some sort of mobile command centre. Time to bark stuff at each other. Let's head two clicks over that way.
"Everyone, keep your eyes open." Is he talking to me?
Ooh, it's a stompy walkery robot thing. Good thing I had my eyes open.
Iron sights shooting! Two guys down. Our guy boost-jumps up onto a bus shelter (confirmed: buses exist in the near future) to get a better shot.
Good lord this is loud. We'll have more on the new CoD for you on the site tomorrow.
There's a swarm of drone enemies moving through the sky around the player like a flying snake of buzzing metal. One of the other guys grabs a door off a car to use as a riot shield.
We skip ahead now and now we're iron-sights blasting people from behind cover, highlighting them in red using some sort of see-through-wallsy overlay wojim.
Now we're firing a laser through a transparent kind of riot shield, then tossing grenades that sprout little wings and go flying off to find their enemies.
Like how the UI's been integrated into the weapons - obviously a neat connection to Sledgehammer's former life working on Dead Space.
"Mitchell, over here." Yes! Time to plant a charge on something! Oh no, your man has his arm caught in the door, that's inconvenient.
Aha, we were planting a charge on some sort of dropship, which has just taken off and exploded. Now stuff has fallen on top of us and we're in trouble. "Mitchell! Mitchell! Need immediate medivac! Stay with me, you're gonna be alright." Sorry, I've got something in my eye.
Oh no, my arm's come off!
I wish it was Hackney-spec Idris Elba they had in it though. Or even better, Mandela-spec.
And that's it, I think. Oh no, a little wizbang montage first. Flashes of Kevin Spacey etc.
That's it for COD. Bye COD.
Next up, Dan Greenawalt from Turn 10 Studios. He says he's inspired by our passion for cars and racing, which is just as well.
Nurburgring is coming to Forza Motorsport 5, says Dan. And it's going to be available starting... today!
And it's free!
Playground Games is taking the stage now to talk about Forza Horizon 2. It's Ralph Fulton, creative director.
He says the game's got over 200 of the world's greatest cars, great music and stunning vistas. Uses Forza 5's graphics engine, full day/night cycle, dynamic weather, all in 1080p.
Drivatar is back too. "Your Forza 5 drivatar is already playing in Forza Horizon 2." Also: dedicated servers, no lobbies, no waiting.
You can create a club, too. A sort of... drive... club.
Forza Horizon 2 is out on 30th September, says Fulton.
The trailer has lots of cars in it. Pretty ones.
AND WUBSTEP!
2K Games' Evolve is next.
This is the asymmetrical multiplayer game from the makers of Left 4 Dead, but hey, I didn't need to tell you that.
We reckon this tentacley monster guy in the trailer is a new reveal. He looks like a mini Cloverfield.
Exclusive beta on Xbox One and DLC first too.
Vincent Pontbriand from Ubisoft is showing off Assassin's Creed Unity. It's going to have four-player online multiplayer co-op in their biggest ever environment, Paris.
Our assassin is in a bluey green outfit, moving through an incredibly busy Parisian marketplace - the one from the original footage. He and a fellow assassin coordinate their attacks on guards to allow peasants to break through.
Moving away from the crowd, he heads into a detailed building interior and eavesdrops on a conversation.
Being able to move from outdoors to detailed interiors is a step forward. Having other assassins to take care of guards when they spot you is handy too.
It looks bloody handsome, though.
It's gloriously detailed, with lovely lighting. Revolutionary France at its most decadent is a good match for next-gen Assassin's tech.
Now we're getting all four players' windows on screen at once to demonstrate their individual perspectives. They're zeroing in on a target...
And they've thrown him out to the crowd! Nice.
Well that's got the biggest round of applause yet.
Now his head's on a spike.
So that was Assassin's Creed Unity.
"Merci beaucoup." Oui oui!
Here's Dragon Age: Inquisition.
"Premiere content first on Xbox", whatever that means.
Lots of colourfully bleak environments. Waterfalls, rivers, castles, deserts, that sort of thing.
Coming 7th October, in case you'd forgotten.
Right, what's this then.
Some sort of military dude is hiding behind a crate being shot at. He looks left and there's a door with Insomniac Games written on it. A spiky-haired dude bursts in and gnarly music starts playing.
It's Sunset Overdrive, obviously. Gnarly dude swoops around on ziplines dealing with the guys who were shooting at the soldier.
Can you save Sunset City from loads of mutants? "Of course you can, it's a f***ing video game."
Insomniac's Ted Price is on stage and he's going to lead a live demo. We'll be trying to get across the city.
It's already bonkers, ziplining and rail-grinding around a fairground like Tony Hawk, blowing up mutants in colourful ways.
A massive enemy with a blobby mutant arm called a Herker is trying to take you down, but you blow it to pieces with a fiery weapon.
And now we're on an actual rollercoaster track. The traversal is really fast - getting around the city looks like a blast.
There's an eight-player mode called Chaos Squad, too, and the game's due out 28th October.
Ooh, here's a new Dead Rising arcade game. "Cosplay as your favourite Capcom character." 1-4 player online. Super moves. Power-ups.
It's called Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arecade Remix Hyper Edition DX Plus Alpha. Available now.
DLC for Dead Rising 3, obv.
Alex Rigopulos is on stage from Harmonix in front of a Dance Central logo.
Dance Central Spotlight, a new digital-only title is due out in September, he says.
He's going to show us a bit of Fable Legends.
They're coming thick and fast now. Here's David Eckelberry from Lionhead.
Albion looks nice on Xbox One.
We're assembling a little gang of heroes in a town square before heading out into a foresty area to smack people around.
Lots of good olde Englandy banter along the way, of course.
Freezing enemies solid, hacking away at them with swords, etc.
Eckelberry says the game's vision is for more than just co-op Fable, so they're letting you be the villain, too. As the villain you control the world from above like a god. Or a Dungeon Keeper, I suppose.
The four heroes are taking on a massive ogre. "I think I chose the wrong underwear for this one," says one of our heroic band.
Working together they manage to shoot it in the ass, then freeze it solid and smash it to pieces.
Fable Legends' multiplayer beta starts this autumn.
Here's a quick look at Project Spark, which is on Xbox One and PC and is coming this Christmas.
This is the one where you... You know, it's the LittleBigPlanet one.
They're showing a new Galaxies tileset for it in this trailer, I think. And they've got Conker from Conker's Bad Fur Day for some reason.
This next thing looks nice. Moon Studios. A 2D game with a lovely art style.
The animation is gorgeous. Almost Ghibli esque. Nice music too.
It's called Ori and the Blind Forest.
Aaron Greenberg just tweeted that Ori is "another holiday exclusive".
RIGHT. HALO. HALO HALO.
Lovely CG. I'm no expert, but it looks like a sexier version of the Halo 2 intro.
I really am no expert - it's Halo 5.
Right, Bonnie Ross from 343 is on stage to talk about it. Halo 5 is about Master Chief's journey, his past and his future, says Ross.
The intro had the Arbiter's voice over the top, I think, but what do I know etc.
OK, on 11th November 2014, you'll get Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which is Halo 1-4 on Xbox One.
It's all four existing Halo games, then, and everything we get to see today is in the Master Chief Collection.
Day Ayoub from 343 is on stage to talk about it.
The Master Chief Collection has all four games on a single disc and everything is unlocked from the start.
You can make a custom playlist to play through moments from any game in any order.
Halo 2 is getting the Anniversary treatment, too, with redone visuals that you can switch on and off as you like. Has original Halo 2 MP just as it was 10 years ago as well.
And they've remade two maps from scratch as well.
We're watching them play remastered Halo 2 multiplayer live.
The Master Chief Collection has over 100 multiplayer maps - everything released from Halo 1-4, all running 1080p60 on dedicated servers.
And it will ship with 4000 Gamerscore so you can unlock all those old cheevos again.
Halo TMCC also has Halo Nightfall, the TV series announced last year.
And The Master Chief Collection ALSO includes access for a Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta, which starts in December.
Phil Spencer's back.
Looks like we're moving into the part of the conference dedicated to what's next - in 2015 and beyond. "We're also investing in new IP, familiar franchises and continued investment in Xbox Live."
This is a first look at a new game from Playdead, which will debut on Xbox One in 2015.
It's another 2D game, by the looks of it, set in some sort of Orwellian society. The main character seems to be a young boy - we see him evading dogs, search beams, swimming under water, panting in fear.
It's called Inside.
Aaaand here's Chris Charla from ID@Xbox.
Charla heads up ID@Xbox. He's reminding us of the things the programme does to help developers self-publish on Xbox One.
Here's a montage of indie games heading to Xbox One.
Knight Squad, Plague Inc Evolved, White Night, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Cuphead...
Hyper Light Drifter, Lifeless Planet, Slash Dash, Fru, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime...
Mighty No. 9, Grave, Threes, FenixRage, Woolfe, #IDARB, Hellraid.
And of course Below.
They're not all exclusive to Xbox One, but they are heading there.
Next up is something new. A psychiatrist is talking to a woman telling her to explore new horizons, intercut with footage of her exploring... TOMBS PERHAPS.
Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming holiday 2015.
And here's CD Projekt Red, on stage to talk The Witcher 3. We're going to see some new gameplay.
Here's Geralt in a wood. He's tracking monsters. It is a very nice looking wood.
When you hit an enemy, it leaves a blood trail that you can follow through the vast wilderness open world.
Geralt moves into a little village where the locals start hacking away at him. He's more than a match for them, obviously.
He just chopped that guy in half!
Cor, it really is good looking. Geralt's climbing a mountain now in beautiful early evening sun, leaping gaps and tracking his griffin.
You get a great sense of how open the world is from this demo. Which is not ending well for the griffin.
Now Ken Lobb's on stage to talk Killer Instinct.
Ooh, he's not talking Killer Instinct.
It's a remake of something else from the old Xbox days. Phantom Dust!
It's Phantom Dust! Remastered with all-new gameplay and graphics.
And here's Ryan Barnard from Massive to show us The Division, presumably.
We're going to get a bit of a deeper look. "New content first on Xbox One," by the way.
We're in the subway beneath New York, checking out an overview of the city using a cool holographic HUD overlay thingy.
The platforms are strewn with rubble and abandoned suitcases. The trains are stopped dead. They pull up more holographics to see what the last people at the station were up to - legging it, apparently.
Lots of bodybags as they head out of the station exit.
Outside on the ruined streets, we're in cover checking out a bunch of prospective targets. Switching through skills using little contextual menus.
"I'll pull aggro from the leeeft here." Go go go.
They're chattering away to each other as they call out targets and pick off enemies. Adapting tactics as they go is nice and fluid.
Flashy demo. Game's coming 2015.
Ooh, here's Hideki Kamiya with... an Xbox One-exclusive original game!
"Prepare to see action at a whole new scale," says the PlatinumGames man.
A young blonde-haired guy in a forest is assailed by giant kaiju-style enemies and takes them out stylishly with bow and sword. It's called Scalebound.
No time to rest! David Jones is on stage. Gotta be Crackdown, right? Whatever it is, it's powered by an army of dedicated servers.
YES!
It's the voice of the Agency, telling a Los Muetos kingpin that his days are numbered.
Agents, let's play.
It's still cel-shaded. Looks like you can bring down buildings, too, flying into them with bomb-covered lorries.
Haha, the explosion sends the building flying into the kingpin's lair.
Doubt that was in-game, but as a statement of intent, we'll have it. It's just called Crackdown.
Phil Spencer's back, says it's great to have Crackdown back, with a team led by Dave Jones.
This is just the beginning, says Spencer. MS will continue to invest and bring new features to the system.
"Thank you for making your voice heard - and thank you for helping us shape the future of the new Xbox."
Little montage now - Evil Within, Halo, Dance Central, all the good stuff.
And we're done!
That definitely felt like an improvement on last year's conference, then, but will it be enough?
Thanks to all of YOU for watching and reading along. We'll be back in an hour with EA's conference, then Ubi at 11pm and Sony at 2am.