What Should Microsoft Do At E3 2014?

The Xbox One’s launch has been plagued with mistakes and missteps since before the console was even available to pre-order. A launch window procession of third party titles that don’t quite run at the same resolution as their PlayStation 4 versions and a definite feeling that they’re playing catch up with smaller and independent developers all combine to make this E3 pretty crucial for the big green monster.

That’s not to say they haven’t got some successes to build on. A close relationship with EA and one or two quite exciting prospects on the horizon could lead to the much needed injection of exclusive gaming content to match their undoubtedly popular media and TV services. In short, Microsoft haven’t made the most assured of starts, but there’s still plenty they could do to turn that proverbial corner.

If they’re going to propel the Xbox One to the same lofty success that their previous console has enjoyed, they need to start right now. Here’s how I think they could do that at E3 2014.

Games, games, games

The Xbox One’s launch wasn’t exactly smooth and one of the things that many people – and especially those of us outside of the US cable culture – disliked was the time spent talking about television. Okay, your box has Netflix and similar – they all do. You can use it to watch your cable TV – well, that’s something people have done for decades with different boxes.

It’s nice that there are cool ways to snap fantasy NFL info beside the game and it’s cool that you can look up an IMDB profile of the actor in the movie you’re watching, while you’re watching, but those aren’t necessarily the things that appeal to the early adopters who will pay the premium for a new games console in its launch year.

The way to make the Xbox One look fresh and new and powerful is to put games on it.

Halo is a system seller and they should make it a big presence at their show. The Halo 2 Anniversary Edition that’s much rumoured for this year should be playable, look gorgeous and have plenty of bonus content. Including a version of the level that was an E3 demo in 2003 but never made it into the final game in that form would be cool, for example.

If a Halo 2 remake is coming this year, then it would be smart to also show a new trailer for Halo 5, which we would then expect next year. It’s even conceivable that these two Halo games could book-end the whole presentation, using one to raise the curtain and the other to play them off stage.

Fable Legends should be playable, as should Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive and Remedy’s Quantum Break – the game with the original TV show tie-in. Forza should also return with a sequel to Horizon and a noticeable departure from the micro transactions and grinding that Forza 5 entailed. There might be an eagerness to double down on the multiplayer side of their flagship racer in order to offer something a little more similar to DriveClub, but I think that would be a mistake for Forza. Perhaps a surprise reveal teaser for a multiplayer focused Project Gotham would fill that developing void?

I think we’re all expecting some kind of new Gears of War reveal, but it’s possible that Black Tusk will need a little more time with the newly acquired franchise, so perhaps that could be used to bolster the Xbox One’s exclusive release schedule in the first half of 2015. Continuing that look further into the future, Crackdown 3 is surely ready for an announcement and reveal teaser. The game’s imagery was present at the Xbox One’s unveiling last year and some vague rumours have linked Microsoft to a new company that is working on multiplayer cloud gaming tech and is owned by the series’ original creator.

Talk about TV

While the TV talk needs to be kept brief and out of the way of the games, I think there’s still a place for it – as long as it’s the right kind of talk. Part of the issue with the majority of Microsoft’s very public display of affection with television is that it ties the company to something that’s not new or exciting to most of us. However, there is one area that has plenty of potential to be new and exciting and Microsoft already has it covered: original programming.

Spending 10-15 minutes talking about TV is fine, if it’s their own productions they’re talking about. Something that’s only available on Xbox One, only achievable with Microsoft’s involvement and directly relatable to their core gaming audience is worth highlighting briefly on stage. Especially when they’re likely to have some more big names to throw around.

Change Xbox Live Gold

Keeping things like Netflix behind the Gold gate is pretty silly, now that there are so many other ways to access Netflix apps without having to be tied to yet another subscription. Keeping Internet Explorer 10 behind the Gold gate is also ludicrous, so it makes sense to scrap the Gold requirement for apps and services, to make all that stuff nice and open for everyone.

That would remove some of the value of that Gold subscription though, so make that value back up to users by working towards making Games with Gold something people would actually want. Giving away free games is a nice idea and it’s something that should be universally appreciated, but when your service is so laughably inferior to your direct competitor’s freebies, you’re just embarrassing us all.

Games with Gold should be overhauled completely so it’s much more attractive to subscribers. Part of that should include bringing it to the Xbox One and a good starting point might be Dead Rising 3. As we head into the second half of the year, perhaps the burgeoning ID@Xbox relationships could add some new games to the service that are smaller productions too.

Court the indies

Microsoft currently has a policy of “release date parity” which states that a game can’t come to their console if it has already been released on another console. That means that all those great downloadable indie games on the PlayStation 4 aren’t welcome on the Xbox One and that Xbox One owners are missing out – and the Xbox One download store looks a bit sparse.

Microsoft has already said that they’d break their own rules on a “case-by-case” basis, meaning that they’ll make exceptions for games they really want or developers that are so popular it would be crushingly poor business sense to turn them down, but the policy makes little sense for anyone involved. It keeps games away from Xbox One owners and it forces smaller development teams to make a tough decision when, if there was no parity clause, releasing on extra platforms a few months down the line would be a no-brainer. It’s time to drop the antiquated business clause and really show indie developers that you want to help them get their games out to a wider audience.

That audience is eager for more downloadable delights, too. The XBLA on Xbox 360 was a fertile marketplace that proffered up some real gems but the download-only offerings on the Xbox One haven’t yet reached those same heights. Microsoft should show that, alongside their blockbusters, they’ve got plenty of room for the smaller games by spending some time showcasing what we can expect to be downloading over the next year or so.

Give Rare the credit they’re due

Kinect Sports and its Xbox One sequel, Rivals, aren’t bad games but they’re certainly not up to the standards of some of this legendary British developer’s past triumphs. Rare used to be a studio that made games which now serve as historical touchstones in the history of gaming. Battletoads, Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007, Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata will be remembered for a long time after their more recent attempts to make Kinect more attractive.

It’s time to let Rare make another classic, or at least revisit some of their past glories. Who wouldn’t want an updated Perfect Dark or Battletoads? I’d even be quite interested in a new Viva Piñata, a game that could integrate Kinect functionality in quite a natural way.

Cut the price, not Kinect

Plenty of people have called for a Kinect-less package to make things cheaper but I think dropping Kinect would not only confuse their message and strategy, it would be incredibly difficult to implement because of how integral it is to their system. Maybe in another year or two, if they haven’t found the games that make it attractive to all and when they’ve worked out a way to make the interface navigation more intuitive without voice, but right now, dropping Kinect makes a slightly unwieldy interface that much more difficult to use at all.

Kinect’s voice control also needs more commands, probably with more uniformity across the various apps and certainly with more informative guides on how it works. The gesture control has also never been anything other than a hindrance for me, so an option to turn it off would be nice but the cameras and microphones are too important to the way the system works right now to lose them altogether.

But the Xbox One as a whole is still a little bit too expensive. The recent price drop and Titanfall pack-in was a good move, but it’s probably time to get properly aggressive about pricing if they want to make up the growing chasm in sales between the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. If that is expensive for them to do, well, it’s getting to the point where they’ll just have to suck up the losses at this early stage to keep themselves in the race, rather than suffer in the long term.

Show their hand with VR

Oculus Rift has made VR the next big thing in gaming and Sony is already pinning its ribbon to the prize cow that is Morpheus. Microsoft needs to show that they’re not losing touch by letting us know what they think the future looks like. It might not be a VR headset, but perhaps it’s something to do with Kinect and IllumiRoom projectors in the room.

Whatever it is, we need to know that Microsoft has a vision for the future too because if they don’t, the next big thing in gaming might not be VR, but it definitely won’t be Microsoft.