Microsoft E3 2014 Media Briefing

E3 has always been the staple for developers to showoff all their exciting games they have in the pipeline for consumers who are constantly hungry for the next big game they need to get their hands on. Whether it be graphical fidelity, intuitive game-play, or even dynamic social capabilities. This year’s expo is giving everyone a taste of what’s to come in big ways.

Before I move forward I have to mention that Microsoft did nothing but impress me this year compared to most of Sony’s offering later in the day. The biggest reason why was the show of force in their game lineup. In fact, the briefing was entirely about the games which for a hardware manufacturer is pretty hard to do as we’ve seen in past conventions. I’m not saying that all of the game were as high caliber as Assassin’s Creed Unity. But you can see that Microsoft still knows what it takes to please their continuously growing fan base.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

It was no surprise that the game of choice to start the show with was Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. While the game did have some impressive graphics, it’s the same old game-play and pacing that we’ve seen in every release for the franchise. Most of what was shown at the briefing was pretty much covered in the most recent leaks along with a full length article by Game Informer a couple months ago.

Call of Duty has been known to take pages out of Michael Bay’s playbook to create an intensified experience that was once again apparent in Advanced Warfare. Flying drones, exoskeletons, smart grenades are a few new items at the players disposal, but again, a one trick pony. We’ve all seen this before. No multiplayer footage was shown and it won’t be till around August time frame till we see more, so let’s just hope that Sledgehammer will take this franchise to new heights in the game mode that matters most and is the driving force behind their bread and butter.

Continuing the tradition with all previous Call of Duty releases, Xbox head Phil Spencer announced that the Xbox One will have exclusive access to all add-on content first.