Feel good about Microsoft first party after E3?

Rising_Hei said:
Microsoft has almost no first party performance, how could anyone possibly feel good about it?

Exclusive =! 1st party
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There seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of the term "first party" around here. First party games are games published by a platform holder. First party studios are studios owned by a platform holder. That's it. The OP is talking about the games.

That said, I also feel good about the state of their first party studios, and I really like the fact that Rare, Lionhead, Black Tusk, Twisted Pixel, LXG, Turn 10 and Lift London are all working on games that haven't been announced yet, even if we have some general ideas about some of them.
 
Felt rushed. Year too early?
Am going to do what others did last gen; Buy a console near the end of its life for $200-300 in 2017-2018 with 5 games and back log that's on the cheap; $10-20 per game style. Seems like a plan as owning a 360, ps3, vita, 3ds, pc, ps4 etc has me locked in for enough entertainment. Will see if any deal or game pushes me to buy it sooner.

The CG nonsense did nothing for me, it's painting a picture of what the game isn't going to look like at all coupled with no idea how it will play. Half baked would be generous meaning there existed something beyond a CG clip worthy of show.
*Sunset Overdrive looked fun but the 'tony hawk' movement killed it for me straight away. seems like the kinda game that would bore me after an hour.
*Forza Horizon 2 cutting the track ruined it for me straight away... tis the little things. I know it's arcade but not sure why it bothered me so
*Halo - liked they were giving the fans a HD remaster of 4 Halo games in 1. Not a Halo fan though sooo :s
*No first party stuff validating the existence of Kinect as enhancing games opposed to gimping the whole design from the foot up was yet again disappointing.
 
I never liked fable or crackdown and I still don't even know what phantom dust is. Scalebound looks poor and SO is just another Insomniac game. The only thing interesting was Halo 5.
 
Hoo-doo said:
This thread isn't titled "Feel good about Microsoft exclusive games after E3?".

And isn't Bloodborne co-developed by Sony Japan Studio?
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And Scalebound is co-developed by Microsoft?

http://platinumgames.com/games/scalebound/

Dragons have lived in our fantasies for centuries. They are a common thread that weave between cultures and eras, linking us together under wings and flame; fear and awe.

Scalebound is project that strives to live up to these ideals. A Japanese and American team working together to create the dragon game we’ve always dreamed of, but never gotten to play. Together, we can create something that pushes our team, and the action genre, to new heights.

Our team considers it an honor to take up this challenge. Knowing how many of us have wanted this game forever, I can’t imagine how many of you have wanted the same thing. It’s going to be a wild ride and we can’t wait to take it with you.

Jean Pierre Kellams (@pg_jp)
Creative Producer, Scalebound
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Does that make it a 1st party game now?
 
I don't feel good about Microsoft's first party line up, sadly. Background:

I was a big X360 gamer last generation. I have close to 150 X360 games (113 discs, 29 digital titles). I absolutely adored the system. The controller was amazing and Microsoft provided me with a lot of exclusive content.

Well, for a few years anyways. I had bought one for Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. Though I actually picked it up earlier than that, in June of 2007, and bought Enchanted Arms with it. I got a lot of exclusive games that I loved in the early life of the console. Tales of Vesperia is still the best game I played last generation. That didn't last long though and eventually the X360 just became my multiplatform + Halo machine (I do love Halo).

Unfortunately, from everything I've seen so far, the only titles I would buy right now for the Xbox One are Halo 5, Scalebound, and maybe Ori.

Sunsent Overdrive looks "awesome," but it doesn't really click with me for some reason. I love Zombie games, but I just never got into the Dead Rising series, not sure why really. I'm not into Racing Games, so Forza is out. I love the Fable series, but they presented Fable Legends as this really awful multiplayer crap and that wasn't the Fable that I love playing.

I just came out of E3 feeling pretty "meh" as a former huge Microsoft fan. I'm not buying a system for 2-3 games that aren't even out until next year and the Xbox One won't be my system for multiplatform games this time around. It doesn't look like they're going to have enough games that are for me.

If they had came out and shown a *real* Fable game, some big Mistwalker RPGs, and a couple more exclusives that actually clicked with me I'd have been excited as fuck. Sadly that was not the case. So yeah, the feeling I got from Microsoft's E3 was definitely "meh."
 
Feindflug said:
And Scalebound is co-developed by Microsoft?

http://platinumgames.com/games/scalebound/



Does that make it a 1st party game now?
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As I said, people are often confused when it comes to such classifications. The fact is, publishers and developers usually tightly collaborate on every joint release, and they all shape the final product, for better or worse. Publishers are not just writing the checks, they also provide producers, QA, tech support, localization and other resources. But some people will always try to spin that as they see fit.
 
I don't feel good about it. I feel great. I think between now and next E3, the One will have had more than enough quality games to satisfy me. I could care less what's 1st party, 3rd party, exclusive etc. My wallet is going to hurting going into 2015.
 
I have zero interest in platinums game (less so then any platinum game to date due to the awful design) and zero interest in phantum dust. I've not liked halo since CE so halo 5 is lost on me. Same goes for fable. I am interested in crackdown, that arcade game with awesome 2D animation and sunset overdrive though. So mixed bag for me.

I feel like we're largely seeing more of the same though. Halo, fable, forza, and soon to be gears.

Those 3 games mentioned can join quantum break and dead rising as the games i'd pick up when i buy an xbone. But looking at the release schedule for the likes of crackdown...it'll be a long while before that happens. I appreciate their effort though. And it's an improvement over the last 3 years of the 360.
 
Air Zombie Meat said:
Seems to be a popular thing to do in this thread. If I only had Halo, Gears and Forza to look forward to then I'd be disappointed. That sounds more like Microsoft towards the end of last gen rather than their showing at e3.
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Yeah seems like in order to keep the narritive that we only have a select few games to look forward to from MS's first party, they have to actively ignore certain games or come up with some out there stipulation so that they can be dismissed. Others will try hard to downplay the upcoming line up as best they can. Its pretty funny to watch.

MS E3 line up was stellar and i cant wait for Phantom Dust and Crackdown, Scalebound has Kamiya at the helm, who's track record speaks for itself. Fall looks great as well no matter how much some try to downplay it.
 
I was thinking with the price drop, I was going to end up getting a One sooner than later. The only thing from E3 I saw that interested me was the game from the Limbo guys. Then Nintendo happened and I think I'd rather have a WiiU right now. Can't believe the short turnaround from one MS console being my favorite of the gen overall, to the next being my least in terms of what's on offer. Things could change, but the foreseeable future is bleak on my end.
 
I'll feel good about it when they finally show some Rare games that people actually want. Killer Instinct was a good start but as a hardcore fighting game its appeal was destined to be limited for me. Bring on the 3D platformers and party favor gardening sims!
 
outunderthestars said:
Until then it is just the same Forza, Fable, Halo cycle as normal.
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This effectively. Plus Gears. I have no faith in their ability to go out there and do something new. The two studios behind two of their biggest titles left, rather than have something fresh coming through to push their offerings on further, they bought in talent to service the same IPs.

My general opinion of Microsoft is that they are very good at buying in titles to support new hardware launches, but effectively ease off and rely on a small sliver of core IP and third party DLC advances.

Be interesting to see how E3 2016 pans out, and the rest of the conferences to boot. This is the first time they've stepped up for Gamescom in a long time isn't it?

Oh and published by means very little in the grand scheme of things. Third party developers go where the money is. Want to make money across all the platforms? Make a "spiritual successor"!
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
As I said, people are often confused when it comes to such classifications. The fact is, publishers and developers usually tightly collaborate on every joint release, and they all shape the final product, for better or worse. Publishers are not just writing the checks, they also provide producers, QA, tech support, localization and other resources. But some people will always try to spin that as they see fit.
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Exactly and that's why the term 1st party games is so loose.

For me all this talk about "this is 1st party", "no! it's second party", "it's funding" or "it's moneyhatting" is just noise to my ears, all I see is exclusive games that try to sell me on a console and MS after this E3 made me want to buy their system, Sony sold me on a PS4 when they announced Bloodborne and Ninty made me buy a Wii U when they announced TW101.

It may be shocking to some people but I simply don't care if MS moneyhats a game or if Sony requires IP rights before signing an exclusivity deal and if other people won't be able to play the exclusive game X on their platform of choice, if you are stuck to one console you will lose on some games and that's being the case since the days I started gaming back on the SNES days.
 
Personally, no.

There isn't a game from their internal studios that I want for definite. Quantum Break is the only game I want from their portfolio fullstop at the moment.

I actually came away feeling worse about their slate than before as so many of their games are so far away.
 
It's funny, people say they want new IP's and experiences but then you get a large fraction of the population say I don't even know what this game is, it doesn't look interesting. So then why wonder why they keep churning out sequels for games with large fanbases?

If you think about it from a game play standpoint. With Halo they have their first person shooter, with Forza horizon 2 they have a nice, open world driving/arcade racing Sim. That's not your cup of tea, here is Fable Legends, a game that is in the vein of a lot of adventure/rpg/loot style games. Want something else? How about an open world game that is reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row 3/4 combined in a sense. It's very arcade style with a lot of destruction. Like side scrolling games that are like Rayman and Dust? Here is Ori and the Blind Forest. Don't like any of that, here is Sunset Overdrive a somewhat open world on rails style third party shooter that is very Jet Set Radio/Sonic Adventure style. No? A fan of Devil May Cry and other Japanese style hack and slash? Here is Scalebound. Then there is Phantom Dust etc.

I get where people are coming from. But if announce niche games, people wonder what it is, don't like it. If they announce sequels to their best selling games people complain that's all they do. If they give new experiences, people say meh, not my cup of tea.
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of the term "first party" around here. First party games are games published by a platform holder. First party studios are studios owned by a platform holder. That's it. The OP is talking about the games.

That said, I also feel good about the state of their first party studios, and I really like the fact that Rare, Lionhead, Black Tusk, Twisted Pixel, LXG, Turn 10 and Lift London are all working on games that haven't been announced yet, even if we have some general ideas about some of them.
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youdontsayblackssokkxl.png
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the meaning of the term "first party" around here. First party games are games published by a platform holder. First party studios are studios owned by a platform holder. That's it. The OP is talking about the games.

That said, I also feel good about the state of their first party studios, and I really like the fact that Rare, Lionhead, Black Tusk, Twisted Pixel, LXG, Turn 10 and Lift London are all working on games that haven't been announced yet, even if we have some general ideas about some of them.
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I don't agree with your definition. Does that mean that Minecraft is both Microsoft and Sony first party? Was Limbo a first party release?!
 
I will feel super good once they buy capcom!!

But yes I of think I will have plenty of Xbox One exclusives to satisfy my purchase. It's going to be a fun generation all around
 
Triggerhappytel said:
I don't agree with your definition. Does that mean that Minecraft is both Microsoft and Sony first party? Was Limbo a first party release?!
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Well, part of the problem lies within the fact that Sony/MS also function as distributors/publishers for games they have no active participation in funding/making.

I think the simplest definition is games that they fund & publish in its entirety, regardless of IP ownership.
 
I never cared for Halo, Forze, Fable, so their excessive milking (that even surpasses Nintendo methods at this point) also doesn't impress me and never did over the whole last gen.
Crackdown, Scalebound, Phantom Dust... who knows, CGI trailers don't show off confidence. I'd only be cautiously optimistic about Scalebound, because PG. But it's probably still far away.
 
Not really impressed if I'm being honest. The two exclusives that interest me somewhat, Sunset and Scalebound, are third party.
 
madmackem said:
Hmmm they showed nothing to sway people on the fence, it was safe and pandered to the fans they already have. Im kind of ready for a new halo so the collection is great, i loved fh so happy theres a second, crackdown should be good, not sold on fable. But it was safe too safe it was the core halo fable forza that wont win over anyone thats not already in on xbox.
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Speak for yourself. They hooked me with Scalebound and Sunset Overdrive.
 
Galvanise_ said:
Personally, no.

There isn't a game from their internal studios that I want for definite. Quantum Break is the only game I want from their portfolio fullstop at the moment.

I actually came away feeling worse about their slate than before as so many of their games are so far away.
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So many, huh? There are three announced Microsoft games that may hit in 2016 (although some of them might even appear in 2015): Scalebound, Crackdown and Phantom Dust. Meanwhile they have plenty of 2014 first party releases (Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, D4, Project Spark, Ori, Project Totem and Happy Wars, together with betas for Halo 5 and Fable Legends), and some confirmed 2015 games in the pipeline (Quantum Break, Fable Legends, and Halo 5).

Sony's release schedule for 2014 is not any better, to put it lightly, (LittleBigPlanet 3, Driveclub, Last of Us Remastered, Planetside 2, Hohokum, Helldivers, and Guns Up!) they have a comparable amount of announced 2015 games (Uncharted 4, The Order, and Bloodborne), with the Ratchet & Clank remaster announced with not even a CG trailer, and Everquest Next, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Rime, and Shadow of the Beast practically missing in action, and releasing who knows when.

I'm not well acquainted with Nintendo's release schedule, but taking a quick glance at it, most of their games also seem to be coming in 2015 or later. So I don't get why recently people have mostly been singling out Microsoft for announcing games far in advance. I mean, I do get it very well, but there are no objective reasons for it.
 
No. I was actually disappointed. It was really just Halo, Forza, Fable again. Just needed a CG trailer for Gears 4 to complete it. Speaking of Gears, MS forcing Black Tusk to work on it instead of Shangheist doesn't make me confident in MS, either.

Phantom Dust? Phantom Dust. Clearly out of touch, MS is.
 
Oh god no. I saw a quote from one of their people saying Rare and Lionhead were the jewels in their crown of something. That's scary.
 
Feels like there is great variety, and I love that they are going for a more colourful approach this gen. But it feels like MS has laid all their cards on the table, some of it like Phantom Dust and Scalebound were CGI trailers with no dates and are probably years from release. Overall the lineup looks great but with 343 having a lot to prove with Halo it really lacks a killer app like WiiU and PS4 lineups have
 
Triggerhappytel said:
I don't agree with your definition. Does that mean that Minecraft is both Microsoft and Sony first party? Was Limbo a first party release?!
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It's not my definition, it's the definition that's most commonly used in the industry, and I got it from the books on game design and the games industry that I've read. I know it's not really a source, but you can also find it on Wikipedia and undoubtedly many other online places.

There are relatively few games that are kind of neither here nor there because of special publishing arrangements (for instance, many of last gen's XBLA games published by Microsoft would fall into that category), but they are just exceptions that prove the rule.
 
Majanew said:
No. I was actually disappointed. It was really just Halo, Forza, Fable again. Just needed a CG trailer for Gears 4 to complete it. Speaking of Gears, MS forcing Black Tusk to work on it instead of Shangheist doesn't make me confident in MS, either.

Phantom Dust? Phantom Dust. Clearly out of touch, MS is.
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Not sure what E3 you were watching. Also reviving PD means MS is "out of touch", now? ok,lol.
 
I feel very good about the upcoming exclusive line-up, I wanted Microsoft to justify my purchase of an Xbox One and they most certainly did that.
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
I'm not well acquainted with Nintendo's release schedule, but taking a quick glance at it, most of their games also seem to be coming in 2015 or later. So I don't get why recently people have mostly been singling out Microsoft for announcing games far in advance. I mean, I do get it very well, but there are no objective reasons for it.
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Disclaimer : my list probably doesn't have everything, some stuff are missing, some are probably wrong, etc. Especially Nintendo's 3DS stuff. And assumptions that Crackdown/Scalebound are 2016.

m89a8hU.jpg
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
So many, huh? There are three announced Microsoft games that may hit in 2016 (although some of them might even appear in 2015): Scalebound, Crackdown and Phantom Dust. Meanwhile they have plenty of 2014 first party releases (Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, D4, Project Spark, Ori, Project Totem and Happy Wars, together with betas for Halo 5 and Fable Legends), and some confirmed 2015 games in the pipeline (Quantum Break, Fable Legends, and Halo 5).

Sony's release schedule for 2014 is not any better, to put it lightly, (LittleBigPlanet 3, Driveclub, Last of Us Remastered, Planetside 2, Hohokum, Helldivers, and Guns Up!) they have a comparable amount of announced 2015 games (Uncharted 4, The Order, and Bloodborne), with the Ratchet & Clank remaster announced with not even a CG trailer, and Everquest Next, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Rime, and Shadow of the Beast practically missing in action, and releasing who knows when.

I'm not well acquainted with Nintendo's release schedule, but taking a quick glance at it, most of their games also seem to be coming in 2015 or later. So I don't get why recently people have mostly been singling out Microsoft for announcing games far in advance. I mean, I do get it very well, but there are no objective reasons for it.
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It could be that the people singling them out already own a PS4/PC, and thus for them, since they'll be buying multiplats elsewhere, the exclusive offerings are the consoles ONLY offerings. And when they're as spread out as they are, it's not exactly going convince anyone to buy the console anytime soon, at least that's where i currently am.
 
Not really into the usual suspects that MS was offering. Sunset Overdrive looks really cool though and I'm taking a 'wait and see' approach with Scalebound... but there wasn't that one game that made me NEED the system (like a Lost Odyssey sequel would have done for me).
 
So so. Same old which isn't necessarily a bad thing but they've got into a very bad habit of Halo, Forza, Gears, Fable long before now. I feel they got caught with their pants down and Phil Spencer is scrambling for anything and just getting things moving when they should really be deep into new games and IPs by now but you read they just bought Gears and moved a team onto that. Rare, yeah they have some ideas after Kinect flop, shouldn't they have something else by now to show ? Crackdown sometime in the far future....

Quantum Break and smaller digital titles are the only interesting ones to me. Halo 5 stomping around next year is good but expected. You couldn't pay me to play another Fable. Forza 6 next E3 probably. It's adequate and boring, been so for a good few years.

Next E3

Halo 5 Guardians
Gears tease
Forza 6
New Fable

That doesn't excite me anymore. Not bad by any means but you know last 10 years, I've seen it all many times over.

Microsoft need new IP, take a chance or bring back old IP. Crimson Skies would be sweet.

Phantom Dust was never released over here and I didn't see anything exciting except be excited for some reason.
 
Nightengale said:
Disclaimer : my list probably doesn't have everything, some stuff are missing. Especially Nintendo's 3DS stuff. And assumptions that Crackdown/Scalebound are 2016.

r6mKPrx.jpg
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Thanks, but yes, it doesn't have everything. Since you're lumping everything together, you have left out some Microsoft's (and possibly some Sony's) PC releases, but we're not talking about that - or handheld and mobile games, which are also included - here. You've also taken some liberty with release dates (some games have no confirmed release dates, but you've decided when they're supposed to come out). I think that Super Time Force, Below and Dance Central are being self-published now, and while you list Infamous: First Light, you're leaving out things like Killer Instinct: Season Two, which is also a standalone release.

In other words, while I appreciate the effort, those lists rarely work because they're rarely consistent and thorough.
 
To weigh in on the "first party" debate, I always used it in reference to first (or third) party properties and first (or third) party studios.

For example, Scalebound would be a first party property being worked on by a third party studio. It's owned by Microsoft (afaik), thus they have full control over merchandising, sequels, and so on.

Dead Rising, on the other hand, is a third party property developed by a third party studio that is also published by Microsoft. Capcom retains full control over rereleases, sequels, merchandising, and so on.

And then there's the obvious stuff like Halo, which are first party properties worked on by first party studios.

As for the vaguer "first party game", I'd use that in reference to games that use first party IPs. A more generalized usage would include games like Mass Effect as first party, but claiming a game that ended up on every platform under the sun as first party would make the distinction fairly meaningless, imo.
 
Exclusive list was pretty meh, especially considering that's a good chunk of what we should be expecting for the next 2 1/2 years. Forza isn't for me, Fable can kick rocks, I'll wait until I actually see gameplay to determine if crackdown is worth it, and I wait until I actually see gameplay to judge a new IP. Halo: Collection seems fun at least. Kinda worry some that everyone in here is hyped for a game that had meh reviews @ E3 too (sunset)
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
In other words, while I appreciate the effort, those lists rarely work because they're rarely consistent and thorough.
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I understand, I just thought I'd share what Nintendo's overall release pipeline is, since you said you're not that familiar.

Like you said, it's not that thorough, a lot of assumptions, etc...but it's about somewhere there, give or take. I actually put out a revised one that had ? at the end of games with no release details like Rime/Rapture orz. It's my own personal list, so it's not exactly vetted or carefully removed of inconsistencies.
 
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