By: Tyler Miller
Earlier this morning, Microsoft held a new episode of their Inside Xbox show. It was highly anticipated due to the expectations that they set for fans and the hype that they raised for it. That all backfired on them though in a pretty disappointing fashion.
While the show had some interesting games, none of them were anything that were mind-blowing or screamed “next-gen.” Sure with each new generation of consoles, there are more diminishing returns in regards to impressive graphics, but there are more to games looking next-gen than graphics. It can be the scope and size of the worlds shown, the amount of detail present, or the things that you can do in the game. None of that was present in the showcase though. What we got were really games that looked like they were made for current-gen, but are also coming to next-gen, without knowing or seeing the benefit of it being on Series X.
On top of that, this was marketed as a gameplay reveal for the Series X, but there was a startling lack of actual gameplay in the entire show. It harkens back to their show at last year’s E3 which contained a lot of CG and cinematic trailers, but very little gameplay for us to chew on. The episode started off high with a cool, albeit short gameplay trailer for Bright Memory Infinite. It set an expectation for the rest of the episode that we would be seeing games on that level with gameplay to support them. That was followed up with the reveal of Dirt 5 which looked cool as well. After that though, what we got with the majority of the trailers was in-engine footage alongside quick snippets of gameplay. For what’s supposed to be our first look at next-gen gameplay, this isn’t the right foot to start on.
Perhaps what was most disappointing was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Its appearance was teased last week and the entire show was building up to its gameplay reveal. But when it finally came, it also was more of an in-engine trailer with a few shots of the character performing actions from a more cinematic angle. Maybe this is the fault of us fans for having higher expectations and hopes for this show, but at the end of the day, it still falls on Microsoft for setting them at such a high level.
As Microsoft noted in their tweet announcing the event, we wanted to see games for the Xbox Series X. They knew that we’re all frothing at the mouths for a snippet of next-gen gameplay to blow us away and show us just what it’s going to be all about. Today’s Inside Xbox didn’t hit that mark at all.
In July they’ll be having another one of these Inside Xbox shows strictly for their first-party Xbox Games Studios titles. I’m sure that when that show comes around, those games will be the ones to truly blow us away and get us excited for what’s coming to the Series X this Fall and in the coming years. The only way that’ll happen is if they don’t bungle the reveal again by showing us trailers with barely any gameplay. What we need to see is substantial gameplay footage from those games. Even if it’s just a five minute demo, something like that is better than five seconds of gameplay interspersed between quick shots in a short trailer.
Microsoft has been doing such a great job with their marketing for Xbox Series X up to this point. They’ve maintained a steady flow of information that has gotten us excited for what their console can do and the possibilities that it opens up to developers. At this point in the next-gen race they’ve built up a nice momentum and a lot of goodwill with fans, but with this show they’ve taken their first punch to the face. I don’t want to see them take any more hits by putting on disappointing showcases for the Xbox Series X. I want them to succeed and show just what makes their system great, and I know that they can do it.
TheComfySpot 