If you’re expecting talk of the next-gen Xbox or any mind-blowing new titles at E3 2012, don’t get your hopes up
Credit: Richard Cabrera – Flickr
Microsoft has already came out and said there will be no talk of an Xbox 720 at this year’s E3 gaming convention – that’s fine, but what about some crazy new games?
According to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, gaming isn’t the first thing on Microsoft’s mind when it comes to the Xbox right now.
Step back from E3 for a second and just think about what Microsoft wants to do with the next console. They want to own the living room, not just for gaming, but for everything. I actually think that’s what all the announcements are going to be, is all about multimedia capability, changes to the dashboard, access to new services.
After hearing what Pachter had to say, Microsoft’s decision to completely ditch native DVD playback on its Windows 8 machines now makes a little more sense. Your PC will be for all the normal computerey stuff, and you’ll have to buy an Xbox to watch all your movies. Sounds like a great business plan — at first.
What happens when you want to watch any movies on your computer though? Probably The Pirate Bay.
At the same time, the Xbox is a gaming console. It’s not like they’re going to completely avoid any talk of gaming – again though – it’s pretty clear that the next-gen Xbox won’t make it to this year’s E3.
So, aside from media playback capabilities and what the Xbox can do for your entertainment center, what else should we expect at the convention? So far, we can be pretty sure that they’ll be shedding some light on the next Call of Duty and Forza, the much-anticipated Halo 4 and probably Fable 3: The Journey.
The way I see it – yeah, Microsoft produces one of the most popular consoles to date, but at the same time, you probably shouldn’t expect to hear anything too overly-exciting from Microsoft very often. Nonetheless, getting a first look at Halo 4 should be pretty damn interesting – enough reason to go if you’re a hardcore Halo fan, at least.
