Microsoft’s E3 conference summary and huge surprises to Xbox players

The second day of E3 started off with Microsoft and ended with Ubisoft. Just as expected this year’s Microsoft showing was full of news, announcements, trailers and surprises. Here’s Microsoft’s conference summary.

Spencer said this sku would be the “the smallest Xbox console in history.” The white console is 40% smaller, offers 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray support, and High Dynamic Range (HDR).The limited edition 2TB hard drive version will run you $399/349 pounds/399 euros and after its release in August, a 500GB version will be available for $299/249 pounds/299 euros, and a 1TB edition for $349/299 pounds/349 euros. You can now preorder for the August release.

The Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive from Keiji Inafune and Armature Studio LLC, was shown on stage today. In the action-adventure game, players take on the role of Joule, who is one of the last remaining humans. They will “forge friendships” with robot companions and participate in adventures throughout the mysterious, dynamic world. After the console announcement, The Coalition’s Rod Fergusson came on stage to announce that when Gears of War 4 launches October 11, it will be released on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. It will also feature cross-play and cross-buy between platforms.

A cinematic trailer for the new Forza game, Horizon 3 was shown by Playground Games. It takes place in Australia and after the trailer, some debut gameplay footage was shown. The game features a 4-player co-op campaign and like Gears of War 4 is part of the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative. So, buy it once, play it on Windows 10 PC, if you like. The game is out September 27.

Square Enix came on stage to show the live gameplay demo for Final Fantasy 15. As previously reported, the demo showed the characters in the game fighting a massive boss. The demo was followed by the first look at The Division: Underground which is out June 28 first on Xbox One. It is the first of three expansions for The Division, and takes players underneath New York City, where they will explore urban dungeons across a series of randomly-generated missions.

A lot of new features were announced for Xbox Live to make the online experience even better. We also got a chance to look at the new Minecraft Realms that gives players across all platforms a chance to play and create with each other.

Other announcements included new trailer for the thriller We Happy Few, Xbox One Lab custom controller designs, a showcase of Tekken 7 on Xbox One for 2017 release, and official reveal of Dead Rising 4 coming this year.

Trailers kept coming with Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Halo Wars 2 which are all coming to Windows 10 along with Xbox One.

The biggest surprise announcement was Xbox One “Project Scorpio”, or the “most powerful console ever” as Microsoft described. Xbox One – Project Scorpio will feature 6 teraflops, the most powerful GPU in a console ever with right cores. It along with Xbox One S and the original Xbox One will support all games and accessories. “No one gets left behind,” Phil Spencer stressed. Xbox One, Project Scorpio is out in 2017.