Once again, the amazing, little chunk of water and rock that we inhabit has nearly reached the halfway point in its unlikely, yet miraculous orbit around the equally unlikely, yet miraculous ball of fire that hangs in space. This fantastical marker illustrating our current place in time can only mean one thing: E3 season is here!

If you’re reading this, then the chances are pretty high that you don’t need any long-winded introductory article describing our excitement for E3 2018; however, the mere existence of these words decrying the need to write such long-winded, perfunctory introduction sections has already defeated the intentions of skipping said perfunctory introductory section – so here we are.

There is never any shortage of hype going into an E3, and this year is no exception; however, E3 2018 is different.

Change is in the air.

Just as we have finished settling in to the rhythm of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases, rumors have started to circulate about the next wave of consoles.

Sources have confirmed to NerdBacon that PlayStation 5 development kits are now in the hands of a number of developers, and that work has already begun on the future of electronic entertainment.

A year after introducing the Xbox One X to the market, Microsoft is already recruiting eager young craftsmen (and women) to construct their vision of the next generation.

And Nintendo, always the non-conformist in the group, is filing patents for a mysterious new piece of technology.

So suddenly the focus of E3 2018 has shifted somewhat away from the anticipation of incredible new software, to the rapidly approaching generational shift, and how each of the companies will position themselves for the next generation of gaming.

This makes E3 2018 the last year of the status-quo – not just the status-quo of this generation of consoles, but the status-quo of how we go about the business of actually playing games.

Streaming technology has advanced exponentially in the past few years, creating a world that is becoming increasingly service-based. The idea of requiring a player to purchase a specific box on which to play the games of a specific company will one day soon, become extinct.

The final console generation is coming. The question is: will gamers be ready?

Beyond these gale-force winds of change, an entire hurricane of change threatens the gaming landscape. A storm which keeps the occupants of the loftiest ivory towers at Nintendo, Sega, and Sony awake at night: the titans.

Just as Microsoft’s entry into the gaming landscape in 2001 quickly forced Sega to exit the hardware business, the threat of a titanic company such as Apple or Amazon entering the gaming landscape looms large.

How long could the big 3 last should one of these titans decide to enter the home console business?

A shift to a more service-based gaming eco-system that doesn’t necessarily require NASA certified graphics cards, but relies on seamless delivery from a cloud-based infrastructure, makes the arrival of one of these behemoths a very real possibility.

So as we prepare ourselves for the arrival of E3 2018, take time to look around, smell the digital roses, and appreciate everything wonderful that is gaming. This is going to be an incredibly exciting year with a number of titles that will be announced which will certainly melt down a plethora of gaming forums across the internet.

Appreciate everything you’ve come to know and love about gaming for the past 35 years.

This will be the last E3 before everything changes.

Every year, NerdBacon examines the three major console manufacturers and takes a look back at the key decisions made on their journey to E3. We begin our series with Microsoft, and what lies ahead as they enter E3 2018.

The Road to E3 2018

They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day.

It takes time and patience to slowly build, piece by piece a wondrous colossus on the scale of Rome during the peak of it’s glory.

It’s this analogy that best describes Microsoft and the foundations of a master plan that they have meticulously laid down for themselves over the past several years.

Maybe papa Phil is a genius after all..

Microsoft’s master plan has been unfolding quietly, unbeknownst to us for the past several years. When taken as individual pieces, the decisions that Microsoft has been making over the past several years looked rather baffling. How audacious is it for a console manufacturer to offer major releases, day one, on a subscription service? However, now that the end game of Microsoft’s daring plan is in sight, the brilliance of what Microsoft has actually been doing all of these years is finally starting to emerge.

Simply put, Microsoft has been slowly, but surely, fortifying itself for the future beyond the horizon: the day where having a box in your living room that is primarily dedicated to playing games, is obsolete.

But to understand what Microsoft is doing, or about to do, we must look back at what they have done.

As we prepared to enter E3 2017, Microsoft’s fate was in a state of uncertainty. In 2016, the company had released an elegant revision of their Xbox One hardware known as the Xbox One S, which provided a much needed size reduction to the original launch hardware while also offering 4k television support, all for an extremely attractive price that was well below the amount at which the Xbox One was originally offered in 2013.

However, in 2016, Microsoft created uncertainty with the announcement of Project Scorpio.

Microsoft made sure everyone knew just how powerful the Xbox One X was going to be.

In the year from its announcement to its official unveiling as the Xbox One X at E3 2017, Microsoft had repeatedly shouted from the rooftops that this higher-end version of the Xbox One family, with 6 terraflops of power complimenting a beastly device built from the ground up for HDR television support, would be the most powerful home console on the market, able to play all Xbox One games while providing many titles with a substantial performance boost. The obvious step up in power over its rival PlayStation 4 Pro, led many to wonder if this was a sort of shadow launch of a new generation for Microsoft. After all, if the Xbox One X was as powerful as Microsoft was bragging, wouldn’t a development studio want to release a title that took full advantage of the extra horsepower the system had to offer, without being encumbered by having to color within the lines of the base model?

As if that conundrum wasn’t bad enough, another riddle was introduced for consideration that year: Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative.

This new selling point allowed anyone who had an Xbox account who digitally purchased certain titles from Microsoft’s online store, to play that title on either their PC or Xbox One console.

Fast-forward to E3 2017.

Along with the glorious pomp and circumstance of the arrival of the Xbox One X, was an announcement that seemed very novel at the time, but was far more important than the arrival of a mere piece of hardware: Game Pass.

Microsoft’s Game Pass service is a subscription-based service that allows users to download and play a robust assortment of rotating titles each month. The user would then be able to play the game at any point at their leisure, as long as they were still active subscribers to the service, as well as purchase the game at a discounted rate should they ever decide to let their subscription expire.

Microsoft’s Games Pass was more than a novel idea – it’s a trojan horse into the future.

The ability to download the game directly to the console provided a stark contrast to Sony’s PlayStation Now service, which offered access to a library of titles that were streamed to the user. While that solution was amazingly forward-thinking on Sony’s part, the technology that facilitated the streaming content was not quite ready for prime-time, creating some unfavorable gameplay experiences.

The true intentions of Game Pass would not be revealed by Microsoft until after E3 2017, when the company announced that all future first-party releases would be available on Game Pass, day one.

While Microsoft’s vision of an integrated gaming ecosystem felt like a very generous gesture, it also a hard concept to grasp for those of us who cut our teeth on the epic console wars of the SNES vs Genesis, or PlayStation vs N64. After all, if I can play the Xbox title I just purchased on my PC, then what was the point of even having an Xbox?

How could Microsoft be so audacious?

The answer to the question was shockingly simple:

There is no point to owning an Xbox console.

That’s because (as writer Tom Warren point out in his excellent piece for The Verge) Microsoft is hedging its bets for a post Xbox, and post console future.

Sure, development is definitely underway on the successor to the Xbox One, but with these key moves that have been made by Microsoft in the past few years, you won’t need it.

In an effort to play defense against the arrival of Apple, and/or Amazon to the home gaming market, Microsoft is preparing to transform the Xbox brand into a service that could be used on any device, not just a machine.

You’ll still be able to play Xbox games on elegant, Microsoft-designed Xbox hardware, but you won’t have to.

Is Apple preparing an entry into the gaming market? Time will tell.

Microsoft’s recent acquisitions point to a coming transformation of the Game Pass service. Gamers with a hefty PC or Xbox console can still download games to their devices and play off their hard drives, however, the coming streaming capabilities of the Game Pass service will allow players to also stream games to their less-powerful devices like tablets or smartphones.

There is also a very strong likely hood that other devices would come into play as well.

Microsoft could very well try to head Apple off at the pass and try to team up with them as one of the services offered on the next iteration of the Apple TV.

There is also a strong possibility that a partnership with Nintendo develops which would allow certain Microsoft games, like the recently released Game Pass ambassador, Sea of Thieves, to become playable on the Nintendo Switch.

Beyond this futuristic service-based, streaming, console-agnostic, vision of the future, lies a pair of machines that are still fully prepared to create tidal waves in the industry under the right circumstances. Waiting in the wings, perhaps two or three years from now, will be the next evolution of Microsoft’s 20 year foray into gaming. And should the markets shift and the titans enter the arena, Microsoft stands as the company most prepared to weather that storm.

As we enter E3 2018, the world is Microsoft’s oyster. Now that you understand the master plan, watching the remaining pieces of this master plan as they begin to fall into place, makes Microsoft the most exciting company to watch at E3 2018.

Predictions

I know that there’s an old saying that a broken clock is right twice a day, but Most of my predictions as far as what games we will see gracing Microsoft’s stage at E3 2018 are ones that I’ve made before.

I don’t feel that I was necessarily wrong on these predictions – just wrong about the timeline.

As I’ve said repeatedly over the past couple of years, a new Conker title is coming! Voice work was done on this in 2016, so unless it was canceled (which is always a possibility) it’s still a game in development.

I still say that Conker is coming back sooner, rather than later.

I also still expect to see a new entry in the Battletoads series. Fans just want it too much to ignore.

As for newer predictions, Crimson Skies will make an appearance this year! The original was a highlight of last year’s original Xbox Backwards Compatibility announcement, and I expect that it was a little warm up for the real deal, resurrection of the series this year.

I’s also expect to see a new Halo battle royale mode announced, either as a stand-alone project, or as DLC to Halo 5. Let’s face it – everything this year will be battle royale and shooting aliens, so get used to it.

Microsoft went shopping in Japan this year, in order to bring back a number of exotic goodies from the orient.

A port of the excellent Nier: Automata will be announced, which will be made all the more glorious thanks to tasty Xbox One X enhancements.

Capcom is bringing something to the Xbox One, Switch, and PC that will not be appearing on the PlayStation 4. So it sounds like Microsoft left a wad of cash on a desk during their visit to the famed developer earlier this year. My guess as to what’s coming?

Onimusha!

A “Souls-like” experience is sorely missing on the Xbox One and a rebirth of Capcom’s classic series would fill that gap very nicely. Capcom recently renewed the Onimusha trademark, so they’re obviously interested in putting some sort of content out there.

It’s time to revive Onimusha for a new generation!

Last year I said that we would see a season 4 of Microsoft’s only exclusive fighting game, Killer Instinct. Well, that didn’t materialize, but maybe that’s because they’re cooking up something new. My guts are telling me that it’s time to step back into the battle against Ultratech with a brand new Killer Instinct title!

Amidst all the exciting potential of new game announcements, the biggest potential story for Microsoft at E3 2018 could be acquisitions and partnerships. Microsoft is ready to open their wallet and they might be buying a studio. Rumors earlier in the year stated that Microsoft was interested in the developers of PUBG; however, I think the boat has passed on them. Maybe a Japanese studio wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility?

As for partnerships, look for Microsoft to get very friendly with Nintendo very soon. We will definitely see a Microsoft character in the latest Super Smash Bros game; however, the friendship won’t just dock at that port, if you catch the wind in my sails. (the hint that I’m giving)

Finally, what E3 would be complete without a mention of Half Life 3? In my 2018 predictions article, I stated that the dream was dead, and now I’m not so sure.

Is this finally the year?

While I don’t necessarily believe that this is the year that we finally see the mythical phantom, I do think that it’s in Microsoft’s interest to try to make nice with Valve. After all, a company that is preparing to untie its brand identity from a simple console brand to a platform for games, accessible on any device, needs to have a robust amount of content to deliver.

Wouldn’t it be something if the Xbox Platform gave you streaming access to your Steam library on any device as part of a revamped Games Pass service?

Now that would truly be an Earth-shattering E3 announcement.

Now that you’ve read my thoughts on what Microsoft could bring to the table at E3 2018, it’s time to hear from you!

Let us know what you hope to see from Microsoft at E3 2018 in the comments section below, and be sure to tune in and watch Microsoft, and every other major E3 2018 press event with us at twitch.tv/nerdbacon!

You can see our complete streaming schedule here.

Written by The Watchman

The Watchman is a journeyman gamer who has seen and played a good chunk of gaming history.
He’s also an actor, a reporter, a pro wrestling connoisseur, and some say he’s a cat whisperer.
If you have any questions or just want to drop me a line, hit me up at thewatchman@nerdbacon.com
Or follow me on Twitter @DavetheWatchman
You can also game with me!
Look me up on Xbox Live @ DJKhadoken
Or on PlayStation Network @ Eaglevision_dl