The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Xbox Game Showcase Edition
The next-generation of consoles is right around the corner and both PlayStation and Xbox are determined to release their respective consoles in time for the Holiday season, but there are many things we still don’t know about the consoles releasing in a matter of months. We don’t know the prices of the consoles (or what most of the software will cost), we don’t know if crossplay will be more of a thing next-gen and we don’t know which of our home appliances look most like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Although we’re still left wondering about many things, the recent Xbox game showcase showed off more games that we didn’t know about and that’s always exciting. While many games were unveiled, few received gameplay footage, mimicking a pattern started with the last event. The event had some good, some bad and some ugly across the hour-long broadcast.
The Good
Everything We Saw Is Coming to Game Pass
During both the Xbox game showcase event and post-event press coverage, Microsoft executives such as Aaron Greenberg and Phil Spencer emphasized the fact that everything that was part of the event is coming to Game Pass. That means blockbuster titles such as Halo Infinite, Fable and Forza Motorsport are coming to Game Pass but so are titles such as The Medium, Avowed and Psychonauts 2. The extensive lineup continues to impress and Game Pass subscribers already know that the service is a console seller, but everyone else just found out during this game showcase.
Great Variety of Games
Everybody watching the recent Xbox Game Showcase was probably interested in a title that was part of the event. While not much gameplay may have been showed off beyond Halo Infinite, fans of any genre has something to look forward to after watching the Xbox game showcase. While the game showcase should have been called the Game Pass showcase due to the variety of games the service already has and will evidently continue to have, it did exactly what the headline suggests: showcased games. Some of the games will be optimized for Xbox Series X and others will be available through backwards compatability, no matter how you slice it, the next-gen Xbox is launching with the most diverse and extensive library of all time.
Oh, One More Thing: Fable
Nintendo really popularized the “one more thing” trope in modern gaming shows and Microsoft has officially joined the trend with this Xbox game showcase. Before ending the show, just like many Nintendo Direct presentations before, the final game was unveiled and it was a show stopper. Fable received a very brief teaser trailer that focused on a fairy until it was eaten by a frog. Just like Forza Motorsport, this title is expected to be a long way off but we can expect it to be a console seller just like many Fable titles before it. It’s currently unclear whether this is a reboot, a reimagining or a sequel, but the trailer shows off magical fantasy familiar to the franchise and voice over commentary that fans would expect.