Microsoft shows off Gears 4 and Halo 5 at E3

Microsoft had to come to E3 with some pretty big announcements. And it delivered.

Tue, 16 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

The most audible reaction of the conference came when Xbox head Phil Spencer announced that the Xbox One will be backward compatible with Xbox 360 games. You’ll be able to access your digital collection of 360 games on Xbox One, as well as put discs in and download games you already own. There will be around 100 games supported when backward compatibility is introduced at the end of the year.

Microsoft said that there are no barriers to this; all developers need to do is give the green light, and Microsoft will take care of the rest. And it wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity to finally return a shot at Sony. “We won’t charge you to play the games you already own,” Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra said.

It wouldn’t be E3 without a huge helping of games. Microsoft did not disappoint, showing off gameplay footage from a variety of heavy hitters.

Microsoft showed off footage from the upcoming Gears of War title, simply titled Gears 4. It looks quite spectacular. The six minute video sees the title’s new protagonists hunting a beast before the tables are suddenly turned. The gameplay itself looks like standard Gears-fare, which fans will be delighted with. Gears 4 will be released during “Holiday 2016.”

Naturally, Halo 5: Guardians also made an appearance. Microsoft announced that its multiplayer maps will be much larger than in previous games, while there’s also a new multiplayer mode called "Warzone.” The campaign demo got pulses racing with plenty of cinematics and explosive action. Guardians will feature drop-in/out online cooperative gameplay. Halo 5 will be released on October 27th, 2015.

We knew that the upcoming Tomb Raider sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, is going to be an Xbox exclusive. Now, we’ve finally seen the game in action. Once again, Lara spends her time destroying environments, causing explosions, traversing perilous environments, and taking down enemies silently. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be released during “Holiday 2015.”

Forza 6 is looking beautiful, a point that the trailer’s music would like to cement. The trailer shows off a number of exotic cars racing around at breakneck speed in a variety of locations. While wet weather racing may be significantly more difficult, we look forward to the rain so that we can appreciate the visual effects. Forza 6 will be released from September 15th, 2015.

Microsoft brought a huge lineup of games to E3. Rather than overwhelming you with words or trailers, you can see footage from some of the best and brightest in this handy compilation trailer.