Not surprisingly the Microsoft E3 2017 show kicked off with a bang and introduced us to the Xbox One X – in what will be the most powerful console ever when it releases November 7th, 2017.

The important thing to note is that it is slightly smaller than a Xbox One S and is liquid cooled. The Xbox One X will also have better support for 1080p TV owners by providing high Anisotropic Filtering and Super Sampling (AA). A lot of current Xbox One games will be patched to take advantage of 4k and HDR where possible.

First party games like Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 will be the first to be patched because they already have 4k assets. It has also been confirmed that all current Xbox One accessories and games will work on the Xbox One X.

The price: $499 USD, $649 AUD, £449, €499 and CA $599.

The Microsoft E3 2017 show didn’t disappoint, despite no giant surprises. Phil Spencer and Microsoft dedicated most of the show to showcase the upcoming Xbox One X and new exclusive games. It opened with a nice montage showing how far we have come with resolution before launching into the premiere trailer for the Xbox One X.

Then the first preview of game play was the excellent looking Forza Motorsport 7. Suffice to say I am very excited for the next Forza game and to see it on a 4k stream running as well as it did, well I had goosebumps. The cover car was revealed for real on stage and is the 2018 Porsche GT2 RS and it looked like a real beast. The trailer showed off dynamic weather and we have been told that the game will support 700 cars at launch. The game is out October 3rd, 2017.

Next up was a very impressive trailer, based apparently on game play. Let’s hope it looks as good as it did in the 4k stream. Metro Exodus has been announced and it looks to be a great open world game set in the Metro universe. I’m pretty excited about this because the first game was great. This is due for release early 2018.

Assassin’s Creed Origins was next up in the presentation and this has me truly excited for an Assassin’s Creed game again. It goes back to the very beginning and is set in ancient Egypt. Watching game play of this in the Microsoft event has me thinking this will be a day one purchase. Assassin’s Creed Origins is out 27th October, 2017.

Phil then went to talk about a lot of games, most of them Xbox exclusive as well. There are too many to go into detail but here is a list of them: Battlegrounds, Deep Rock Galactic, The Darwin Project, Minecraft updates, The Last Night, The Artful Escape, Code Vein, Super Lucky’s Tale, Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Next on the list was a Sea of Thieves gameplay video. I’m still on the fence about this one. It looks like fun with other players but if you are more of a single player game it may not be for you. It is out early 2018.

Crackdown 3 looks to be a cracker of a game. I loved the Terry Crews introduction and the game play looks like the original Crackdown, just on a much larger scale. Interestingly there was no mention of cloud computing even though this was a topic of previous year’s E3s. Best of all Crackdown 3 is a launch title and due out on 7th November, 2017.

Ashen looks to impress with a distinctive art style.

Next up is State of Decay 2, another Xbox exclusive. It brings co-op this time around and is shaping up to be a great title to play. The gameplay video does show the animations still need a bit of work but this title isn’t due out until 2018 so there is plenty of time for polish. I really enjoyed the base building aspects of the original game so it is good to see these are still in the sequel.

I don’t really know much about this game but Cuphead is out 29th September, 2017.

Phil did note here that over 500 games had been released on this ID@Xbox platform. This is very encouraging for indie developers.

Another title and game play video that really impressed me was Middle Earth: Shadow of War. The game looks absolutely stunning in 4k and what I really liked was the authentic characterisation. The large enemy that you convert to fight on your side is genuinely funny and adds a lot of character depth to the game. This game is out 10th October, 2017.

Microsoft and EA did save the one of the best title announcements to last. Anthem has been described as Destiny with a Mass Effect vibe to it. This looked incredible with four player co-op and a potentially huge open world. I think this announcement was one of the surprise highlights of E3.

Full stream from Gamespot – skip to 1:26 mark for Xbox presentation only.

All in all I thought it was a good presentation from Microsoft. It is great to finally have a proper name and price for the new Xbox One family member, the Xbox One X. The stand out games for me in this conference were Forza Motorsport 7, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Anthem, Metro Exodus, Crackdown 3 and Middle Earth: Shadow of War.

All videos sourced from the Xbox and Gamespot YouTube feeds.