Microsoft went through near 20 games in their keynote speech – which you’ll have an overview of very soon – some of which look like they’ll be absolute classics already. The company they may have actually changed people’s opinions after the Xbox One reveal that skipped out the gaming aspect almost altogether.
Smart Glass appeared in several of the games that were showcased by Microsoft, one of which looked really intriguing; Project Spark from Microsoft Game Studios. It allowed you to create and scape the game world using touch controls via Smart Glass, adding in mountains, cutting into the landscape with rivers and adding roads and it all looked very smooth.
Other titles such as Ryse: Son of Rome showcased real time updates of game progress which in turn are comparable to your nigh infinite friends list. You’ll also be able to use Smart Glass to queue online matches and switch in and out of your current game. So it looks like Microsoft have really made an effort to expand on the current iteration of Smart Glass and push the second screen option as many households now have tablet devices on the new console.
Microsoft also showed off a brand new feature called Upload Studio which will be used in conjunction with the built in DVR, which records your gaming moments (think neck and neck online races where you force your opponent off on the last bend to take the win or scoring that wonder goal on FIFA against your friend – who doesn’t like those moments?) and then using Smart Glass and no doubt a built-in app on the console, to edit, cut, add skins and text to your videos and subsequently share them online in all their glory in conjunction with Twitch; an online source of gameplay videos uploaded by like-minded gamers. From the conference it also looked like you were able to stream real time with the split screen options on the Xbox One and see people’s comments as you play.