Leaks prior to E3 2014 stole Microsoft’s thunder

Despite the fact that Microsoft’s E3 press conference format was their strong point, I didn’t find myself cheering alongside some major announcements. I already knew they were coming.

Sure, it was nice to see the Halo Master Chief Collection confirmed and a teaser for a new Crackdown, but again, I knew these were coming. They weren’t surprises.

They were leaked earlier this year. Heck, the Halo 2 Anniversary was one of E3's worst kept secrets.

I already talked about the death of E3 hype; Microsoft’s press conference and offerings confirmed my suspicions. I’m not saying that the overall show didn’t have surprises (I’m looking at you, Rainbow Six and Grim Fandango), but Microsoft in particular lacked that element. We knew everything that was coming. There really wasn’t much in terms of surprises.

Is this a bad thing? Well, yes and no. It’s nice to see that the leaks from earlier this year were legit because the games mentioned were pretty damn strong. That being said, the general consensus following Microsoft’s press conference (we’ll talk more about that soon) was that they did a pretty good job. No one was blown away, no one was sprinting to the store to pick up a new Xbox One; they just did a good job.

Despite the strength of their format and presentation as a whole, it just didn’t pack a punch. We knew when they were coming.