The big day is finally here, and expectations are soaring. After months of controversy surrounding the next-generation of gaming, E3 is the time for Microsoft and Sony to lay all their cards on the table. Microsoft had a lot of pressure on its shoulders to use this event to impress gamers, so did they succeed?

The conference opened with a bang, showing off the first open-world gameplay of the upcoming ‘Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’ running on Xbox One. Needless to say, it looks very pretty, giving a good example of what we can expect in the future of next-gen graphics. Of course, it also got people hyped for the rest of the show.

Microsoft didn’t strictly focus on the Xbox One, however, taking the time to assure gamers that the Xbox 360 is still receiving a lot of support, most notably with some improvements to Xbox Live. Similar to PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold members now have another reason to be paying monthly: 2 free games a month, the first of which will be Assassin’s Creed II and Halo 3. The reward isn’t as significant as PS Plus, but at least Microsoft is trying to give players a reason to buy their system.

Three new Xbox 360 titles were also revealed; ‘Max: The Curse of Brotherhood’, ‘Dark Souls II’, and the free-to-play title ‘World of Tanks’, specially built for the Xbox 360. Check out the trailers below.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood:

Dark Souls II:

World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition:

Xbox One Games:

Let’s face it, the Xbox 360 reveals were good, but everyone wants to see the Xbox One games. Luckily, Microsoft focused all of their attention on showing off a big batch of new exclusive titles from their many development studios.

Ryse: Son of Rome:

Developed by Crytek, ‘Ryse: Son of Rome’ utilizes the newest version of the famous CryENGINE to bring some truly astounding graphic and gameplay to Xbox One owners. The third-person action game takes place during a time of imperial war, with the demo opening in a sequence very similar to the D-Day assault in ‘Saving Private Ryan’.

Killer Instinct:

Earlier in the day, it was announced that developer Rare was once again working with one of their classic franchises, and just about everyone guessed that it would be ‘Killer Instinct’. Microsoft wasted no time in announcing the project, which was met with incredible applause.

Forza 5:

The team behind the Xbox One launch title ‘Forza 5’ is bringing a lot of new ideas to the table, the least of which are the impressive graphics displayed during the presentation. Rather than having the typical opponent AI when in a single-player race, ‘Forza 5′ takes advantage of the always-connected cloud service to upload and download player “Driveatars.” What is a driveatar? Every time you take part in a race, the game keeps a record of your play style and uploads it to the Xbox One cloud service, placing a computer controlled version of your drive in other players’ games. It’s a unique concept, and hopefully it works as well as planned.

Quantum Break:

Here’s a game that still hasn’t been explained properly. ‘Quantum Break’, created by ‘Alan Wake’ developer Remedy Entertainment, is a science-fiction action/adventure game where your actions have a direct impact on the live-action TV show of the same name. It is still unclear as to how the live-action segments will be delivered to players, but the following trailer is intriguing.

D4:

Very little is known about ‘D4’, other than the brief trailer describing it as an “episodic murder mystery.”

Project Spark:

‘Project Spark’ is easily one of the most interesting and unique announcements of the Microsoft conference. The project is all about creation, allowing players to easily create a variety of games that are only limited by their imagination. Users can create entire worlds and objects, taking advantage of a user-friendly scripting feature to develop their own full-feature games.

Dead Rising 3:

The appearance of Capcom Vancouver to announce ‘Dead Rising 3’ came as no surprise to anyone. The game, however, looks like a complete departure from the colorful and absurd nature of previous ‘Dead Rising’ games, this time allowing players free-reign of an entire city.

The Witcher 3:

RPG fans are extremely excited about the next entry in the ever-popular series ‘The Witcher’, and CD Projekt RED took to the stage to reveal the first official gameplay footage.

Battlefield 4:

Sunset Overdrive:

Long-time Sony-exclusive developer Insomniac Games surprised everyone when they took the stage to announce the Xbox One exclusive open-world FPS, ‘Sunset Overdrive’. Not much is known about the project yet, but the trailer is exciting.

Halo:

While it came as no surprise, the announcement of a new ‘Halo’ game was huge, especially when the trailer didn’t even hint at the possibility of being connected to the series until the end. When it was revealed, it was welcomed with much applause.

Titanfall:

‘Titanfall’ is the first project from Respawn Entertainment, and was announced as an Xbox One exclusive.

And Finally, the Features

No, we’re not talking about live TV. Microsoft was wise to leave those features off the stage and finally announced some things that gamers want, most notably the ability to record, edit, and upload game footage with the console’s built-in DVR. YouTubers can even record their own commentary directly through the Kinect, and Microsoft has also scored a partnership with live-streaming giant Twitch.

Current Xbox users will also be able to transfer their Xbox Live Gold accounts to the Xbox One, and will be happy to know that Microsoft is abandoning MS Points in favor of real currency.

We’ve seen the console, the controller, and now the games, and Xbox One is beginning to look like a very impressive console, indeed. However, Microsoft still failed to address the concerns that have many gamers shying away from their new console.

Xbox One is set to be released sometime in November 2013 at a price of $499. Will you be buying one?