Xbox’s E3 to Focus on Hardcore Gamers, Some News Coming in May; No Portable Xbox Coming and More

Xbox’s E3 to Focus on Hardcore Gamers, Some News Coming in May; No Portable Xbox Coming and More

Giuseppe Nelva May 5, 2014 1:33 AM EST

Phil Spencer, the recently appointed head of the Xbox department at Microsoft, just came back from Shanghai, and to make it up for the absence he went all out in responding to questions from the fans about E3 on Twitter tonight.

Some of the points he made were quite interesting, and below you can read a summary:

Spencer doesn’t think Microsoft will introduce a dedicated handheld gaming device. Instead they’ll work on Windows Phone and tablets, maybe with controller support some day.

Spencer wants to make E3’s show more focused on the fans and he’s looking for ideas to make them feel like the conference is for them even if they aren’t in Los Angeles.

The main focus will be on hardcore gamers.

There was an idea to make Cortana the voice of the show, but Spencer didn’t like it. He likes the Windows Phone feature but doesn’t want to overdo it.

Fans won’t have to wait for Tokyo Game Show to see Japanese Xbox games (possibly meaning that we’ll see them at E3).

This year Microsoft will show “stuff we are committed to, from top studios, for this year and future.”

We’ll get a “couple of things” announced before E3. May “Should be a good month for news.” It took Spencer a month to get the plans set.

Spencer has strict orders not to talk “ about anything related to a 343i IP ” before E3.

” before E3. Both new IP and sequels will be announced at this year’s show.

Speaking about Japanese games, Spencer also talked about Lost Odyssey, mentioning that “Rights on that one are a bit complicated,” but that he’d like to see it on Games on Demand. He also stated that there may be opportunities to publish IPs that Microsoft owns but has neglected as digital games.

Finally, he mentioned that what stopped Rare from doing a new Battletoads game is just time. All of their teams are full at the moment, and they have a long list of what they’d like to do next.

One thing is for sure: Phil Spencer has been a busy bee, and it’s hard not to be intrigued about seeing the result of all that work in June. We’re just a little over a month away, and the hype is definitely building up.