Microsoft Won't Need PCs To Showcase Xbox One Games At Comic-Con

Microsoft is in full-fledged “We need you to think the Xbox One is cool” marketing mode, and they'll be doing any and everything possible to convince you that the upcoming next-generation console will be worth the price of admission when it launches this fall.

Neowin picked up the news from Major “Flip Swithcer” Nelson, who commented about the mini 'M's presence at the San Diego Comic-Con taking place next weekend.

There will be more than 125,000 attendees and enough potential press coverage to help build momentum for the flailing game console as it preps for launch this holiday season. So far, Microsoft has yet to win over any sorts of major, momentum-shifting favoritism at the past two gaming events they've held this year, starting with the abysmal reveal on May 21st and the games-heavy but policy over-shadowing E3 press conference.

While Microsoft is making their presence known at Comic-Con, they won't be holding a full fledged press conference the way they are with the upcoming GamesCom event taking place this August in Cologne, Germany. At GamesCom they actually have a chance to win a trade-show this time around, so long as the foot-shooting is kept to an absolute bare minimum.

Microsoft is also not limiting their media presence to just North America and Europe. They'll be attending the Tokyo Game Show in full presence; the company's Japanese division will be there to show off the Xbox One to the Japanese consumer, in hopes of getting an established base of interest for the console's launch in the Asian territory in 2014.

Circling back around to the San Diego Comic-Con... Microsoft's presence will consist mostly of showcasing games to badge attendees and participating in a panel discussion – the first ever for the Xbox One, following the controversial move by Microsoft to cancel all the roundtable discussions at E3.

What's more is that the company will be throwing games out there at two separate but important locations at the Comic-Con event; one will be at a private meeting room at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego Hotel, where games like Dead Rising 3, Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo 4 Championship Bundle and other titles for the 360, Windows 8 and Windows Phone will be on display. The other location will be an exhibit on the convention's show floor.

The thing to really take away from the news is that Microsoft won't have to use Windows 7 computers with Nvidia GTX 780 cards given that the games that will be on showcase to the public includes titles that were confirmed to actually run on Xbox One dev kits, such as Ryse: Son of Rome and Killer Instinct, among other titles.

Unlike E3, however, Microsoft will probably aim to keep the focus on games running on actual XB1 hardware to avoid any further speculation from gamers or media that the system could be behind schedule and the company lacks confidence in the hardware. This means that Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse and Killer Instinct will be the items they center on the most, since it was confirmed that they were titles that indubitably ran on dev kit hardware... can't say the same for Battlefield 4, Titanfall, Dead Rising 3 and Metal Gear Solid 5.

The San Diego Comic-Con will get underway next week on July 19th and will run through the 21st. Need more info? Feel free to visit the official Major Nelson website.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.