Today starts one of the biggest weeks in gaming news for the entire year! Nerd Christmas in June! The big show! More exclamation marks!!!
Sorry… It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything new. I’ve got some other content in various stages of completion, I just need to get my butt into gear and get it done. I’ve been a bit removed from the latest gaming news, so if I missed any announcements that contradict what I’ve written here, I apologize in advance. That being said, I felt I would be remiss if I didn’t make a post about E3, so here it is!
The Events
For the past few years now, the main keynotes have been from Microsoft, Bethesda, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony (with Nintendo presenting in their own way, directly 😉 to consumers). Below are kind of what I expect to hear about and what I’m excited about.
EA
In an unusual turn of events, the conference is beginning on a Saturday (today, June 10th) instead of the usual Sunday evening kick-off which has been led by Bethesda in recent years. EA has taken up the mantle and is set to go live here very shortly.
If I’m being honest, EA games have never really wowed me and always seem to have a generic quality to them. I know that’s a harsh assessment, but that’s how I see things, and their presentations are generally no different. We will see the new iterations of their sports titles and they’ll tell us how different and improved they are since last year’s version. Most likely, they’ll have one of the cover athlete’s present to talk about how excited they were to work with EA to bring the next latest and greatest entry of the sports game to fans. This year, that may be Tom Brady, as he was chosen as the cover athlete for Madden 2018. FIFA will receive its time in the spotlight as well.
Outside of their sports games, EA will definitely be showing of the new Star Wars Battlefront game. Set to release this November and with the beta recently announced, they will definitely have some new gameplay footage and hopefully show off some new modes/content in the meantime. I didn’t play much of the last release outside of my time with the beta, but I know it was heavily bemoaned as an unfinished game due to the lack of content out of the box and strong leaning on DLC/season pass. EA should definitely be cognizant of this fact and make sure there is enough content in the base game to warrant gamers’ money. I’m already intrigued just knowing that they actually put a story mode back into the game (#SinglePlayer4Lyfe) and learning more about Inferno Squad’s place in the Star Wars expanded universe.
Now, the above are the sure bets I would make for EA to show off. As for other titles, I’m not so sure. I don’t believe the Mirror’s Edge sequel was successful enough for EA for them to put more money into a new chapter so soon. Battlefield 1 hasn’t even been out for a year yet, so we may see and expansion to that rather than a true follow-up. Maybe they have a few new IPs up their sleeves. I guess we’ll know sooner rather than later.
The EA press conference goes live today (June 10th) at 3pm EST.
Microsoft
I’m tempted to just put “Project Scorpio” here and then move on, but they will need to have more than that. A more powerful version of their current console isn’t a showstopper. Microsoft has already doubled down on keeping the platform as the Xbox One for now and allowing the games to be played on any version of the console, simply scaled to the power of the hardware, so they need to have games to back this up. Price point could be a huge swing in their favor as far as the console wars go. Touting that this is the most powerful video game console ever released isn’t enough if the price point is astronomical. I’m guessing it’s going to launch in the $599 range, unless they’ve found some excellent discounts on parts. It seems Microsoft is positioning this for a select subset of gamers who feel the need to be on the bleeding edge of technology (for console gaming specifically, before PC Master Racers come in and say something).
As for games, it’s already been announced that Halo 6 will not be at the show and honestly, most of the people I know that loved Halo have abandoned the series after the mediocre attempts following the original trilogy. I think its presence will be missed, especially if they had some particularly epic in-game footage on the Scorpio.
Sea of Thieves is a likely candidate for screen time at the Microsoft conference. After piquing interest last year, the game has largely fallen off the radar. The premise seems very cool, we just need more details around how everything works and when we can expect to play it ourselves!
I’m not honestly sure what else to expect from Microsoft. They could bring out the Phantom Dust sequel, especially considering the recent re-release of the original title as a free download on both Windows 10 and Xbox One. A new Forza or Gears could show up but it’s not really been long since we had releases in those franchises, so these aren’t necessarily guarantees. Scalebound may also see some kind of resurrection, considering Microsoft renewed the trademark for the game last month.
My big wish for Microsoft would be a new Battletoads game. They’ve been teasing it for a while, with Phil Spencer rocking a Battletoads shirt at a few press conferences. If done right, this is a franchise that has plenty of notoriety both from nostalgia and from time spent as a go-to trolling tactic for video game stores. Soon, they may be able to answer that yes, they do in fact have Battletoads.
The Microsoft press conference goes live on June 11th at 5pm EST.
Bethesda
Bethesda usually kicks things off for the conference on Sunday evening but that does not appear to be the case this year. Going live quite late for the East coast, Bethesda will technically be the first conference Monday morning.
I’m honestly not sure what to expect from Bethesda this year. ESO just released the Morrowind expansion, so I don’t know that we’ll see any content updates for their MMO endeavor at this conference. Fallout 4 content is winding down and other than the VR support for the title, I’m not sure that this will receive a lot of show time. Doom is similar in that they may speak about the VR for the title, but I don’t know that much else will be said on that front. I think the two certainties will be the Elder Scrolls card game and the new mobile app they’ve been hiring for that has seen some news circulating the web. With Arkane Studios having recently released Prey, we may see something new in the works from that team but it may be too soon for anything concrete.
In a perfect world, Bethesda would have an unveiling of the next Elder Scrolls game. I sank over 200 hours into Skyrim and never even touched the final expansion, so the opportunity to get lost in another realm of Tamriel is a tantalizing prospect.
Speaking of Skyrim, we may see some details around the Switch port of the title. It was shown during the various announcements for the console and then vanished almost entirely. Also, this title needs to be dropped from the $60 price point. While I think it’s worth every dollar and then some, the game is nearly six years old at this point. Regardless that it has never appeared on a Nintendo console, that would still be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of consumers.
The Bethesda press conference goes live on June 11th at midnight EST.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft always has a few tricks up their sleeves. Aisha Tyler and her lady boners will almost certainly be present and appreciated for her comedic excitement in presenting. You can also bet they will announce the new version of Just Dance, because apparently there are a lot of dancing fools out there buying up these titles each year.
As far as established franchises go, I think the Rabbids have been relatively quiet for a while, so it’s about time for them to make another appearance. The collaboration with Nintendo for a Mario x Rabbids game may fit this bill and outside of what appears to be box art, we haven’t seen or heard much about the title. Watch Dogs and the Ghost Recon franchise have recently seen releases, so I don’t anticipate any announcements in those areas, but For Honor seems to have been relatively successful for Ubisoft and we may see some expansion content here.
Assassin’s Creed is the other announcement that can pretty much be guaranteed at this point. The number of leaks and images surrounding a new entry all indicate we can expect to see this one when Ubisoft takes the stage.
The Ubisoft press conference goes live on June 12th at 4pm EST.
Sony
PlayStation. So many things to show. So many things we’d like to see.
The new God of War. The trailer last year looked amazing and we’ve needed a new Kratos adventure for a while now. It seems highly likely that Sony would want to bring this back for another showing, based on the reaction it got last year. Maybe they’ll show more about the setting of the game, an in-depth look at the parenting system that seems to be in place, or maybe just Kratos and his son whooping all kinds of mythological ass. All are viable and entertaining prospects.
The new Spider-Man from Insomniac is another likely contender for some of the limelight. The brief showing last year to illustrate the power of the PS4 Pro and HDR left us (or me, at least) wanting more. Spider-Man 2 is still probably the licensed game that I’ve spent the most time playing and if anyone can do it justice, I think Insomniac can. The free-roaming in Infamous seems right in line with what I’d expect from a Spider-Man experience. Couple that with the capabilities of the PS4 and I’m excited at the potential this title has!
Final Fantasy VII Remake and Kingdom Hearts 3 are potential participants in Sony’s conference. After announcing that the titles are still a few years away from completion (and bringing development of FFVII in-house), they may forego the show to alleviate the massive letdown of knowing we’re no closer to playing these games than we were at this time last year. Or maybe they’ll continue to tease and tantalize, who knows?
PlayStation VR will undoubtedly have a segment allotted. When the VR system launched late last year, it was nearly impossible to find for months. Being the cheapest point of entry into the VR ecosystem did wonders for it, as well. While adoption and titles have been scant, Sony has the opportunity to rectify this by showing that they will continue to support the headset with new and innovative titles to keep the momentum going.
I assume there will be some mention of Call of Duty WWII, since Sony has timed exclusive rights to the DLC for the series for now. This does not excite me.
An interesting turn of events would be the announcement of a new Patapon or Loco Roco. Both franchises saw their first entries remastered for the PS4 recently, so new titles for one or both could be possible. Less likely would be a new PS4 model that would rival or surpass Scorpio’s power to continue taking the wind from Microsoft’s sails (or sales, whatever). This seems highly doubtful as the PS4 Pro is already selling well and is currently sitting at a price point that I doubt the Scorpio will match, regardless of how powerful it is.
The Sony press conference goes live on June 12th at 9pm EST
Nintendo
In classic Nintendo fashion, they are not holding a traditional press conference, but rather hosting a Nintendo Direct (this year called the Nintendo Spotlight, I believe). Super Mario Odyssey has been said to be heavily featured for the presentation and I wonder if it will be akin to how Zelda was the focus of their show last year. After a disappointing Pokemon Direct this week, maybe they will have saved more Pokemon news (namely, for the Switch) for the E3 presentation.
Riding on the momentum the Switch has built up since its release, Nintendo will almost certainly focus on what’s to come for their new console through the end of this year and into early next year. Nintendo needs to clarify how their online service is going to work, what’s included for the price, and what is up with the friends list app configurations for voice chat and such. Early images have people worried about splitters, headsets, and the distance from their console (NES Classic controller all over again!), so Nintendo needs to get in front of this, let people know how it all works, and why we should give it a chance. Additionally, the Virtual Console needs some love and attention. With as powerful as the Nintendo nostalgia is, the possibility of having 30+ years of Nintendo titles on the Switch is a fantastic opportunity.
The 3DS will have a segment devoted to it, as it still holds significant market share in the mobile space, but Nintendo seems to be cannibalizing a bit of that thanks to the portability of the Switch, not to mention the 3DS itself is just over 6 years old now. An odd move would be to announce a successor to the 3DS this year, which I don’t believe will happen seeing as they announced the New 2DS XL for release next month.
I would like to see some news about the SNES Classic Edition which was rumored to have leaked earlier this year. Arguably more popular than the NES, if a Super Nintendo version was released that addressed many of the issues people had with the NES Classic (supply, cord length, no expansion opportunities for titles, etc.), Nintendo could stand to regain a lot of good will that was lost over how the NES Classic Edition was handled (all the while, making money hand over fist). It’s a win-win for the Big N and hopefully they can do it right this time.
The Nintendo press conference goes live on June 13th at 11:30am EST.
I’ll be keeping an eye on the E3 announcements as they roll out and writing up my thoughts on each presentation as time allows. In the meantime, everyone enjoy your weekend and look forward to the gaming goodness we have headed our way in the coming week! If I missed anything you’re looking forward to or you’d just like to drop your ideas out there, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll try to respond to them. Thanks, as always, for reading and please share this around if you like what you’ve read.