Well, it’s that time of year again. The Electronic Entertainment Expo or E3 is here. We’ve come a long way from the first E3 in 1995, all of it for the better. It’s always exciting to see the new video games to be coming up soon. So that’s what I’ll be talking about.
This article was written out over the course of E3, so this’ll be about my predictions prior to the conference, followed by impressions of that day’s shows and end with a short list of highlighted games.
EA (Electronic Arts) has had a very hit or miss year in 2018, with flops like “Star Wars: Battlefront 2” and “Mass Effect: Andromeda,” but big wins with “A Way Out” and “Fe.” We also have their once a year sports vitamin that, at this point, is one of the only things keeping this company from going belly up. E.g: “MADDEN 20xx,” “FIFA 20xx,” etc.
With the announcement of “Battlefield 5,” I suspect that’s most of what we will be seeing, including their yearly sports game. We will also be seeing gameplay for “ANTHEM,” EA’s next big IP (Intellectual Property), which will be independent of their conference.
Overall, the EA conference had a few good trailers, but they had minimal gameplay and was, otherwise, pretty boring. Nothing I’m personally excited for, but some people are.
Next up we’ll have Bethesda and Microsoft.
Bethesda has recently announced “Fallout 76” and “RAGE 2,” so I have a hunch that is what most of the show will be about.
Microsoft is … well, let’s just say they have their fingers in a lot of pies. One pie tin they keep scraping out of is “Call of Duty.” The next game in the one a year series is “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.” With Xbox and PlayStation, it’s more of a question on who can talk about what, unless it’s in regards to exclusive games.
Microsoft gave us a near constant flow of exclusive games and fresh world premieres, as well as slightly deeper looks into already announced games. The list is so astronomically long that I’ll go over the highlights at the end. (That goes for all conferences going forward). Their presentation was pretty standard, but their unending stream made a lot of it blend together.
Bethesda’s show was very well paced, starting big with “Rage 2,” dropping heavily, but bringing it back with a long look at “Fallout 76.” Everything worked well for them, and they had a lot to see without completely losing your attention.
Monday will a long one with Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Sony. These are going to be some of the bigger announcements, with Square announcing a large partnership with Nintendo, multiple games coming to Playstation, like “Last of Us 2” and “Death Stranding.”
Square Enix will soon be releasing “Octopath Traveler” for the switch, so we will be seeing a little of that. Most of what we’ll see is “Kingdom Hearts 3,” which could take up 80 percent of the showcase and not a lot of people would be upset.
Ubisoft. Oh, Ubisoft. They’re trying their best, with their once a year “Assassins Creed”, getting a solid boost with “Far Cry 5,” but I have high hopes with “Beyond Good and Evil 2.” I didn’t have high standards for Ubisoft’s press conference, so I was happily surprised by the opening of a live marching band and dance troop to announce “Just Dance 2019.” As well as a live performance by Grant Kirkhope and a small band to go with the trailer for the “Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battles.”
Square Enix’s show was very lackluster. It was short and uninspired, but had some big announcements, which, again, will be left for the end of the article.
To end the day, Sony Playstation showed four big games, with a few mini trailers sliced in between. For the first game, “The Last of Us 2,” they brought out Gustavo Santaolalla to play music from the game, as well as having them in the same venue that the trailer takes place in which, to me, was awesome.
And finally Tuesday: Nintendo dropped a quick 45-minute “Nintendo Direct” announcing a few more new games with deeper looks into games we already knew about, like “Super Smash Bros” and “Fire Emblem.” Nintendo’s show is always unorthodox, but I think that makes it more accessible. Instead of one action-packed hour or so, they spread it out to fill the entire E3 showcase with what they called the “Nintendo Treehouse.”
Highlights: These are the games I’m excited for or that I think should be noted.
EA:
“Battlefield 5” revealed the solo-campaign. We saw more for “FIFA 2019,” maybe a lot more than necessary, but that’s just me. “Unraveled Two” was also given a quick look with a level demo. I never played the first one, but it looks like a fun puzzle game. Finally, “Anthem,” which is scheduled for a February release.
Bethesda:
“Fallout 76” and “RAGE 2” are honestly the two things we’ll be seeing anytime soon, but the announcement of “The Elder Scrolls VI” was made.
Microsoft:
Even though I’m not a huge Xbox fan, there are some good games coming out as exclusives, specifically “Gears of War 5,” “Oni and the Will of the Wisps,” and “Halo Infinite.” On the other hand, Microsoft announced a bunch of non-exclusive games like “Metro: Exodus,” “Battlefield 5,” “Dying Light 2,” “Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course,” “Cyberpunk 2077” and “TUNIC.”
Square Enix:
“Kingdom Hearts 3” and “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” are the only two I’m excited for, but I know some people are going to be hyped for “Dragon Quest 11” and “Captain Spirit.”
Ubisoft:
This one is easy. “Beyond Good and Evil 2,” “Transference,” and “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.”
Sony:
“The Last of Us 2,” “Death Stranding,” “Spiderman,” and “Ghost of Tsushima.” In that order. On the side, we have “Days Gone” and “Ghost Giant.”
Nintendo:
“Super Smash Bros: Ultimate” and “Super Mario Party.” There are some things I wish we had seen, but Smash made up for that in spades.
If you want to see all of the trailers released, you can go to this website.