If there is an event that I look forward to every year, it is definitely the
Electronic Entertainment Expo convention coming this June, otherwise better known as
E3. The internet has been bombarded with rumours, leaks and predictions and it is as if embers from past years re-ignited to bring light to E3. As usual, some rumours will die-out sooner then others while some will be proven true.
What you can expect is very much dependant on what platform you prefer, as all have taken different approaches. We will take a look at
Nintendo, Xbox and
PlayStation today and the intention here is not necessarily to find a winner but to show my predictions and games that I am looking forward to play.
Nintendo
If there is a prediction that I could make, it would be
Nintendo will be the one to bring the biggest surprises this
E3. We do know that
Metroid Prime 4 been in production for at least a year. For a while, development was lead by
NAMCO Studios Singapore, but now it has been taken over by the studio in Japan while the Singapore branch works on another
Switch game. We just had a logo showed to us last time, so any reveal of this game would be really exciting.
The
Super Smash Bros Invitational Tournament 2018 will be held at
E3 as well. Players will be get to play the newest entry in the Smash series for the Switch. The competition will start on Monday 11th from 3:30 PDT with the
Splatoon World Championship. The Smash tournament will be on the 12th, immediately after the Splatoon finals.
What's up with
Retro Studios? They have kept themselves really quiet since the release of
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and that was in 2014. A rumour emerged however, with the name
Star-fox: Grand Prix on the title. Which, if true, should be a cross-over between
F-Zero and
Diddy Kong Racing. If this is true, then I am sold already on the idea. Fingers crossed.
Other predictions include seeing gameplay of the upcoming
Octo expansion for
Splatoon 2. I was going to give
Mario Tennis Aces an on-stage appearance as well, but they had recently announced that on June 22nd you will be able to play the game and a pre-launch tournament would be held from June 1st until June 3rd.
Possible surprise announcements:
Animal Crossing. This is a special game that does not have much rivals to be compared to. Fans have been left hoping for a release every year since the last one came out on the
Nintendo DS. This game is also a game to be appreciated more in its longevity. So, in my opinion, the
Switch is the perfect console to bring it to. It is about a year old and we will not see another console from
Nintendo within two years. Something extra to note, the high resolution
Animal Crossing maps in
Mario Kart 8 and the
Animal Crossing Amiibo festival made by
NDCube are assets they could easily use.
In addition to that, a post on
GameFaqs has leaked and potentially spoiled the whole Nintendo conference. The
post has so far been proven true.
Xbox
Where are the
Xbox exclusives going to come from?
Microsoft are currently not the best at keeping exclusives in development. Titles like
Fable Legends,
Scalebound, Stromlands and True Fantasy Online did not last the development process.
It has been suggested to be their own fault for requesting developers to include features on a game without extending the budget or time frame.
There are very few announcements to surprise you when it comes to Xbox.
CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 has been in development since 2013 and it is rumoured that there will be a trailer and gameplay footage for the press for this year's
E3 convention. Hopefully this time round, we are not disappointed.
I was going to put
Battlefield V in this list. However, they recently announced that the game will be revealed live on the 23th of May on Youtube, Twitch and Mixer. A leak by
rectifygaming.com about a month ago shows the various 3rd party titles that could have possibly given exclusive marketing rights over to
Microsoft.
What I expect to see:
If there is any hope for Xbox exclusives then these are the games I hope to see released late this year or in early 2019.
Borderlands 3: It takes you into a sea of speculations and rumours, where suggestions can easily be taken as air to fulfil your expectations. Thus far, we have nothing concrete, no release dates, no trailers for E3, no exclusive right been signed. The only thing we certainly know is the name "Boring Company flamethrower" been confirmed as a new weapon.
Unfortunately, I am sorry to say that I find no good reason to believe that
Halo 6 and
Gears of War 5 will be released this year, but I am still hoping for a trailer for either games. Other games I am hoping to see at the conference are
Crack Down 3, Fable 4 and Splinter Cell.Microsoft's press conference will be held across the
Los Angeles Convention Centre (LACC) at the
Microsoft Theatre on June 10, 2018 at 1pm PDT.
PlayStation
Sony decided to put all their cards on the table. All their games that are to be released this year have been announced or already released. These are great games nonetheless.
Kojima's Death Stranding, Marvel's Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part II will all have gameplay and a release date announced on the conference.
The most interesting announcement they could make at the convention would be to unveil what game
FromSoftware's "Shadows Die Twice" teaser is related to. We hear rumours of
Bloodborne 2 as well as maybe
Kuon or Tenchu. I think the only possible game it could possibly be is
Tenchu since
FromSoftware bought back the rights. Secondly, in the trailer we see the Japanese kanji letters in the background and lastly a kunai weapon attached to the bloody rope.
Other exclusives:
In the mid 90's two games stood out for me,
Dungeon Keeper and Theme Park, which were developed by
Bullfrog. Later on, after its closure,
Lionhead Studios was founded with titles like
Black and White and the
Fable series. What do these events have in common? A name stands out -
Mark Healey - which later co-founded
Media Molecule which then launched their first game,
Little Big Planet.
Given the track record of the people in
Media Molecule and as an aspiring video-editor and animator, I am really looking forward to what kind of content I can create with
Dreams. Having said that, I think this game is the type which you have to play to enjoy it unlike other games where spectating can be just as enjoyable. So if there is any gameplay, it will not be on the presentation.
About a week ago we saw the first gameplay for
Days Gone, having showed a
demo during E3 2016. However, it has been noted that the recent half-an-hour demo has those major annoyances you would expect from a game in development. Starting by the way the Zombies are called "freakers", then according to
Eurogamer.com, there are noticeable problems with the camera and the combat system which coupled with the choppy performance, does not help.
On the other hand, vehicles seem to play an important part of the game, since it is the only way to outrun Zombies but it come at a cost, which is fuel. It is a very interesting way to play the game if this is the road they are heading. Imagine riding away with your bike and running out of fuel just as you discover other groups of Zombies.
A prediction about two other games I should mention:
Medievil-Remastered and
Devil May Cry 5. Both games will have a release date announced at the
PlayStation conference.
You will be able to see the press conference of
PlayStation on Monday June 11 at 6pm PDT.
To round up this blog I should mention
Nintendo again and their innovative ways to bring new experiences to gamers. I would like to remind you about playing with cardboards on the Switch, specifically the
Nintendo Labo. Anyway, I'll give them my blessing as long as the game is as successful as it ought to be. In return I, hope to get a miracle in the form of a reduced price for the Labo kits. Regarding
PlayStation and
Xbox, I'll certainly be in the look out for something exciting and maybe new but in the meantime I will be keeping my expectations low.
What else is there to expect? The cringeworthy moments will definitely be there, new memes will be born and most of my income will definitely go to them soon after the expo concludes.
