E3 is nearly upon us! There’s less than a week left in the most anticipated gaming event of the year! As we keep getting nearer the end of the current gaming generation, gamers are eagerly waiting for more news or reveals of the next gen consoles and games. Also as with past generations, there’s bound to be games that will show the full potential of current gen in its last years. Even though PlayStation won’t be making an appearance this year, there’s still a lot to be excited or at the very least curious about.
Big parts of the excitement of E3 events have always been two things, the expected and the unexpected. The expected are games the community is looking forward to hearing more about or to be announced, and the unexpected is for surprise reveals that they never imagined. Will E3 meet our expectations of games and hardware announcements we are looking forward to? Will it surprise us in mind blowing ways? Let’s look at some of the things we can look forward to in the week ahead.
Ever since the launch of the Switch in 2017, Nintendo has had big announcements, a big presence on the show floor, and a lot of gameplay reveals with Nintendo Treehouse live. Some big games have been teased that Nintendo fans are eagerly anticipating to see more of at E3. One of the biggest is the first Pokemon console game, it will come in two versions with new Pokémon, a new region, new features and hopefully a new graphics engine that will shine on Switch. But will that be enough to make it a system seller? Many are hoping that it will be a big leap making it feel closer to the anime, we will find out in the coming days.
Another big game many are looking forward to is Fire Emblem Three Houses. This is the first console entry in the franchise since the Gamecube era, some of its features and story has been revealed but hopefully we’ll find out more about it before it’s launch in late July. A surprise reveal was the remake of the The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening, its a fan favorite Gameboy Zelda game. Very little was shown and no set date has been confirmed so many are hoping to know more at E3.
Some big games have been confirmed for Nintendo‘s E3 showing, but what surprise announcements will we get? Many fans have been disappointed waiting for a Metroid Prime Trilogy port for Switch but never getting it, will it happen this year? What game will be Nintendo‘s main on the show floor? What will we learn about Animal Crossing? There’s a lot to anticipate for Nintendo’s big E3 day on June 11!
Coming off their big win at last years E3 with their strong conference, Xbox is looking to repeat this year. They have said to have new game announcements from their newly acquired studios, new console and PC announcements, and the latest look and info on upcoming games. They have claimed this will be their biggest E3 conference, and with PlayStation out of the picture it’s their‘s for the taking. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest games that will be showing up at their conference.
Gears 5 was shown last year with an exciting and promising trailer with a new protagonist but little was shown about its multiplayer, new features it might have and no confirmed release date. Xbox fans are hoping that it will come out this year, and while it is expected there have been many delays to big games recently, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it might be a cross gen game with the new Xbox. One game that is almost definitely expected to be a cross generational game with the new Xbox is Halo Infinite, it was only teased last year and we’ll hopefully get more info this year. Lastly, Cyberpunk 2077 is said to have a big showing this year, and as in the past it’s expected that CD Projekt Red will show off their latest game on Xbox’s stage.
Ubisoft has been having a great run this generation. With the success of games such as Rainbow Six Seige, The Division, Ghost Recon Wildlands, For Honor and the Far Cry franchise, their fan base has grown exponentially and they’ve left their mark this gen. What will they show now that the new consoles are about to be fully revealed?
Their biggest success in the past couple years has been Rainbow Six Seige, but with its current business model of continuous updates and big esports presence they have no plans for a sequel. They plan to continue to support it for awhile longer so it is believed to cross to next gen with a port. Ghost Recon Breakpoint was revealed and more could be announced, and the Division 2 has a year long roadmap of updates so more is expected to be shown. As for surprises, most people are expecting a new Splinter Cell game after being absent this whole console generation and after countless rumors and leaks even from their own game devs.
Now with Square Enix, we have been pleasantly surprised. In the past years their E3 press conferences have been lackluster and disappointing, but this year they‘re giving gamers what they want. They’re promising a more detailed look at anticipated games and reveal of new game’s. With Sony’s absence they have taken their prime time spot on that Monday night and are prepping for a big show.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake was teased years ago, and now with a new team and a new engine they might be ready fully reveal it. Hopefully we get a release date, a good look at live gameplay, and a tease of the villain Sephiroth with his iconic theme song! Another highly anticipated game has been “Marvels The Avengers” with Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal heading the project, almost nothing has been known about it but Marvel has announced it will have a big reveal in Square Enix’s E3. Lastly it has been said that Kingdom Hearts 3 will have new upcoming content so we’re looking forward to that and the new games Square has been treasing.
With the popularity of livestreaming and social media many believe E3 is becoming irrelevant, but Twitter and Twitch cannot replace the excitement of a big event we can gather around to celebrate gaming. For sports fans their event of each year is usually the Super Bowl, but with gamers it’s E3. It’s usually filled with excitement and anticipation about all the latest and greatest current and upcoming things of games. It’s a glimpse at the future of interecative entertainment. Will E3 meet our expectations and blow our minds away? Or will it dissapoint and be one of the last times we get to experience it? We will soon find out as it is mere days away!