For those out of the loop, E3 has been a central hub of video game news for 22 years. The event has served as the largest convention of video game delevopers, console pushers, and related products in North America. While in the recent past, many companies have opted out for their own press event (notably this year, EA held a pre-event aside from E3). Still worth watching, this is the first look at what you can expect to be the big ticket items this holiday season.
So, we’re doing a day-by-day recap for convenience, as there is so much that we could go in depth on. But we’ll save that for on the air! Let’s get started with Day 1 at E3, where Microsoft and Bethesda took top honors for being the first keynotes.
Microsoft at E3
Microsoft kicked things off with a focus on the basics. Project Scorpio has been coming for years, and now we finally have the reveal. Renamed, rather poorly by some critics, to the Xbox One X (X.B.O.X.). X.B.O.X. find’s itself at the top of the current generation of consoles, sporting some improved specs over the previous iterations of the Xbox one.
2.3 GHz 8-core AMD Processor
Integrated AMD GPU w/ 6 Teraflops Performance (PS4 PRO has 4.2 Teraflops for Comparison)
12GB GDDR5 RAM
1TB HDD
4K/HDR Blu-Ray
4K Support
Release: November 7th, 2017. Price: $499.99
Along with the news came a price reduction to the current Xbox One S, as well as an emphasis on expanding the backwards compatible program Microsoft has been fleshing out. This time, hearkening all the way back to original Xbox titles, as well as more Xbox 360 titles.
Microsoft Xbox Games announced:
Bioware’s Anthem Gameplay – New Sci-Fi styled shooter, set in a completely new universe.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Origins – Continuation of Assassin’s Creed, going back to Egypt.
StudioMDHR Cuphead Announcement Trailer – Styled like a classic cartoon, platformer.
Crackdown 3 Announcement Trailer – More of what you expect with Crackdown, but with Terry Crews.
Forza 7 Announcement Trailer – More of what you expect with Forza, but with more polygons.
Player Unknown Battlegrounds Comes To Xbox One – Popular PC exclusive, first/third person shooter battle-royal type game.
Sea of Thieves Gamplay/Trailer – Cooperative pirate type game, elements of Player vs Player/Player vs Environment.
State Of Decay 2 Gameplay Trailer (Gore) – Sequel to State of Decay, zombies, hard to get excited about.
Life is Strange 2 Announcement Trailer – Sequel to the time traveling episodic story type game.
Overall, a decent showing from Microsoft. Must note, no Halo to be seen sadly. Stand out games for this were Sea of Thieves, Cuphead, and Anthem.
Bethesda at E3
Bethesda stuck to what they know at this years E3. Not a lot of new ground broken at this presser. I suppose if you have a golden goose, you don’t complain that everything looks like eggs after a point.
Skyrim/Fallout 4 Creation Club Announcement, allowing people to share their modified game files with someone elses work. A tool to be used by content creators to get their mods to others more easily. While rather robust on the PC, making it available to everyone in a formal format will certainly extend the life of these immortal games.
Also announced was some virtual reality offerings. Fallout 4 VR/Doom VR coming out this year. These try to turn old content into fresh content by strapping the screen to your face.
Skyrim is coming to the Switch with Amiibo support. So look forward to buying the game for a third or fourth time if you are a die hard fan. They even showed some gameplay footage of Link from Legend of Zelda inspired character design.
Then building on top of the success of Skyrim, that leads to an inspired card game The Elder Scrolls Legends (which are all the rage now), and some more Skyrim-focused DLC for the Elder Scrolls inspired game. Because why find a new dead horse if you have one laying in front of you? Skyrim was everywhere at this demo.
Other Games Announced:
Wolfenstein 2: The Re-Steinening – Sequel to the critically acclaimed Wolfenstein reboot. First person shooter with nazi’s.
The Evil Within 2 – Creepy, but in a good way. Great addition to the story driven horror genre.
Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider – Callback within a callback within an expo that was all about callbacks. I can’t handle it.
Quake Champions – First person shooter that “started it all” reskin, but with some new characters and new game play.
Bethesda did not blow socks off at this event. In fact, There is a disturbing lack of new content from a major developer, that half the announcements had already happened. Overall, a poor showing by Bethesda. They honestly felt like they jumped the gun on most of this, leaving them rehashing for the big event.
Check back tomorrow for Day 2 of E3. For more content, check out the radio program at ComputerAmerica.com!