Scarily, we’re already halfway through the year and I’ve procrastinated most of it away. The good news; this means E3 is once again upon us.
I’ll start with what people were waiting for, any info about next gen.
Microsoft, whilst talking about it at length, actually said and showed very little regarding their next console, Project Scarlet.
- Spec wise, it’s very close to Sony’s machine. They’re both basically running on the same internals at this point.
- Microsoft had a long marketing video that talked numbers that didn’t really mean anything. Saying your machine is capable of 8k or 120 frames per second is subjectable. I could run something on my pc over 1000 frames, to make the same claim, and leave out the info that it’d look like complete arse.
- Scarlet will launch with Halo Infinite. 343’s next in the series and during the brief teaser we got to see, it looked like Master chief really wanted to shoot things.
- No signs of banjo, Fable or Forza. There was no info on price, either, but I guess next years show will be heavily focused on all that. All we got was a launch window of xmas 2020.
Other highlights of the Xbox conference and things closer to our current date, -
- were a new look at Obsidian’s new game - Outer Worlds - which still looks very Fallout. Which makes sense, coming from the original creators of the series.
- Gears 5 is out on my birthday, September 10th. Shame I don't care about Gears. Looks nice though. A new 3 player mode, Escape, was shown off with a very cinematic but not representative of any gameplay kind of trailer. This happened a lot during all the conferences.
- From outta nowhere; there’s a Blair Witch game, which looked okay at times and like a budget Silent Hill at others.
- Fromsoftware and George R.R. Martin teamed up to make Elden Ring. Much fantasy. Very Dark Souls.
- Microsoft’s Flight Simulator uses satellite and NASA data to bring the most real reconstruction of the globe, yet. Sorry flat earthers.
- Lego star wars: The skywalker saga makes up all 9 of the mainline Star Wars movies.
- Forza Horizon 4: Lego Speed Champions expansion looks cool and it’s out this week. I’d probably actually play that.
- The hugely popular Phantasy Star Online 2 is coming to Xbox one, in 2020, to appease lots of weebs, and for extra weeb points, there’s also JRPG Tales of Arise.
- The 10 year old korean shooter Crossfire, by Smilegate (who sound more like a torture syndicate than a game studio) is coming to consoles. Everyone loves Tencent, right?
- Borderlands 3
- Microsoft announced a new Battletoads that looks like a mobile game. Not sure on that one.
My favorite thing from their show was the Cyberpunk 2077 section. A new trailer and the reveal that Keanu Reeves is in the game... and then, there he was, on stage. We also finally have a Release date of 16.04.20
EA had very little to show and probably didn’t need to bother.
As usual there was the yearly updates to franchises like Fifa and Madden. Previews of things coming to Apex and Battlefield 5. Fifa 20 includes Fifa Volta, a street football style mode. The rest was a presentation using the same buzzwords about ball control and physics changes, but really it’ll all mostly be the same for the next few years.
The only thing they really had to offer was a longer look at Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, by Respawn. Without being harsh, looks like a mash up of Titanfall and Uncharted, but less polished. Fighting utilises force and lightsaber techniques. There are no decapitations, which is slightly lame, but I guess that’s to keep the age rating down. I’m hoping there's a bit more to the combat than was shown. I’d like a Perry and evade system, but maybe the guy playing just wasn't showing those off very well within the fifteen minutes of gameplay that was shown.
Bethesda did their show at 1 a.m. (GMT) as usual. Thanks for that...
They started with apologies for the appalling Fallout 76 and say they’re next update adds NPC's, with quests and dialogue trees. Why weren't they just there in the first place? It’s a free update and due out in the autumn; as well as the new mode, Nuclear Winter. A 52 player Fallout Battle Royale. Because all games now need battle royales.
Elder Scrolls Blades is heading to the Switch, for free.
A game i’m intrigued by, Ghostwire: Tokyo, by Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame and art design by Ikumi Nakamura (Okami, Bayonetta and Evil Within) both introduced the game saying it’s not a survival horror. Not a lot was given away but it appears to be about everyone vanishing, from Japan, and spirits.
Two outings for Wolfenstein. Firstly, the VR Wolfenstein Cyberpilot and then the follow up to the main series, Wolfenstein Youngblood. Which can be played Single player or in Co-op and is set in an alternate future (past) 1980’s Europe. It’s due out July 26th, so not surprising it had a main showcase.
Arkane studio (the dishonoured peeps), had a CGI teaser trailer for Deathloop.
Doom Eternal looks like more Doom, which is good, but I’m not sure about a few of the new design choices, which is bad. Will have to wait and see on November 22nd. The Collectors edition comes with a Doomguy helmet.
News outside of the main show
A new trailer dropped for the Final Fantasy 7 remake and is set for March 2020 release.
Will update with more as the shows happen…
-Bry
