Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, is an early christmas gift to every gamer in the world. I myself am not a huge gamer, and really, none of us here at 4LN consider ourselves “hardcore gamers”. We all casually play games though. Cam, Stephen Andrew, and Robbie all have the XBox One, and I’m loving my Playstation 4. Since we are all casual gamers here, I figured this would be a somewhat casual coverage of this event. The three things that will inform you on are the presentations from three companies: Bethesda Softworks, Microsoft/X-Box One, and last but not least (my personal favorite), Sony/Playstation.
What Is E3?
E3 is the San Diego Comic Con for gamers. It’s a early event held in Los Angeles showcasing all the great games that will be coming in the near future. Most games revealed at E3, will be released by Christmas time, but this is not always the case. Tom Clancy’s The Division was revealed at the 2013 E3 conference, and this year it was finally given a release day of March 8th 2016, though I personally believe this isn’t a real game and will just continue to be announced every year.
With every year, E3 is getting larger and larger and attracting more and more viewers. On Sunday-Tuesday you could log onto YouTube and watch live coverage of all the events taking place at E3 including Sony, Microsoft, and Bethesda. Besides YouTube you could have used Twitch.tv and IGN to watch live coverage. In 1995 when E3 started, I don’t think they had any idea that they would become Mecca for anyone who can find joy and happiness through a video game.
Now, lets get to the good stuff already. Instead of listing everything that was announced, it would take a long time to read, I’m just going to hit in the major/impressive things that were announced.
Bethesda
Bethesda gave us Fallout 4. I have been waiting since 2009 for this game. Words can not express hows much this means to me. My social life will disappear and I won’t leave my room for days. I invested over 300 hours in Skyrim, so I know Fallout 4 won’t be a good thing for me. Oh, and DOOM was announced. It looks brutal and disgusting. If I wasn’t such a baby and terrified of everything, I would be all over that game. I mean, come on, the engine it runs on is ID666! How can you not love that? Be sure to jam Danzig while you slaughter demons with a chainsaw!
So, what did Microsoft have to announce this year?
I think the one thing that really impressed everyone was the announcement that the X-Box One would be Backwards Compatible. Now, what this means is, you will be able to play X-Box 360 games on your X-Box One console. Unfortunately the 360 disk will not be playable in the hard-drive but will promptly trigger a download for the game on your hard-drive for a compatible file. This is big news, and one of the coolest thing announced. So, those of you who never played 360 will get to relive some great classics via the X-Box One. This is expected to begin in the final quarter of this year, so keep your eye out for an update in late fall/early winter. And way to go Microsoft for listening to your fans, and giving them what they want.
I joked earlier that Tom Clancy’s The Division wasn’t a real game, but we all now know that to be a false and unfunny joke. It was announced this year that it was being released early next year and that this is “Tom Clancy’s Destiny,” and that got me excited, I love Destiny (even though it’s a money pit that will exist for 10 years…) In December the Beta for this game will role out so I think that will help rocket the hype train out of orbit (That analogy didn’t work but F**k it).
Electronic Art’s, better known as EA, seems to get a lot of hate, but they don’t really do all bad. I mean, we get Star Wars: Battlefront and we have been waiting YEARS for this game. I’m not going to tell you about this game, because I can’t do it justice. So here is the trailer for it.
Electronic Art’s also announced EA Access, so for $4.99 (What I pay for Spotify Student) you can “Binge on a growing collection of great games. Play pre-release trials. Get exclusive discounts.” So, you can”t really go wrong with that. With such titles as Titanfall, Battlefield 4, Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and NBA Live ’15, it would be a mistake to not hope on this new service.
How about Sony?
My Facebook feed blew up Tuesday night and Monday morning with the news of everything that Sony released. I think the biggest announcement that Sony had was Final Fantasy VII: The Remake. The crowd went absolutely wild when this was announced. It was like when an all time favorite wrestler walks out, the crowd just popped and went wild. I had a fiend say on Facebook that he actually cried when he saw this. That’s how happy video games can make someone.
Along with FF VII, Sony announced the return of Agent 47 in the new Hitman game, and the every changing, ever evolving No Man’s Sky. This is an open world that is ever changing, ever evolving and expanding universe. They say that no two planets are the same, and to make things even greater, you can leave your ship and actually explore and discover EACH planet you find. In theory, this game has endless possibilities and endless outcomes. It’s easy to believe that it’ll be a shoe in for a Game Of The Year award.
https://youtu.be/mGy8HIYBwV0
Playstation also announced that they were welcoming Star Wars to their line of Disney Infinity. You will be able to play in the prequels time with the game Twilight of the Republic and play during the originals with the game Rise Against The Empire. Playstation 4 players get the exclusive playable character, Boba Fett. I’m totally getting Disney Infinity just for Boba Fett. Though it will be fun to play as Luke Skywater.
With all this being said, it’s been a great year for video games and this is just a small portion of news that has been released this week. Good luck gaming, and let us know in the comments below what games you are most looking forward too!