What Can We Expect from E3 2018?
E3 is fast approaching with this weekend seeing the start of the biggest annual event in the gaming industry. As usual, the biggest names in gaming will make their way to the Los Angeles Convention Centre to show off new games and hardware, in depth looks, and most importantly surprise reveals. While some choose to announce what’s to be expected from them, others keep tight lipped, which of course leads to speculation and rumour surrounding the much-anticipated conferences. Here we take a look at what games are already confirmed to appear at E3 as well as the rumours floating around the internet of what we hope to see.
SONY
Sony’sbriefing will take place on 11th June and have been kind enough to announce what to expect from them.
CEO and president of Sony, Shawn Layden has confirmed that PlayStation will be providing an exclusive look at four upcoming titles: Death Stranding (from Kojima Productions), Ghost of Tsushima (from Sucker Punch), Spider-Man (from Insomniac Games), and finally perhaps the most anticipated game from Sony’s conference this year, The Last of Us Part II (from Naughty Dog). All four games will be getting a “deep-dive” which hopefully means we will be getting a look at gameplay, details on story and characters, as well as technical information, such as mechanics.
Sony has also confirmed that we can expect the usual announcements from third-party publishers and independent developers. Whilst there are no other details on what specific games we will see, the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch) is likely to be part of this line up. Some fans are also hoping to see Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar) make an appearance since it’s only a few months away. Rockstar don’t tend to have a huge presence at E3 so we may have to wait a little longer for that one but hopefully we’ll get a few more details.
The big game that is rumoured to appear somewhere in Sony’s briefing is Devil May Cry 5. The release of a new game in this series has been around for a while now but the very recent discovery of a registered Devil May Cry 5 domain has got everyone convinced that an announcement is on its way.
MICROSOFT
Microsoft has the first conference spot on the 10th and revealed very little about its plans.
Since the Xbox One X was revealed last year, we’re not expecting any hardware announcements. Although saying that, we still haven’t heard anything about the VR that was briefly mentioned when Project Scorpio was announced.
The big games that Xbox fans want to see are Gears of War 5 and Halo 6, although it’s best not to hold onto too much hope for these. Gears of War 5 was mentioned in an apparent E3 leak back in January, the same leak that mentioned the now confirmed Rage 2. However, this leak proved to be unreliable and while it has given us some hope, there is really no knowing just how accurate this is.
Rumours surrounding a possible return to the much beloved Fable series have been circulating for a few months now. Reports say that UK based developer Playground Games picked up the series after the closure of Lionhead Studios and are currently developing Fable 4. If there is any truth to these rumours then the release date is still a long way off. Xbox isn’t very strong on the exclusives front at the moment so it would be great news if something new was in the works. The most we can hope for at E3 is an official announcement revealing the game is in fact on its way.
NINTENDO
Nintendo has announced that their conference and live stream will held on 12th June.
With new Zelda and Super Mario games having already ben released it’s looking likely that Nintendo will shift the focus to other classic franchises. We know that Super Smash Bros will be released sometime this year and Nintendo has confirmed that the game will feature heavily in its show, appearing in the live stream as well as on the show floor.
New Kirby and Yoshi games are set to be released for the Switch so it’s expected more details of those will emerge. The Switch now has most of Nintendo’s classics but seems to be missing fan favourite Animal Crossing, so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if this was revealed.
Nintendo surprised everyone very recently by announcing Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Pokémon Let’s go Eevee! We’re fully expecting more details and footage of this to emerge as well as information on the core Pokémon game that is set to be released next year.
A huge rumour circulating is the possibility of Fortnite coming to Switch. There’s no denying the wild success that Fornite has become, running smoothly on all platforms with an audience of 45 million. With Nintendo getting ready to launch an online subscription it would make sense for Fortnite to be the big hit to give the service its initial push.
EA
As you’d expect, EA have confirmed that we will get to see and play the latest editions of all the major sports games at their E3 events on 9th June.
EA announced Battlefield 5 back in May and will have a major presence during the publisher’s briefing. EA and DICE have already shown off Battlefield 5 during its reveal event but we are hoping to see much more of the game. Since this franchise is so big it would be great to see actual gameplay footage, showing off new features. The new multiplayer mode sounds like it’s going to be the biggest yet so it’s expected that more details on this will emerge.
Upcoming RPG, Anthem (BioWare) will also have a big presence at E3. EA have already unveiled that a new trailer will be shown that will give us a look at the story, characters, and monsters involved in the game.
UBISOFT
Ubisoft have confirmed that Assassins Creed: Odyssey will play a major role in its E3 briefing. Other than the title and world it is set in, we know nothing about the game, but you know what you’re getting with Assassins Creed, so in terms of gameplay there shouldn’t be too much difference. The previous game in the franchise, Assassins Creed: Origins was heavily praised for the world that it was set it, so we’re expecting to be shown around the new ancient Greek world.
We also know that E3 will be used to introduce us to The Division 2. When announced, Ubisoft gave very few details and promised more at E3 so we’re expecting this game to also play a major part. Beyond Good and Evil 2 was a surprise reveal at last year’s E3 and this year hope to get a better look at the game following its beautiful cinematic trailer. In a livestream earlier this year Ubisoft shared details about the world and showed some very brief gameplay footage so we’re expecting to see more of that gameplay as well as the new character customisation function.
Ubisoft is a huge name in the gaming industry so it makes sense for their E3 experience to be jam packed. To add to that there have been rumours that a new Splinter Cell game is in the works ever since the out-of-the-blue Splinter Cell themed update was added to Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
BETHESDA
Bethesda revealed that their press conference will be on 10th June via a short trailer featuring the developer’s biggest games, so it’s safe to say we’re expecting Elder Scrolls, Doom, and Fallout to make appearances.
At the end of May, Bethesda announced Fallout 76 with a teaser trailer and stated that we will see much more at E3. The trailer reveals that Fallout 76 will take place before the first Fallout game and it looks like players will take control of a vault dweller with vault 76 acting as a home base. We don’t have any details on the game but if rumours are to be believed we could be in store for a multiplayer mode. During E3 2015, over half an hour was dedicated to explaining the ins and outs of Fallout 4, showcasing what the game had to offer. Similar expectations are being held for the announcement Fallout 76 along with gameplay footage and a release date.
After a retail leak and a series of teaser images, Rage 2 has finally been confirmed. We already know that the game will be a collaboration between Id Software and Avalanche Studios and will use Avalanche’s APEX engine, the same engine used for the Just Cause series and Mad Max; so we can expect some of the open-world elements of previous Avalanche games. It’s unlikely that we will get any more gameplay in the briefing itself, but in-depth details about the game’s world, systems, and mechanics are expected.
SQUARE ENIX
One of the most anticipated games of the whole of E3 is Shadow of the Tomb Raider which will play a huge role in Square Enix’s press conference on 11th June.
We already have a release date for the new Tomb Raider and a basic story overview but we’re expecting Square Enix to detail on how this game is different from the typical Tomb Raider. We haven’t seen any gameplay footage as of yet, so it would be great to see a demonstration of what new developer Eidos Montréal has to offer. There has been confirmation that this will be a much darker game with Lara dealing with more internal conflict so we’d love to get a better idea about what’s going on.
Kingdom Hearts III was announced way back in 2013 and only now are we beginning to learn of details. The game has not been confirmed to appear but with the game scheduled to be released this year featuring new and much anticipated worlds from popular Disney franchises like Tanged (2010), Big Hero 6 (2014), Toy Story (1995), and Monsters, Inc (2001). It would be very exciting to see previews of these worlds, if not actual gameplay.
A remake of Final Fantasy VII (1997) was announced three years ago but we have heard very little since then. The game has not been confirmed to appear but the lack of any communication surrounding the game could mean we’re in for a surprise.
What are you excited to see at this year’s E3? Let us know in the comments below.
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