Why this year’s E3 is going to be gigantic.

 

When you’re an active gamer, the big conferences are always an exciting time. Each year we can look forward to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in the U.S., Japan’s Tokyo Game Show, and Gamescom in Germany.  It’s a time for big reveals and elaboration of things already in the works. Sometimes it feels like Christmas coming a bit early. This year I feel some strong winds coming in and I’ll tell you why.

The games

This is the second full year of this console generation. Last year we had great games like Far Cry 4, Infamous: Second Son, Killer Instinct, Ori and the Blind Forest and so much more. This year we still have plenty to look forward too. Between Batman: Arkham Knight, Mad Max, Metal gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the gaming world is overflowing with big titles. I was blown away when they revealed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided trailer.  Not to mention Mortal Kombat X came out little over a week ago (you can read George’s review here). I would also like to know about the future of the ever controversial Destiny, something I’ve been playing religiously since its release. Destiny has it’s fair share of fans and detractors. I see it as something that has huge potential.

It’s not just the big games this year. The last two years have had a ton of indie games surface as well. Axiom Verge and Transistor were among my favorites and it was hard to put them down. The game reveals are part of the fun because we get an idea of what we can expect over the year.

The big presentations

Every year the big three (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) hold presentations to show off not only new games but what their respective platform offers in the non-gaming world. Apart from those three, Activision, EA Games, and Ubisoft often hold their own conferences to show off the franchises and new games under their umbrellas. We’ve had a couple of surprises as well. Earlier this year Bethesda (the studio that handles the Fallout series and The Elder Scrolls series) announced they would be holding a conference. This leads many to believe that we will learn of a new Elder Scrolls, possibly the rumored Fallout 4. But just this morning, we got another shocker: Square Enix (Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider) announced they will be holding a shindig of their own. This is great for a few reasons. The first reason is that Square Enix has very strong, storied franchises with new releases on the way, games like Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III that were revealed last year, and other possibilities that Square may be keeping from us. The second reason is that the third party games they plan on publishing. With a new Deus Ex game on its way, along with a sequel to the very successful Tomb Raider reboot, there’s a lot they can give to really sink our teeth into. That prospect alone has me excited.

The ground work for the next year

Once all of the big presentations are done, we get a series of smaller announcements, game play footage of newly announced games,  and lots of smaller events like developer panels. The icing on the cake is how I would describe the days that follow. Nice little garnishes that add to the whole. It’s especially great when something is announced on the first day and we get a look at what progress the announcement has made.

The Known Unkowns

Lastly, we have what I call the Known Unknowns. This year we were expecting the next installment in one of Sony’s biggest series, Uncharted 4. It was originally set to release this holiday season, but developer Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter, The Last of Us) stated the game was more ambitious than originally planned and delayed it by six months. This leaves us with a burning question: what is Sony’s killer game for the holidays season? What secret weapon do they have for the PlayStation 4 that could keep them on top? Then there’s Microsoft staring squarely at their rival. We know about Halo 5, but what about the other big games they have for the XboxOne? Is Scale Bound from Platinum Games ( Bayonetta 2, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance) going to be shown? What about the well embraced Killer Instinct? Are we getting a season 3 for it? Then we have good ol’ Nintendo. The only big projects they have in the works that we know of is the next Legend of Zelda game that got pushed back to next year. How is the new Star Fox game? Will we see a return of the Metroid series? All of which are questions that I would love answers to. I know the answers are a short time away. E3 this year will be taking place from June 16th through the 18th at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

We’ll be making a mighty effort to give you guys as much coverage as possible this year. Everything from the big announcements to the smaller reveals as well as answers to the burning questions! Follow us on our twitter @thecomicfreak and subscribe to our Facebook Page  for more details and other great geekiness!