Julius

Did someone say GOTY?

Right then, ahead of my two most anticipated shows this year (being PlayStation and Nintendo) - which I'm sure I share with many of you - I want to share my thoughts on the four major briefings that have already zoomed by so far this year. I will also list my most anticipated games shown for each conference, in descending order of anticipation, and end each summary of my thoughts with a score out of 10. EA Most anticipated games shown: Star Wars Battlefront II, A Way Out, Anthem Electronic Arts, a publisher known the world over for their multiplayer endeavours and seemingly wanting to squeeze out as much cash from its consumer base as possible, kicked off E3 this year with a small bang. Our first look at Battlefront II multiplayer was had with the Battle of Theed, exhibiting a battle between the CIS and Republic forces, including heroes and villains from across the Star Wars eras. The game looks great - I would argue that this is the best visual depiction of the Clone Wars we've received to date, in terms of fidelity and graphical resolution - and, as a HUGE Star Wars fan, I love how EA have reacted to remarks made about the first game (which it sunk some 130+ hours into). With the original Battlefront II being my personal favourite game of all time - I have literally sunk thousands of hours into that one - and my love of Star Wars, I think it goes without saying that I was extremely satisfied with what I was shown of the game. Also worth mentioning, I think, was the genius move to utilise the likeness of the game's campaign's protagonist, Iden Versio, as the presenter during this segment. Roll on November! A Way Out, by Hazelight Studios, exhibited a great relationship between developer and publisher, and Josef Faras' charisma and charm helped really push this game. Not that it needed any further pushing, mind: a splitscreen, compulsory cooperative prison escape game was always going to be an interesting premise, but some ideas clearly of Faras' film industry experiences add a fresh ingenuity to a game that could have been easily buried in the mix this year. Finally, Anthem, a Destiny-like game that takes place in a futuristic sci-fi setting with masses of creatures on show and a beautiful landscape - which can be explored fully with Iron Man-like exosuits, which allow superhuman abilities and flight - was teased towards the end of the briefing, to be expanded on the following day on show at the reveal of Project Scorpio at the Microsoft Xbox briefing the following day. Like all of the games on show at EA Play this year, this game was beautiful, and followed the unveiling of a new AI initiative by EA known as SEED. This is one I'm definitely interested in seeing more of, especially with one of the stronger BioWare teams having worked on it. However, there were a few drawbacks to the show, in my mind, one such drawback being that the pacing was ABSOLUTELY WRONG. Demos were not expanded upon by presenters on the stage, for example, and felt like short snippets. The editing of the Battlefront II Battle of Theed was dreadful, with the camera often changing at the worst of times (for example, someone having been watched line up a kill for 10 seconds only to not see the pay off, or cutting away from someone who's changing to a hero character). For the games I listed above, perhaps ironically, pacing was fine in their own dedicated segments, but transitions from game to game felt clumsy, and often rushed, with a new Need for Speed demo being shown before jumping into a minute long demo rewind of some NBA Live 18 gameplay, and that really, really hurt what EA had to offer this year, I feel. Score: 7.0/10 Microsoft Xbox Most anticipated game: Sea Of Thieves, Anthem So...I'm going to keep this one pretty short. Microsoft revealed the new Xbox One X in starting the show, and went on to detail a lot of technical terms, which is great for hardcore gamers, and especially those present at E3. I won't try to go too deep into this here, as I have elsewhere on these forums, but this feels a case of way too much, way too late for hardware, and could really hurt Xbox in the years to come, and especially if and when we move on to the next generation of home consoles. I am a PS4 player, sure, but I am by no means a fanboy: I want to see Microsoft push us to new boundaries in the gaming console space, but releasing a console capable of exhibiting 4K at 60fps at this stage into this generation of consoles, where developers have finally begun to show mastery over HD assets in their respective engines of choice, doesn't make much sense to me. No-one is building a unique, must-own, Xbox One X experience right now. As many have agreed, myself included, what matters most at this stage of the console generation is software, even more so the exclusive kind, and once agin, I feel they fell short guys. Like, not-even-close short. Put into perspective: the only game that's really captured my interest from them this year is a game that wasn't even a new reveal, and that's Rare's Sea Of Thieves, which looks like a whole lot of fun (and looks perfect for the VR space that Microsoft failed to expand upon during their briefing, as they had mentioned it last year in teasing Project Scorpio. Anthem looks beautiful on the One X, but I have a feeling that game will look just as good on my HD TV in HD (yes, that was another dig at why the One X was so poorly timed). Likewise, the same problem here as with EA when it comes to pacing. Jumping from demo to demo, with hardly any transition or expansion on stage, this might have well have been a Nintendo Direct. It certainly wouldn't have backfired the way I feel it did, that's for sure. Score: 6.0/10 Bethesda Most anticipated game: Skyrim for Switch Even shorter than the last one, I think. Doom VFR? Cool. Fallout 4 VR? Nice. Skyrim for Switch? Looks like a good portable port! Quake Champions? Not really my thing. Dishonoured 2 DLC? The Evil Within 2? Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus? All neat, but not franchises I'm tripping over myself to see the next installment of. The real kicker here was the constant tease of the rumoured new sci-fi RPG by Bethesda Softworks titled Starfield. The constant tease of their great RPGs, and the hint of another. The starry background prevalent throughout their whole show, and so on. I get why they didn't show it: they love to bring games out the same year as they are announced, and I believe they'll announce it at next E3 for release late next year. The pacing was fine here, with a cartoonishly animated 'Bethesdaland' tour being the source of the flow in this briefing, which I was fine with. Apart from, of course, of course, the fact that it felt Direct-like and had the flow ruined on occasion by reverting back to the stage for a short talk about the games. It just wasn't needed, at all. Score: 6.5/10 Ubisoft Most anticipated games: Beyond Good & Evil 2, Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle This was by far my favourite show so far this E3, and perhaps my favourite of Ubisoft's ever at E3. You saw it come into a physical form towards the end with the developers of Beyond Good & Evil 2 coming out on stage: there was a real emotion and passion on show here that I don't think we'd seen until then at this year's E3, and perhaps that was brought out with the exchanging of company hands due to happen later this year. Everything just seemed to resonate, and there wasn't a single game that was any less than interesting from my perspective. In fact, Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle looks like genuine fun, and has been added to my Switchlist, and it was a smart decision to bring out Miyamoto at the start, and an even smarter one to show off gameplay before the trailer in this instance. If the order had been reversed, the demo would have felt like your typical expansion of a trailer during these shows, but instead, the trailer built on the comedy and mechanics introduced to us in the demo. The Crew 2 looks and sounds technically and visually impressive. Micro-America experienced in a myriad of speedy types of transport? Count me in. Assassin's Creed Origins? Looks visually stunning and mechanically impressive. Skull & Bones? Looks like Black Flag 2.0, but man, what a resurgence the pirate material is having! That Skylanders-like game also looked very impressive - like a more refined and focused No Man's Sky - as did the Winter Olympics DLC for Steep. Beyond Good & Evil 2 brought the house down at the end, and felt more like an encore to a great presentation rather than a "well, if we haven't hooked them yet, we have now" situation. Beautiful trailer, and whilst it may be a few years back, IT IS HAPPENING. And the pacing was PERFECT. Like, seriously. No game took up too much time, or was overshadowed by another by taking up too little time. No transition felt rushed or unnecessary, and there was a flow to their briefing that, again, we hadn't seen this E3. The emotion was on show at Ubisoft, and it was a beautiful way for them to close this chapter and their history and begin the next. And I will gladly wait, albeit in eager anticipation of their next great showing. Score: 9.0/10 Right then: over to you, PlayStation!

Holy smokes. Ubisoft brought an emotion and passion with them to their briefing this year, with a host of great games - releasing within the next 18 months and beyond - promising us a great time. The Rabbids game looks like tremendous fun, and just, wow, the pacing was perfect for me: never too long or too little spent on any of the games, and a great balance of gameplay and stage presentation. Weirdly, my favourite briefing so far this year, and by far my favourite from Ubisoft in a long time, perhaps ever, at E3. If PlayStation can top that I will be crying. Also, they were quick to put up this BG&E2 trailer breakdown. Kudos, Ubi!

Yeah, I'd definitely like to, at the very least, get a trailer for it, just to help gauge the tone of the game. Thinking of watching the Ubisoft briefing with EZA, seeing as we already know - a lot of - what's coming. As if we needed any more confirmation, a Wal Mart listing for the game has been making the rounds. I know Ubisoft has a number of studios around the world, but seriously, they need to get a grip when it comes to game reveals! EDIT Actually, last minute hope for the Ubisoft briefing: Splinter Cell.

Reggie talking to Geoff Keighley on YouTube@E3 earlier today makes for an interesting watch.

My bad, was thinking Wednesday because I've got an exam that day apologies @Goron3 and thanks @drahkon for the correction

17:00 [on Wednesday Tuesday]

Should have played into XBone with the Xbox One R. No doubt the marketing team have missed a trick here.

Reggie has confirmed that Spotlight will be 25 minutes long, with more news to break during the first hour of the Treehouse Livestream. Even more confident now that Spotlight will be focused mainly on Nintendo's first and second party games, with third party games to take centre stage during he first hour of Treehouse (which would also be a great show of solidarity between Nintendo and third party publishers). The promise of Spotlight reveals and first looks could not excite me more.

Huh. Well, I guess that's one hour less of sleep I'm getting tonight. Can't help but wonder why this is; any ideas, anyone?

Considering the success of BOTW last year, and with Odyssey coming this year, this was always going to be Nintendo's -- in terms of software -- E3 to lose, especially factoring in the success of the Switch so far. They've been sending mixed messages since the start of the year, but have started to clear those up and seemingly anticipate, and react to, consumer feedback. This would send the most crystalline of messages, in my opinion, and would be interesting to see simply because of the dichotomy between the Xbox One X's reveal and a potential VC shadow drop: here's the most technically impressive gaming console compared with we love gaming - as you know we're all about gaming software at our core - and we know you do too. I know which message puts a smile on my face, at least...

But seriously, the name: Always a great thing when your newest and most powerful console is compared to the Wii U... I'm half expecting Sony to do what they typically do whenever a new console is revealed before their E3 show: react; a £50 price cut to the Pro - and a £20-£30 price cut to the Slim - could easily sink MS's One X ship upon launch. I'm all for pushing technology and the boundaries of what a game console can do, but I'm in agreement with all of you that the time for a console like this - perhaps not in terms of graphics or processing, but in terms of statements such as "the most powerful console ever" - should have come years back when the original One was revealed. I fail to see how this puts Sony in anything other than a better position than they were before: the One X simply being in production will likely drive down costs for the components of the next generation of consoles in some way, and the technological leap from this generation to the next will be much greater from the Pro to the PS5 than the One X to the Xbox Two (especially so if they plan on selling effectively the same hardware again). It's Sony's reaction that will again define a new set of consoles, and how no-one has made a move to get themselves out of such a position yet (looking at you as an early example of this, SEGA) to allow for themselves to take centre stage - and keep it from Sony - is perplexing to me. I'm a PS4 player, yes, but I hold no bias here: I want the One X to be successful so that it drives future innovation in the industry, and yet, at this price point - despite what the specs say - I don't see how they can compete with Sony at all. They were already losing, and instead of trying to catch up (they'll likely cut the One S price to make the Xbox family still accessible to a large audience, but an Xbox iteration of the Pro at a lower price point - aggressive pricing similar to the tactic used in many of their older consoles launches - would have made more sense to me in such a case as this) they've instead tried to pave the way to the next big technological leap which isn't required - for us as fans and gamers; for developers; or for themselves - at this stage of the console generation. Over to you, Sony.

Probably saving that for Nintendo's Treehouse. Would make sense considering everything shown early on - especially ports like this - are at risk of being buried by the tidal wave that will be PlayStation's briefing, as well as Ubisoft's too.

I'm very interested in this. Never got into Destiny, but this looks a lot like Avatar's Pandora being scouted by Iron Man. Probably my second most anticipated new E3 game so far (still got the rest of the week to go though!).

Bethesda countdown featured a starry sky and a "jump to hyperspace" style cut. Also has the same starry background going on in the background and during the walk through 'Bethesdaland', huh... Starfield confirmed?* :P And that Link skin for Skyrim on the Switch (accessed with a Link amiibo no less!) looks swell, as does the Master Sword! Also appears as though there may be some motion controls available. *Everything shown was due for release this year, which is a great move by Bethesda. They teased Starfield throughout their entire show in a number of ways; I'm 99% confident that it will be revealed to us at E3 2018 and will release in Q4 2018.

Woah, that's pretty big. 22:42 exclusive games:total games is a pretty good number for a briefing like this.

I guessed this name tongue-in-cheek a while ago, and while it sounds cool, I agree, it's not the most practical name (I mean XBOX One X can be used to spell out XBOX, which is also pretty nifty), especially given how such poor naming constructs had massive ramifications for the successor to the most recent console to cross 100 million units sold (the Wii U). I think it's an odd move overall in terms of naming, so they need to find some other ways to differentiate it (besides simply specs, size and colour) to the rest of the One family.

Well, no-one ever said size matters (when it comes to game consoles at least), but it being the smallest Xbox to date is rather nifty.

If this isn't used in advertising, this entire thing is sunk.

Yeah, the Scorpio coming out at that price seriously puts PlayStation and Nintendo in a better position to push their preferred consoles (the Switch and PS4 Pro, respectively) this Christmas season than it does Microsoft, in terms of numbers; if Switch production gets kicked up, both it and the Slim could be knocked back to $250, and the Pro could be kicked back to $300 (I actually expect PlayStation to announce such a price cut coming into effect in response on Tuesday morning, or later in the year at TGS). Likewise, of course, the Xbox One S could receive a permanent drop too. From my point of view, the Scorpio's tech is coming a bit too early for it to be a major success, with 4K TVs/monitors unlikely to have a justifiable price tag to more casual gamers and TV users, at least, for a few more years, and Xbox could be facing an uphill battle for a while. However, I do think there's a long-term plan regarding the Scorpio and the next generation of consoles (pure speculation) as the technological leap from generation to generation narrows: very simply, the Scorpio could be future proof with such processing power available, and, with the next generation of consoles expected in 2019/2020, could, technically speaking, be capable of playing next-genartion games (obviously at a lower fidelity compared to the PS5 and Xbox Two, but more likely similar to the difference in fidelity between the Xbox One and Scorpio, with processing and visual capabilities being upgraded). Just my speculation, and of course we'll have to see how it pays off in the years to come, but it would then put them in a position to launch a new console later on than the PS5, meaning that we could then see them return the favour to Sony by undercutting their launch price substantially. It would have been relatively easy to go head-on with the Pro with a similar console, put the time, research and development put into Project Scorpio fills me with some confidence that this isn't at all a "mid-generation refresh" and part of a longer and larger strategy to pass PlayStation in the years to come. And, of course, great titles, with marketing, if not console, exclusivity is required for this all to start off, so I'm very intrigued by what we'll see later, that's for sure.

Probably the only panel I'll be skipping out on this year (I have college first thing tomorrow morning and I don't own an Xbox One). My current plan is to wake up half an hour ahead of the Bethesda panel tomorrow morning to catch up on Scorpio/Xbox news, and this is actually the most excited I've been for an Xbox E3 panel in quite a while. They're exuding a confidence I don't think we've seen from them since the start of this generation of gaming hardware almost 4 years ago, so I hope that means there's a lot of great news and surprises in store for tonight!

Looks like Bethesda's The Evil Within 2 may have just been confirmed in a Reddit advert; Typical grain of salt applied; results may vary.