E3 2018

[Julius]

PLEASE: SPOILER TAG ANY POTENTIAL E3 LEAKS, AND ANY CONVERSATIONS PERTAINING TO SAID LEAKS, PRIOR TO THE GAME’S REVEAL AT E3. Thanks.

Major press conference dates & times

EA Play — UK: Saturday 9th June at 19:00 BST — Local: Saturday 9th June at 11:00 PDT

Xbox Briefing — UK: Sunday 10th June at 21:00 BST — Local: Sunday 10th June at 13:00 PDT

Bethesda Showcase — UK: Monday 11th June at 02:30 BST — Local: Sunday 10th June at 18:30 PDT

Devolver Digital — UK: Monday 11th June at 04:00 BST — Local: Sunday 10th June at 20:00 PDT

Square Enix Showcase — UK: Monday 11th June at 18:00 BST — Local: Monday 11th June at 11:00 PDT

Ubisoft Conference — UK: Monday 11th June at 21:00 BST — Local: Monday 11th June at 13:00 PDT

PC Gaming Show — UK: Monday 11th June at 23:00 BST — Local: Monday 11th June at 15:00 PDT

PlayStation Showcase — UK: Tuesday 12th June at 02:00 BST — Local: 11th June at 18:00 PDT

Nintendo Direct: E3 2018 — UK: Tuesday 12th June at 17:00 BST — Local: Tuesday 12th June at 09:00 PDT

 

Original post: 

It's never too early to start talking about E3, but the time has finally come where rumours about the content of this year's E3 are starting to swirl about all over the place.

This year's E3 proper will be taking place from June 12th until June 14th, with conferences expected from June 9th up to June 12th.

Based on recent precedent, it is currently expected that: EA will hold a conference on Saturday 9th; Microsoft and Bethesda will hold a conference on Sunday 10th; Ubisoft and Sony will hold their conferences on Monday 11th, which will also see the start of the PC Gaming Show; and Nintendo will reveal their Direct-esque video on Tuesday 12th.

The preliminary E3 2018 floor plans (which are subject to change) are also up, which are always fun to talk about. 

West Hall

South Hall

Worth noting is that Microsoft's exhibit looks like it will be even smaller than it was last year, and that Square Enix's is surprisingly large. Maybe they'll be playing host to their own show again this year?

I'll be sure to update this post as we learn more about this year's E3 schedule, but what would you nice folks want to see at this year's E3, be it with regards to games or to how conferences play out? I kind of hope that Sony allow those at home to watch trailers in full without awkwardly cutting to an in-theatre camera to show off their special effects, and with regards to games, I really want to learn/see something about/from Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cyberpunk 2077, Pokémon Switch and Metroid Prime 4. 

Edited June 13, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm just hoping it's better than last year. I broke my stupidly long tradition of taking the week off from work to watch it because I had a feeling it was going to be rough and sure enough it was. 

Microsoft's booth is stupidly small. I wonder if they are going to back away from E3 and do their own thing?

[Julius]

20 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'm just hoping it's better than last year. I broke my stupidly long tradition of taking the week off from work to watch it because I had a feeling it was going to be rough and sure enough it was. 

Microsoft's booth is stupidly small. I wonder if they are going to back away from E3 and do their own thing?

Yeah, I get exactly how you feel about last year’s show. I found Nintendo’s E3 Spotlight to be short (perhaps a bit too short?) but completely to the point, which I liked, and I also enjoyed a fair few parts of the Ubisoft conference.

Sony’s felt like it might as well have been a Direct-esque approach for those at home, and whilst I enjoyed seeing what was on offer, it seemed to lack momentum to me completely, and had petered out by the midway point. Closing up with some QTE footage from Spider-Man, a game that was already announced, seemed completely nuts to me, especially considering that they opened the show fairly strongly with announcements for Shadow of the Colossus Remake and Monster Hunter World.

EA’s stuff always seems like a public business meeting - scummy - and it felt, to me at least, that Microsoft were trying to revive the console war with PlayStation with “(Timed) Xbox One (& Windows 10) Exclusive” — despite being so far behind in all regards this generation.

I (very optimistically) think that E3 2018 has to be better than last year’s showing because, if nothing else, the start of the “next generation” with PS5 and Xbox Two/Infinity/720/1080/Home Premium is fast approaching, so I think we’re going to start seeing PlayStation and Xbox throwing the kitchen sink at us. I could be completely wrong, but, at the latest, I think we’ll be seeing the start of the “next gen” (or smartphone-like iteration) by Q4 2020, which would give them some two and a half years or so to start delivering on games that we’ve already seen announced. The Last Of Us Part Two and Final Fantasy VII Remake in particular come to mind.

It’s also worth mentioning that we know offensively little about H2 of this year, the only game with a fixed release date at this point being Red Dead Redemption 2 on October 26th. 

Of the “Big Three”, then, I think that Nintendo is going to be - as ever - the completely unpredictable loose cannon. I don’t know about you, but the lack of a true Direct in January seemed like something of a missed opportunity to me, even if it is a wise one in the event that they have no new major tentpole first party games to reveal and release before E3; they’ve still done a good job of filling H1 with a vast array of titles for all audiences, in large part thanks to its indie offering. 

I think that Nintendo has to have a longer Spotlight than last year because, whereas 2017 was almost purely about pumping out excellent games, 2018 is being set up to be the year which decides the console’s future. I don’t think that they can leave it much later than E3 to reveal the plans for their online infrastructure, which launches only three months later in September, and fans have had a hankering for Virtual Console on Switch since it launched. Unlike the Wii and Wii U, and arguably even the 3DS, the constant stream of support for Switch, should it continue, doesn’t seem to allow for a quiet window to fill with the launch of Virtual Console, and nor should it. I think this is Nintendo’s chance to get Virtual Console right, and I seriously hope that it isn’t in the form of a Netflix-like service.

As someone who has a very long backlog of Nintendo games to plough through in particular, I want to have ownership of these games, and don’t want them taken away like PS Plus games. Perhaps paying for their online service could offer users an amount of points which could be used on Virtual Console titles: each month of their subscription, users get 1000 points, with NES games costing 500 points, SNES games costing 1000 points, GC games costing 1500 points and Wii games costing 2000 points. Users can then spend and save their accrued points as they please, with the points being tied directly to their account. Heck, much simpler: just offer users of the online subscription service an exclusive discount on Virtual Console games.

We know so little about Nintendo’s offering this year that I think they have to go big at E3 if they do plan on holding the majority of their top tier games (Fire Emblem, and possibly games like Animal Crossing, Smash Bros. Switch and Pokémon Switch) back for the latter half of this year.

I doubt I’ll be watching EA’s and Microsoft’s conferences this year, but Bethesda could also show off something amazing, like Elder Scrolls VI or that rumoured new sci-fi space-venturing IP, Starfield.

And we can probably expect news on Cyberpunk 2077. And Shenmue 3. And Shenmue 1+2 HD. And other stuff. 

I’m optimistic that it’ll be better than last year, and hopefully by a long shot

[Hero-of-Time]

I think Nintendo will probably focus their E3 on their online plans and what games will support it. If rumours are to be believed, Nintendo overhauled their initial plans of the service for something more appealing. Who they are trying to appeal to remains to be seen. It still baffles me how they are going to go about this. I mean, are they going to start charging for playing games that are free now or do these get a free pass? It's such a weird thing to do when you are already a year and a half into the consoles life cycle.

There was an interesting discussion on this weeks Easy Allies podcast in regards to game announcements. The guys pointed out that a lot of games that were announced at E3 last year are now already out. This is hopefully a trend that continues this year, with more publishers keep the games a secret until the games are actually ready to be shown. S-E are terrible for this kind of thing and hopefully they get in line with what others that are doing when it comes to showing their games off.

[Dcubed]

I'm not expecting much from MS or Sony this year, outside of Death Standing and Bloodborne 2 for the latter (no doubt we'll finally get our first look at gameplay for both games, even if they're not launching this year).  Nintendo however are in a position to blow everyone away.  I expect big things from them... especially from Retro Studios! (it has to be time now!)

 

No doubt Devolver Digital will be the ultimate winners though; they've got a hell of an encore to fulfill after last year's incredible stunt, but I have full faith in them to deliver!  

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I think Nintendo will probably focus their E3 on their online plans and what games will support it. If rumours are to be believed, Nintendo overhauled their initial plans of the service for something more appealing. Who they are trying to appeal to remains to be seen. It still baffles me how they are going to go about this. I mean, are they going to start charging for playing games that are free now or do these get a free pass? It's such a weird thing to do when you are already a year and a half into the consoles life cycle.

There was an interesting discussion on this weeks Easy Allies podcast in regards to game announcements. The guys pointed out that a lot of games that were announced at E3 last year are now already out. This is hopefully a trend that continues this year, with more publishers keep the games a secret until the games are actually ready to be shown. S-E are terrible for this kind of thing and hopefully they get in line with what others that are doing when it comes to showing their games off.

 

Ditto.  E3 seems like the right time for a grand reveal of their paid online service, especially if it's due to launch in September.

 

Also, you know... the inevitable Smash Bros Switch reveal...

[Nolan]

13 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I'm not expecting much from MS or Sony this year, outside of Death Standing and Bloodborne 2 for the latter (no doubt we'll finally get our first look at gameplay for both games, even if they're not launching this year). 

Bloodborne 2 is a maybe I’d say. There is some speculation that Shadows Die Twice could be a Tenchu reboot of sorts. 

[Dcubed]

3 minutes ago, Nolan said:

Bloodborne 2 is a maybe I’d say. There is some speculation that Shadows Die Twice could be a Tenchu reboot of sorts. 

I've seen some speculation about it, but I just don't see it being anything else.  The imagery doesn't make me think of Tenchu, the font used is reminiscent of Bloodborne and the SoulsBorne games are massive money spinners for From Software right now.

 

Easy hype spinner for Sony too.  They'd definitely be willing to fund an exclusive sequel that helps sell PS4 Pros; much less so for something like Tenchu.

[Nolan]

I’m inclined to agree, just keeping my optimism in line. 

[Julius]

No surprises here: the next Battlefield title will be playable at this year’s EA Play.

If I recall correctly, Battlefield 1 was announced in May, but from a quick look around it seems that prior Battlefield games were announced in March, so we could be hearing something about it very soon.

I’m very curious to see which direction they decide to take with regards to DLC/seasons/MTX (microtransactions)/etc. for the game after Battlefront II’s lambasting. 

[Julius]

Bethesda has revealed that their E3 conference is scheduled for 18:30 PDT on Sunday 10th June, which is at 05:30 BST on Monday 11th June for us folks in the UK.

Elder Scrolls VI? A Fallout spin-off akin to New Vegas? Starfield? Should definitely be a better show on paper than last year’s (I hope )

Edited March 2, 2018 by Julius Caesar

[Hero-of-Time]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, this explains Microsoft's tiny floor space at the E3 venue.

Quote

With the evolution of E3, now including fans and extended show hours, we saw an opportunity to create an entirely new show experience reaching E3 attendees and those that are following the show from afar. With that, in collaboration with the Entertainment Software Association, the organizers of E3, we’re excited to announce that Xbox will be taking over the Microsoft Theater, a perfectly situated space located in the heart of L.A. Live and across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC).

The Microsoft Theater will be home to official E3 events like the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing on June 10, 2018 at 1PM PT, various Xbox FanFest activities, hands-on gameplay and demos for all E3 attendees and more. Not only does the Microsoft Theater allow us to centralize our Xbox presence at E3, but it’s size enables us to include even more fans and partners in the Xbox E3 2018 Briefing than ever before.

In addition to the Microsoft Theater, we’ll also continue to have a meaningful presence at the LACC with a new booth completely dedicated to Mixer, where you can play, stream and interact with games and catch the latest E3 news live throughout the entire week.

 

[Nolan]

If they really wanted to “include more fans than ever before” they’d bring back their Bringing E3 Home thing from 2007. E3 demos and videos right in their market place. 

[Dcubed]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/semiacccurate-gets-some-playstation-5-next-details-100-subscription-to-read-summary-in-op.33810/

 

Looks like I finally have something to add to my Sony Bingo Card this E3!

[Nolan]

16 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/semiacccurate-gets-some-playstation-5-next-details-100-subscription-to-read-summary-in-op.33810/

 

Looks like I finally have something to add to my Sony Bingo Card this E3!

I debased myself enough to click that link. Off of that first post with a small summary all I can truly say is DUUUUUUHHH. They’re hitting it out of the park with easy predictions, what next they’ll leak that the graphics are Vega based and use Rapid Packed Math?

[Dcubed]

6 minutes ago, Nolan said:

I debased myself enough to click that link. Off of that first post with a small summary all I can truly say is DUUUUUUHHH. They’re hitting it out of the park with easy predictions, what next they’ll leak that the graphics are Vega based and use Rapid Packed Math?

It is kind of the obvious choice.  A move to Zen is what literally everyone is expecting and is easily the biggest upgrade that a hypothetical PS5 could have over the PS4 Pro/XboneX.

 

What is interesting though is the timeframe... While I don't think that it's gonna come out this year, that's just ridiculous, having dev kits starting to be released already does suggest that a release could happen next year! It also means that we might start seeing Watch Dogs style early "next gen" reveals and hardware detail leaks pretty soon!

 

Also the idea of Sony doubling down on VR is interesting.  Could be a big success, or a Kinect 2 level failure...

Edited April 4, 2018 by Dcubed

[Nolan]

I said in my post the forums ate for sustenance that the roadmaps dont line up. Navi is 2019 earliest. Which directly contradicts their 2018 possible release. So while they have Duh style predictions they’re not fully thought out predictions. 

[Julius]

6 hours ago, Dcubed said:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/semiacccurate-gets-some-playstation-5-next-details-100-subscription-to-read-summary-in-op.33810/

 

Looks like I finally have something to add to my Sony Bingo Card this E3!

As much as I’ve loved hardware news and announcements before (haven’t owned an Xbox for a while, and not a massive Xbox fan, but the Scorpio announcement still excited me back in 2016), I’m not craving it at this E3.

I’m craving software news, and a lot of it.

I’ve loved the games we’ve had this generation, and the debates they’ve spurned, and the simply joy for gaming - and that alone - which excites both us consumers and the developers. 

We normally have a hard and fast roadmap of the next year of gaming or so going into E3, but going into this one, we only have a scattering of tentpole releases to look forward to in the second half of this year, and no next-to-nothing about next year, which both excites me and makes me a little bit anxious. 

We could be getting a Shenmue trilogy on the curren generation, news on FFVII Remake or The Last Of Us Part II, etc.

...or, we could just end up with the usual annual smattering of big, fast and loud third party AAA games we’ve large become accustomed to getting in the second half of the year.

[Hero-of-Time]

Quote

THQ Nordic to swap participation at E3 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup

It is with great regret that we at THQ Nordic must report that we will be unable to miss a single moment of this great sporting event. Therefore, we will be forced to stay in our lovely Viennese beer gardens, blowing the froth off a couple, watching football and one or two cool press conferences on Twitch (looking at you, Devolver) instead of rocking it ourselves.

We have to admit, we are going to miss our 9 AM pint of beer in the „Ye Olde King’s Head“-Pub in Santa Monica, where they show all matches live, but with the World Cup being held in Russia, it would mean a 7 AM beer – that’s too early, even for Austrians, let alone the Swedes.

We are looking forward to presenting all our great upcoming games like Darksiders 3, Biomutant, Fade to Silence or Wreckfest and even some unannounced titles for the first time at gamescom in Cologne, Germany and shortly after at PAX West in Seattle!

Gotta admit, I like them even more after reading this.  

[Fierce_LiNk]

Two months to go!

[Julius]

3 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Two months to go!

I’m normally excited and optimistic going into these things, but I’m especially optimistic about this year’s show. 

I don’t think we’ll get bombshell reveals on the level of Sony’s E3 2015 conference (I honestly don’t know what could be so anticipated as to deliver that level of excitement - maybe Bethesda’s Starfield, if that rumour from last year really was true?), but I do think we’ll be blown away by what we learn/see about games that we already know about, such as Shenmue III and Cyberpunk 2077, and maybe even a look at Pokémon Switch or Metroid Prime 4, just to name a few. 

Unfortunately for me, though, I probably won’t get to tune in to any of the live shows besides whatever Nintendo does (which probably won’t be live, and assuming that it’s a BST-friendly time like it was last year), because I have five exams that week; I’ll probably have to resort to The Verge’s conference highlight reels or flick YouTube when I wake up during that week. 

[Julius]

Well, just as Shenmue I & II is announced, I find that Capcom have recently registered some Onimusha trademarks ahead of E3. 

What Michael Huber wants, Michael Huber gets.

[Hero-of-Time]

24 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said:

Well, just as Shenmue I & II is announced, I find that Capcom have recently registered some Onimusha trademarks ahead of E3. 

What Michael Huber wants, Michael Huber gets.

He's been waiting for footage of the Resident Evil 2 Remake for ages now. I think he'll get that this year, as well.

Its gonna be interesting to see if that Onimusha trademark means anything. I love the game to bits but I imagine they are a licensing hell due to famous actors being in the first 3 games.

[Julius]

On 14/04/2018 at 8:43 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

He's been waiting for footage of the Resident Evil 2 Remake for ages now. I think he'll get that this year, as well.

Its gonna be interesting to see if that Onimusha trademark means anything. I love the game to bits but I imagine they are a licensing hell due to famous actors being in the first 3 games.

The second half of the year is still relatively quiet for now, so I’m stoked for E3: it seems like we’re going to be spoiled with riches this time around  

I think an Onimusha remake/remaster/sequel (?) would be well timed by Capcom now, what with Nioh garnering some attention last year and Ghost of Tsushima garnering a lot of attention during Paris Games Week. But that does sound like licensing hell material...

Elsewhere, Jason Schreier of Kotaku has revealed that a new BioShock game is in the works at 2K. Probably unlikely to appear at this year’s E3, but you never know.

 

[Julius]

Ubisoft’s conference has a date and time: Monday 11th June at 13:00 PDT (21:00 BST). I shall amend the original post.

I’m really intrigued by the prospect of what Ubisoft might bring this year that they didn't show off during last year’s show: Watch Dogs 3 has been widely rumoured, The Division 2 has been confirmed for the show, and many want to see what’s next for Splinter Cell.

Only two major conferences remain without both a date and time at this point: Nintendo and PlayStation. 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Julius Caesar