E3 2019

**Fierce_LiNk** · May 31, 2019

42 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I think even if there was a Sony show it would have been a limited showing. While Sony are better than most at supporting their consoles during the transition to a new console we’d still not have had much to see yet. Between them working on the PS5 and more and more and more companies moving away from E3 as the best way to get their news out this seems like a good time to step back from the show.

I understand it as a sign of the times but just for the personal enjoyment I get from E3 it’s a shame. I love all the conferences, announcements, watching sites like Giant Bomb talk over stuff and their after hours interviews. If E3 continues to struggle over the next few years then in hope something manages to replace it.

Yeah, all the buzz, impressions, etc, they're the reasons why I've loved E3 in the past. The conferences are part of it, but it's the entire package.

On the other hand, I can remember the feeling of disappointment in the past when Nintendo had shit conferences. There's always that sense of "oh god, what are we actually going to be playing this year if nothing was announced?!" So maybe this little-but-often approach is actually healthier for the long term, who knows. It's always nice to get these announcements coming out of nowhere.

29 minutes ago, bob said:

Because this forum is so Nintendo and Sony centric, I often forget that Microsoft haven't dropped out of the console business completely. It's always a little surprise when they announce a new game or something, and I go "oh yeah, they're still going".

Would they be classed as veterans at this stage? They're on they're third console and I still regard them as a big player. I think they'll do much better in the fourth generation as they seem to be getting the message that it's their own content/exclusive that will push their console to the front.

18 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Given the sales split across the platforms, I think most people tend to do this. It's great they are able to put on a show with many 3rd party games but it's exclusives and exclusive deals that tend to push the console sales.

I wonder if we'll be having this same conversation after their E3 showing.

Bring on the third party games, haha.

Ronnie · May 31, 2019

Sony probably could have been at this year's E3 if they paced their reveals better and didn't announce everything years in advance. We could have had Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima and Last of Us 2 at E3 2019 but we've already seen (at least two of) those so often that they can't possibly have another show focusing on them. I get that they want to show what's in the pipeline but I just find it boring waiting so long for these games and seeing them and others over and over every year. It doesn't help that recently their conferences have just been trailerfests, seems a bit pointless? No wonder they've gone the Direct route with State of Play, the writing was on the wall for a while.

I'm looking forward to Microsoft though, they always put on a great show and suspect we'll see tons of exclusives from them this year.

Edited May 31, 2019 by Ronnie

Hero-of-Time · May 31, 2019

13 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I wonder if we'll be having this same conversation after their E3 showing.

Bring on the third party games, haha.

Pretty much. Last years Xbox conference was a fantastic conference for Sony.

14 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Would they be classed as veterans at this stage? They're on they're third console and I still regard them as a big player.

Definitely. They've now been in the console industry longer than Sega ever were. Crazy.

14 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I think they'll do much better in the fourth generation as they seem to be getting the message that it's their own content/exclusive that will push their console to the front.

They are certainly putting in the work now so they are ready for the next generation. The question remains whether or not they will be able to regain any of the market they lost. Hell, even with their most successful console (360) they only managed to outsell the PS3 by the skin of their teeth and that's against a Sony console that was heavily criticised and struggled for most of the early years of its release.

Happenstance · May 31, 2019

We’ll all be talking about Sega’s new console in a few weeks anyway and not giving a damn about the rest. (I will hammer this joke into the ground until it becomes true!)

drahkon · May 31, 2019

So, Sony will reveal the Vita 2 at E3, right? ...

oh...

(I'll take @Happenstance's approach and make this joke until I will have an official confirmation that the Vita 2 is on the way)

Edited May 31, 2019 by drahkon

Ganepark32 · May 31, 2019

The thing with Microsoft having 14 games to show this year is that a significant number of them are known. Halo Infinite, the 3 Gears games (5, that Funko Pop one and the tactics one), Battletoads, Forza (I'd be shocked if Forza Motorsport 8 isn't announced for release in the Autumn), Ori, the expansion/DLC for Cuphead and probably a major Sea of Thieves update. So 9 known entities. Of the remaining 5, Inxile commented on Phil Spencer's tweet so I suspect they have something in the works beyond Wasteland 3 (which is already announced for multiple platforms) but beyond that I think we'll only be getting glimpses of what's to come down the line, especially if they're showing/discussing next gen hardware in some form.

There's the rumour of Fable coming back but to be honest, after feeling let down with 3 and Legends not really going anywhere, I'd rather they left the IP alone and went for something else but I suspect they'll want as many known IPs in the works to show that they've a strong stable of titles alongside helping bring about new titles.

They'll have the titles for next gen, whether they take off is a different question, but they really do need to sort out the hardware side of things and give their console an OS that isn't a bloody mess. I don't need adverts for the store that I've already used or for Game Pass that I'm already using. I don't care for Mixer either. I just want a dashboard that shows me my games and let's me jump into them quickly, without having to add them to groups.

With regards to E3 in general, I'm not expecting much from it. With announcements coming before and after the show, this year especially seems to be in a weird position. Bungie are announcing their Destiny stuff next week, EA aren't showing off the next Need for Speed despite announcing it's coming this year and Ubisoft have said Beyond Good and Evil 2 won't be at the show but will be talked/shown at a later point. With that and what Sony is doing, it'll be interesting to see how the show works because I suspect anyone expecting big news won't get it.

I'm not feeling hyped for it to be honest but I'll still tune in to the conferences and see what's what. Hell, I couldn't care less for Avengers but I'll see what the game is about. I am looking forward to the Kinda Funny Games Showcase for the indie titles but I just don't see any bombshells happening generally.

Hero-of-Time · May 31, 2019

Hero-of-Time · June 5, 2019

A few bits and bobs have surfaced in the run up to E3.

Ubisoft have revealed Watchdogs Legion, no doubt due to the Amazon leak.

Rocksteady have said they won't be at E3. I wonder just what the hell is going on over there?

Lastly, it appears the Microsoft showing could be something very special.

Quote

On the hardware side, I expect Microsoft to start to peel back the layers on the secrecy around their next generation consoles, Anaconda and Lockhart. For those who are hoping to see a list of raw specs, I don’t think that’s on the agenda quite yet. Instead, look for the company to provide performance multipliers for the hardware; I have heard that Lockhart and Anaconda are targeting at least a 2x performance gain for the high-end (Anaconda) and 4x for the lower end hardware(Lockhart).

Further, the company will likely highlight features of the new platform such as using solid-state drives, Navi graphics, Zen 2, backwards compatibility and other components of the AMD platform. Also, expect to hear about how these new consoles can take existing Xbox One X games and enhance the graphics and gameplay experience. By holding the explicit specs back, this allows the company to talk about the underlying features of the console without playing all their cards for the upcoming devices.

On the games side, Microsoft will be showing off 14 titles from their own game studios, according to Phil Spencer. Of that, I expect titles like Gears of War 5 (codenamed Halifax) will have a strong presence, and we will also see items like new DLC for State of Decay 2, Forza Horizon 4 Expansion 2, Halo Infinite trailer and gameplay, Age of Empires info, Fable details may be tossed in as well; it looks like there will be at least 3 new IPs that we haven’t seen previously.

For Halo Infinite, this will be the first real showing of the next generation game. Microsoft will be running the demos from a PC with an Xbox controller as they don’t want the first impression of the new game to be running on the now dated Xbox One hardware.

In addition to Microsoft having a solid first-party presence, sources at the company are saying that this is among the strongest showings from third-party companies in its E3 history.

While they could have dialed it back since Sony won’t be around, it looks like they actually doubled-down to make this show one of the best in years. With Phil Spencer now having been at the top of the Xbox org for several years, his plans to turn the brand around are starting to materialize.

bob · June 5, 2019

New Watch Dogs looks interesting. I really enjoyed the 2nd one, and the fact that it's set in London seems fun.

Ganepark32 · June 5, 2019

As Schreier posted on Twitter, it wouldn't be the week before E3 without Ubisoft's announcements being leaked. I've seen and heard a lot of people talking down on the new Watchdogs already and a lot of dislike being thrown around for the second one. Personally, I loved 2 and thought it was a far more interesting game than the original. Sure, the first one had that vigilante vibe going for it but the story really wasn't particularly great and character wise, it was nowhere near as well thought out as the sequel.

My hope is that they've at least kept some of the fun that was brought about in the second game. Having all the robots to hack and being able to properly clear out sections without having to use weapons felt great. How that'll work with London as a setting I don't know. I do wonder if they're simply going for London because it is a city within a country that is heavily watched through CCTV and the likes (oh please let there be things like security documents being left on trains or disposed of in bins in public parks, that would be brilliant). I hope that doesn't mean they dial back the silliness for the down trodden and gruffness of the original.

I'm hopeful to say the least. Watchdogs is a good IP and I've enjoyed it a lot. Whether the ambition allows this to sink or swim is the biggest thing.

THQ Nordic are announcing the first of their 3 games for E3 today at 3pm BST (whether there's more or not we'll have to wait and see). Then their announcing the next two tomorrow at 6pm and then again on Friday at 6pm as well. All info seems to point to Darksiders, Destroy All Humans and Red Faction as being the games being announced. Will be slightly disappointing if there isn't something for the Xbox conference as I'm sure there a lot of people holding out hope for Timesplitters to make an appearance.

Then there's also the Destiny 2 expansion stream and Beyond Good and Evil 2 stream later today as well. E3 more or less starts today.

Edit: So THQ Nordic's first game announcement has turned out to be Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated. I don't think anyone saw that coming given that there seems to be strong evidence of the games THQ Nordic will have at the show. Perhaps these announcements are remasters which could prove interesting for tomorrow and fridays announcements. Please let one be Timesplitters. It's coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch anyway.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Ganepark32

Hero-of-Time · June 6, 2019

They done the same last year and it was a great watch. I look forward to giving this a viewing.

Ganepark32 · June 6, 2019

Playtonic, developers of Yooka Laylee, are teasing something for tomorrow over on Twitter. The tease they put up was a bunch of tweets from gamers asking what game they're working on next so looks like we'll be getting some form of announcement as to what they're doing next. I may not have been the biggest fan of Yooka Laylee but I could see the effort put into it so I'm interested to see what they'll do next, though I suspect it'll be a sequel to that game.

On the rumour front, I keep seeing the Witcher 3 for Switch one doing the rounds and I just don't see how they could possibly pull it off. I doubt CD Projekt Red would be doing it themselves but even with a good porting studio, you'd have to make it look like a potato before it ran smoothly on the Switch, especially undocked. I'm just thinking of how open the areas are and just everything going on with the effects that I just can't see it working well. We'll see but I just don't see how that's going to run well at all. And that's before we get to the issue of how big the game and it's expansions are.

CD Projekt Red do have a second title in development that, alongside Cyberpunk 2077, is supposed to be out by 2021 and I've been wondering what it'll be. I wonder if they'll give gamers the remaster of the first and second Witcher games that people have been asking for or if it'll be something completely different. I'd wager it'll be Witcher related given how many people from their teams are on Cyberpunk so a remaster of the first two games, or even Assassin of Kings as that would be far easier to remaster than the first.

And a reminder that THQ Nordic are announcing their next game at 6pm tonight. Given yesterday's announcement, it could be anything but I do think they're using these pre-E3 announcements to announce remasters so it'll be interesting to see which of the vast volumes of IPs that they're now sitting on that they'll bring to the table next.

Edit: Cat may be out of the bag for the THQ Nordic announcement:

Prequel to the Darksiders game where you play as Strife in a Diablo style game. Coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and Stadia.

This may not be the announcement coming but it seems like it might be.

Edited June 6, 2019 by Ganepark32

Hero-of-Time · June 6, 2019

Darksiders looks pretty sweet.

As for the Witcher 3 being on the Switch rumour, I can't see it being possible without MAJOR downgrades. As @Ganepark32 said, the game is huge, especially with the expansions. The DF video that speculates about it doesn't paint a pretty picture.

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

Let the betting commence!

S.C.G · June 7, 2019

I think Huber might be just a little bit hyped for E3 2019... :indeed:

...it's hard to tell though.

:laughing:

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

1 hour ago, S.C.G said:

I think Huber might be just a little bit hyped for E3 2019...

...it's hard to tell though.

I'd love it if both a Dino Crisis and Nemesis remakes show up at E3. Add a HD port of Onimusha 2 and i'd be as hyper as Huber.

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

Another THQ game revealed.

Ganepark32 · June 7, 2019

Was expecting Destroy All Humans to be the last of the games from them but wasn't expecting a Rammstein music video from the trailer. Great trailer and at least a vague date for the game. I don't think that'll be the last if what THQ has to offer for E3, but rather these are smaller games that might not have made as much of a splash as other IPs they have (Darksiders did have a recent release and so would perhaps be in the collective consciousness yes, but it was received poorly by critics and by quite a few who played it, myself included, so I'd say would fit under that term).

There's still the Red Faction game which has been leaked to announce and if they've not got Timesplitters ready to go in the form of a remaster, which would be a big hit during the Xbox conference, I'd be very surprised. We'll have to see, only 2 days till we find out.

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

It wouldn't be E3 without a Microsoft leak. The trailer for Ninja Theory's new game has been leaked.

https://xboxer.sk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Bleeding-Edge-E3-trailer-leaked-XboxerSK.mp4

drahkon · June 7, 2019

Urgh, was looking forward to seeing more until "4vs4 online" showed up...

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

Just now, drahkon said:

Urgh, was looking forward to seeing more until "4vs4 online" showed up...

Yup. Seems a big departure for a studio known for making good story driven single player games.

Ganepark32 · June 7, 2019

That's... disappointing. Like massively so. The name and some vague rumours had been doing the rounds about it being a sci-fi action based game but always thought that just meant it was going to be single player. Not really what I'd want from them, especially as there are already plenty of games on the market in the genre and plenty that have failed, and surely not exactly what Microsoft would've wanted after the successes for Sony on the single player game front. But we'll see. If the trailer is accurate, hopefully the alpha test will be open and I'll be able to give it a go but I'd much rather of had a single player again. At least I've got Enslaved sitting waiting to be played (and I've never played it before so I'm looking forward to it).

The last couple of days have been bonkers news/leaks wise. Probably just as well the conferences are just around the corner otherwise everything else would be known.

Hero-of-Time · June 7, 2019

Just finished watching the EZA betting special. Absolutely hilarious.

The start of it was golden and had me in stitches. Brandon kicking off on both of them was so well done.

Some of the bets were fantastic. Things like Huber going all in on Microsoft not mentioning Nintendo, Ian's obsession with the CG lizard and Brad's bit when explaining about why he's betting against Todd Howard apologizing were all fantastic.

As a side note, it's great seeing Ian smiling and laughing after losing his father just a week ago. The guy is a trooper.

@Ganepark32 you're in for a treat with Enslaved. Easily one of the gems from last gen.