Julius Posted January 7, 2022 Posted January 7, 2022 (edited) New year, new events thread! Starting it early this year because of the news already coming out that E3 will once again be digital this year, due to Omicron concerns -- we had to wait until March last year before finding out what was up with E3 2021. As reported by VentureBeat: Quote The Entertainment Software Association is shifting the Electronic Entertainment Expo to an online-only event out of concerns around the pandemic. "Due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19 and its potential impact on the safety of exhibitors and attendees, E3 will not be held in person in 2022," the ESA said in a statement to GamesBeat. "We are nonetheless excited about the future of E3 and look forward to announcing more details soon." That means the show will take place online this summer for the second year in a row, as COVID-19 concerns pushed the June 2021 show into online-only and scuttled the 2020 event entirely. However, Mike Futter has shared that he heard that E3 would likely be going this way in 2022 as the ESA had already abandoned their plans to use the Los Angeles Convention Center -- he says he heard this prior to the emergence of Omicron. And, as has been discussed ad nauseam, but in particular since the start of COVID: publishers don't need an E3 presence, much less a particular one, to communicate their plans to consumers these days. And, without skipping a beat... Edited June 7, 2022 by Julius
Cube Posted January 7, 2022 Posted January 7, 2022 Will Summer Game Fest be some pointless introduction then claiming other people's stuff as his own like last year? It just made the entire thing more confusing, all because some washed up celebrity wants attention.
Julius Posted January 28, 2022 Author Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) Looks like the first noteworthy event of the year could be taking place next Tuesday (1st February), the day of the third Yacht Club Games Presents, airing at 22:00 GMT. They're teasing a megaton announcement. Quote Greetings friends! You've been patient and we've been hard at work! We're proud to announce that the 3rd official Yacht Club Games Presents will be hosted on G4’s Twitch channel. We’ll be focusing on a selection of games that have brand new content currently in development! We also have a hair-raisingly exciting MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT! You do not want to miss this historic event! The Presents will be broadcasted during G4’s tentpole video game program, Xplay, on Tuesday, February 1st at 2pm PDT. Our very own Sean Velasco, Alec Faulkner, Nick Wozniak, Sandy Gordon, and Celia Schilling will pull back the development curtain to share a boatload of new updates, never-before-seen gameplay sneak peeks, DLC, and a groundbreaking announcement! Our announcement extravaganza will last for about 60 minutes. Could be nothing, could be something, guess we'll have to wait and see. I am getting major flashbacks to that WayForward announcement of Bakugan: Champions of Vestroia, though... Edited January 28, 2022 by Julius
Ronnie Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 I like how Nintendo tend to manage expectations in their tweets and Direct announcements, whereas Yacht Club are like "We also have a hair-raisingly exciting MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT! You do not want to miss this historic event!" What could possibly go wrong.
Julius Posted January 28, 2022 Author Posted January 28, 2022 3 minutes ago, Ronnie said: What could possibly go wrong. Shovel Knight 2 is exclusive to Luna. 4 minutes ago, Ronnie said: I like how Nintendo tend to manage expectations in their tweets and Direct announcements, whereas Yacht Club are like "We also have a hair-raisingly exciting MEGA ANNOUNCEMENT! You do not want to miss this historic event!" But more seriously, yeah, I agree (though I do wonder if the "hair-raisingly" part might be a hint?). Nintendo does a great job of just letting the Directs speak for themselves, whereas even Xbox doesn't know when to shut up -- my biggest E3 pet peeve will always be them starting out their conferences by screaming that they have exactly X number of games to show, it's like telling someone how long a movie is and then sticking a clock right in front of them during the most tense parts! It's one of many reasons that I'm not a fan of there being so many events for teams who could easily feature on a bigger platform making the decision to host their own event. We don't need to know everything about your game, and trust me, you probably don't have enough to say to sustain an event! 1
Jonnas Posted January 28, 2022 Posted January 28, 2022 Quote hair-raisingly This is it: Shovel Knight will turn super sayan. But more realistically, they're probably doing an official crossover with MEGA Man or something. 1
Dcubed Posted January 30, 2022 Posted January 30, 2022 (edited) We really should be looking at YCG's next original game right about now; King of Cards was released roughly 2 years ago, it's time. I really hope that whatever their next game is that it isn't Shovel Knight. I love Shovel Knight, but YCG have been stuck working on Shovel Knight for almost an entire decade now! It's well past due for them to work on something completely new! Edited January 30, 2022 by Dcubed 1
Julius Posted January 30, 2022 Author Posted January 30, 2022 On 28/01/2022 at 7:03 AM, Jonnas said: This is it: Shovel Knight will turn super sayan. But more realistically, they're probably doing an official crossover with MEGA Man or something. I'm just imagining the helmet being removed and Shovel Knight being all: But yeah, unfortunately I feel like you might be right about it being some sort of crossover. I hope it's not, but they've crossed over with so many things at this point that it seems like an inevitability! 1 hour ago, Dcubed said: I really hope that whatever their next game is that it isn't Shovel Knight. I love Shovel Knight, but YCG have been stuck working on Shovel Knight for almost an entire decade now! It's well past due for them to work on something completely new! Shovel Knight 64? I get what you mean though, I'd like to see something new from them too. I've picked up Shovel Knight before, and while I enjoyed it a lot, I felt like I was missing a lot of context for it. Having not played many NES platformers at the time, which is something I want to rectify before getting back around to it at some point; I have similar reasons for not playing a lot of indie Metroidvanias, as I've played one Metroid game, which I loved, and haven't touched a Castlevania. I know not everyone's like me when it comes to wanting to have some context before diving into a game like that, but I also feel like Shovel Knight games definitely have a very select fanbase, and more Shovel Knight games probably aren't going to expand the reach of the series I feel. I haven't looked anything up, so this is totally baseless and I could be wrong, but I would have to imagine that everything that came after the original Shovel Knight has seen diminishing sales for them. So yeah, something fresh and new would be great. There are definitely some niches they could revive which I think would be appreciated in this day and age. Maybe an Actraiser-esque game, or some weird melding of F-Zero styled racing with RPG elements? There's a lot they could do that could feel fresh but also feel like a revival of a niche, so even if it's not revealed this week, I do hope the next thing we see from them is something fresh and new! 1
Ronnie Posted January 30, 2022 Posted January 30, 2022 Yacht Club may have been working on Shovel Knight for a decade, but it doesn't feel like the output has matched that period of time. I know they had Kickstarter goals they had to honour, but as much as I loved Specter of Torment, we really could/should have had a proper sequel to the original by now. Personally I'm hoping this big announcement is Super Shovel Knight or something like that, but given Yacht Club's history, even if it were announced now, it'd take a couple of years to release anyway.
Jonnas Posted January 30, 2022 Posted January 30, 2022 9 hours ago, Julius said: I get what you mean though, I'd like to see something new from them too. I've picked up Shovel Knight before, and while I enjoyed it a lot, I felt like I was missing a lot of context for it. Having not played many NES platformers at the time, which is something I want to rectify before getting back around to it at some point; I have similar reasons for not playing a lot of indie Metroidvanias, as I've played one Metroid game, which I loved, and haven't touched a Castlevania. I understand the reticence regarding Shovel Knight (since the game has a lot intentional, indirect references to the NES era and aesthetic), but Metroidvania is just a genre. Most of them don't have any direct reference to either series. 1
Julius Posted January 31, 2022 Author Posted January 31, 2022 (edited) 13 hours ago, Jonnas said: I understand the reticence regarding Shovel Knight (since the game has a lot intentional, indirect references to the NES era and aesthetic), but Metroidvania is just a genre. Most of them don't have any direct reference to either series. Oh yeah, I get what you mean. I guess I meant more in the sense that I personally like to have the context of the most influential games in a genre (in this case, Metroid and Castlevania games) when I'm diving into something new. For example, I didn't even finish Ocarina of Time (I will go back, I swear it!) but the time I spent with it meant that there have been a lot of times where I've gone into a new game and can see the influence there. I guess for me personally I like having a point of reference, and I also find that it makes it much easier to explain how I feel about a game if I have experience with games that likely influenced it? I put off Suikoden and Suikoden II for a little while after hearing a bit about them and picking them up, for example, to play more JRPG's and get a greater understanding and appreciation of the genre, and when I did play them, I could go in and really analyse and compare them to other JRPG's to get a greater understanding of how I felt about those games and why I felt that way. If that all makes sense Edited January 31, 2022 by Julius 1
Jonnas Posted January 31, 2022 Posted January 31, 2022 7 hours ago, Julius said: If that all makes sense Yeah, I can see it. Sometimes, it's cheaper to check out older games, and more often, it is more fascinating to do so. Just make sure you don't miss out on fresh experiences, either. And it can be just as fascinating to go to an old game and recontextualize the experience you had with something modern. Off the top of my head, when I first played Kirby Super Star (a Sakurai game), I was struck by how many Smash Bros mechanics that game already had. 1
Julius Posted February 9, 2022 Author Posted February 9, 2022 NieR Automata stream coming on the 23rd, though probably not related to the games?
Julius Posted March 10, 2022 Author Posted March 10, 2022 Looks like an all-digital E3 is back on the menu, boys (and girls): Sigh.
Sméagol Posted March 11, 2022 Posted March 11, 2022 (edited) That's funny, GamesCom apparently just announced they would be organizing a physical festival again. https://www.gamescom.global/press-creator/press-releases/press-releases-of-gamescom/?fairnumber=0480&fairyear=2022&pressrelease=2&language=EN (US)&abbreviation=EN (US)&datei=pm_0480_2022_2_EN (US).xml Edited March 11, 2022 by Sméagol 1
Julius Posted March 12, 2022 Author Posted March 12, 2022 VGC and Jeff Grubb are both saying to expect a regular big ol' Xbox event in June. Quote Microsoft looks set to hold its regular E3-style Xbox games showcase in June. That's according to GamesBeat journalist Jeff Grubb, who claimed in a video show on Friday that Microsoft is currently talking to publishers about a June event. This matches what VGC has heard from our own sources. "I'll probably have more to say on this soon, but it's in June, not May," Grubb said. "Well, they might do something in May or September, I don't know, but I know that they're planning for an E3-style show in June. "They're talking to partners to get big games in there. That is ongoing right now and it's March, so it's not like they can change that train or turn that big ship around. They are heading in that direction and they're going to do something in that timeframe." Makes sense, they've got Starfield to show off! Probably the weaker of the three console manufacturers for me when it comes to the presentation style and content of their major events, but still, some level of normalcy this June and hopefully a look at some cool indie games at such an event would be nice.
Julius Posted March 15, 2022 Author Posted March 15, 2022 EA Play 2022 has been cancelled: If they haven't got much to show, it makes sense, so I'm kind of relieved they've decided to just cancel the show. Looking ahead at their upcoming slate, I don't think they'd have much to show off at an event this summer anyways. We know there's a Need for Speed coming this year, but those games never show off particularly well in trailers or gameplay showcases, and their catalogue of sports titles don't need to be shown off at such an event. Beyond that the only things I can think of as announced are the Dead Space Remake (which we got told the other day is coming Early 2023 and has a very transparent development update schedule on their YouTube channel), Dragon Age 4 (which last I think we heard has been having a lot of trouble), Skate 4 (feels years away with how it was so unceremoniously announced), the next Mass Effect (which also feels years away), and I think Motive were reportedly working on some project too. Beyond that well, yeah, there's Star Wars, but there's also Star Wars Celebration at the end of May, so Jedi Fallen Order II and any other Star Wars games from EA (and maybe announcements from others) I think we can expect to see there. So yeah, good on you EA, holding EA Play this summer wouldn't make much sense and this seems a sensible decision. Hopefully we see other companies do the same if they have so little to show (ahem, take note, Capcom and Gearbox).
Julius Posted March 31, 2022 Author Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) Looks like we're a step closer to the official cancellation of E3 proper. Not too surprising given the dip in quality in recent years, big publishers bowing out to do their own thing, or ongoing questions around the ESA's handling of the event and whether it would even be returning in-person, but man, looks like we're in for another Wild West of game events this summer. And depending on how you feel about Geoff Keighley, you'll probably take this next bit of news one of two ways: Brutal. Still awaiting that official announcement from the ESA, but it looks like the curtain is finally falling on E3. Edited March 31, 2022 by Julius
Julius Posted March 31, 2022 Author Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) IGN are reporting that E3 2022 has been cancelled (that's a step closer to being official...right?): ...for a big comeback to be staged in 2023. EDIT: and again Edited March 31, 2022 by Julius
Dcubed Posted March 31, 2022 Posted March 31, 2022 Pretendstobeshocked.gif E3 will never return. It has now outlived its usefulness.
Cube Posted March 31, 2022 Posted March 31, 2022 It's a shame there won't be a good video game show that isn't primarily about a washed up celebrity trying to promote his own image more than the games. 1
Julius Posted March 31, 2022 Author Posted March 31, 2022 A State of Unreal event has been announced for 5th April (this coming Tuesday) at 16:00 GMT: Quote Don’t miss our State of Unreal livestream on April 5 for a big Unreal Engine announcement, along with demos, exciting game updates, and tech talks!
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