By JOHN MATTISON
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With E3 2019 recently coming to an end, we have a multitude of new content to look forward to in the future of the video game industry.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to as E3, is an annual three-day event where some of the biggest computer and video game announcements are made from companies such as Microsoft, Nintendo, and Bethesda.
Electronic Arts started off strong with the first look at “Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order,” a Star War-themed action game where the player controls a padawan named Cal Kestis. EA also went on to reveal two new maps for “Battlefield V”, called Marita and Al Sudan, and a new character for “Apex Legends” named Watson. Battlefield V is a war-themed first-person shooter and Apex Legends is a sci-fi themed first-person shooter battle royal game
Microsoft had one of the most eventful presentations during this year’s E3, making a number of huge announcements. The biggest was “Project Scarlett,” the developer’s newest gaming console in development. It will reportedly be four-times more powerful than the current Xbox One S console and launch with the release of its exclusive sci-fi first-person shooter franchise: “Halo Infinite.” Microsoft continued to have big announcements, revealing plans for “Project xCloud”, a streaming service that will allow you to stream your video games onto mobile devices.
Arguably more exciting than the announcement of Project Scarlett were the details on Microsoft’s cyberpunk-themed role-playing game “Cyberpunk 2077.” To be released next April, the game will include the likeness of Matrix and John Wick actor Keanu Reeves, which received a huge amount of enthusiasm from the crowd attending the expo.
In addition to all these large announcements, Microsoft gave details on their titles shooter game Gears 5, shooter game Borderlands 3, and their collaboration with George R.R. Martin on the newly announced game Elden Ring.
Bethesda’s presentation was comparatively sparse, starting off by responding to the tremendous backlash that came from open-world role-playing game “Fallout 76,” which disappointed fans due to performance issues and lack of content. The developer responded by announcing a new 52-person battle royal mode. Bethesda also revealed plans to bring back a handful of classic game titles including first-person shooters “Wolfenstein: Young Blood” and “Doom: Eternal”, and dungeon crawler “Elder Scrolls: Blades.”
Square Enix had two major announcements to show off among a display of smaller announcements. These announcements are for the action game “Avengers” and the remake of 1997 turn-based fantasy role-playing game “Final Fantasy Vll.” Avengers has a release date of May 15, 2020 and will allow you to play as Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Black Widow. The remake of “Final Fantasy Vll” will be released episodically, with the first installment to be released next March.
Some of the less significant announcements from the presentation included downloadable content for and fantasy action role-playing game “Kingdom Hearts lll,” top-down racing game “Circuit Superstars,” shooter game “Outsiders” and mobile game “War of Visions.”
In addition to numerous game announcements, Ubisoft’s press conference revealed their new subscription service called UPlay+. Using UPlay+, you can gain access to over 100 ubisoft games along with all the downloadable content from these games. The largest game reveal came in the form of the announcement for “Watch Dogs Legion,” the newest in the “Watch Dogs” series which will allow you to control an entire team of resistance agents. Actors from the comedy show It’s “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” were also shown to be working on a new comedy show with Ubisoft about game development. Other game announcements included the announcement for the next game in the Rainbow 6 shooter series “Rainbow 6: Quarantine” along with a new season of released game “Rainbow 6: Siege” called “Operation Phantom Sight,” a teaser for the action game “Gods & Monsters,” and the newest in the “Just Dance” series with its 2020 installment.
Nintendo had a massive amount of games to announce and discuss during their conference, including some anticipated titles and some unexpected treats. The biggest reveal would probably have to be the unexpected announcement for a sequel in development for the hit open-world adventure game “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” but their were many other big titles getting attention such as gameplay trailers for horror collection game “Luigi’s Mansion 3,” the remake of adventure game “The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening” and a new installment in the “Animal Crossing” life simulator “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”
This year’s E3 had a number of new releases and services to look forward to in 2020, it’s shaping up to be a very productive and eventful year for the video game industry.
