Our Preview of E3 2017
We can’t believe it’s E3 time again as the first presentation is set to kick off this coming Saturday. Maybe we’re distracted raiding virtual Bolivia in Ghost Recon: Wildlands or trying to avoid brutal deaths at the hands of cultists in Outlast 2, but it doesn’t seem like the hype is here yet. We’re between console cycles and with major flagship games like The Legend of Zelda or Mass Effect recently out, we’re not sure what to get excited about (and it certainly is NOT a new Assassin’s Creed which is due to make an appearance).
You’re back already? Great…
Still, as you pick apart the upcoming presentations there do seem to be some interesting games on the horizon — as well as some masterful salesmanship the consoles will need to perform to justify why they deserve continued investment through 2017. Here’s how the show is lining up:
Saturday, June 10th
EA at 12pm PT / 3pm ET
EA, gaming’s redheaded step child we all love to hate, will kick off the event first thing on Saturday. They’re showcasing a sequel to Star Wars Battlefront that will be playable and are promising, this time, to not forget a story mode (imagine that!). They’re also marching out the latest entries to Madden, Fifa, and NBA Live but we could not care less about those. Also expect some highlights on a mobile The Sims game and some DLC for Battlefield 1.
All in all it’s hard to get excited about that list. It’s all just so… safe. Where’s the exciting new IP or protagonist driven story? It just all feels soulless. Kinda like EA.
Of course if EA decided to revive Star Wars 1313 we’d take back every negative thing we’ve said about them.
Sunday, June 11th
Microsoft – 2pm PDT / 5pm EDT
Next out of the gate is Micosoft which bumped up its usual Monday spot to presumably steal a 24 hour news cycle before Sony cleans house the next day. Don’t get us wrong, we love Microsoft, but they tend to miss the mark when it comes to E3.
At the top of the list for Microsoft will likely be Crackdown 3 and Rare’s promising but risky Sea of Thieves. We’d also love to see more about State of Decay 2 and, fingers crossed, maybe a committed release date for Cuphead which cannot live up to its own expectations after years of E3 reveals (just like The Division before it). There’s a long shot that Halo may make an appearance but after the lukewarm reception for Halo 5, we wouldn’t blame Microsoft from shelving that for another year until they figure out how to make the game fun again.
I mean, we know Master Chief has to come back at some point but maybe a few years off would be a wise choice
Finally, Microsoft will need to tell us why the 4k-enabled Scorpio is worth buying another Xbox. Prettier graphics alone is a stretch but they’ve talking about this thing for years so maybe we’re just missing something.
Bethesda – 9pm PDT / midnight ET
Next up is Bethesda. Is it that time for The Evil Within 2? Hopefully not. Instead expect to see Bethesda steal headlines with news of a new Elder Scrolls and (we’re hoping) of another entry into vastly underrated revitalized Wolfenstein franchise – seriously, you should check those two games out as they are fantastic. The game to watch for, however, will be the long rumored Starfield which should be basically Elder Scrolls or Fallout in space. With little else happening right now, this could be the game of the show if it makes its debut at E3.
Seriously, Wolfenstein The New Order is so much better than you think it is. Go check it out.
Monday, June 12th
Sony – 6pm PT / 9pm EDT
Sony has a long history of stunning E3 presentations. “Massive damage” horror or fake Killzone trailers aside, most years they nail it. This year we expect nothing less. First, and arguably one of our most hyped games, will be Destiny 2 which will likely appear here due to the timed-exclusivity with Activision. We understand why people dislike this series, but we spent more hours than any other game ever patrolling planets in our sparrow or trying to conquer new raids every weekend. But, we will miss Marty O’Donnell’s compelling score on this one.
Damnit, we can already feel the addiction taking over.
But Sony’s exclusive roster is deep and impressive. God of War should finally be almost ready for release so it’s about time we see how graphically we can rip apart some Norse gods. Last of Us 2 and the spinoff Uncharted 4: The Lost Legacy should also be revealed. Plus the extremely weird but possibly brilliant Death Stranding and Detroit: Become Human are also likely to get more airtime. Also, last but not least, a sequel Ni No Kuni? Awesome!
This is also the time for Sony to prove to us why we should care about VR and invest in their strategy. We’d love to be playing VR titles this holiday season but the pricepoint is a bit steep for the few games that are available to us. Hopefully they make a compelling case this year.
Mads Mikkelsen makes everything he’s in better.
Ubisoft – 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT
Like Bethesda, Ubisoft is one of the most prolific publishers out there that has enough content to merit their own show. They’re hyping Far Cry 5 a lot right now so expect to see more about that despite its 2018 release date. For us, Far Cry does a great job providing virtual tourism of lush tropical environments or the exotic Tibet so backwoods Montana is a jarring choice. I’m considering this the unofficial sequel to Redneck Rampage until they prove me otherwise.
This looks like a scene from Beverly Hillbilies
We fully expect Ubisoft to try to raise the excitement for a new Assassin’s Creed that was previously already leaked but after the lackluster film and frankly an oversaturation of previous titles, we’re not sure how much more they can do here. Rumors of designing an experience closer to The Witcher is promising but we’re not holding our breath. South Park: The Fractured But Whole is due out this October after being delayed twice so that should make an appearance too.
We’d be floored to see Ubisoft provide some stage time for either Beyond Good and Evil 2 or a new Splinter Cell but we think we’d know more by now if that were the case
Tuesday, June 13th
Nintendo 9am PDT / 12pm EDT
Oh geez, the little engine that could. We’re always hoping Nintendo does well and are always underwhelmed. As you can no doubt predict, expect to see more of Super Mario Odyssey in action and if you’re a fan of Splatoon, well good news because Splatoon 2 is just about it on the list of confirmed games. Reggie Fils-Aime promises a big E3 so maybe it’s a return of Metroid or something weird like Wrecking Crew. It wasn’t that long ago that a brief video of Shigero Miyamoto playing a Wii U Star Fox made headlines and we all know how that ended up.
I think I saw this show in Amsterdam one evening
Nintendo should spend most of its airtime telling us more about their Netflix-like on demand service. We’re hearing $20/mo for access to a certain amount of classic games which sounds great but that’s a bit steep to play some old-school NES games. For instance, can we have online coop for Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers or River City Ransom?
We’ve been saying for years now that this Netflix like streaming stuff is the next phase for gaming. Games as a service is a thing and, like PS Now, if they can stream the title to your TV then the console wars change dramatically and, honestly, for the better. Xbox and Sony both have similar services but Nintendo has the most to gain right now as people try to understand what’s next for the Switch in a post Zelda world.
The others
A few titles aren’t likely to be featured during these shows but nevertheless are in high demand at least by us. Let’s hope we learn more in the next week.
It’s unclear where Agents of Mayhem will make an appearance but this Saints Row offshoot from the same developers is high on our list for most anticipated games. It’s due out this August so we hope to learn more about its awesomeness this next week.
We don’t know much but we do know it’ll be fun
Psychonauts 2 was announced back in late 2015 and through some successful crowd funding it should be about time to show it off. The first still is one of our favorite games ever, despite the crazy hard finale, so we couldn’t be happier to see Raz show up.
Borderlands 3. This is a complete long shot. We know it’s happening as Randy Pitchford presented a fairly subdued tech demo of the new engine at GDC March. We adored Borderlands 2 though admit the prequel and the Pre-Sequel both have their fair share of flaws. It’s been long enough though that we’d enjoy another vault run in Pandora (which is a lot more than we can say about Assassin’s Creed).
It’s time
