Well, fellow gamers, it’s that time of year once again. E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo…3 e’s, get it?) is back for 2016, and for those of you that don’t know, E3 is an annual event that takes place in Los Angles around May or June each year. In this 2 day exhibition, the biggest names in gaming take to the stage to announce their newest projects and sneak peeks into their future plans.
While this is an industry only event, with attendees being only those that work in the field of video games (attendees have to be approved and provide evidence of their relation to the industry), each company’s presentation is streamed live through various online outlets for the world to watch. As the show is in America, this unfortunately means that for most of the world the show is on late at night until the early hours of the morning. But it can be an awesome yearly tradition, if you have friends that are just as interested as yourself, to plan ahead with them and make a night of it. Get some snacks in, prepare some games to play during the breaks or less interesting conferences and geek out until the early hours. Failing that, you can watch the recorded show on YouTube anytime you like, and will be covered by every gaming and tech site you can imagine, so getting the new news is extremely easy.
The biggest conferences come from Sony (for all things PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox), a PC gaming show, Nintendo and then the game studios such as EA, Ubisoft and Bethesda. Rumor has it that Rockstar Games will also be presenting a show at E3 this year. This is a huge deal, because if the name Rockstar Games means nothing to you, then some of their work will. Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, L.A Noire, Bully…some of the biggest games in history. The Internet is freaking out over the possibility of what they might be doing at E3, and most are betting on them revealing (finally) a sequel to Red Dead Redemption. Some are speculating that they may be announcing a new Grand Theft Auto game too. Whether they have their own conference, or they join as a part of somebody like Sony or Microsoft’s show, is unclear. But whatever the case, you can expect the Internet to explode within minutes of whatever they do!
So, what else can we expect from E3 this year? Some of the biggest rumors online suggest that both Sony and Microsoft will announce new consoles. Well, updated versions of the PS4 and Xbox One, at least. There have been leaks in recent months pointing toward a PS4.5, or PlayStation Neo, from Sony. For Microsoft, the same is expected. Most believe that both companies want to update their consoles to output more power, display better graphics, handle even bigger games and utilize 4K resolution now that 4K has taken off recently. There seems to be more evidence pointing toward Sony making such a reveal, but little in the way of Microsoft doing so. We will soon see!
Other things to look forward to include more details on The Last Guardian for PS4, and the Sony VR headset (Playstation VR). More of the new (and universally hated) Call Of Duty game should also be shown off, via Sony’s event. Microsoft should be showing off more Gears of War 4, perhaps a new Forza Motorsport, some of their awesome indie games like Jughead and many other games. They should also be showing off more of their HoloLens technology, as revealed at last years E3. For Nintendo, we hope to finally see their new console, the Nintendo NX, take center stage. It’s also expected that we will see plenty of new footage and details for the new Zelda game, and you can definitely count on something Mario related popping up. I personally hope that the NX is a step back for Nintendo. Less gimmicks, more power, and back to what they used to do best…addictive fun games that stand the test of time. The other conferences will show off new games and add ons for popular series, such as Fifa, NBA Live, Need for Speed, Assassins Creed, hopefully a new FarCry, Battlefield, Fallout, Ghost Recon, Mafia 3, Dishonored 2 and much more, additionally they will show off brand new games and franchises.
As per every year, there will be some highs, some lows, some yawns and some cheers. It’s a 10 hour emotional roller coaster that will have you live Tweeting or Facebook updating all night long. If you are a gamer and like to keep up with the latest gaming news, this is the main event for you!
