So, that went just okay. I need to learn how to talk more. And probably get a mic. I’ll get a better mic if 50 people comment on this exact page. Good Luck. Anyway, watching me watch something other people are also watching is fun and all, but what if you want to just get to the nitty-gritty? I’ve got you covered.
Games Unveiled
This is the list of games that made an appearance on the show. Each title will have initials indicating repeated features throughout the presentation, such as:
WP – World Premiere
XGP – Xbox Game Pass
SD – Smart Delivery
The first 3 are pretty self explanatory but just in case, let’s go over that. World Premiere means the game has officially been revealed. Xbox Game Pass is a monthly subscription service where you can play a rotating selection of over 100+ games, and all Xbox Exclusive titles end up on it. Smart Delivery is the new big thing. Anyting denoted with Smart Delivery means if you own it on Xbox One, you also own it on Xbox Series X. The game will most certainly be a higher quality experience on the XSX. It may sound mundane but this is the first time this has ever been done for consoles Alright, let’s see what we have…
Senua’s Saga: Hell Blade II
They didn’t actually announce anything. They just wanted to remind you that Microsoft owns Ninja Theory now and is looking promising. Here’s last year’s E3 trailer if you wanna know more on that. Fun fact, the song being chanted is a real European folk band called Heilung. XGP
Bright Memory Infinite
An FPS game with wallrunning and a grappling a hook, and that’s all you need to know. Okay maybe I should point out it looks absolutely awesome and was made by one person, Zeng Xiancheng. Check it out, great gameplay demo, albeit a short one. SD
Dirt 5
Dirt is the top dog of the rally racing game scene, and this one looks spectacular. There’s not much else to say. You have all the new features the other racing games are doing, various weather conditions and times that affect the tracks in different ways. Oh, also it has four player LOCAL multiplayer, that’s a novelty! WP SD
Scorn
This is a game that disgusted me so much I had to mentally bleach it from my brain. Then this presentation reminded me the game exists. It is genuinely too grotesque for me to play. Not much is really known about it gameplay-wise. XGP
CHORVS
It’s Starfox but with creepy cult scifi tones Lots of dark red and black contrasts with level design that reminds me of the Astral Plane from Astral Chain and Control. WP SD
MADDEN 21
Fuck off EA. WP
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
Thanks to the internet, this cult classic is finally getting the sequel fans have been craving. Appears to have the same game mechanics as the prior title, only better in some way. Can’t tell, the trailer is another pre-rendered cinematic. SD
Call of the Sea
This game appears to be a narrative experience game (AKA Walking Sim). It takes place on an island, has wonderfully rendered artistic graphics and… that’s it. The trailer was pretty vague. WP SD
The Ascent
A cyberpunk twin-stick shooter. Yeah that doesn’t really narrow it down. It’s very mech and exo-suit oriented. WP SD
The Medium
The latest horror game from Bloober Team, who overall have a good track record. They appear to be branching out, as they’ve brought AkiraYamaoka of the Silent Hill soundtracks, to do the sound and music for this one. WP XGPSD
Scarlet Nexus
What if I told you the next Platinum Games game has you playing as anime characters fighting living breathing ferocious house plants and gardening creatures? Well, it’s not Platinum, it’s Bandai Namco, and it looks dope. WP SD
Second Extinction
Presenting, the Turok/Dino Crisis spiritual successor that you never asked for. This game has dinosaurs, guns, and what appears to be 4 player co-op. WP SD
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
And now, the new Yakuza game that has been fixing to shake up the formula. From what we see in the trailer, it is still definitely a Yakuza game, but there are plenty of elements that make it unique. SD
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
In case you didn’t hear the hubub, Ubisoft said they were premiering the first “gamplay trailer” for the game. This was a lie. It most certainly contains in-game animations, but still has not shown anything representative of how the game actually plays. Either way, the trailer is still very cool and of course the graphics look amazing. SD
That’s it. I saved you some time, you’re welcome.
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Hate reading? The audio version can be found HERE.
Sizzle reel has Sports, Battlefield, Sims, Anthem, Star Wars, and Esports footage.
They decided to use a holographic AR system to show off their games.
Andrea Rene opened the show, she emphasized that a lot of people would be playing games at the show.
Battlefield V
Oskar Gabrielson and Lars came on to talk about the gameplay customizations and innovations being done for the multiplayer.
Dive and smash thru windows, moveable weapon emplacements, more destructible environments, customize everything.
War Stories is back for the single player.
No loot boxes or premium passes confirmed and that daily content would be made.
They confirmed Battle Royale mode and got BOO’d live on stage, which was hilarious.
Ground Operations mode was featured and then they moved on a cinematic trailer, followed up by a tease for a story that would be revealed at the Microsoft press conference.
FIFA 19
A theatrical trailer was then shown for FIFA showing a famous footballer that I don’t know
Aaron McHardy hosted along with Lena to talk about the game while standing next to a bigass UEFA trophy.
It was announced that the story mode would pursue this cup and that as per usual, many new modes and features were added.
World cup mode confirmed as always.
They made a joke about England fans.
They announced that you could play the full game experience as a trial mode for free RIGHT NOW.
EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson showed up to talk about the game some more.
CEO
Wilson then showed off a project being worked on where you could stream EA games to practically any device using cloud computing technology.
Origin Access Premier: a new service was announced that appears to give you all the EA games as they come out, along with Vault access, launching later this summer.
A sizzle reel was shown off to advertise the new service.
Jedi: Fallen Order
Andrea showed up again, standing next to Vince Zampella from Respawn Entertainment.
He introduced Jedi: Fallen Order.
He was interviewed about the game but was constantly being very vague about it, except that it takes place between films 3-4.
He announced for Holiday of 2019.
Star Wars Battlefield II
Apologies were had with SWBF2’s disastrous launch with Dennis Brannvall.
Ewok Hunt was featured along with Han Solo DLC based on the film.
A new overhaul along with a new squad system and new starfighter mode were discussed, along with a multiplayer sandbox experience.
New content will include the beloved Clone Wars battles.
General Grievous and Obi-Wan Kenobi were introduced as new heroes along with Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker.
He also said a new map would be the largest ever.
Unravel Two
Unraveled came back with a brand new trailer featuring little Yarnie getting lost at sea and losing his string. But that’s okay because he meets a blue buddy.
The lead dev came on to talk about it, speaking of optimism and togetherness, and that the game would have a major co-op focus.
A player game on stage for a “live” demo of the experience, this is the first time actual gameplay was shown. It may have actually been live because they messed up the footage for a few seconds.
Yarny gets chased by a chicken, and the gameplay showed that the two characters can fuse for fast sections.
Editor’s Note: This is the only trailer worth watching so far since you see actual gameplay and it looks like a remarkably improved experience and the specialized co-op games are becoming a new niche
The section was bookended with another story trailer that also showcased real game footage.
Oh… and it’s out today, the 9th of June. And somebody in the audience screamed, “oh my god.” That was fun.
They also talked about A Way Out afterward, which was fitting.
Sea of Solitude
A new indie game was shown off from Jo-Mei games, featuring another super shy indie dev geeking out at being on stage.
She talked about the theme of loneliness while discussing the mood of the game. The main character has turned into a monster and is trying to become human again.
The gameplay footage features a flooded world that you traverse by foot and by boat, featuring platforming and running, but not much else was shown.
NBA LIVE 19
NBA came out with a trailer focusing on the story campaign that features a ton of character customization.
Madden 19
Madden was actually shown off in the context of Kevin, an Esports champion of Madden with footage from several championships. He came on to talk about the game and a pro came on with him.
Madden 19 trailer came on. I can confirm it featured football.
Command and Conquer Rivals
A real-time strategy game where you have to launch a missile or something had a “live” match on the set before they announced the title of the game.
This is a touchscreen-based mobile game.
The pre-alpha can be played by Android owners starting now.
Afterward, a cinematic trailer was played, looking way more interesting than the actual game.
Anthem
Andrew Wilson came on again and rambled about stuff that was basically a thinly veiled apology for all the dumb stuff that EA did last year.
They paired up with a few advocate groups.
Anthem came on with an in-engine cinematic trailer, it was rather decent and made a lot of it look awfully cool.
Andrea came back on also, Casey Hudson, Mark Darrah and from the development team.
They all sat on chairs and turned the event into a question and answer session. Gameplay was shown as they talked about the game.
They emphasized that the game has a single player story focus with a ton of co-op features and that it’s not really designed to be an MMO.
Namedrop, the catalyst of the goings on in the planet is called the “Anthem of Creation”, and that it’s a bit of a post-apocalyptic world that has been ravaged by changes in wildlife and weather.
The world is constantly changing, where the game’s world and lore can change between gameplay sessions.
You are a mercenary that fights using the Exo suits called Javelins, you will fight an enemy faction trying to weaponize the monsters.
Four classes were introduced, the ranger, colossus, interceptor, and storm.
They talked about customization and said that the suits were fully customizable.
No loot boxes or advantage microtransactions, but cosmetic microtransactions were confirmed.
Teamwork is necessary for some missions and the multiplayer is built around fusing the experience with multi without interrupting the single-player experience.
A long gameplay demo was shown afterward and is easily worth watching. Fake microphone chatter was NOT employed. They showed an amended version of the full trailer.
February 22, 2019, was the release date for all platforms except Switch.
End of Showcase
After the show they recapped themselves, hey that’s my job!
They were going to start a live FIFA game tournament directly after, and then ending sizzle reel rolled.
TAKEAWAY: Anthem looks like the best Iron Man game we will ever get. I am absolutely non-excited for anything else. What did you like in the show? DROP THOSE COMMENTS IN.
As time moves forward people are moved on. This week we honor a man who was at the forefront of the gaming industry. Rest in peace Mr. Ted Dabney, co-founder of Atari, who passed away after a battle with cancer at age 86. We must also express ou feelings for John Bain, aka TotalBiscuit, whom also died from cancer at age 33. The HardModeGamers, the Lucky Gamer Recap, and so much would potentially not exist without your contributions. Now this week’s Lucky Gamer Recap:
1. PGA touring with… not EA
It seems those eager for more golfing games may be in a bad place. EA has lost the license to PGA Tour. The news came as Canadian developer, HB Studios, announced the addition of the tour to its upcoming title The Golf Club 2019. Rory McIlroy took the helm of EA’s PGA Tour series after they ended their partnership with Tiger Woods. And that game didn’t do well critically or commercially. Now, EA has lost the license completely but both sides claim the split was amicable. Meanwhile HB Studios is boasting that this validates they have the number one golf game on the market. Cool brag guys.
2. Remember the Garbage Pail Kids?
Well, they’re getting a video game. That’s right the Garbage Pail Kids game was officially announced. Do you want to know more? Word, so it’s going to be a free-to-play card-battle RPG. There will be original characters as well as newer cards thrown in the mix. Developed by Jago Studios in collaboration with The Topps Company, the game is currently in Private beta. There is no official launch date but it is planned to be release on both iOS and Android markets. It seems like things from the 80’s really are making the strongest comeback ever. Shout out to Stranger Things and Hipsters for that one.
3. Japan Exclusive: Dock-less Switch!
In a surprising turn of events, Nintendo has announced a dock-less Switch bundle coming exclusively to Japan. As most of us know, Japan is super heavy on mobile gaming. This move makes perfect sense in the idea of providing what the consumer wants. On the flip side it is definitely pretty self destructive considering they own the #1 portable console on the market. However, as far as I’m concerned this is confirmation of a Pokemon Switch game coming out this fall. Why else would they be so willing to ditch a core component of their hybrid console? No dock means it’s just a portable game console.
4. And there may be a new challenger… maybe.
During a recent interview with Bloomberg John Kodera, the new Playstation bossman, said he wants the company to continue thinking about portable gaming. He stated very clearly they are not discussing hardware specifics yet but they were carrying out experiments in the department. Could the next Playstation console be a hybrid like the Nintendo Switch? Quite possibly because this is also the same interview that sent the internet into a frenzy. A statement about the PS4 nearing the end of it’s lifecycle made everyone panic. Until they realized he was speaking from a sales of product perspective. The Vita is already dead, with physical game support and free Playstation Plus games already seeing an end.
5. Resident Evil Switch is cloudy with a chance of bad.
The good news: Resident Evil 7 is coming to Nintendo Switch. The bad news: Resident Evil 7: Cloud Version is coming to Nintendo Switch. The game that originally released on all the platforms isn’t getting a port. Instead Capcom is releasing something called, Resident Evil 7: Cloud Version, here’s the explanation. This is going to be a streamed game, much like PlayStation Now. Its a small download at only 45MB but obviously needs a constant internet connection to work. As of right now this is only coming to Japan (update: released in Japan May 24th 2018) which makes sense. They have the internet capability to support this, much like they did before with Phantasy Star Online 2. It’ll be really tough for this to ever work in America, but one can dream.
6. Madden NFL 19.
I know the NFL is in really hot water lately because of all the racism protest and stuff but that doesn’t stop the money train from running. EA officially, to no one’s surprise, announced Madden NFL 19 releasing August 10, 2018. The cover athlete honor has blessed, or cursed depending who you ask, incredible Wide Receiver Terrell Owens. There will also be a Hall of Fame edition of the game available for $80. The special edition comes with three days of early access, 12 gold team fantasy packs, an elite legends player, and more. This will definitely have some presence at E3 so if interested for sure tune in.
7. School Shooting Game? Very Bad Idea.
It never make sense to me when people claim that real violence is a product of fictional violence. The reference material for fiction is real life. Such is the case with Active Shooter, a game released on STEAM earlier this week. The game has been under fire for literally being a game about mass shootings. You can play as a civilian, a SWAT officer, or the active shooter. Tons of people were triggered over this. I can absolutely see why, but I still feel like the timing was wrong, the concept not so much. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. It’s kind of silly for people to feel like if they don’t like something it has to disappear completely. Don’t get me wrong I think it was dumb as hell for this game to release with the school shooter being a playable character. I think it’s worst that the civilian is a character. Either way, I’m hoping to get an interview with the Dev team so we can discuss it in detail.
