e3
Latest
Watch Elon Musk and Todd Howard's E3 chat at 3PM ET
It's the final day of E3 2019 and for some reason, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is chatting on stage about "games, cars, space and everything in between" with Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard. Musk has a clear interest in games -- he even wrote and sold one when he was 12. He's also put a number of them on Tesla dashboards, including Asteroids, Super Breakout and 2048.
I’m worried about this ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ game
When Square Enix finally unveiled its big Avengers project, the reception was mixed, to put it politely. While Marvel's Avengers looked appropriately triple-A, all the familiar Avenger heroes looked a little too unfamiliar. The developers have gone for relatively realistic character designs. Unfortunately for them, we've seen truly "realistic" Avengers already, courtesy of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This means that the in-game Avengers lineup looks more like a group of cosplayers acting out their fantasies. It also wasn't entirely clear from the initial trailer exactly what kind of game Marvel's Avengers will be. Behind closed doors at E3, however, the team walked me through a gameplay demo that demonstrated what Marvel's Avengers is. If you're expecting cinematic set pieces, superhero quips, fluid combat and plenty of goons to punch and blast, you'll get all of that. But why am I still so worried about this game?
Jon Bernthal is your enemy in 'Ghost Recon Breakpoint'
Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking: "Hey, that's The Punisher!" But that, my friends, isn't Frank Castle. It's Colonel Cole D. Walker, the antagonist in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, who's portrayed by none other than Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, The Walking Dead). In the new installment of Ubisoft and Tom Clancy's tactical shooter video game, Walker is the leader of The Wolves, a group of ex-military Ghosts who have gone rogue and taken control of Auroa, a fictional island set in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Your job as a US Special Operations soldier will be to infiltrate them and end their takeover, which won't be easy because Walker and The Wolves have created an army of powerful, killer drones.
Sega Genesis Mini hands-on: A faithfully clunky controller
Sega had cocooned its incoming mini console in see-thru boxes at E3 2019. I'm not sure why, because the Genesis Mini (or Mega Drive Mini if you're nasty) seemed like the finished article, and was very much playable. There were rows of the device setup in a faux '90s living room, with faux TV frames and faux wood paneling to really complete the vibe. After a handful of delays, the $80 console is finally approaching its September launch date, and if you haven't preordered one already, should you?
Netflix is working on a 'Stranger Things' mobile RPG
Netflix made it clear last month when it announced its E3 panel that its gaming ambitions extend beyond Stranger Things 3: The Game (and the Dark Crystal tie-in that was revealed this week). At the panel, it revealed what's next: more Stranger Things. Netflix is teaming up with Helsinki developer Next Games (The Walking Dead: Our World) for a mobile RPG/puzzle game based on the series.
Things are looking up for ‘Pro Evolution Soccer 2020’
After Konami lost the UEFA Champions League licensing rights to EA Sports in 2018, I was quick to count out the future of the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise. That's because, for me, having that European club competition was the only thing keeping from playing FIFA almost exclusively -- even if I do find the PES gameplay more fluid and realistic at times. Thankfully for PES fans, though, Konami isn't drowning in its sorrows over losing the Champions League to FIFA. And this year, the company is moving forward with eFootball PES 2020, which doesn't only comes with a shiny new name but also plenty of exciting features.
'Final Fantasy VII Remake' feels ambitious and different
After a long wait, and three trailers in the last month, Final Fantasy VII Remaster was in playable form at E3. The early, 15-minute demo answers a lot of my questions and concerns regarding the remake's battle system and game dynamics — suddenly all that talk of active time battle gauges, abilities, staggering and player switching made much more sense. Square Enix laid up the demo in a smart fashion, kicking things off with a video to explain how the aforementioned combat system, all led by one of the game's minor characters. FF7R attempts to straddle the sudden battle dynamics of Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy XV and the slower paced menu-led "active time battle" system of earlier FF games and the original FF7. I was a little confused by Square Enix's explanation during its E3 showcase last night. The system seemed overly complicated; as if I would be pressing several buttons nearly all the time. Yes, it's more involved than the game it's based on, but once you get down to it, it begins to work together pretty well.
'Cadence of Hyrule' blends 'Zelda' and beats on June 13th
In March, we learned Cadence of Hyrule - Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda would land on Switch this spring. Today, as part of its E3 2019 announcements, Nintendo revealed the game will arrive this Thursday.
A 'Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild' sequel is in development
Nintendo closed out this year's Nintendo Direct as E3 with quite the surprise sneak peek: an early look at the next Legend of Zelda game. While plot details and game play are of course, under wraps, the video showed Link and Zelda exploring a cave and coming upon a desiccated corpse which promptly glows with evil. The preview explicitly called it the sequel to Breath of the Wild. No release date was given, but hopefully we'll hear more throughout the show.
A 'Dark Crystal' tactical RPG is coming to Switch in 2019
Jim Henson's 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal seems to be having a moment right now. A prequel series will be hitting Netflix in August and now, at today's Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo announced a tactical RPG based in the world of Thra called Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics.
'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' is coming to Nintendo Switch later this year
Nintendo is bringing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to the Switch later this year, the company announced at E3 2019. The action RPG, created by CD Projekt, will be coming to the Nintendo's portable console in its "Complete Edition," which means it'll likely include all the DLC that's been available since 2015. Nintendo didn't say when, exactly, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be available on the Switch, but we do know it'll be at some point in 2019. At least you have time to prepare yourself for your next fantasy.
Watch Nintendo's E3 2019 press event with us!
It's the final press show of E3, and it's gaming royalty. Nintendo Direct is coming to you live, so come watch with us! Pokemon news? More on Fire Emblem? We hope so. And what about Animal Crossing? We're streaming the entire thing live, so join us as we figure out what the company has planned for 2019 and beyond.
'Final Fantasy VIII' is getting its own, less-involved remaster
Final Fantasy VIII, which curiously missed out on the journey to the Nintendo Switch when the rest of the series was ported over, is back. The reason for the delay? Square Enix was working on another remaster. To that point, the characters' battle models are more polished than the original, and even the higher-resolution PC version. Don't expect entirely reinvented battle systems or episodic content like Final Fantasy VII Remake, however. This is a humbler re-polish for 2019 (it will launch later this year) and will come to PS4, Xbox, Nintendo's Switch and Steam. See how it'll look in the trailer below.
'Final Fantasy VII Remake' will take up two Blu-ray discs
Want more Final Fantasy VII Remake details? We've got them. Following up on a new trailer last night, which teased some core game changes to the 20-year-old original (Aeris, attacked by ghosts?), Square Enix used the beginning of its E3 event to dive straight into the remake. It all kicked off with a remade intro, scene-by-scene matching the PSOne original. Producer Kitase then took to the stage to announce the game will encompass two Blu-Ray discs in total, with the city of Midgar alone taking up an entire disc. The original game came on three CD discs. Bless!
How many times do I have to buy 'Final Fantasy VII'?
Ahead of whatever Square Enix shows at E3 this year, lots of questions remain regarding its remake of Final Fantasy VII. Since being announced at E3 2015, details and updates have been scant. For a while, it was all a little worrying -- until Square Enix snuck out a slightly longer trailer last month. It was proof of the game's continued existence and came with the promise of more details in June. Hopefully, it meant today. It's already taken four years to get this far, and the original game launched on the first PlayStation 18 years before that.
Xbox on a phone: Microsoft Project xCloud hands-on
Microsoft's Project xCloud is almost ready for public consumption. In fact, it's launching in some capacity this October, with the ability to stream games from your at-home Xbox One to any device you own. The company's big E3 showcase mentioned this, but not much else. Sure, we had news of the next-gen Project Scarlett console to keep the faithful hyped for what's coming up, but concrete details and specifications are still scant. This means that getting to test the service out, with real, triple-A games was all the more important -- and that's what I just did. I played Resident Evil 7, Hellblade, Halo 5 and more through a Galaxy S10, with an Xbox controller, and it was rather wonderful.
I survived the new Escape mode in 'Gears 5'
I haven't played a Gears of War game since the original came out in 2006. It's no surprise, then, that I would be hesitant to grab an Xbox One controller and play the latest instalment of Microsoft's legendary franchise, Gears 5. But I did it, particularly because I wanted to check out Escape, a new co-op mode that you can play with three friends online or locally. Look, I'm a simple man: You tell me I can kill some aliens and I'm in.
'The Division 2' takes players back to New York in its upcoming DLC
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is not even two months old but Ubisoft laid out its year one plans for the action shooter RPG at E3 today. We already knew three additional episodes were coming via DLC, but a first look trailer revealed some of the locations players will soon be able to visit both in and outside a post-apocalyptic Washington DC, including the Pentagon and the National Zoo. Players will get new gear, weapons and new rewards to go along with the new areas to explore.
'Elite Squad' pulls together a Tom Clancy dream team on mobile
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint wasn't the only Tom Clancy-related game Ubisoft showcased at its E3 event. It revealed the trailer for Tom Clancy's Elite Squad, a mobile RPG that pulls together characters from Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, The Division and Splinter Cell to form a spec-ops dream team.
'Tom Clancy's The Division' movie is coming to Netflix
Netflix has acquired the rights to make a movie based on Tom Clancy's The Division. At E3 2019, Ubisoft revealed that the screen adaption of its RPG game, starring Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, will be coming to the streaming service in the future. Set in a world where a pandemic virus threatens to spread, the Tom Clancy's The Division film is going to be directed by David Leitch, who was behind Deadpool 2 in 2018. There's no release date for the movie yet, but we'll likely learn those details over the coming months. Until then, you'll just have to play or keep playing The Division 2.
